Why one district gave students a virtual learning day

Students, teachers executed a virtual learning day to develop online learning and working skills

As college and career skills are touted as essential for students’ success after high school, students in one New Jersey school got a lesson in one fast-growing workplace trend: learning and working from home.

Park Ridge High School in Bergen County, N.J., gave its 500 7-12th graders the option to stay home as part of a planned virtual learning day.

Part of the impetus came from the realization that students should prepare for online-only college classes and for positions involving varying degrees of work-from-home options, said Troy Lederman, Park Ridge High School’s principal.…Read More

The 4 essential elements of any successful one-to-one program

Not all successful one-to-one programs are alike. But they do share some common ground

As more and more schools and districts set goals to provide one-to-one access to technology to students to meet teaching and learning goals, district and school leaders are faced with the task of planning and implementing technology resources at levels that they might not have experienced in the past. My district, Santa Ana Unified (SAUSD), is increasing access to students through a program called “Access for All,” a well-received iPad and Chromebook initiative. Through this experience, we have developed a model for planning and implementation. Here’s how we got started.

Establish your vision

It is important that any plan to increase levels of access to technology to students does not move forward as a “technology for technology’s sake” effort, but that is integrated as part of the district or school vision for teaching and learning. At SAUSD, the goal of expanding access to technology to students is aligned to the district Framework for Teaching and Learning and has been established as an essential part of the district vision. This vision is centered on establishing a growth model with expanding choice options for students, enhancing personalized learning pathways, and providing a wide variety of blended learning opportunities to support increased student engagement and improved student learning outcomes.

Provide opportunities for stakeholder engagement

One of the first considerations when planning a one-to-one initiative is establishing support and funding. The Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) is a critical part of California’s Local Control Funding Formula. As part of establishing the LCAP plan, school districts must engage parents, educators, staff, and the community.…Read More

The ‘under-connected’ are the new internet access challenge

Study finds that discount internet programs reach few low-income families

Though technology’s critical role in academic and workforce success is increasing, many low- and moderate-income families, while connected to the internet, are plagued by slow speeds or mobile-only device access, according to a new study.

The vast majority of surveyed low- and moderate-income families are connected to the internet (94 percent), but many rely on mobile-only access (23 percent) and more than half (52 percent) of those with home internet access say it is too slow, a quarter (26 percent) say too many people share the same computer, and one fifth (20 percent) say their internet was cut off in the last year due to lack of payment.

The study, Opportunity for All? Technology and Learning in Low-Income Families, from Rutgers and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, is based on a nationally-representative telephone survey of nearly 1,200 parents of children ages 6 to 13 with household incomes below the national median.…Read More

What does research really say about iPads in the classroom?

Two educators put the research to the test. When (and how) are iPads most effective?

Popular mobile devices may come and go, but the iPad has remained a hit in the K-12 classroom. But even though they’re in schools, our work with teachers has led us to understand that while many of them would like to use iPads meaningfully in their classrooms, they can’t because of time, access, and training.

So for the past year and a half, we’ve both been working with teachers and university students integrating iPad technology into the classroom in a controlled way. While doing this, we came across several outcomes that made us question and dig deeper into what the research actually says about using them in the classroom. Do students and younger teachers use them more effectively? Do they work better for some student populations? It’s probably not giving much away to say that the most important learning outcome we found was that experience is the greatest teacher.

First, a note about who we are. Jeanne is a teacher (elementary and part-time professor) and Tanya is a university professor (former special education teacher) who loved using technology as a teaching tool. Jeanne wrote several grants to bring technology into her school and her classroom but she kept noticing that she was flying solo—very few of her school’s teachers were using iPads in the classroom beyond the usual Friday afternoon fun time and as a reward for being “good.” We wanted to know more about this resistance and hesitation when it came to the use of iPads in the classrooms.…Read More

HP launches new education Chromebook

As the Chromebook’s classroom popularity grows, its features expand

HP Inc.has launched the HP Chromebook 11 G4 Education Edition (EE) — a durable, lightweight Chromebook designed to meet the needs of students and educators.

“The popularity of Chromebooks in the classroom offers a simple, secure, and manageable solution to enable technology-based learning,” said Gus Schmedlen, vice president of Worldwide Education, HP. “With the HP Chromebook 11 G4 Education Edition (EE), we are bringing innovation, design and HP’s legendary quality to students and teachers in a durable device built to survive the rigorous school environment while enabling students to achieve more both in and out of the classroom.”

Because students can be some of the most demanding users when it comes to technology, HP designed the HP Chromebook 11 G4 EE with their environment in mind. At 20 mm thin and just 2.7 pounds, the fanless HP Chromebook 11 G4 EE is the thinnest rugged Chromebook for Education1 designed to pass MIL-STD testing. With rugged construction accents like co-molded rubber edges, the device passes HP’s 70 cm drop test to help protect it from occasional bumps with lockers and drops from desks2.…Read More

Kajeet honors ‘Action Heroes’ closing the Homework Gap

1 million Homework Gap hours ‘rescued’ by Kajeet Customers

Kajeet, a provider of safe mobile student internet connectivity, has launched its 2016 campaign to highlight the “real action heroes” in school districts working to close the Homework Gap for their students.

