Staff Picks: Political Leadership, TFA, SXSWedu
Tom picks political leadership, Karen picks Teach for America in Washington, and Sarah picks SXSWedu.
Edmodo: From Social Network to Learning Platform
Like Facebook, the platform is free and easy to use. Edmodo grew to 6 million users almost entirely through teacher adoption. The coming app store means lots of new features for the 2012-13 season.
1:1 in Peru Suggests Instruction is Important
The OLPC program in Peru appears to be content-light and naive. Kids appears to spend a lot of time on non-academic software (which may have some cognitive benefit) but there is no evidence that student spend more time reading. Unlike top blended models in the states, UNESCO points out that "the time allocated to activities directly related to school does not seem to have changed." With no effort to change time and literacy and numeracy instruction it is not surprising that academic impacts appear to be weak.
Portugal’s 1:1 Initiative Propels PISA Improvement
The Portugal model of subsidized sliding scale hardware and connectivity is a great example for states to consider as they consider development of high access learning environments over the next three years in preparation for and adoption of the Common Core State Standards and online assessments. If Portugal and Turkey can figure this out, leaders of each of these United States should be able to orchestrate the development of 21st century learning environments.
6 Leading Trends at SXSWedu
SXSWedu in Austin, Texas this week brought many innovative ideas to the forefront of discussion. Here are six trends that stood out in sessions, discussions, and more.
SXSWedu Brings Positive Discourse to Edu Challenges & Solutions
SXSWedu in Austin, Texas this week brought an enthusiasm to productive discourse around the challenges in education and the tools that hold the potential to improve it. Keynoters Marjorie Scardino, CEO of Pearson, and Secretary Arne Duncan spoke about the importance of informal learning, assessment, global competitiveness, and preparation for the next generation of learning.
LearningJar & BloomBoard Win SXSWedu’s LAUNCHedu
LearningJar (Higher Ed) and BloomBoard (K-12) won the LAUNCHedu challenge at SXSWedu in Austin, Texas Wednesday among six higher ed and six K-12 startup projects. Both groups were awarded a trip to San Francisco to meet with venture capital firms, a consultation with the Advisory Board, and a one-on-one media relations consultation.
How to Work Together to Build Capacities for Collaboration
Having challenged, in my previous post for Getting Smart, some of the common notions we educators share about collaboration, I acknowledge that it is only fair that I take some time to wrestle with what collaboration really means and why it is so important as we prepare our students for the future.
An Innovation Ecosystem Meets in Austin for SXSWedu
Key leaders in Austin will be meeting this week as part of SXSWedu to develop strategies for expanding Austin’s role as a national leader in ed tech innovation.
10 Conversations at COSN
The COSN conference is underway in Washington DC. School district edtech directors find themselves in a very dynamic situation these days. Here’s 10 of session and hallway conversation topics from yesterday: