Inspiring New Futures

Building the future of computing in schools | Teacher Network Blog | Guardian Professional : Michael Gove's speech has set the wheels in motion, now the work needs to be done – how teachers can enhance their knowledge of ICT plus share expertise and views

What's Up for Digital Learning Day? - Digital Education - Education Week Many of you have no doubt already informed yourself about your state's plans ahead of Wednesday's inaugural Digital Learning Day , an observance launched by the Alliance for Excellent Education, one of two education advocacy groups behind the Digital Learning Now initiative .

Common Core: Preparing Globally Competent Citizens, Part 2 - Global Learning - Education Week The adoption of new and rigorous college- and career-ready standards creates an historic opportunity for schools, districts, and states across the nation to rethink the curriculum.

Leading From the Classroom - Education Week Teacher Last week, I wrote about Apple's Potential Game Changer in Education . Apple's announcement of tools to empower anyone to be a textbook publisher on the iPad met various positive and critical reviews.

Too Much Parental Involvement? - Teaching Now - Education Week Teacher On the New York Times Room For Debate blog, Florida high school English teacher Scott Sterling questions the feasibility —and wisdom—of a newly enacted New Hampshire law that requires schools to provide alternative lesson materials to students whose parents or guardians object to assigned content .

Education Week: U.S., Chinese Schools Build Virtual Ed. Partnerships Several schools aiming to better prepare students for a global economy and foster cultural understanding between the United States and China have turned to virtual exchange programs between American and Chinese schools.

TED Blog: How Can We Teach Our Kids To Be Smarter And More Creative? @PSFK : Ten years ago, educator Sugata Mitra and his colleagues cracked open a hole in a wall bordering an urban slum in New Delhi, installed a networked PC, and left it there for the local children to freely explore. What they quickly saw in their ‘Hole in the Wall’ experiment was that kids from one of the most desperately poor areas of the world could, without instruction, quickly learn how the PC operated. via PSFK: http://www.psfk.com/2012/01/ted-creative-kids-smarter.html#ixzz1l2ZYSXPC

How we read online. - Slate Magazine : You're probably going to read this. It's a short paragraph at the top of the page. It's surrounded by white space. It's in small type. To really get your attention , I should write like this: Bulleted list Occasional use of bold to prevent skimming Short sentence fragments Explanatory subheads No puns Did I mention lists?

Utah Schools Start Adopting Open Source Textbooks SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah classrooms may soon be making the switch to open-source online textbooks that can be cheaper and easier to update. The Utah State Office of Education announced this month it will develop and support the open textbooks for language arts, science and math. The agency is urging schools and districts to adopt the books this fall.

The Single Best Tech Skill is Tenacity — The Digital Shift Once again I’m in the throes of a personal server transition. Over the years I’ve accumulated quite a stable of web properties, most of which are of dubious benefit but nonetheless receive the love that any parent feels for their child. Well, not exactly, but you get the drift.

Newark, NJ, told to produce Facebook pledge log - Yahoo! News NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The state's largest city must produce a list of documents related to a $100 million pledge to its public schools from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg , a judge ruled Friday.

OMG: Engaging Students on Their Own Terms -- THE Journal Technology Director Anthony A. Luscre of Mogadore Local Schools challenges educators to use students' mobile devices to provide technology-rich, highly engaging, and fun learning experiences that reflect real-world skills. Students spend a lot of time outside of school using high tech forms of communication. Why not capture these skills to improve student learning? Data from a recent Pew Research Center survey shows more than 75 percent of teens own cell phones; 73 percent use online social networking sites; and 38 percent share something online that they created, such as artwork, photos, stories, or videos. A NielsonWire Report found that teenagers averaged 3,339 sent and received texts a month!

The Devices of Change: What's To Come -- THE Journal New technologies like iPads and cloud computing are driving changes in the way students learn and the way teachers educate. But change is about much more than the device, according to Rushton Hurley, executive director of Next Vista for Learning .

Using Google Earth in the Science Classroom | TeachHUB Seems like a no brainer right? Earth, science, they just go together. But Google Earth is way more than a glorified stand alone Google Map. There are so many cool and easy things to explore.

