EdTech
Education Technology is a multi-billion dollar sector of companies innovating in both software and hardware for teaching, learning, and running schools, districts, and state and federal education departments. We document some of the most essential technical innovations and companies that support learning, teaching and more.
EdTech
LearnZillion Raise Will Support More Common Core Lessons
LearnZillion, the DC-based developer of a web-based platform that features videos of 3-5 minute math and literacy lessons taught by teachers from around the country, said on Thursday it has raised $2.4 million in its first round of funding.
EdTech
FCC & ED Push Digital Textbooks
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the U.S. Department of Education is hosting a meeting today with the goal of getting digital textbooks in every child’s hands in five years. Karen Cator, the Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education, helped organize the meeting and provides energy and insight to the Departments focus on the shift to digital learning.
EdTech
Q&A: ShowMe Founder Taps Into the Great Teachers of the World
ShowMe Founder San Kim joins us today to discuss how ShowMe, a mobile app that allows educators to record and share whiteboard lessons with students, is tapping into the knowledge of great teachers to deliver quality lessons to students around the globe. San Kim first developed the idea of a whiteboard-based online teaching technology while working as a tutor and classroom instructor in high school math, science, writing and more. ShowMe was founded in 2009 and took several years to develop into the simple and widely used app that it is today.
EdTech
Dallas Area District Embraces STEM & Educate Texas Partnership
Educate Texas, formerly The Texas High School Project, announced a major STEM (science, tech, engineering, and math) partnership with a small mostly low income and minority district south Dallas district, Lancaster ISD, and powered by a $4.8 million grant from TI. Part of T-STEM, the announcement builds on the most successful state STEM network in the country.
EdTech
Learning STEM in Classrooms Modeling the Future
The typical elementary, middle and high school classroom is filled with chairs and desks, chalk and erasers, and a teacher and students. There is also closet space for backpacks, cabinet space for educational tools and wall space for exemplary student work. Does this traditional classroom provide the best teaching environment for teachers and the best learning environment for students? The answer depends on what needs to be taught, and we are quickly finding out that educational needs of the future look much different than the past.
EdTech
SmartTech Roundup
Mobile Mojo In the past year, schools have been buying up wireless technologies like iPads. PC Mag reports that over 1.5 million are in use in educational institutions (bet it’s a lot more than that). Boston’s NPR station reports that over 600 districts have ditched textbooks and…
EdTech
Three Ideas for Broad-Access Higher Education
The Center for Education Policy Analysis at Stanford held a conference in December exploring access to higher education in America. Dr. Mitchell L. Stevens and three co-authors issued a report that outlined three ideas to boost access to higher education. Idea 1: Pay explicit attention to the organizational…
EdTech
Rick Hess Says Edupreneurs Need to Be Thought Leaders
Rick Hess, the edpolicy maven at Education Week, published an article this week that looked at the roles of edupreneurs in the education marketplace. He argues that unlike entrepreneurs in other markets, edupreneurs need to be outspoken in order to inform, persuade and motivate the public space in which education operates.
EdTech
i-Ready is Ready for Prime Time
i-Ready's two components, adaptive diagnostic and standards preparation, provide a visually appealing and fun approach to educational materials. Both programs allow teachers, parents and administrators to follow the progress of every student down to the skill level. The diagnostic program not only identifies the grade level a student is at, but pin points the skills needed to improve and adapts lessons accordingly.
EdTech
US Grad Rate Inches Up–But Marshall Plan Needed
High school graduation rates are inching up to more than 75%, that's the conclusion of a report released monday. It's also good news that from 2008 to 2009 (the most current data available), the number of dropout factory high schools decreased by an additional 112 schools to 1,634. Compared to 2002 almost there has been a decline of nearly 800,000 in 'dropout factory' enrollment.