Ask students what they remember from their learning management system (LMS) in college, and they’ll likely recall a clunky interface used to register for classes, download course PDFs and request a transcript, edSurge reports. It was somewhere they went by necessity–not by choice. And when they graduated, they were more than happy to leave the LMS behind. Even Jay Bhatt, CEO of Blackboard–a household name in the LMS market–conceded in a conversation with EdSurge that its LMS needed an overhaul…
…Read MorePodcast 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.
Want more women in tech? Fix misperceptions of computer science
Code.org’s Hadi Partovi recently wrote a blog post titled “The real reason there aren’t more women in tech,” says edSurge. He listed three reasons:
- Computer science is not taught in US schools;
- As an elective, it doesn’t contribute to graduation requirement;
- The nerd stereotype is proven to drive away women.
While I agree with his assertions, I believe that there is another systemic and underlying factor at play. Students harbor a narrow and misguided view of what CS as a discipline and career entails. This is not so much a “stereotype” as sheer lack of awareness…
A Bill of Rights and principles for learning in the digital age
The internet has made it possible for anyone on the planet to be a student, a teacher, and a creative collaborator at virtually no cost, EdSurge reports. Novel technologies that can catalyze learning are bubbling up in less time than it takes to read this sentence. Some have emerged from universities, some from the private sector, some from individuals and digital communities. In the past year, Massive Online Open Courseware, or MOOCs, have become the darling of the moment–lauded by the media, embraced by millions–so new, so promising in possibility, and yet so ripe for exploitation…
…Read MoreHow 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 game long enough to have suffered through Harry Wong, says Shelly Blake-Plock for EdSurge. But to suggest that video versus in-person PD is the real play here totally ignores what is happening back in reality. A reality where we merge online and real-life everyday through the act of sharing…
…Read MoreEsther 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. 2014 may turn out to be frightening for education in America: we will likely see national hysteria over US students’ falling scores, both in the recently released PISA test scores (Programme for International Student Assessment) and as a result of the new generation of Common Core assessments. We will see districts scrambling for silver bullet solutions. But the biggest concern I have is those such quick fix efforts could just make our education system bleed even more. The PISA scores showed that the American students are falling even farther behind other countries… in spite of our obsession with testing and teacher accountability…
…Read MoreThe 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 reports. But it sees no signs of an edtech bubble, but rather “an early part of Ed Tech’s maturation…with the majority deals still in early/seed stages.” Still, there were some notable big deals. In CB Insight’s recent roundup of the 10 largest edtech rounds in 2013, Laureate Education ($150M), Lynda.com ($103M), and Open English ($65M) take the top three spots. Coursera is a close fourth with $63M B round (after a belated $20M addition in November). There’s still three weeks left in the year and Christmas is coming—will someone else make the list?
OPINION: So you use ed-tech, but are you an early adopter?
Early Adopters: There are usually one or two at every school and they are sometimes referred to as ‘power users’ – but they are more than that, EdSurge reports. Early adopters seek out new tools and don’t mind that often these tools are in beta, pilot, or testing phases. Despite the rough edges, early adopters are excited to try something new. They know that eventually they’ll find that diamond in the rough; and when they do they will get an even bigger kick out of sharing it with their friends and helping their colleagues. So early adopters get the opportunity to shape new products but there is a risk involved – new tools can sometimes be buggy, and teachers have to be careful not to waste valuable class time on edtech teething issues. Lets face it, no matter how good the PD was or how cute the little explainer video on the website is, you don’t truly know how a new tool will fit until it’s in the hands of your students…
…Read MoreDo schools have the infrastructure to implement the Common Core?
How long can students stare at a frozen screen before their minds wander off? How long can they wait for a webpage to load during testing before losing patience and focus? These were some of the critical issues facing the 800-plus technology staff, educators and administrators who attended CETPA 2013 in Pasadena, Calif., EdSurge reports. Many were searching for ways to stay ahead of the increasing demand for bandwidth as classrooms rely more and more on digital media. A gathering storm that started with hardware dependence has quickly developed into Internet and wireless dependence. The performance of any application running on any device ultimately will be determined by the Internet bandwidth available to each device…
OPINION: Learning to code isn’t enough
The 2020 Science report released in 2005 observed that science was changing in a subtle but fundamental way–from the use of computing to support scientific work, to integrating Computer Science (CS) concepts and tools into the very fabric of science, EdSurge reports. One only has to look at how data science played a role in the Obama win in 2012, or what movie-making has become today, to realize that the science of computing is changing the face of many fields in equally dramatic, if not quite as fundamental, ways. Yet, a generation of middle and high school students moves forward without even a cultivated awareness of computational influences on diverse fields of human endeavor…
…Read MoreWhen ed-tech meets Montessori, kids rule ed-tech
Take a peek at Acton Academy and you may wonder if you’ve stepped into a mythical world where students are heroes, learning is a quest, and teachers are guides for the journey, EdSurge reports. In this one-room-schoolhouse approach, 36 K-5 students share one space, while 28 6-8th graders share another. The teacher is merely a guide, as students have autonomy in almost every facet of their learning. At Acton, students make the rules over how to spend the time–and what technology to use. This radical model where edtech meets Montessori has proven an effective formula for success. Students gain an average of three grade levels each year in math, reading and language arts. Five years after its start in 2008, this small private academy is looking for partners as it expands beyond Austin’s city limits and spread a model where kids control their learning journey–and the tools they use along the way…
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