Beyond simple search: The benefits of topic browsing in library databases

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Library databases, packed with rich and reliable content, are more than simply resources for students to reference when a research paper is due. They are also valuable teaching tools.

Databases are essential for helping middle and high school students understand the value of research, appreciate the importance of validating sources, and make connections between different topics — all of which are necessary for building information literacy skills. Databases provide full-text access to a wide range of content, including books, magazines, primary sources, images, charts, and peer-reviewed articles by credible authors representing diverse perspectives. They serve as trustworthy alternatives to internet searches, where the information surfaced can be unreliable, untrue, and unsafe. While traditional single-search functions are efficient, databases with topic browsing capabilities offer additional benefits for novice researchers and educators alike.…Read More

Innovative ideas for school libraries

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What makes an effective school library?

School libraries have evolved from strict, quiet, hush-hush rooms to more interactive spaces with flexible seating, readily-available edtech tools, and educators on hand to help with research, critical resource evaluation, makerspaces.

It’s in school libraries where students often discover and hone their love of coding and programming, create amazing projects via makerspaces, and where they develop important 21st-century skills.…Read More

Everything you need to know about AI in education

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Since its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT and AI in education have dominated conversations in the media landscape and within the industry. A key conversation focuses on weighing its benefits versus risks, and many education institutions have been quick to implement bans on the technology altogether for fears of plagiarism in written works. Here you will find everything you need to know about AI in education so you can determine for yourself.

As technology evolves, industries must evolve alongside it, and education is no exception – especially in an era where students heavily and regularly engage in technology and its applications. Instead of being afraid of the unknown, educators and leaders should navigate these changes with curiosity and an open mind and embrace the shake up the education industry has been waiting for. ChatGPT in education can be the answer we’re looking for in our search for the ideal, personalized student experience–and ultimately student success.…Read More

To foster young talent, employers need to share their social capital

This article originally appeared on the Christensen Institute’s blog and is reposted here with permission.

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In July 2023, our team published “People-powered pathways: Lessons in how to build students’ social capital through career-connected learning.” In the report, we describe successes and challenges in bringing social capital–building strategies to a variety of educational settings. Our observations draw from an 18-month pilot during which we leveraged our social capital playbook to provide direct support to a group of three intermediary organizations—Education Strategy Group, Generation Schools Network, and Hawai‘i P-20—collectively supporting 20 sites in the K–12 career pathways space. In the course of the pilot, we sought to understand how schools and nonprofits can make social capital-building an explicit, effective, and equitable component of existing career-connected learning models. …Read More

Gen Z youth on nondegree paths feel workforce ready

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  • Three in four high school grads say they feel ready to enter the workforce thanks to a nondegree pathway
  • High school graduates need more information about these pathways to better make decisions about their futures
  • See related article: Companies go to high schools for career training
  • For more news on college and career readiness, see eSN’s Innovative Teaching page

A new survey commissioned by American Student Assistance (ASA) and Jobs for the Future (JFF) found that while young people who pursue nondegree pathways report having confidence in their future, there is a pervasive lack of awareness about these diverse pathways to success and how to judge their quality. In fact, two in three youth who did not pursue a nondegree education pathway indicated they would have considered this option if they had known more about it.

As college enrollment remains below pre-pandemic levels and survey after survey captures growing public skepticism about the value of college, ASA and JFF commissioned a survey – conducted by Morning Consult – of more than 1,100 high school graduates who have opted not to go to college directly after high school to better understand their decisions. …Read More

SMART Technologies Unveils the New Performance SMART Board® RX Series, Empowering Teachers and Students with Advanced Features to Enhance Inclusion

CALGARY, AB – SMART Technologies is proud to announce the launch of the company’s latest innovation for education: the SMART Board® RX series. This revolutionary display is designed with accessibility in mind and provides teachers with the tools they need to make learning more engaging for students, while saving precious time for teachers, too. This performance display comes with optically bonded glass and a multi-color stylus for an effortless inking experience, as well as leading student device integration, putting it in a category of its own.  

At the heart of the SMART Board RX series are the features and functionality, purposefully designed to help make classroom time higher quality time and engage all students in inclusive and accessible learning experiences. Most notably, the RX series comes with SMART’s exclusive Tool Explorer® technology that enables all students – including those with diverse learning needs – to actively engage with content and easily communicate with their peers and teachers.  

