Most districts are doing nothing about the homework gap; a few are making a big difference

3 out of 4 districts have little plan for providing off-campus internet. But there are solutions, and some districts are leading the charge

The growing ubiquity of internet access and pervasive use of online information has changed the learning landscape forever. Students continue to benefit from enhanced connectivity throughout the formal school day thanks to a $1.5 billion increase in E-rate funding over the last 18 months. However, demand and expectations for learning outside of the school day are on the rise — and there are still many students struggling to complete homework online.

It is estimated that 5 million households with school-age children do not have high-speed internet service at home. Low-income households, especially Black and Hispanic households, make up a disproportionate share of that 5 million.[1] The under-connection of low-income families is a real issue. Clearly, there is a great deal of work that needs to be done to narrow the inequitable homework gap.

This issue constitutes a new civil right; the right to digital equity; the right to connect to needed resources — anywhere, anytime. This is a civil right that cannot be achieved by school leaders alone. A holistic approach will ensure that school-aged children aren’t reduced to little or no access. It calls for community leadership — connected and collaborative leadership.…Read More

Can you teach students to think more like entrepreneurs?

Teaching students the skills they need to become leaders and innovators is more important than ever

When you think of imparting entrepreneurship skills to students, most educators will likely go the obvious route — how can we teach students to build successful businesses that will help them in their post-graduation careers. But there are also a host of skills that successful business leaders use every day that can help students no matter what path they choose.

“Most schools that are working with this topic are teaching students to conceptualize new ideas and build business plans around those ideas—or to actually go out and create a company,” said Cheryl Lemke, who is president of the Metiri Group, an education technology research firm. “We think that’s a great idea for a subset of kids, but you’re probably not going to reach every child by doing that.”

In her many years of studying 21st century skills, researcher Lemke has identified five key skills that are essential to becoming a successful entrepreneur. She describes these skills as tolerance of ambiguity, calculated risk-taking, persistence, evidence-based reasoning, and self-direction.…Read More

How hackers held a district hostage for almost $10,000

Think ransoms are only paid out to rescue victims of kidnappings? Think again.

Imagine walking into your office one morning and finding some (or all) of your district’s computer files “padlocked” and inaccessible. In the corner, a masked man is standing with his hand out, demanding an $8,000-$10,000 ransom payment. When he gets the money, he’ll hand over the key to the padlock. If you choose not to pay, then you’ll spend the next few months trying to pick the lock while teachers, students, and administrators are forced to work without their modern technology.

This is essentially what happened to Horry County Schools (HCS) of Conway, S.C., earlier this year. Using a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid (aka, “ransomware”), on February 8 hackers used high-level encryption to lock up the district’s data. The criminals then held that data for ransom and demanded the district pay nearly $10,000 via Bitcoin for the encryption key.

Charles Hucks, executive director of technology, says the district had experienced a few breaches during the months leading up to the attack, but nothing of this magnitude. “A few devices of teachers were hit and some of their local files were encrypted,” says Hucks. “In some cases network-based files on individual directories were also encrypted, but the impact of those attacks was very limited. They were isolated incidents.”…Read More

This easy presentation software lets students focus on content, not design

Students spend more time playing around with presentation software than you might think. Shouldn’t they be using that time on the material itself?

Imagine if there was presentation software that could give students and teachers what they want, while reducing time and energy spent on aspects of the task that don’t impact the final grade.

Imagine software that eliminated most of the design and technical knowledge while still producing a professional product — with a minimal learning curve.

Presentations are a key part of the academic world, and multimodal assignments are frequently assigned. In most cases, the teacher wants to know what the student knows and understands about the topic being presented. The knowledge of how to use the software and the design principles (i.e. their understanding of appropriate font size and color, image placement and size, white space, etc.) is rarely reflected in the criteria/rubric used to grade the presentation.…Read More

The Internet of Things is coming to your school

Internet of Things devices are cropping up in schools everywhere. IT is taking note — and so are students

After being introduced to the Internet of Things (IoT) by a local software company, Tiffany Davis’ first instinct was to consider what the concept would look like in the K-12 setting. “It was appealing to me because [IoT] is the direction that most products are taking in the business world,” said Davis, who is the instructional technology specialist at John R. Briggs Elementary School in Ashburnham, Mass.

Davis’ re-imagining of IoT for a new context is nothing new. In recent years, the IoT has touched nearly every piece of technology we interact with.

Defined by Gartner as “the network of physical objects that contain embedded technology to communicate and sense or interact with their internal states or the external environment,” IoT is a somewhat nebulous concept that promises to change the way we use objects, products, and technology in general. In A Simple Explanation Of ‘The Internet Of Things,” Forbes’ Jacob Morgan defines IoT as the act of connecting any device with an on and off switch to the internet (and/or to each other). In the consumer world, these devices include mobile phones, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps, wearable devices like Fitbits, and even heavy equipment like jet engines.…Read More

You are a global educator. It’s time to start thinking like one

Building collaboration skills today means building global collaboration skills. Educators have their work cut out for them

PLCs-communitiesEd note: Innovation in Action is a monthly column from the International Society of Technology in Education focused on exemplary practices in education.

