Service offers new way to connect with parents
A handful of teachers in Hawaii are using a new service that allows them to blast a text message to parents, who can then text back.
Communication and Collaboration
Watch: FoodCorps volunteers teach healthy eating to at-risk young kids
More than 17 percent of all children between the ages of two and 19 are clinically obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention--a rate…
TED talks: Kids save the world
In this special year-end collaboration, TED and The Huffington Post are excited to count down 18 great ideas of 2011, featuring the full TEDTalk with original blog posts…
Five tips for digital communication in the new year
With a new year approaching, it's a great opportunity to re-evaluate what’s working—and what’s not—in your classroom, school, or district communications program. Here are five tips to power…
Opinion: Why gifted students can be so challenging
What do Woody Allen and Steve Jobs have in common? Among other things (including brilliant, creative minds), they both hated school and were discipline problems, says Mark Phillips,…
A state grooms its best students to be good teachers
When Mr. Williams means business, he is not kidding around. “He’s pretty quiet, pretty serious,” said Ashabur Rahman, a fifth grader at Glenn Elementary School who has him…
25-year-old CEO tutors low-income students
When Erik Kimel launched Peer2Peer Tutors, at the age of 16, his idea was simple: students can help other students succeed academically, the Huffington Post reports.
When knowledge isn’t written, does it still count?
“MAKING fun of Wikipedia is so 2007,” a French journalist said recently to Sue Gardner, the executive director of the foundation that runs the Wikipedia project, reports the…
Wikipedia says it’s losing contributors
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that is written entirely by volunteers and allows anyone to edit its entries, is losing contributors, its founder complained Aug. 4.
Readers: Here’s how educators really spend their summers
The phrase ‘summer vacation’ often implies exotic destinations, way too many hot dogs, and unfortunate tan lines, but for educators around the country, it’s also a time to…
Educators to convene at Iowa Education Summit
Forty-four Iowans will attend the Iowa Education Summit Monday and Tuesday, reports Iowa State Daily.
Obama meets ATT, Time Warner Cable CEOs on education
President Barack Obama held a roundtable discussion with business leaders including Time Warner Cable Inc. Chief Executive Officer Glenn Britt, AT&T Inc. CEO Randall Stephenson, and AOL Inc.…
Facebook can help in disasters: academic
An Australian academic Friday praised the increasing use of social media during disasters, saying there had been a "beautiful display of humanity" on Facebook during recent catastrophes, reports…
Duncan, Lee urge more black men to become teachers
Filmmaker Spike Lee joined Education Secretary Arne Duncan in issuing a call Monday for more black men to become teachers, making their plea at the country's only all-male…
Tech talk podcast: Evolving relationships and privacy
The New York Times presents a podcast by professor Sherry Turkle of M.I.T., who discusses her new book “Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less…
Enhancing classroom instruction with collaborative technologies
Today’s students are raised in a completely different technology-rich world than previous generations. Typewriters are non-existent and cursive writing is becoming an art of the past. For our…
Edmodo: A free, secure social networking site for schools
Teachers seeking online communication and collaboration opportunities with students and other educators have another free resource at their disposal: Edmodo, an education-based social networking site.
A former schools chief shapes her comeback
Michelle Rhee announced she would lead a new advocacy group, StudentsFirst, setting a highly ambitious target of raising $1 billion to promote “transformative reform,” primarily by backing laws…
Web site lends an ear to student woes-then reports trends to schools
Heidi Allstop was a Junior year psychology student when she launched her online business Spill, a web site where students can anonymously submit descriptions of their personal problems…
Online collaboration across the globe
In its technology implementation framework, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) shares standards that staff and students should learn, including skills to collaborate online with different…
Website combines project-based learning, social responsibility
A new partnership between Microsoft Corp., the Smithsonian Institution, and TakingITGlobal uses educational technology to help students solve real-world challenges through online collaboration with their peers around the…
Gates Foundation launches $20 million program to expand technology use
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Oct. 11 announced the Next Generation Learning Challenges, a collaborative, multi-year initiative that aims to help dramatically improve college readiness and…
Facebook ‘Groups’ could boost privacy, collaboration
A new Facebook feature unveiled Oct. 6 gives users more control over which information is shared with certain groups of people, and it also offers an easy platform…
Education in a social world
Prior to the industrialization of education, the education model was centered around a single-room school house consisting of one teacher with many students throughout many grades. The teacher…
Schools still conflicted over Web 2.0 tools
Many school systems have discovered that Web 2.0 tools such as blogging, social networking, and collaborative authoring software can help create participatory learning environments—but the gap between schools…
New internet tools create class collaboration
In Alison Saylor's technology class, she teaches her students more than just computers: In fact, she says they're learning things that just might revolutionize the classroom, 9news.com reports.…
Google tool tries to cut through eMail clutter
Google Inc. can sift through more than a trillion web links in a matter of seconds, but can the internet search leader help people wade through their overflowing…
Facebook pokes start-up Teachbook with lawsuit
Facebook is concerned that a start-up social network for teachers with the word "book" in its title is infringing on its own trademarks, CNET reports.
Duncan: Schools should disclose more teacher data
Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Aug. 25 urged schools across the country to disclose more data on student achievement and teacher effectiveness, saying too much information that would…
Missouri schools take on cyber bullying with new law
In recent years, school districts across the country have zeroed in on bullying. Now, a new Missouri law is pushing that effort off campus, placing schools in the…
Missing eMails complicate special-education case
Disputes over special-education programs for youngsters with autism can grow complicated, but the case of a Hillsdale, N.Y., youngster who had attended a special school has taken an…
School administrator resigns over Facebook posting
A Massachusetts school administrator has resigned after she called residents of the town where she worked “snobby” and “arrogant” in a Facebook posting, reports the Boston Globe.
Superintendents turn to tech academies to boost skills
As the need for tech-savvy students becomes more pressing, school leaders' technology skills must also keep pace, and superintendents across the nation are enrolling in technology-focused professional development…
Step 1: Post Elusive Proof. Step 2: Watch Fireworks.
The potential of internet-based collaboration was vividly demonstrated this month when complexity theorists used blogs and wikis to pounce on a claimed proof for one of the most…
NYC school official caught spying on co-workers’ eMail
A Harlem associate principal for technology is accused of high-tech spying on colleagues in an incident allegedly motivated by jealousy, reports WABC-TV
Sowing the seeds of creativity
Joaquin Horton, 19, who just graduated from Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, credits a new online resource called Seedplay for helping him take his company to the…
New copyright ruling affects educators
A new ruling from the U.S. Copyright Office will affect how higher education students and teachers can use digital material in the classroom, thanks to the proactive efforts…
Google Wave is dead: Now what?
While very few of you may be shedding tears over the demise of Google Wave, or even knew what it was, we probably haven't seen the last of…
Technology takes formative assessment to a whole new level
Promethean has unveiled new software that could take student response system technology to a whole new level—something the company calls “real-time personalized intervention.”
B-schools all a-Twitter over social media
With interest in social media growing, B-schools are adding courses to teach students what it means for business, BusinessWeek reports. Harvard Business School and Columbia University's Graduate School…