Leadership and ambiguity
We like our leaders to be confident, clear, in control, writes Greg Richardson for ELUMN8.
Around the Web
News from around the web.
How to move PD forward
The fact that there are plenty of companies touting video-based PD as more efficient, individualized, cheaper, and faster should not surprise anyone who has been in the education…
A student account of school shooting
“Today, I was sitting in my fifth hour psychology class when it happened. At first, it sounded like someone had dropped a heavy book. Then the sound came…
The value of what students don’t know
For me, my biggest takeaway from college was learning what I didn’t know, TeachThought reports.
Esther Wojcicki: “American schools are becoming more like classic Chinese schools”
Hysteria. That is what I predict will be happening in education circles next year, EdSurge reports.
Clash of the Titans! Inside Microsoft’s battle to foil the NSA
After the NSA scandal broke this summer, revealing that the U.S. spy agency was eavesdropping wholesale on the most popular services on the web, Microsoft turned to five…
Rep. Jack Kingston proposes that poor students sweep floors in exchange for lunch
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) wants kids to learn early in life that there's no such thing as a free lunch. To make sure they absorb that lesson, he's…
A full-featured, $38 tablet is coming to the U.S.
Datawind announced that it plans to sell a $38 tablet in the U.S. through as-yet unnamed online and brick-and-mortar retailers early next year, the Wall Street Journal reports.
You’ll make more money if you can code
Being able to learn marketable digital skills is sluggish and difficult — or so they say, Mashable reports.
It’s official: China is the wild, wild west of cloud computing
Within hours of Amazon’s announcement of a new Beijing region for Amazon Web Services, IBM jumped into the mix, announcing a new relationship with 21Vianet to offer high-end…
Google Glass adds Hangouts, YouTube, iOS support in XE12
Google continued its promise to update Glass on a monthly basis by releasing XE12, CNET reports.
Comcast, Khan Academy aim multimillion-dollar partnership at low-income families
As much as Khan Academy has promised “a free world-class education for everyone everywhere,” the reality is that many of the 10 million people reached monthly by its…
25 teaching tools for the digital classroom
Over the years, many of us have personally experienced the growth of technology in today’s classrooms, TeachThought reports.
D.C. teacher at Friendship Tech Prep charter quits, says he was pressured to inflate grades
Caleb Rossiter recently quit his job as a ninth-grade algebra teacher at the Friendship Tech Prep public charter school in Southeast Washington because, he says, his supervisors pressured…
Schools use web tools, and data is seen at risk
Public schools around the country are adopting web-based services that collect and analyze personal details about students without adequately safeguarding the information from potential misuse by service providers,…
Joel Klein says curriculum is his legacy’s lone dark spot
The further away Joel Klein gets from the New York City school system, the firmer he is about the changes he brought during his tenure, Gotham Schools reports.
Colorado schools face challenges in transition to digital textbooks
Mesa County parent Elizabeth Chiono received letters from some of her son's teachers at the beginning of the school year informing her that he would not get textbooks…
Nine tech torments I’d like to see fixed in 2014
I know it's the season of thankfulness and giving, but it's time to complain, CNET reports.
British Library sticks 1 million pics on Flickr, asks for help making them useful
In 2008, the British Library, in partnership with Microsoft, embarked on a project to digitize thousands of out-of-copyright books from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, ArsTechnica reports.
Mike Huckabee walks back his support for Common Core
The Washington Post reports that former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has now put himself on the list of potential Republican candidates for president in 2016, which explains, perhaps,…
After Sandy Hook, states begin upping security, mental health care in schools
In December 2012, just days after gunman Adam Lanza left 26 children and staff dead at Newtown Elementary School, a Gallup poll found that half of Americans thought…
Microsoft woos Gmail users
In early 2010, Google tried to accelerate the growth of Google Apps by launching Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange, server software designed to help companies move data…
Toddlers and tablets
The first iPad was released in April 2010, EducationNext reports. Three years later, a Pew Internet survey found that half of American parents with children at home own…
Why teach computer science in high schools?
Derek Acosta is a junior at Cristo Rey New York High School, an innovative school in Harlem where students work to finance their education. He has good grades…
Today’s CEO leader in STEM
Our future depends on the strength of our scientific spine, StemConnector.org reports.
Why BYOD makes sense: Thinking beyond a standardized 1:1
I was recently asked, "Why are you giving the teachers choice of a laptop? Why not just go all in with one device?" My answer, simply stated, is…
The link between early childhood education and PISA scores
Buried under the headlines of the last week about the newly released Program for International Student Assessment results — which showed American 15-year-old students nowhere near the top…
S.C. education leaders want $30 million to help schools go wireless
The S.C. Education Oversight Committee wants state lawmakers to spend $30 million next year on technology to improve wireless access in school buildings across the state, reports the…
Parents say they don’t need state test results
Last month, I asked whether parents and grandparents were worried about threats to annual testing caused by the national switch to the Common Core standards, the Washington Post…
10 jobs destined for robots
The robots are coming, and they want our jobs, InformationWeek reports.
These 7 tablets are the best. Period.
If you are thinking of buying a tablet for someone this year (or for yourself -- that's perfectly acceptable, too!), you should make sure it's from this list,…
Floppy disks still used to store data at some U.S. government agencies
To most, the floppy disk symbol means save. But for some United States government agencies, it still means store, CBC News reports.
The accountability moratorium is here
Many states across the nation are well underway with the challenging work of implementing the Common Core State Standards, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute reports.
Teacher turnover in North Carolina significantly higher than previous year
More teachers left their posts last year—significantly more than the previous year, according to a report released yesterday, NC Policy Watch reports.
The 10 largest ed-tech funding rounds of 2013
According to market research firm CB Insights, venture capital investments in edtech companies during the first 6 months of 2013 ($481M) was down 26% from 2012 ($650M), EdSurge…
Education 3.0–Where students create their own learning experiences
Curriculum maps are well-meaning and imminently practical documents that have guided educators–and education–for years, TeachThought reports.
Let’s hope Computer Science Education Week is an impetus for Congress to act
Were Grace Hopper still alive, she’d turn 107 years young on Monday, December 9th, ITIC.org reports.
Clever gets $10 million from sequoia to provide a standardized API for school data
Clever launched about a year and a half ago to provide a standardized API for K-12 schools that allows them to unlock and share data with outside developers,…
Digital textbooks are the future for learning
Once upon a time, every high school student carried a heavy backpack filled with thick textbooks — the precious source of all knowledge they would need to study,…
Professors in deal to design online lessons for A.P. classes
To ease the way for students grappling with certain key concepts, professors at Davidson College in North Carolina will design online lessons for high school students in Advanced…