EdTech
Personalized Learning
Blackboard Buys MoodleRooms & Embraces Open
Blackboard announced today that it bough Moodlerooms and its international counterpart NetSpot, hosting solutions for open learning management system Moodle. It's an important commitment to open education resources. Ray Henderson's announcement blog said "we believe the most important new dimension shaping the LMS market today is the growing acceptance of open source software."
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). Â Boston’s NPR station reports that over 600 districts have ditched textbooks and…
Leadership
Staff Picks: Access, Activity, Inpiration & Innovation
Tom Picks 5 Strategies to Deliver Access to Every Student Tom says, “Every American student deserves equitable access to great learning content and great teachers. Â A take-home access device for every student is key. Â Discussions at CUE and COSN in the last few weeks helped inform a set of…
Uncategorized
Students Inspire College Readiness With Street Art
Voting ends today on SchoolTube's video competition Going Mindless, which encourages students to express change in their schools or communities by modeling the youthful, positive change by the R&B band Mindless Behavior. The band will pick their favorite student video to award an exclusive Mindless Behavior concert at their school.
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.
Personalized Learning
5 Strategies to Deliver Edtech Access to Every Student
Over the last few weeks I’ve participated in a number of conversations about student access strategies. It comes down to what device and who pays.
EdTech
Badges Will Be Big
We need a great Common Core-aligned merit badge system that motivates and recognizes achievement. It should be free and open. Badges should be awarded based on multiple forms of assessment. Badges should be linked to multiple forms of instruction. Badges will be a core component of emerging learning platform ecosystems.
EdTech
SmartTech Roundup: New Developments in Learning
Apptastic Khan Academy recently released an iPad app for its STEM-related videos. Angry Birds is coming out with Angry Birds Space, a new app that may actually hold some educational value around STEM topics in physics and math. Sesame Street is back – on apps!…
Leadership
Staff Picks: mLearning, ePortfolios, intellectual work & Rethinking ED
Tom Picks “Celling a Great Idea” Tom says, “I agree that the flip from bans to widespread daily use will happen fast and that the BS era (before smartphone that is) will soon seem like a strange and distant past.” Caroline Picks “Technology…