It’s one thing for today’s students to connect with the world and to appreciate the diversity and significance of potential interactions through everyday, real-time interaction. It is a whole different challenge to be able to collaborate with learning partners across town — or around the world.

The latter, in truth, is what all educators and learners should be aspiring toward, but the reality is you cannot run before you can walk. Unless educators understand and experience the power of using digital technologies for online collaboration in a local context first, it is likely that jumping head-first into global contexts — with its myriad challenges — will not be successful.…Read More

How a telepresence robot is changing some classrooms

A new technology enables both interactive communication and observation capabilities with a telepresence robot platform

Thanks to recent strides in robotics and mobile devices, telepresence technology has opened up numerous possibilities at both the K-12 and higher-ed levels, where remote observation and communication can come in handy.

Educators and students are exploring a new way to remotely observe and interact with colleagues and peers with a telepresence robot that enables face-to-face communication.

Using Kubi, from Revolve Robotics, users download an app onto a tablet and connect the tablet to Kubi using Bluetooth. The tablet sits on a robotic platform. Other users can then “navigate” to Kubi with a browser. This lets them control the robot remotely over the web, including moving it for face-to-face communication.…Read More

3 Google Fiber programs that could help ease the digital divide

Google’s affordable broadband service is already impacting some communities and schools

The latest Digital Equity report from the Consortium of School Networking paints a picture of an educational environment where schools are at least on the right path to providing access to high-speed wi-fi within their walls (though there is still plenty of work to be done). An equally pressing problem is the fact that the number of pupils with fast connectivity dwindles as they move away from their K-12 hubs—and the divide deepens even further when issues like socioeconomic status, income, and race are taken into account.

According to The Pew Research Center, 82.5 percent of American households with school-age children currently have broadband access at home. This is approximately 9 percentage points higher than the broadband adoption rates across all households, CoSN reports, but there are still 5 million households with school-age children which lack broadband in the home.

“Students in these households experience what is being labeled the ‘homework gap,’” reported CoSN, pointing out that more than 75 percent of school district technology leaders have no strategy for addressing off-campus access.…Read More

Wisconsin launches online CTE school

Online CTE model will provide hands on training and dual credit opportunities for middle and high school students

Online learning provider K12 Inc. announced the opening of Destinations Career Academy of Wisconsin, an online career and technical education (CTE) high school in Wisconsin using the curriculum and academic programs by K12 Inc. It also offers a construction apprenticeship program in partnership with industry leaders.

“Studies have shown that by 2020 two out of three jobs will require some postsecondary education or training and that job-related skills can dramatically increase employment options for new graduates,” said Stuart J. Udell, CEO of K12. “We have a unique expertise in delivering online course content to young students and the addition of career and technical courses like the ones we are offering through our Destinations model will allow them to explore potential careers and get a jump on the certification process.”

K12’s career readiness offering uses an end-to-end approach, designed to prepare students to enter the workforce or pursue other post-secondary options. Students can access multiple versions of core online high school courses and opt to take CTE courses in one of four Career Clusters: Architecture and Construction; Business, Management, and Administration; Health Science; or Information Technology. These Clusters are designed to give students a head start on their career goals by earning technical and specialty trade credentials, college credits, and workplace experiences.…Read More

The 9 essentials of crowdfunding for the classroom

Fund your projects easily with these top tips

crowdfunding-classroomAs funding for public education continues to decline, districts, administrators, and classroom teachers struggle to find ways to fill gaps left by budget cuts. Traditional school fundraising methods, such as gift wrap sales, are time intensive and often only raise a small amount of capital.

Fortunately, the advent of the internet has created new fundraising opportunities for schools and educators. One such fundraising mechanism crowdfunding—uses the collective power of individual donors who are united in support of a common cause or goal. It’s been used successfully by movie producers, startup founders, and others with a truly great idea. Teachers are discovering it, too. In the classroom, crowdfunding can be used to fund exciting projects, purchase technology, or supplement resources.

Crowdfunding might sound like a lot of work, but it’s actually quite easy to implement. Here is what you need to know to get started and successfully fund your own projects.…Read More

50 tips to develop and run your online courses

From getting started to managing the day-to-day business, try these 50 tips for setting up a successful online course for any grade level

online-learningAs many K-12 U.S. public schools and districts are struggling to compete with 100 percent online cyber charter schools for essential student funding, many universities are struggling to understand the impact of MOOCs on future enrollment. Both of these scenarios point to the one thing that is abundantly clear, online education is having another growth spurt in the second decade of the 21st century and the race to create in-house online content is on.

In-house online content is defined here as online course development created by practicing K-12 educators to avoid having to access sometimes cost-prohibitive, commercially-developed online courses.

However, in addition to the already full plates of educators, in-house online content and course development remains a challenge. With a healthy dose of optimism and motivation to better serve their current, digitally-inclined students’ expectations, along with many excellent, free online tools for online and blended course development, K-16 educators are now able to master the task of online course content for blended learning models and/or 100 percent online course development using the following easily-implemented strategies. While the physical location of the classroom may be left behind, the online classroom adventure has just begun.…Read More