future of learning
SMARTtech Top 10: Happy Thanksgiving
We hope you’re enjoying the long holiday weekend. We know you’re eager to get back to your turkey sandwich leftovers and that backyard game of tag football, which is why we’ve worked to condense the news highlights to just 10 quick items. Here’s your small talk points for early Monday morning back at the office.
5 Simple Ways to Inspire Innovation in 5 Days
Schools are changing, from the physical layout of classrooms, laboratories and libraries to the way educators and pupils share information. Students are entering with a heightened digital acumen and lowered attention span, while educators feel pressure to deliver positive test scores, increase collaboration, and drive engagement. Today’s changes in schools suggest that it’s more important than ever to make every space an active learning space– spaces that help students connect, get inspired, and achieve deeper learning and better results.
Rapping Math Teachers at Westerville South Win $15,000 Video Contest
Compass Learning recently launched its Ideal Learning Environment Video Contest, asking students, teachers and others with an interest in education to submit videos that demonstrate their ideal learning environment.
7 Educational Uses for 3D Printing
When someone says that they have a 3D printer, many people visualize a printer that produces 3D images on a sheet of paper. In actuality, a 3D printer goes beyond an image on paper and brings the object to life in real 3D. Layer by layer, the 3D printer can replicate images created in CAD programs. Any creation in supported design programs can be brought into the real world. What are some educational values of the 3D printer?
Why a Badge Is Better Than an A+
We are not totally gamifying our classrooms or currently using Edmodo, so this year I was not really considering the possibility of awarding my students digital badges. That is, until I recently came across this awesome site and FREE web tool for teachers, classbadges.com and I knew I had to have these for my students.
Five Free Online Courses (MOOCs) to Help Your Career
Massive open online courses, or MOOCs, have become all the buzz among higher-education experts. The idea is that anyone, anywhere can sign up to take a course from the nation’s top institutions like Harvard, MIT, Princeton, and Stanford. This is undoubtedly an exciting idea. With tuition costs rising and student loan debt topping $1 trillion, the future of our higher education system will rely on innovations like MOOCs.
Imagine K12 Demo Day: 11 Rising Startups
"The future of our education system and the future of the country are inextricably tied," said Imagine K12 co-founder Tim Brady. He said transformation is "not a matter of if, only how" and #ik12 plans to be part of "ushering in the how, keeping student outcome front and center."
What Does an Ideal Learning Environment Look Like?
How would you describe the perfect learning environment? Yes, I realize the question is open-ended, and after launching Compass Learning’s Ideal Learning Environment Video Contest, it’s evident that plenty of people have very specific thoughts regarding their education. We received 100 video entries of teachers, students, and parents describing or showing us their vision of the ideal learning environment. And let me just tell you: I was shocked at the range of creative ideas submitted.
Use Google Drive as a “Stepping Stone” to 3D Learning
Craig Roberts, assistant director of education at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, believes his students learn better when they explain things visually. So, he has them build fruit fly brains out of Play-Doh, and construct human brain cells out of miscellany from The Scrap Exchange, a local nonprofit creative reuse center. More often, he sends them to the whiteboard to illustrate core concepts using a splash of color and lots of lines.
Innovation In the Face of Dated Modalities
The charter school movement that began 20 years ago in Minnesota has provided an unprecedented opportunity for educators to implement innovative change. This kind of change invokes a variety of emotions.