Sat.Apr 07, 2018 - Fri.Apr 13, 2018

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Ongoing Self-Assessments: Students Reflect On and Document Their Progress

Catlin Tucker

For the last two years, I have published several blogs detailing my journey away from traditional grading and assessment practices. The purpose of this shift was three-fold. I wanted to shift the conversation from points to the development of skills. I wanted students to take ownership of their progress and skill development. I do not believe grades should happen to students.

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What it Takes to Integrate Robotics and Coding into the Classroom

EdTech Magazine

What it Takes to Integrate Robotics and Coding into the Classroom. jena.passut_7651. Thu, 04/12/2018 - 10:58. It starts with a game of Robot Turtles, a board game by Thinkfun that’s being used at Hubbard Woods School in Winnetka, Ill., to teach kindergarteners the basics of coding. “It helps explain the step-by-step nature of coding,” says Todd Burleson, resource center director for this Winnetka Public Schools District 36 elementary school.

Robotics 400
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Relevance is the Fuel of Learning

A Principal's Reflections

In a previous blog post, I wrote about the importance of focusing on the why as it relates to learning. Here is a piece of my thinking that I shared: The why matters more than ever in the context of schools and education. What all one must do is step into the shoes of a student. If he or she does not truly understand why they are learning what is being taught, the chances of improving outcomes and success diminish significantly.

Learning 381
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5 Ways to Bring Computational Thinking and STEM Together

The CoolCatTeacher

Stephanie Zeiger on episode 290 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter. STEM and Computational Thinking go together. Today’s guest is a PhD, Biomedical engineer and STEM Teacher. Stephanie Zeiger helps us see the potential of STEM and computational thinking. Legends of Learning has awesome free science games and activities to celebrate earth day on April 22. coolcatteacher.com/earth Check out their NGSS aligned Science gam

STEM 264
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Enhancing Higher Education with Generative AI: A Responsible Guide

Generative AI holds tremendous promise for all stakeholders in higher education. But guardrails are needed. Strong governance that empower instructors are at the core of a responsible approach to using generative AI in academia.

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Why All Educators Need SAMR And TPACK

The Web20Classroom

Lately, the work I’ve been doing with teachers and leaders has centered around the engaging and effective use of technology. In addition to developing a guide for how teachers can plan better using technology and what leaders can look for when doing walkthroughs, I have had many conversations around the transformational use of technology. Specifically, what does that look like?

Education 277
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5 Microsoft OneNote Tips Every Educator Should Know

EdTech Magazine

5 Microsoft OneNote Tips Every Educator Should Know. jena.passut_7651. Mon, 04/09/2018 - 10:23. Microsoft OneNote is a tool widely used in K–12 schools. In my roles as professor, student advisor and program administrator of the classical studies program at Villanova University, I’ve discovered that OneNote is my No. 1 tool for innumerable learning scenarios in higher education as well.

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The benefits of active learning

Dangerously Irrelevant

In an article lamenting the reduction in kindergarten of teacher autonomy and child-directed activities , Washington Post columnist Valerie Strauss quoted early childhood development expert Nancy Carlsson-Paige: We have decades of research in child development and neuroscience that tell us that young children learn actively – they have to move, use their senses, get their hands on things, interact with other kids and teachers, create, invent.

Learning 261
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Mobile Learning: Now In the Hands of Teenagers

The Journal

While "mobile learning" may be overshadowed these days by other tech trends, make no mistake: in the hands of today’s youth, mobile learning is huge! Data to back that claim up — and more like it — are in this week’s blog post, where we interview Dr. Julie Evans, CEO — and Diva Extraordinaire — of Project Tomorrow. Using their "phones" teens are absolutely exploring "socially-based, un-tethered and digitally rich learning.

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Q&A: How Digital Mental Health Tools Made a Difference for Hazard Independent Schools

EdTech Magazine

Q&A: How Digital Mental Health Tools Made a Difference for Hazard Independent Schools. juliet.vanwage…. Tue, 04/10/2018 - 12:50. Digital health technology isn’t just for grown-ups. New tools can help connect children with the private and personalized resources they need to better understand their mental health and keep it in check. For one school district, adopting an online mental and behavioral health system has been an effective tool to better help students in a rural community overcome b

Tools 240
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How to Host a Student Media Festival

The CoolCatTeacher

Mike Lawrence on episode 287 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter. Mike Lawrence, a current organizer of the longest running student media festival in the country, shares how to set up and run your own media festival. With a big hat tip to our mutual friend Hall Davidson who started this event, we learn the ins and outs of student media festival and how you can “steal” their ideas and run your own!

How To 230
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Enhancing School Device Management for Improved Learning

Schools face increasing challenges as technology becomes integral to education. Efficient device management is essential for maximizing technology use and safeguarding investments. Our article discusses the importance of tracking devices, outlines current challenges, and suggests modern solutions that go beyond traditional methods like Excel. Learn how advanced tracking systems can streamline operations, improve maintenance, and offer real-time updates for better resource allocation.

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1st Grade digital PBL: Does it work?

Neo LMS

Project-based learning , as we have often examined in this blog, is a powerful way to not only impart information, by exploration, but has the added advantage of stimulating and developing a range of other skills and habits such as communication, creativity, curiosity, confidence and collaboration. The Internet is subsequently filled with incredible PBL ideas and projects, shared online on forums such as YouTube and Pinterest by teachers from all over the US.

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5 Places To Find Free And Affordable ESL Teaching Resources

EdNews Daily

Many teachers, whether working online or in a brick and mortar school usually have a few resources they depend on and use all the time for their teaching. However, there are a variety of activities or resources you can turn to when you need to modify a lesson or change routes. If you are an ESL teacher, no matter how or where you teach, you may be looking for some new resources to add to your teacher’s toolbox.

