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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…
Personalized Learning
Welcome to the Post Textbook World: Ten Elements
A friend asked what I thought about Jay Mathew’s post on textbooks. I thought the rear view mirror critique of a process to pick better textbooks read more like a 1982, not a 2012 discussion – and certainly not the 2015 conversation we should be having.
Leadership
Staff Picks: How We Find Our News
This last week, many of our readers and partners have asked: Where do you gather your information? Well, we thought we'd share that with you! Below are our top picks for getting the front-line news.
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.
Personalized Learning
Collaboration, Really?
When I think of instances of true collaboration, Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir comes to mind: a blending of individual voices, each making his or her best effort to interpret the phrasing to contribute to the breathtakingly beautiful whole, all with the common goal of rendering a beautiful piece of music together. This extraordinary accomplishment suggests to me a metaphor for what we need to be doing as educators.
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.
Personalized Learning
A Turning Point for Personal Digital Learning
Fritjof Capra is a physicist who plowed the systems thinking ground for Peter Senge and the new science ground for Meg Wheatly. He opened his seminal piece The Turning Point by noting that man always assumes he is at a turning point. As a pattern spotter,…
EdTech
Webinar: Digital Learning Beyond School
It’s time to ensure that as teachers and schools find ways to use technology to advance learning, so do community organizations like Ys, libraries and cultural institutions that provide informal learning opportunities to millions of our least-advantaged kids.
EdTech
SmartTech Roundup: Shattering Barriers to Edu
Shattering Barriers to Education MIT plans to launch MITx, its first free, online course designed to be fully automated, this March. With no fee or prior entrance requirements, this online program is breaking down the longstanding barriers of education. Now, all you need is a computer and Internet connection.