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
Want to Prepare Your Kids for the Singularity? Read Jonathan Mugan’s The Curiosity Cycle
In the future your children won’t just be competing against other children, they’ll be pitted against robots and computers too. What’s a parent to do? Teach them about the best parts of being human: curiosity and creativity. Researcher Jonathan Mugan is bringing his specialty in machine learning to the nursery. His book, The Curiosity Cycle helps parents find simple ways of inspiring children to have the flexible thinking and boundless interest they’ll need to stay competitive in the 21st Century marketplace.
EdTech
IFC Backs Baring’s Indian School Network
Kosmo Kalliarekos, former head of the Parthenon education consulting practice, is quietly making a mark on global education. A few years ago Kosmo moved from Boston to Hong Kong to join his college roommate at Baring Private Equity. His first acquisition was Nord Anglia, a chain of international high schools stretching from eastern europe to China. This year they acquired a big stake in Chinese Ambow Education.
EdTech
Evaluation of Arkansas Virtual Shows Significant Growth
University of Arkansas recently conducted an in-depth evaluation on the Arkansas Virtual Academy and concluded the school demonstrated very positive academic results, "The ARVA cohort improved significantly as compared to their matched peers." Despite bad press, this and five other stories indicate strong academic results.
EdTech
Webinar: The Comprehensive Assessment Consortia
Two state consortia—Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium—are hard at work putting ambitious designs in place for new assessment systems. They have released materials and will soon select contractors to build assessments and the infrastructure to support them. What do their current plans look like?
EdTech
SmartTech Roundup: Deals, OER, Tablets, & Awards
Interesting Deals Countering all the Knewton press, Blackboard launched Blackboard Developmental Education to improve student outcomes and completion rates. DevEd was developed in partnership with American Education (A+), a company acquired by K12 last year. Atlanta investor Richard Smyth spent 2010 gaining control of a public company. Last January he launched…
EdTech
ProProfs Training Creates Advanced Web-Based Courses
ProProfs launched ProProfs Training, a new tool aiming to make online training much easier for non-tech-savvy teachers and educators. ProProfs Training is a brand new web-based software that allows anyone to easily create advanced multi-media online courses.
EdTech
STEM Education Takes Off With Fly to Learn
Students in the Fly to Learn program learn STEM fundamentals through the design, construction, flight, and performance evaluation of virtual airplanes. X-Plan incorporates realistic laws of physics found in the field, which fosters the beginnings of critical thinking and problem solving found in aviation careers.
EdTech
California Reports Charter Schools Deliver Positive Impact for Low-Income Students
The California Charter School Association (CCSA) released today its second annual Portrait of the Movement: How Charters are Transforming California Education report, detailing academic performance of California's charter schools. The report finds that low-income students continue to be well-served by charters; and confirms that charters are having a positive impact on delivering high student achievement.
EdTech
Review: Raising the Standards Through Chapter Books
Americans today are reading less. The National Endowment for the Arts reported that less than one-third of 13-year-olds read daily and 19 percent of 17-year-olds are non-readers. Even those that do read, the report suggests, aren't reading as well. Reading scores among students today have declined. While employers report the increasing importance of reading as a basic skill, many graduates today fall short.
EdTech
Top 10 Reader Favorites in February
This February, Getting Smart readers enjoyed articles around personal learning networks, blended learning, digital learning, spatial intelligence, tablet applications, and student motivation.