Tool Explorer digitally recognizes blocks that come in pre-programmed sets with images such as emojis that can help enable social and emotional learning. The blocks are also programmable, giving teachers or students the ability to program any image onto a block.  Tool Explorer provides a unique way for students to communicate and participate – including those students who are non-verbal, those who struggle to hold a pen or to write, and those who require or simply prefer different methods of communication. Tool Explorer is only available with the SMART Board RX series.  …Read More

5 ways I’ve leveraged AI in my English classroom

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Last spring, a few weeks after I started using ChatGPT, I challenged my high school English students: “Artificial intelligence can do any of your class assignments,” I told them flatly. “Now prove me wrong.”

I wanted to provoke them, to get them to ask questions, and to start using these tools—not to cheat—but to flip their learning on its head. I knew we needed to learn this together. And since that day, we didn’t just shift the paradigms—we sent them into somersaults.…Read More

Real Talk about AI

As the hoopla surrounding emerging AI technologies and their impact on education endures, we need to get past whether or not to use ChatGPT—Pandora’s box is officially open—and focus instead on how best to use it. Despite OpenAI recently releasing a guide for ChatGPT in the classroom that demonstrates how teachers can use the large language model software to enhance learning, Zarek Dozda, director of UChicago’s Data Science 4 Everyone, does not think it goes as far as it should to address educators’ concerns about the growth of this emerging tech in classrooms.

In this insightful conversation, Zarek breaks down several particulars he feels need to be addressed, including:

  • More research – OpenAI’s guidance focuses on anecdotal evidence of ChatGPT in classrooms but has little to say about best practices when using ChatGPT as an educational tool.
  • Focus on mechanics – Instead of highlighting education tactics that utilize ChatGPT, OpenAI should provide a more thorough explanation of large language models and how they work.
  • Training for teachers – The specific teachers mentioned in OpenAI’s guidance should be applauded for embracing emerging tech, but there needs to be greater resources for teachers just trying to keep up with AI.

Data Science for Everyone is a coalition advancing data science education so that every K-12 student has the data literacy skills needed to succeed in our modern world. Equitable access to data science education is an opportunity to open doors to higher education, high-paying careers, and an engaged community. Created by the University of Chicago Center for RISC and organized in partnership with The Learning Agency and the Concord Consortium, the group supports a growing community that knows that the data revolution has transformed modern life and we need to prepare our students. …Read More

How meta creativity prepares students for the future

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Nearly 40 percent of teachers expect to use AI in their classrooms by the end of the 2023-2024 academic year. This use of AI at school will impact how students learn and use their creativity as innovation, which will be increasingly necessary in the future as even higher-order thinking skills become standard. There will be long-term effects if the methods of teaching creativity are not adjusted, but if educators embrace AI mindfully, there will be long-term benefits.

In my experience observing educators and students, I started to see a need for more moments of reflection. The education space and other industries are quickly evolving because of AI, but humans, especially young students, aren’t yet hard-wired to adapt at the same pace. In response, educators need to take more time and enlist the help of tools to begin planting the seeds of mindful creativity in relation to AI, which will be a critical skill as young children grow into tomorrow’s workforce.…Read More

Insights from educators: Priorities for 2023-2024

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Education news is full of trends and predictions for the new school year, but hearing from the folks doing the work is a more direct path to understanding what educators need at this moment.

Heading into the 2023-2024 school year, K-12 teachers and principals are sharing their honest views on their goals and challenges. Let’s uncover what really matters to educators and how it’s shaping our schools.…Read More

With better data, these 12 things would improve, supes say

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Data access is critical when educators need to make informed decisions about curriculum, assessments, academic and social-emotional interventions, and more. So how are superintendents using data–and can they access it quickly and effectively in order to use it?

A national poll from the Data Quality Campaign and AASA, The School Superintendents Association surveyed district superintendents to find out they use data to support their students and schools.…Read More

EdTech Leader Swivl Expands Its Toolset, Launching the Mirror

MENLO PARK, Calif. (Newswire.com) –  Swivl, a future-ready edtech company with a suite of reflective tools, announced today the addition of its newest tool, Mirror, an AI-enabled hardware and software platform that automates reflection and brings valuable metacognitive insights for educators. The Mirror aims to partner with teachers and help them develop the metacognition and even higher-order skills students need to thrive with AI.

Reflection holds untapped potential to revolutionize education and prepare students for life in an AI-driven world. Automated reflection can help solve the intrinsic motivation challenge by fostering goal alignment on both individual and communal levels, expediting learning processes, and establishing fresh assessment benchmarks. The time of exclusively grading based on results is behind us; assessing reflection is now crucial for advancing education.

In today’s classroom, there’s not enough time for students to accurately reflect and for teachers to obtain this data. According to a  study conducted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, on average, American teachers only have three minutes per hour of instructional time to devote to activities that allow students to reflect on their learning. The Mirror makes it easier to apply reflection to more learning scenarios and will enable teachers to gather reflection insights quickly. …Read More