Back office business: 5 big K-12 edtech deals this week
AI-inspired edtech helps prevent school shootings, enhance lesson plannig, and track butterflies?
Around the Web
News from around the web.
Tips to safely navigate Valentine’s Day in your classroom
Valentine's Day is coming up, according to this SlideShare.net presentation.
Place your bets: An Apple tablet, laptop — or both?
Is Apple going to take a crack at a hybrid? Or is it eying a more conventional product? Those are burning questions that analysts and the supply chain…
Think big: How to jumpstart tech use in low-income schools
The challenges of rural schools are many of the same (though not all) that low-income public schools face across the country: inadequate access to technology and broadband, tight…
Volunteer pays for hot lunch for kids who can’t afford it
A volunteer at a Houston-area elementary school who noticed some students were getting a smaller lunch of cold cheese sandwiches is digging into his own pocket to cover…
4 ways educators are using Google Glass in the classroom
With the emergence of Google Glass onto the gadget scene, tech-lovers everywhere are itching to get their hands on the famous eyewear, edcetera reports.
Rich resources for celebrating Black History Month
In recognition of Black History Month, PBS LearningMedia offers a rich collection of multi-media resources, lesson plans and student guides that can complement educators’ teaching tools, MindShift reports
How to mine Sochi Olympics for teaching and learning
This is an updated version of a piece that Jeffrey S. Hacker, a teacher at Beall Elementary School in Rockville, wrote years ago for The Washington Post.
4 steps to making rigorous discussion a routine
For many of us who are intimidated by the idea of "rigor" and exactly what it means to make our lessons more rigorous, thinking about it as a…
Dying student still has to prove he can’t take a standardized test
Eleven-year-old Ethan Rediske has been in hospice care for the past month and is likely nearing the last days of his life, the Huffington Post reports.
Study: Single-sex ed may not actually be better for kids
Do students really learn better when separated by gender? New research indicates that they do not, the Huffington Post reports.
A really scary headline about kindergarteners
Rob Saxton is Oregon’s deputy superintendent of public instruction, reports the Washington Post.
30 education innovators worth following on Twitter
Yesterday, we wrote about the latest Forbes list of ’30 Under 30′ in the education field, noted Edudemic.
STEM program gives Coney Island elementary school students a leg up with Lego
A scrappy Coney Island elementary school is creating opportunity for disadvantaged students, with innovative academic programs that have kids fired up about science, technology, engineering and math, the…
Ravitch: The ‘White House’s obsession with data is sick’
Education historian and activist Diane Ravitch has been blasting the Obama administration for a long time for education policies that have expanded the importance of standardized tests and…
Then-and-now photos bring iconic Black History moments back to life
Every day, we walk in the very places where history was made years ago, the Huffington Post reports.
Get ready for Digital Learning Day with these resources
The third annual Digital Learning Day is on February 5, 2014, Edutopia reports.
Humble teacher shocks community by leaving $8.4 million
A retired teacher who worked with special-needs kids, the late Margaret Southern drove a 1980s Cadillac, lived in a modest home and had just one indulgence in life:…
Charter experiment ‘spinning out of control’
What is happening in Durham County, N.C., is exactly what charter school critics have long feared: the destabilization of the ... Read more
5 things you should know about flipped learning
Flipped learning — the name says it all. It’s a 180-degree shift in how we approach learning and teaching, reports the ISTE Connects Blog.
9 ways Facebook changed how we talk
"I'm gonna tag you in this hideous photo and then unfriend you if you don't stop oversharing and poking me." If you said this to someone 10 years…
Fight over effective teachers shifts to courtroom
They have tried and failed to loosen tenure rules for teachers in contract talks and state legislatures, The New York Times reports.
10 teaching with technology mistakes you don’t want to make
Are you tentative about how to go about integrating technology in your classroom? Are you already doing it, but want to make sure you’re doing the right thing…
How can data increase college access for all?
There are real questions about the value of a college education, Getting Smart reports.
Augmented reality books? New ‘wearable book’ feeds you its characters’ emotions as you read
eBooks are going to look quaint in the future, when we have wearable books that make us feel everything that's going on in our favorite fictions, the International…
Why Common Core isn’t the answer
As far as I know, no one has asked the general public’s opinion about the Common Core State Standards for school subjects, the Washington Post reports. My guess…
Feds block education funding because of lawsuit
The federal government said it has blocked millions in funding to Idaho's education broadband system because a lawsuit over the project's $60 million contract raised questions about who…
Meet the $38 tablet
What’s that? You’d love a new tablet – for yourself, your parents or the kids – but think you need to take out a second mortgage to afford…
When parents define “educational” media, SpongeBob sinks
Any self-respecting skeptic has to be careful with the word educational, according to the Joan Ganz Conney Center blog. Thousands of games in the iTunes App Store describe…
Microsoft CEO could be named next week, says report
Microsoft may finally be set to reveal its next CEO, CNET reports. Yes, that rumor has been a running gag after current boss Steve Ballmer announced his impending…
Do CIOs know what is running on their network?
The Huffington Post features an infographic detailing CIO knowledge from a variety of industries. How does K-12 fare? Check out the visual to learn...
Managing class in the age of distraction: 6 ideas
Managing your class in the age of distraction? It’s a quandary for many teachers, WJU EdTech reports. Do I allow them to use their device? What if they…
Infographic: The evolution of learning tools
How have learning tools changed? What's obsolete? How do computer science, apps, and social media impact learning today? Find out...
Nation’s youngest will face less competition getting into college
Demographics are changing rapidly in the United States. From the late 1980’s until a few years ago, the number of high school graduates has been steadily increasing until…
Estimate for statewide pre-k in New York puts schools chief in a tangle
New York State’s top education official was caught in a battle between city and state leaders on Tuesday after he suggested that providing universal access to prekindergarten would…
Civil rights hero launches ‘American Child’s Education Bill of Rights’
Calling modern school reform “catastrophically misguided and ineffective,” civil rights icon James Meredith is launching what he calls the American Child’s Education Bill of Rights, a 12-point declaration…
How can we maximize the potential of learning apps?
Let’s dive directly into the world of educational apps. Our survey suggests that the majority — one might even say, the vast majority — of educational apps encourage…
The two-horse smartphone race
Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. should make it abundantly clear this week that the smartphone industry is increasingly dividing into the haves and have-nots, The Wall Street…
When this New Zealand school got rid of playtime rules, it actually got safer
One school has found that eliminating rules can actually be a good thing, The Huffington Post reports.
The Netflix of kids’ books? Epic launches on iPad for $9.99/month
The Netflix monthly subscription model is a hit for movies and TV, and is spreading to music with paid versions of services like Pandora and Spotify. In 2014,…