LeVar Burton’s plan to revolutionize reading with tech

LeVar Burton is no stranger to CES. Although he’s best known for his work in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Roots and Reading Rainbow, the actor, director and educator is also a huge tech fan, Mashable reports. We caught up with Burton at the 2014 International CES and talked about the newest version of Reading Rainbow. After PBS canceled the series in 2009, Burton relaunched it last June as a tablet app via RRKidz, an educational company he co-founded…

Read the full story

…Read More

10 rockstar teachers on Twitter

More and more teachers are turning to the rapid-fire world of Twitter as a platform for professional development and sharing philosophies, Mashable reports. It’s a way for educators across the country, and even across the world, to share their insights. They can find support and encouragement from others in the demanding profession, or they can research new ways to bring tablets and web tools into their classrooms…

Read the full story

…Read More

You’ll make more money if you can code

Being able to learn marketable digital skills is sluggish and difficult — or so they say, Mashable reports. Adda Birnir noticed a gender divide between a media company’s business and technical side (read: men) versus the editorial side (read: women). She created online tech education platform Skillcrush to give women a way to learn marketable skills that could lead to steady, high-paying jobs and relevant, satisfying work. The five-year-old company teaches digital skills: We’re talking about technical jargon, coding, building a website and understanding user experience. You do so by signing up for classes that are designed to be fun and done on your own time. But that wasn’t always the format for Skillcrush. “Our challenge is actually not convincing people that tech skills are really important,” she says. “It’s convincing people that getting tech skills is something that they can do.”

Read more

…Read More

iPads hold a staggering 94% of the education market for tablets

Apple says it had its best quarter ever in education sales, selling more than $1 billion worth of products, Mashable reports. A huge chunk of that revenue can be credited to iPads. Apple said iPads accounted for 90% of tablet activations last quarter, with the iPad overall holding a 94% share of the education market for tablets. “We see Chromebooks in some places,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “But the vast majority of people are buying PC/Mac or an iPad. “It’s sort of unheard of,” Cook added. “I’ve never seen a market share that high before. So we feel like we’re doing really well here, and feel great to be making a contribution to education.”

Read more

…Read More

7 ways teachers use social media in the classroom

Millennials live and breathe on social media, so teachers are learning how to incorporate the medium into the classroom successfully, Mashable reports. In doing so, teachers not only encourage students to engage actively in the material, but they also provide online communities for students that might not exist for them in real life. But how are teachers infusing social media into their everyday lessons? We’ve highlighted several different examples and offered our own ideas on how to best engage students…

Read the full story

…Read More

I’m 13 and none of my friends use Facebook

I’m a teen living in New York, Mashable reports. All of my friends have social networks — Instagram, Vine, Snapchat, etc. Facebook used to be all I could talk about when I was younger. “Mom, I want a Facebook!” and other whining only a mother could put up with. But now, at 13, I’ve been noticing something different. Facebook is losing teens lately, and I think I know why. Part of the reason Facebook is losing my generation’s attention is the fact that there are other networks now. When I was 10, I wasn’t old enough to have a Facebook. But a magical thing called Instagram had just come out … and our parents had no idea there was an age limit. Rapidly, all my friends got Instagrams…

Read the full story

…Read More

iSchool unlocks eLearning in the developing world

Rachel Ngongola’s second grade class at the Tico Community School is learning to count multiples of 10 on a Wednesday morning in late July, Mashable reports. The class of 30 is divided into three groups: one counts clusters of plastic bottle caps, one scribbles addition problems into lined paper notebooks and a third sprawls across the floor, huddled in groups of two around white tablet computers. Ngongola controls the classroom with ease. You won’t catch her shushing her students, or reminding them to focus on the lesson. While other Tico teachers describe Ngongola — known to her students as Teacher Rachel — as an exceptional educator, she hasn’t always engaged her students with such ease. Her classroom’s cool composure arrived with the five white ZEduPad tablets one year earlier, when Tico became one of seven Lusaka schools to pilot the iSchool curriculum…

Read the full story

…Read More

Top 5 apps kids will love this week

In this day and age, learning a different language — especially at a young age — is essential, says Mashable. This week, take a look at an app that helps your kids learn Spanish; plus, a few others sure to get their creative juices flowing. The folks at Children’s Technology Review shared with us these 5 top apps from their comprehensive monthly database of kid-tested reviews. The site covers everything from math and counting to reading and phonics…

Click here for the full story

…Read More