As part of the campaign to celebrate educators and administrators, Kajeet created four Homework Gap Heroes to help champion the cause. Ed tech leaders throughout America are invited to take a short 10-question quiz to find out which action hero best fits their personality.

The Homework Gap refers to the number of school-age children who don’t have broadband access at home and cannot complete their school assignments. As more and more school districts implement digital and web-based learning programs requiring students to work on assignments outside the classroom, millions of low-income students are finding themselves caught in a widening digital divide.…Read More

This is how your infrastructure should look before your next tech rollout

Follow these guidelines to create a technology infrastructure that support teachers and students

Most educational organizations want the classroom to change; to improve teaching and learning by leveraging technology. The terms blended and flipped learning are touted extensively as useful educational goals.

However, to increase the probability of long term success and to reduce teacher/instructor frustration, organizations need to ensure that the broader fundamentals are in place before asking teachers to change. This is true whether the organization is a large university or school district, an eLearning business, or a small school of a few hundred students. (Note that I am not talking about the success of the “lone experimenters;” the innovators and early adopters who will implement change no matter what the environment is like. I am talking about organization wide long term success.)

Fundamentals fall into a number of categories. I will consider one (infrastructure) in this article and others in companion articles.
If teachers walk into a lesson and the technology regularly fails, even for just a few minutes, they lose confidence. They become frustrated and lose commitment (and who could blame them?).…Read More

Acer launches no risk laptop seed program

K-12 schools can test cloud-based Windows or Chrome OS products for free, with no obligation to purchase

Acer has launched its new Acer Education Seed Program, which offers K-12 schools across the United States an opportunity to test either a cloud-based Acer TravelMate B117 notebook with Windows or an Acer C730E Chromebook with Chrome OS for free, with no risk, since there is no obligation to purchase.

This offer enables schools to explore the advantages of cloud based solutions – either Windows or Chrome – using award-winning Acer products designed specifically for education and determine which solution is the best fit for their school.

“Education has changed rapidly over the last decade, as schools have been working diligently to integrate technology across their curriculum, into their classrooms, and throughout administration to improve the education of students,” said Richard Black, vice president, marketing communications, Acer America.…Read More

TabPilot launches app for classroom management

TabPilot released Teacher Tools for iOS, an app that allows teachers to control student iPads in their classrooms with tools that have previously only been available through the cloud-based teacher console, normally accessed on the teacher’s computer.

Teacher Tools is a set of features of TabPilot MDM for Schools. Teachers choose a class to manage and then have the ability to freeze student screens, lock students into a single app, clear student passcodes with a few clicks, or lock students into a single web site or group of pre-selected sites. Teachers can also choose a student iPad to be broadcast to the classroom projector via Apple Airplay.

“With the launch of Teacher tools for iOS, we’re showing once again how a school-specific MDM is the best choice for both teachers and school IT administrators,” said Jarrett Volzer, founder and CEO of TabPilot. “With our new Teacher Tools app for iOS, the teachers can now take control in their classroom directly from their own iPad.”…Read More

Acer introduces ‘game-changing’ TravelMate notebook

Acer TeachSmart solution with LED status indicator embedded on the lid enables new ways for classroom participation

Acer on Jan. 20 announced its new TravelMate B117 notebook, made for the education market featuring by Windows 10 Pro.

The notebook supports the Acer TeachSmart solution, which enables new ways of classroom interaction, and empowers teachers with tools and cloud-based services to distribute class materials and collect assignments digitally.

The TravelMate B117 with Acer TeachSmart features an LED light embedded on the lid that can flash in different colors. Students can toggle between four colors through a software interface to indicate their status, allowing teachers to easily keep track at a glance.…Read More

Lenovo, Google launch Project Tango device

Project Tango technology gives a mobile device the ability to navigate the physical world similar to how we do as humans

At the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Lenovo announced the development of the first consumer mobile device with Project Tango in collaboration with Google.

Available in summer 2016, the new smartphone, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, turns the screen into a magic window that can overlay digital information and objects onto the real world. Lenovo, Google, and Qualcomm Technologies are working closely together to optimize the software and hardware to ensure consumers get the most out of the Project Tango platform.

Google’s Project Tango is a technology platform that uses advanced computer vision, depth sensing, and motion tracking to create on-screen 3D experiences, allowing users to explore their physical environments via their device. Specialized hardware and software combine to let the device react to every movement of the user, when they step forward, backward, or lean side to side. App developers can transform your home into a game level, or create a magic window into virtual and augmented environments. Project Tango-enabled devices can recognize places they’ve been before, like your living room, the office, or public spaces.…Read More