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.

Technology’s role in foreign language learning

Technology–blended learning, in particular–can have a positive impact on foreign language learning.

Although educators and policy makers emphasize skills in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses, today’s students are competing in a global society–and foreign language skills can help students gain an edge when it comes to college acceptance and workforce success.

Boosting foreign language learning in schools is a global discussion, and when it comes to global competition, some experts worry that the U.S. is losing out on a key opportunity to marry technology and foreign languages.

Blended learning offers a perfect solution to this conundrum, because it combines self-paced study, scalable resources, an immersion environment, increased student engagement, practice with other speakers, and extended learning time, said Gail Palumbo, former director of curriculum and technology in New Jersey’s Montgomery Township Schools Palumbo is now the Lead Faculty – Area Chair for Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Phoenix Online.…Read More

Groups urge updates to teacher preparation programs

Teachers equipped with digital-age skills will best serve today's students.
Teachers equipped with digital-age skills and teaching strategies will best serve today's students, a new paper argues.

The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) are calling on teacher education programs to update their curricula to better prepare future teachers to integrate 21st-century skills into their instruction.

The groups released a paper on Sept. 23 seeking to establish a shared vision for infusing digital-age knowledge and skills into teacher preparation programs and spark a meaningful discussion among higher-education leaders about how to implement this vision.

“New teacher candidates must be equipped with 21st-century knowledge and skills and learn how to integrate them into their classroom practice for our nation to realize its goal of successfully meeting the challenges of this century,” said Sharon P. Robinson, AACTE president, and Ken Kay, P21 president, in the paper’s introduction.…Read More

AFT: Education must change to move forward

Schools must aim for 21st century education, Weingarten said.
Schools must aim for 21st century education, AFT President Randi Weingarten said.

Moving public education to a model that will better prepare students for today’s knowledge economy, and one that will strengthen teacher development and evaluation, is critical to the nation’s ability to compete on a global scale, said American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten in a Jan. 12 speech at the National Press Club.

The AFT president outlined her vision for what teachers need to help their students succeed, and she discussed how to promote productive labor-management relationships, seeking out governors, mayors, school boards, and superintendents to join in this effort. Weingarten also unveiled a reform plan to ensure superior teaching and improve systems that have been ingrained in public education for more than a decade.

“In a global knowledge economy, filling in the bubbles on a standardized test isn’t going to prepare our children to succeed in life,” she said. “If we are going to thrive in the 21st century, our entire approach to education must change—from what goes on in the classroom, to how we care for children’s well-being, to how labor and management work together.”…Read More

National STEM program increases reach

The Educate to Innovate program is expanding its partnerships.
The Educate to Innovate program is expanding its partnerships.

President Barack Obama on Jan. 6 announced the expansion of the Educate to Innovate program he launched last November, including the creation of several new partnerships to help attract, develop, reward, and retain outstanding STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) teachers.

These partnerships build upon initiatives already announced by Obama Nov. 23, and include programs involving major companies, universities, foundations, nonprofit organizations and government agencies. (See “Obama launches new STEM initiatives.”)

“Several new public-private partnerships are going to offer additional training to more than 100,000 teachers and prepare more than 10,000 new teachers in the next five years alone,” Obama said.…Read More