Digital Learning Now

EdTech

What to Expect When You’re Expecting … iPads

All this iPad talk is leaving many parents very nervous about this all really means for their children: Are these devices really worth the money? Will their children’s learning truly benefit from these tools? Will iPads only add to “screen time,” hinder social skills and, ultimately, disconnect them from their peers? What is the magic the iPads create for students?

Personalized Learning

MOOCs Shift From Curiosity to Employability

With huge investments and lots of fanfare, massive open online courses (MOOC) are the higher ed topic of the year. They’ve been around for years, but when more than 100,000 people signed up for a Stanford artificial intelligence course it was obvious that MOOCs had arrived.

EdTech

11 of the Best Google Chrome Extensions for Students

Today, computer developers constantly add new features, plugins, and tools to help us access useful, relevant, and personalized data. In fact, developers at Google released an extension-friendly web browser called Google Chrome in 2008. Chrome offers extensions, or browser plug-ins, with unparalleled tools for learning that help improve one’s productivity and access to information. Here are 11 of the very best Chrome extensions for students.

EdTech

Cast Your Vote For Our SXSWedu Panels

Getting Smart hopes to participate in SXSWedu this year with one of its five panel ideas that cover education innovation, investment in edtech, digital learning initiatives, open educational resources (OER), games in learning, math learning, Big Data, and more. SXSW invites its community to cast votes on which panels they'd like to see in March 2013.

Personalized Learning

Staff Picks: Digital Learning, Innovation, Games

Tom says, "Philanthropy Roundtable does a great job of informing foundations of sector developments. A great examle is the keynote that Alex Hernandez delivered at last week's meeting. He concluded, 'The state of blended learning is early–but it’s good enough to get started. We can have better schools, for our own children, in our lifetimes.'"

EdTech

14 High Schools Worth Visiting

An international school administrator recently wrote on U.S. high schools and education reform. Here, Tom Vander Ark, shares a list of a baker's dozen high schools worth visiting.

Leadership

How to Tell a True Inspirational Story

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about inspiration. It’s a bit like thinking about falling in love --- hard to get a handle on, but what’s not to like? Still, I’ve been trying to tease out what inspiration is exactly, especially for those of us in the education racket in 2012. My husband, Larry Kahn, and I will lead a workshop for PLP Live! in Philadelphia on September 28th. Our task is to marshal inspirational stories to help those who want to integrate 21st century learning in schools translate the words of wisdom from the likes of John Sealy Brown and Suzie Boss into the right stuff for their schools back home.

EdTech

Council for Economic Education Hosts K-12 Video Contest: What Should the Next President Do to Improve the Economy?

The Council for Economic Education (CEE) is holding a video contest asking students in kindergarten through 12th grade, via their teachers, for the best economic advice they can give our new President, whoever that may be. Teachers can record one student, or a group of students, answering the question “What Should the Next President Do to Improve the Economy?” and submit their video responses via Facebook.