Marcie T. Hull | Science Leadership Academy | Technology with Intention Each week this blog profiles an educator that effectively uses technology in the planning or implementation of curriculum. Name : Marcie T. Hull ( School site , Blog , @ecram3 ) Organization : Science Leadership Academy Current title : Technology Coordinator, Art Teacher, Technology Teacher Selected accolade: Educon co-organizer, Mother to Chase and wife to Steven

Harnessing Gaming for the Classroom - NYTimes.com : LONDON — Paul Howard-Jones thinks he knows the answer to a question that has long puzzled both parents and professors: Why is it that the same teenagers who turn sullen and despondent when faced with a half hour of learning French verbs or organic compounds are happy to spend hours mastering the computer game Minecraft’s physics engine or the counterfactual history in Call of Duty?

Teachers: Budgets block classroom technology access | eSchool News Survey reveals that most teachers have computer access in their classrooms, but newer technologies are less common Despite advances in digital learning tools and efforts to close the ed-tech access gap, school budgets remain one of the biggest barriers to classroom technology access, according to a national PBS LearningMedia survey of preK-12 teachers.

Homebound students use robot to continue learning from home | eSchool News The VGo device has helped Cris Colaluca connect with his peers at school. Teacher Ben Edwards points to the number 75 written on the board in his seventh-grade math class at Mohawk Junior High School in Lawrence County, Pa. “Is this going to round up to 80 or down to 70?” he asks all the students before calling on one to answer. “Cris?” From a half-mile away in his bedroom at home, Cris Colaluca correctly answers, “Up!”

High-Density WiFi: Planning for the Future -- THE Journal Wireless develpment didn't end with 802.11n. With new, higher-speed specifications looming, plus the ever-increasing demands of 1-to-1 and BYOD programs in schools, planning for the future in wireless implementations is just as crucial as ever.

12 Tech Trends That Will Define 2012, Selected By Frog's Design Minds | Co.Design: business + innovation + design : 12 Tech Trends That Will Define 2012, Selected By Frog’s Design Minds WRITTEN BY: frog FROM THE LONG-PROMISED RISE OF GESTURAL UIS TO SHOPPING POWERED BY SOCIAL NETWORKS, THESE ARE THE FORCES SHAPING THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY.

Are Research Papers Obsolete? - Alan Jacobs - Technology - The Atlantic While new pedagogical aids make sense for students, let's not forget that professors are desperate to escape the old ways of teaching, too. A few days ago, Matt Richtel wrote a piece for the New York Times about the traditional undergraduate term paper, or research paper, and how professors like Cathy Davidson of Duke are abandoning it in favor of blogs (among other things).

The Future of the Book Is the Stream - Megan Garber - Technology - The Atlantic Cloud storage is paving the way for books that are sold not by title, but by time. So, digital books. As innovative as they are form-wise and otherwise, it's striking, business-wise, how tightly they cling to tradition. Whether pre-Gutenberg or post-Bezos, books have been sold pretty much the same way: per unit, object by object, X books for X bucks.

Introducing the amazing "Grizzlegrog" | Teacher Network Blog | Guardian Professional A primary school teacher takes his class on an imaginative writing adventure - and shares the teaching resources he has created so you can go too!

Young Writers Become Primary Sources | Edutopia Chinyere Ukaegbu used to hate her name. In Nigeria, where her family comes from, Chinyere means "God's gift." But among her classmates in Washington, DC, where she was born, her unusual name brought teasing and taunts. Chinyere eventually made peace with her name -- and began to embrace her culture -- when she traveled to Nigeria as a teenager.

Virtual schools on the rise, but are they right for K-12 students? – Schools of Thought - CNN.com Blogs CHANTILLY, VIRGINIA ( CNN) - It's a Tuesday morning in January, and seventh-grader Katerina Christhilf is learning algebra. But it's no ordinary class. This one takes place entirely online, led by a teacher a few miles away.

Can States and School Districts Cut Costs Through Digital Learning? Digital learning represents wide-open terrain for K-12 education reform. Several states -- Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Michigan and Minnesota -- require students to take an online course to receive a high school degree. Twenty-seven states have established statewide full-time virtual schools since the first opened in 1997 in Florida, according to a report by the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, an indication of virtual education's growing appeal.

Online learning. It does a brain good. | Litmos LMS Do you feel like you are being more efficient and productive when learning online ? Are you maximizing your capacity to retain information? Or are you feeling the extreme opposite? Are your brain and eyes on overload from viewing everything via online?

The Innovative Educator: Cell Phones Optimize Learning Time Use phones to take pictures of important information on the board In my classroom I see cell phones as a time saver and tool of engagement rather than a distraction. For example, in my health class we were on a roll discussing the possibilities of making our own anti-alcohol/tobacco video, improving on the one we had just watched.

