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.

eSchool News, Xirrus launch Innovate to Educate Awards at ISTE 2016

Innovate to Educate Awards to recognize the best ed-tech innovation and commitment to making the digital classroom and personalized learning a reality

eSchool News, in partnership with Xirrus, provider of next generation, cloud-enabled Wi-Fi networks, invites K-12 schools and districts nationwide to participate in the first ever Innovate to Educate Awards program, kicking off June 27 at the ISTE 2016 conference at Xirrus Booth No. 2937.

The Innovate to Educate Awards program recognizes the country’s finest ed-tech initiatives, and offers schools and districts across the U.S. the opportunity to showcase their groundbreaking approach to improving teaching and learning through the use of technology. ISTE 2016 attendees will have the first chance to enter the contest which runs until October 14, 2016. Attendees can enter by creating a video that describes their ed-tech innovations at the Xirrus booth and will receive five free raffle tickets for the daily Xirrus Apple Watch drawing.

The winning school or district will be awarded the grand Innovation Showcase Prize November, 2016—a multi-faceted eSchool News media package that promotes the success of the winner’s technology program to local and national stakeholders and constituents. The award package includes a feature story in eSchool News print and digital issues, a success story for the winner to share and distribute, a grand prize winner press announcement, and a custom-designed “Innovate to Educate Winner” icon for online posting and promotion.…Read More

TED-ED clubs give students a platform for sharing ideas

The clubs are fashioning the next generation of TED speakers one big idea at a time

One of Mitzi Stover’s biggest challenges as a teacher is convincing her students they have a voice. Stover teaches speech and English at North Torrance High School in a working-class area of Los Angeles where kids seldom travel or even leave the neighborhood.

“Their world is very small geographically,” Stover said during a recent presentation at the CUE 2016 national conference in Palm Springs. “And teenagers are already so dismissed most of the time.”

From her years of teaching, Stover knew that having students delve into their interests and personal experiences was one of the best ways to develop their passions — and in turn their public speaking. But presenting to the same classmates they saw every day was decidedly low-stakes and hardly helped her convince students they had a voice, let alone a global reach.…Read More

Destination Imagination, Oracle Academy launch computer science challenge

Organizations join forces on the development of two coding challenges

Destination Imagination (DI), an educational nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching students the creative process skills needed to become the next generation of innovators, entrepreneurs and industry pioneers, has collaborated with Oracle Academy to advance coding and computer science opportunities that will help students thrive in the future workforce. Oracle Academy works globally to expand knowledge, skills, innovation and diversity in technology through computer science education.

“There is an urgent need to provide students and teachers access to computer science education,” said Dr. Chuck Cadle, CEO of Destination Imagination. “The Association for Computing Machinery estimates that by 2020, one out of every two STEM jobs will be in computing. However, nine out of 10 K-12 schools do not currently provide computer science education. As computing technology continues to grow and evolve, it’s essential we provide students with affordable access to computer science opportunities that will inspire and engage them in career-ready learning opportunities. We’re excited to work with Oracle Academy to ensure students connect to the needs of the future workforce.”

Through the collaboration, Destination Imagination will release two new computer science challenges—Dear Hero and Co{DI}ng Space—in hopes of engaging 10,000 students in computer science education this year. Each challenge is designed to spark kids’ interest in coding and encourage students of diverse backgrounds to incorporate their artistic expression while learning skills such as collaboration, storyboarding and perseverance.…Read More

Panasonic expands SOLID SHINE projector series

 New 5,000-Lumen, 1-Chip DLP Phosphor projector is built for marathon endurance

Panasonic, a provider of professional projector solutions, has introduced a new PT-RZ570U 1-Chip DLP Laser Phosphor projector. This compact model is the latest in the SOLID SHINE lineup and is positioned towards the middle of Panasonic’s range for education, achieving an ideal price-to-performance ratio with a balance of high 5,000 lm brightness, brilliant picture quality, up to 20,000-hour1 maintenance-free operation, and practical features for use in mid-size classrooms with about 50-student capacity.

Utilizing the latest DLP™ module for detailed WUXGA resolution and new-generation solid-state laser diodes, PT-RZ570U’s outstanding performance stems from a four-segment Quartet Color Harmonizer color wheel that improves efficiency from the laser light source, boosting the perceived brightness and improving color accuracy.

