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.

Study.com selected by Department of Education for EQUIP experiment

Study.com, in partnership with Thomas Edison State University and Quality Matters, has been selected to participate in the Department of Education’s Educational Quality through Innovative Partnerships (EQUIP). The program will allow low-income students access to financial aid for nontraditional education and training programs through partnerships with select colleges and universities.

The partnership between Thomas Edison State University and Study.com offers a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies. At least half of the coursework in these programs will be completed by taking Study.com video courses.

“I am honored Study.com has been selected for the EQUIP pilot. Equal access to a bachelor’s degree is the key to upward mobility for low-income students, and the foundation for success in today’s knowledge economy,” said Adrian Ridner, CEO and Co-founder of Study.com. “The Thomas Edison State University and Study.com program will provide an accelerated and flexible path to a bachelor’s degree at a fraction of the cost.”…Read More

The link between arts-based learning and STEM

The Art of Science Learning (AoSL), a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded initiative, spearheaded by its Principal Investigator, Harvey Seifter, has released its newest report, titled The Impact of Arts-Based Innovation Training on the Creative Thinking Skills, Collaborative Behaviors and Innovation Outcomes of Adolescents and Adults.

The report was written by Audience Viewpoints Consulting, the independent research firm AoSL retained to conduct the study. The effort compared the impacts and outcomes of arts-based innovation training with more traditional innovation training that does not incorporate the arts.

“With this research, we now have clear evidence that arts-based learning sparks creativity, collaboration, emotionally intelligent behavior and innovation in both adolescents and adults,” Seifter said. “The implications for 21st Century learning and workforce development are profound.”…Read More

Study: Schools may have tech, but they’re not using it

Are students using mobile technology in their daily lives? Undoubtedly yes. Are they using similar tech for learning in the classroom? Not really, according to recent research based on classroom observations.

The new study, conducted by the accreditation organization AdvancEd, put observers inside U.S. and international classrooms for about 140,000 observations during a three-year period. Observations rated lessons using a rubric (outlined somewhat in the research summary) that took into account things like engagement, behavior, and resources used on a scale of 1-4.

Inasmuch as a basic rubric can adequately capture a classroom environment, reported results were not encouraging from a tech standpoint. Half of all classrooms were not using any tech to “gather, evaluate and/or use information for learning,” and even fewer classrooms were observed to use tech for problem solving or collaboration. The study noted the fact that almost half of observed classrooms were using tech for gathering and evaluating information wasn’t particularly surprising since it’s “the most superficial use of technology, most easily implemented and least time consuming.”…Read More

Report: Students’ tech use remains infrequent

Students’ use of digital tools and other learning technologies remains relatively sporadic, according to a new study.

Based on direct classroom observations of 140,000 K-12 classrooms across 39 states and 11 countries, the study by the school improvement organization AdvancED found there are still relatively few classrooms in which the use of digital tools and technology is a regular part of a student’s school experience.

The findings come from an analysis of three years of data from AdvancED’s learning observation environments observation tool, eleot, which measures and quantifies active student engagement through learner-centric classroom observations, to determine how extensively technology is being used to engage students in learning.…Read More

Classroom observations may hurt teachers more than they help, study says

Classroom observations — one of the most widely-used forms of teacher evaluation — might be setting teachers up to fail

Teachers might be at a disadvantage during classroom observation of their instructional practice, which is one of the most widely-used tools for high-stakes job performance evaluations. And whether or not students have a history of high classroom achievement could be the reason why.

Research from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE) and the American Institutes for Research (AIR) indicates that evaluations based on observing teachers in the classroom often fail to meaningfully assess teacher performance.

The study, published in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, adds to the ongoing policy debate over when and how teachers should be evaluated.…Read More

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Research: Digital media could aid early math skills

Study of early learners reveals media content from the show PEG + CAT could help improve children’s critical math skills

math-skillsChildren who used media content from PBS KIDS’ series PEG + CAT showed improvement in critical math areas involving ordinal numbers, spatial relationships, and 3-D shapes, according to researchers at EDC and SRI International.

Parents and caregivers also showed greater comfort and confidence in supporting their children with math concepts and problem-solving strategies.

The randomized Ready To Learn study was based on a sample of 197 children ages 4 to 5 years old, primarily from low-income families, in New York City and the San Francisco Bay area.…Read More

Do online charter schools measure up?

A three-part research study indicates that online charter school performance may be underwhelming

online-charter-schoolsNew research offers evidence that online charter schools post weaker academic performance and struggle more to maintain student engagement than their conventional brick-and-mortar peers.

The National Study of Online Charter Schools, released Oct. 27, analyzed online charter school operations, policy environments, and their impacts on student achievements.

The three-volume study, conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington, and the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University, describes the achievement effects of online charter schools.…Read More