Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Why some schools pay $100 more for the same iPads

Education technology experts discuss various solutions to the ‘broken’ process of ed-tech purchasing

The ed-tech procurement process is broken, said former New York City Public Schools Chancellor Harold Levy during the 2016 South by Southwest Education (SXSWedu) conference in Austin, Texas, March 8—and to prove it, he said a study last month found disparities of more than $100 per unit on how much schools were paying for the exact same iPad model.

In a session titled “Begging for Disruption: Ed-Tech Procurement,” Levy and the other panelists discussed the problems that school districts have in discovering, evaluating, and buying technology products that meet their specific needs.

They also shared information about new services that aim to bring more transparency to the buying process for schools—including a nonprofit organization called the Technology for Education Consortium (TEC) that just launched last month.…Read More

Certiport announces CERTIFIED 2016 Educator Conference

Professional development conference helps educators bring the full promise and potential of technology certification to the classroom

Certiport, a Pearson VUE business, a test delivery solution provider for the global workforce and academic markets, announced the CERTIFIED 2016 Educator Conference, a conference dedicated to helping educators bring the full promise and potential of technology certification to the classroom.

Educators are invited to attend CERTIFIED from June 28-30, 2016 in Orlando, Florida at the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista. Registration is open now at www.certiport.com/certified.

CERTIFIED 2016 is ideal for secondary education teachers, college faculty, and administrators who are working to empower their students by bringing certification opportunities into their school and classroom.…Read More

N.J. experiments with new engagement platform

New engagement platform uses web and mobile-based technology to help students and their parents navigate K-12 challenges

Evolution Labs and The New Jersey Association of School Administrators (NJASA), the state’s professional association of school leaders, have partnered to further develop and make available to NJASA members the company’s web- and mobile-based student and parent success platform, Suite360.

Suite360 leverages new media engagement features with critical content to help students and parents navigate a range of issues, from bullying and cyber-bullying to mental health and wellness, to academic pressures. Under the partnership, NJASA will provide guidance to help shape the platform to meet the specific needs of its member districts.

Dr. Richard G. Bozza, Executive Director of the NJASA will formally announce the partnership and program at the upcoming Techspo 2016 conference in Atlantic City, January 28-29.…Read More

Flipping the classroom when home access is a problem

A lack of reliable internet access at home can make flipping a challenge, but by no means an impossibility

Ed. note: Jess Peterson will co-present a related session, “Flipping the Classroom in Low-Socioeconomic Schools,” at this year’s FETC conference in Orlando, on Friday Jan. 15.

Ask any educator, and they’ve probably at least heard of flipping the classroom. There are articles for days about the benefits and rewards to be reaped from flipping. Plenty of teachers have given it a go, or at least considered it. Too many teachers have ruled it out on account of their students’ lack of access.

It’s true that our students come from all walks of life. We see the ones with the new Jordans or the latest iPhone, and their peers wearing the old hand-me-down sweater. All of them are our future. All of them are entitled to the best education possible. Only some of them are equipped with the means to achieve their fullest potential.…Read More

Educating parents of the Siri generation

In our digital world, some parents may feel lost at sea. Here’s what they need to know

[Ed. note: Carl Hooker will deliver a related session on digital parenting at this year’s ISTE conference on Monday June 29. Previous ISTE coverage has focused on iPads and coding and keynoter Josh Stumpenhorst.]

digital-parentsWhat ever happened to the good old days? When I was a kid I used to listen to music my parents didn’t like and stay out riding my bike until the street lights came on. Today, our kids have scheduled playdates and a steady stream of organized activities, and spend the rest of their time connecting to others online. We no longer live in an analog world, yet why do we think our parenting should look the same as it did back then?

As an administrator in a one-to-one mobile device district, I’ve seen firsthand how access to devices can disrupt learning for both good and bad. But we forget that this disruption also occurs at home when the students take their device home. Our teachers hopefully have hours and hours of support and training for integrating these tools in the classroom, but what help are parents getting?…Read More

Watch 5,000 educators take a big risk to make 1 important point

Would you stand up and try a dance you’ve never done in front of 5,000 strangers? These educators did to show that risk taking and learning go hand-in-hand

[field name = iframe2]

magiera-risks“It’s going to probably be a hot mess,” confided digital learning coordinator Jennie Magiera at the close of her keynote speech in front of nearly 5,000 educators at the Annual CUE 2015 conference in Palm Springs last month, seconds before she got everyone on their feet. But she did it to make one important point.

After showing the Uptown Funk dance popularized by Ellen, Magiera welcomed a handful of brave teachers on stage to dance, and then asked the entire audience to “get up with us and take a risk” to show that sometimes educators, like students, have to take risks and even fail in order to succeed in the end. (Watch the amazing video above).…Read More

Everything you never knew about using Google in the classroom

Google Certified Teachers share tips and secrets for using Chrome, Docs, and more

google-tipsDid you know you can see all your copy/paste history in Chrome in a click? Bookmark all your browser tabs at once? Create choose your own adventures in Google Slides?

More than half a dozen Google Certified Teachers recently descended on Palm Springs to share their favorite tips, tricks, add-ons, and extensions during a packed session at the Annual CUE 2015 conference. Each presenter shared a micro-presentation honing in on their top ways for teachers and students to make the most out of the Google ecosystem.

The session’s presenters included: Alice Chen, Jen Roberts, Catina Haugen, Lisa Nowakowski, JR Ginex-Orinion, Kevin Fairchild, Scott Moss, Jo-Ann Fox, and Jason Seliskar.…Read More

School leaders convene to celebrate AASA’s 150th anniversary

National gathering of superintendents celebrates milestone

san-diego-superintendentsThe School Superintendents Association, AASA, will host its annual conference, the National Conference on Education, Feb. 26-28 in San Diego. The National Superintendent of the Year will be announced at the conference.

“AASA has been serving as the voice for school district leaders for 150 years,” said Daniel A. Domenech, executive director, AASA. “We are helping superintendents set the pace for the way children learn and what they will achieve later in life. As we applaud public school leaders everywhere for the tremendous work they do, we are looking forward to this milestone in an effort to set a positive educational framework for generations to come.”

For the first time, superintendents will be recognized for completing the prestigious National Superintendent Certification program. Launched in 2013, the educational leadership program focuses on sharpening the skills that successful superintendents acknowledge are needed to thrive on the job.…Read More

20 Education Buzz Words and Phrases

The words and phrases we in the education biz love to hate

words-education For those critics who say education moves at a snail’s pace, they’re wrong…at least when it comes to terminology. From buzz words to phrases speakers love to use, it seems there’s a whole new vocabulary—that some call “edubabble”—developed every couple of years.

As education editors, managing editor Laura Devaney and I come across these buzz words frequently, especially over our eight-plus years reporting on education. Now, we’d like to share these words with you, our education-savvy readers!

Each buzz word or phrase is one we’ve either groaned over after attending a large-scale conference (where every story is littered with “edubabble”), or is one we think was pretty neat…at least while it lasted.…Read More