3 Tips on Integrating Technology in the Classroom - High School Notes (usnews.com) Integrating technology into a high school classroom isn't a one-step process. "You can't just slap a netbook [computer] on top of a textbook and say, 'Great, now we have technology," says Bob Wise, former governor of West Virginia and president of the Alliance for Excellent Education , an advocacy organization.

Textbook publishers prep for the e-future - Boston.com For most of the past six months, Vicky Shen, an editor at textbook publisher Pearson Education in Boston, has been living with a secret.Just a few blocks away in the Back Bay, Bethlam Forsa, executive vice president of global product development at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Inc. was working on the same undercover project.

Textbook publishers prep for the e-future - Boston.com For most of the past six months, Vicky Shen, an editor at textbook publisher Pearson Education in Boston, has been living with a secret. Just a few blocks away in the Back Bay, Bethlam Forsa, executive vice president of global product development at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Inc. was working on the same undercover project.

Learning on the Go Coinciding with Allison Rossett’s most recent article on mobile learning, earlier today I came across an insightful yet humorous infographic created by Float Mobile Learning.

8 Reasons Why Students Should Blog : @ProBlogger Students should be worried about their job prospects. I am. Competition is rife and the top advertised jobs receive hundreds of applications. Our work experiences are not just being challenged by a surge of candidates, but our very degrees are being questioned. Surely only post-graduate degrees now hold credibility?

Remarkable 'Joy of Books' Animation Brings Books to Life [VIRAL VIDEO] Relax and enjoy the magic that ensues when you combine a bookstore full of books, skillful stop-motion animation, haunting music, a boatload of creativity and 28 volunteers: The Joy of Books is a brilliant video by Sean Ohlenkamp.

Global Learning - Education Week The Common Core State Standards are designed to be relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers in the global economy. I've asked Margaret Reed Millar, Senior Program Associate for Standards, Assessment, and Accountability at the Council of Chief State School Officers to share how developing student global competence fits with the new Standards in this two-part series. by Margaret Reed Millar

Education Week: Mergers Seen on the Rise in the K-12 Marketplace The education industry accounted for an estimated $10 billion in mergers and acquisitions last year, with K-12 technology responsible for the second-largest annual increase in transactions of any education sector, a report from an investment banking firm says.

The 4 Keys to a Successful Online School -- THE Journal For Broward Virtual School 's Evelyn Weaver, building a successful virtual learning environment begins with four key components. The acquisition of mission-critical tools that foster collaboration and enable effective communication; The implementation of a flexible, focused curriculum that can be tailored to the individual student; The relevant, timely, and in-depth training of all stakeholders, including administrators, teachers, and parents; and, The development of an immediate, effective technical and academic support system.

Math and Biology Lessons To Go Massively Multiplayer and Online in MIT Project -- THE Journal An MIT research team that explores the value of learning through games has just received a $3 million boost to create an MMOG--a massively multiplayer online game--specifically to teach math and biology to high schoolers. The MIT Education Arcade received the three-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a game that aligns with the Common Core standards in mathematics and Next Generation Science Standards for high school students.

New EverFi Digital Literacy Program Free to 8-9 Grades in KY and VA -- THE Journal An education tech company that creates interactive applications to teach students life skills recently introduced a new offering about digital literacy, cyberbullying, and related topics. The first set of users are schools in two states, which will receive free licenses through a sponsorship arrangement.

My View: No surprises with digital devices at school – Schools of Thought - CNN.com Blogs With students back from the holidays, many new digital devices are in the halls at school. Research from Flurry shows that 6.8 million Android and iOS devices were activated on Christmas Day alone, along with 242 million apps downloaded. Teens wielding new iPads, smartphones and e-readers are discovering the ins and outs of being connected full-time.

Gordon Brown: A Global Fund for Education The world is currently at risk of falling woefully short of the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015. If we are to avoid this fate, a game-changing reform is needed. I believe that a Global Fund for Education is that game-changing initiative.

Murray Rosenbaum: Is Online Learning the Future? After many days of trying to figure out the best solution, I remembered my math teacher had told me about this website called Khan Academy. I went and searched it up and I found a treasure trove of learning, videos, information, and my help.

MusicShake Brings Its Music Creation Tool For Novices To The Classroom | TechCrunch At some point, you may have found yourself bored out of your mind by your current music selection, and resisting the urge to try one of the eleventy million music discovery services out there, you think, “By God, I’m going to do it myself.” You rush home, download a music suite, start furiously clicking and recording, only to be sooner or later confronted by the reality that you have no idea what you’re doing, and reprimand yourself for turning down those music lessons in fourth grade.