“Laser technology holds tremendous promise for projection technology, improving efficiency, performance and delivering costs savings through maintenance-free operation. As the technology evolves, we’re able to expand access to an increasing number of products and at the same time expand into new markets previously in-accessible due to limitations in lamp technology,” said John Baisley, Sr. Vice President, Visual & Imaging Business Operations, Panasonic System Communications Company of North America. “In particular, we hear from our education customers that they are looking forward to laser technology with low maintenance operation – to reduce stress on their increasingly overburdened technology support staff. The PT-RZ570U projector delivers that exactly.”…Read More

The next top scientist could win $25,000

The next generation of STEM leaders is invited to solve tomorrow’s challenges and compete for $25,000 in the annual Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge

Discovery Education and 3M have opened the annual Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, a national science competition for students in grades 5-8.

Through the program, young inventors have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work closely with a 3M Scientist Mentor, compete for $25,000, and earn the title of “America’s Top Young Scientist.”

The Challenge rewards students who use their science acumen and innovative thinking to create new ways to solve the issues we face every day. Hannah Herbst, who won last year for her energy probe prototype that seeks to offer a stable power source to developing countries, entered the contest because she wanted to help her 9-year-old pen pal living in Ethiopia who lacks a reliable source of power and electricity.…Read More

App of the Week: Shakespeare for the iPad generation

Ed. note: App of the Week picks are now being curated with help from Common Sense Graphite. To read the full app review, click here.
shakespeare-in-bits

What’s It Like? Within Shakespeare in Bits: Romeo & Juliet, the full text of the play is featured side-by-side with an animated reenactment. While the style of animation is somewhat simplistic, there are professional actors voicing the parts. Within the text, simply tapping any highlighted words offers a more modern-day term. Tabs at the top of the text let students move easily between the text, section notes, a synopsis, and their own notes. A navigation bar at the bottom of the screen shows all options — viewing by scene, examining characters, reading analysis, and reviewing notes.

Graphite Rating: 4/5

Price: $15…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

1 2

Finding copyright-friendly photos for the Google Images generation

Searching and citing usable images is easy once students learn the basics

images-ccssTeaching students to respect the intellectual property of others is important in this digital “cut and paste” world we live in. One great project to share with students that can better help them understand how and when they may use images created by others is the Creative Commons project.

Creative Commons is designed to span the gap between full copyright and the public domain. The Creative Commons project provides content creators the opportunity to state ahead of time how their images may (or may not) be used.

When an image creator posts an image online and applies a Creative Commons license to it, there are four conditions/restrictions they can apply to the image:…Read More

1 2 3

4 Essential Game-Based Learning Questions

Asking the right questions can help games make a positive impact in the classroom

game-learningYou’d have to live under a rock to be unfamiliar with the rise of game-based learning in classrooms across the nation in recent years. Integrating a game into an instructional unit may seem daunting, but four key implementation questions should help educators use games to support teaching and learning and help drive student engagement.

Games offer opportunities for collaboration and inquiry-based, self-directed learning. They also support skill development that students need under Common Core math and Next Generation Science Standards.

It’s first important to define what is not a learning game, said Susannah Gordon-Messer, curriculum and professional development specialist at the MIT Education Arcade, during an edWeb webinar on gaming implementation strategies.…Read More

1 2

The dumbest generation? No, Twitter is making kids smarter

The only way to tell whether kids today are really less coherent or literate than their great-grandparents is to compare student writing across the past century, The Globe and Mail reports. Tricky, but precisely what Andrea Lunsford, a scholar of writing and rhetoric at Stanford University, managed to do by collecting 877 “freshman composition” papers from from 2006 and comparing their error rate to those in papers from 1986, 1930 and 1917. If the digital age had hurt students’ prose, the error rate in spelling, grammar and word use should have increased. It hadn’t. Indeed, the average rate of errors had barely budged in almost a century, from 2.11 errors per 100 words in 1917 to 2.26 words today. What’s more, there were “almost no instances” of the smileys or LOL-style short forms that have supposedly metastasized everywhere…

Read more

…Read More