We need more ed-tech, but less technology in the classroom
Technology plays a primary role in my teaching, but I rarely turn on the computer that makes the classroom “smart,” Forbes reports.
Around the Web
News from around the web.
Learning grammar with a joystick and math with a mouse
When his young daughter was learning to read, Michael John, Game Director at the Games, Learning and Assessment (Glass) Lab—and known to friends and colleagues as MJ—met with…
Arne Duncan wants special education students to take general exams
The Huffington Post reports: Should students with disabilities be held to the same academic standards as their peers? And should schools and teachers be held accountable for their…
City makes test scores available on the web
Beginning Monday, parents of New York City public school students were able to see online how well, or poorly, their children performed on a new set of state…
Why are publishers the new villain in the digital age?
The Guardian reports that perched on the end of a panel filled with writers who are throwing off the shackles of conventional publishing, surrounded by Kindle enthusiasts of…
Why Not Wi-Fi?
The web offers a surplus of knowledge and information at the click of a button, Ed Tech Digest reports.
7 powerful STEM resources for girls
The statistics surrounding STEM education and jobs in the US are rather staggering to me, Edudemic reports.
Get them while they’re young
Starting pre-school poses tests for any four-year-old: sitting still, the risk of a yucky lunch, missing home, The Economist reports. The stakes are still higher for 700 small…
Data drunk — Let’s take the ass out of assessment
The Huffington Post reports that truth -- or the passionate pursuit of truth -- should always be a guiding principle in the educating of our children. So we…
Back to school: Tech for high school
Never before have teens been so tech-driven, and educators desperate to connect with them have noticed. What's more, they're responding, ReadWriteWeb reports. Creative learning formats and tablet-based curricula…
Chinese students coming to US middle schools? It’s starting to happen.
Peggy Wang has lived in China her entire life, the Christian Science Monitor reports. A successful, English-speaking executive, she frequently travels abroad for work, but never imagined that…
First 7 ‘Steve JobsSchools’ open in Netherlands, tout education through iPad
The first seven "Steve JobsSchools" officially opened their doors in the Netherlands on Wednesday, kicking off an ambitious experiment in child education where Apple's iPad is the main…
D.C. charter schools to give standardized tests to young children
The use of standardized tests to measure very young students keeps expanding, The Washington Post reports.
In defense of multiple-choice
The value of multiple-choice in education has been a topic of debate since its invention in the beginning of the 20th century, Edudemic reports.
What’s the difference between games and gamification?
Perhaps the best way to think about games in education is not to automatically call everything that looks like fun a “learning game,” EdSurge reports.
Nurturing a STEM sisterhood
The Huffington Post reports that a popular adage holds that it takes a village to raise a child.
Five mistakes to avoid when flipping your class
When Aaron Sams and I first started flipping our classes in 2007, we made a lot of mistakes, John Bergmann blogs.
Facebook-led project seeks internet access globally for all
Facebook Inc's Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has enlisted Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Qualcomm Inc and four other companies for a project aimed at bringing internet access to people…
Microsoft offers schools free Surface RTs as Bing search rewards
Microsoft has launched a new ad-free search product, Bing for Schools, with an incentive program that rewards schools with free Surface RT tablets, ZDNet reports.
Will the next iPhone have a fingerprint sensor?
PC Mag reports that the top rumormongers say the new iPhone will have a fingerprint reader built into the Home button.
Female founders continue to rock ed-tech
Forbes reports that with the American education system ripe for innovation, MOOCs and edtech have been generating big buzz, which has led to big investments for some female…
Boot camp parents shape up to impact ed policy
In the summer, camp options abound, GettingSmart reports.
“Indescribably insane”: A public school system from hell
Want to see a public school system in its death throes? Look no further than Philadelphia, Salon.com reports.
The new celebrity: Tutors
Advertisements for star tutors in Hong Kong can be seen all over here: on billboards that loom over highways and on the exteriors of shopping malls, the New…
7 ways teachers use social media in the classroom
Millennials live and breathe on social media, so teachers are learning how to incorporate the medium into the classroom successfully, Mashable reports.
What we know about schools — but choose to ignore
Here’s an important piece on school reform by P.L. Thomas, an associate professor of education at Furman University in South Carolina, the Washington Post reports.
Head Start cuts services for more than 57,000 children
Head Start, the federal pre-K education service for low-income families, has eliminated services for more than 57,000 children in the coming school year as a result of the…
Google is preparing for screenless computers
The spread of computing to every corner of our physical world doesn’t just mean a proliferation of screens large and small—it also means we’ll soon come to rely…
Teen convicted for sending Facebook friend request
Over the past few months, Facebook has either been the pointed cause for murderous acts of violence being committed, or it has been on the other side, helping…
CPS school closure ruling: Federal judge says massive Chicago school closure plan can proceed
After a hard-fought battle to save some 50 Chicago Public Schools from closing, a federal judge dealt the fatal blow to the city's school closing opponents in a…
School standards’ debut is rocky, and critics pounce
The New York Times reports that the Common Core, a set of standards for kindergarten through high school that has been ardently supported by the Obama administration and…
Seeking better teachers, city evaluates local colleges that train them
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has used data to rate restaurants, track the repair of potholes and close lackluster schools in New York City, reports The New York Times.
Why video is the unlikely common denominator in ed-tech
Anyone who has attended an ed-tech conference is bound to hear one of the following terms and acronyms: flipped classroom, MOOC, BYOD, personalized or social learning — all…
A society with poor critical thinking skills: The case for ‘argument’ in education
The Huffington Post reports that researchers have shown that most students today are weak in critical thinking skills.
Why states are backing out on common standards and tests
The bloom is surely off the rose of Common Core, the new English and math standards pushed by Washington, D.C. education trade organizations and the Obama administration, according…
What educators should know about funding STEM initiatives
SmartBrief reports that with STEM funding on hold at the federal level, schools are turning to corporations, foundations and private investors to help fund new initiatives, consultant Doug…
A checklist for engaging a school district’s central office
Many edtech startups (understandably) try to sidestep the complexity and bureaucracy of the central office, and go straight to teachers, edSurge reports.
This guy left Google to put the power of big data into small classrooms
Forbes reports that Prasad Ram (aka Pram) is founder, creator, and CEO of Gooru, “an open and collaborative online community where the best free materials for learning can…
Boise company works to steer girls into science, engineering careers
Company leaders at PCS EDventures in Boise are working to get more girls interested in science and engineering, KTVB.com reports.
Report: Apple will reveal new iPhone next month
Apple will unveil the latest version of its iPhone on September 10, according to a new report, CNN reports.