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Cloud Tech Optimizes Workflow for K–12 Schools

EdTech Magazine

Cloud Tech Optimizes Workflow for K–12 Schools. jena.passut_7651. Tue, 04/10/2018 - 13:31. When the IT department rolls out a new technology in a K-12 school, having a cloud-based management tool is basically a requirement. With the cloud, slim IT staffs are able to help teachers and administrators leverage technology to create personalized learning experiences and manage student data.

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Merge Cube Mania in Middle School

The CoolCatTeacher

Karen Bosch on episode 288 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter. Karen Bosch explains why Merge Cubes are so hot, how they are being used in classrooms, and how she’s using them to build critical thinking and creativity in her school. Join Merge Cube Mania! A big thank you to Karen.

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Quickly Create Personalized Learning Experiences that Work

How can we actively engage learners 24/7, on their level and according to their interests, while respecting their learning styles? It’s not impossible. In this guide: Explore how to transform traditional, one-way videos into two-way interactive learning experiences Understand different types of artificial intelligence (AI), including - Generative vs.

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Make easy-to-understand visualizations for your classroom in seconds

EdTech4Beginners

Everybody gets exposed to about 174-newspapers-worth of data on a daily basis*, but how much of that actually catches our attention? Adults and children alike have to be able to read and present data effectively nowadays. So, if you are looking to create an impact and even explain intricate matters in your classroom, visuals are the most effective tool to do so.

Classroom 216
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20+ ideas for maximizing student voice

Ditch That Textbook

All student have a voice. Some students share their voice often, some rarely, and some almost never. We want to hear from ALL of our students. But what does encouraging student voice really mean? How do we creatively incorporate ways for students to showcase themselves in our lessons? And how can we use student voice to […].

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4 Tips for Controlling Shadow IT

EdTech Magazine

4 Tips for Controlling Shadow IT. jena.passut_7651. Fri, 04/13/2018 - 10:15. For a K–12 IT department, one of the biggest security threats may be as sinister as it sounds. Shadow IT — the term for hardware, software and applications acquired by an organization’s users without going through the IT department — has become common, especially with the rise in inexpensive computing devices and widely available mobile and cloud-based apps.

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Legends of Learning: The Game-Based Science Platform for Grades 3-8

The CoolCatTeacher

Sponsored by Legends of Learning From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter. Students love to play games, and they also need real-world examples to help science come alive. With this in mind, Legends of Learning is a fantastic platform full of NGSS aligned science games that does both. Kids in grades 3-8 will love these science games.

Learning 207
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Can Brain Science Actually Help Make Your Training & Teaching Stick?

Speaker: Andrew Cohen, Founder & CEO of Brainscape

The instructor’s PPT slides are brilliant. You’ve splurged on the expensive interactive courseware. Student engagement is stellar. So… why are half of your students still forgetting everything they learned in just a matter of weeks? It's likely a matter of cognitive science! With so much material to "teach" these days, we often forget to incorporate key proven principles into our curricula — namely active recall, metacognition, spaced repetition, and interleaving practice.

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How tracking academic performance can nip (cyber)bullying in the bud

Neo LMS

Bullying is a prevalent problem in American public schools. This behavior has negative effects on the academic performance of those who are bullied and can take a toll on their physical and mental health. Around 17 percent of American students experience bullying two to three times a month but according to the US Department of Health & Human Services, 50 percent of children aged 4 through 12 are bullied.

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Classroom tech: Geekery not required

Ditch That Textbook

There’s that teacher. Maybe she works in your building. Maybe she’s at another school in your district. And she plans and executes these amazingly complex techy lessons. So much so that you can’t fully wrap your brain around what she’s doing. She uses a buffet of websites, apps and digital tools. There are layers upon […].

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Leadership in Personalized Learning

Education Elements

“You can’t buy personalized learning…” I read this statement by Richard Culatta recently and it really resonated with me because personalizing learning is about skilled teachers, not students working on computers for a large part of a day. Yes technology can support and enhance the learning, but what it actually comes down to is good teaching practices, implemented by teachers who are prepared to learn, collaborate and reflect, and take risks (and sometimes fail) to improve the learning process

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Mathivating Kids to Get Excited About Math

The CoolCatTeacher

Kim Thomas on episode 286 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter. Get Mathivated with Kim Thomas. She literally speaks math and has exciting things to do each day of the week for her students. (She also has quite an interesting way to handle difficult behavior including profanity.).

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Reimagining Chickering & Gamson's Principles Post-Pandemic: Technology's Central Role in Modern Edu

This white paper examines and proposes revisions to the "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" introduced by Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson in 1987 for today's technology-driven world.

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Grammar Check Websites and Apps That Save Your Writing

Ask a Tech Teacher

I confess, I cringe when I come across spelling and grammar errors on websites or blogs. To me and many others, that bad first impression creates an authenticity hurdle that’s close to impossible to overcome. Then there are homophones — to or too, your or you’re, their or there or they’re. I know the difference but write them wrong when I’m not paying attention.

Adobe 159
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The future of technology in education

Ditch That Textbook

What is the future of technology in education? We really don’t know. As fast as the world has changed in the last five years, there’s no way to predict what the next five years will look like — let alone one or two years. However, when I heard Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speak on a […].

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Playing ‘Serious Games,’ Adults Learn to Solve Thorny Real-World Problems

Digital Promise

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. It is never easy for interest groups with conflicting views to resolve public policy disagreements involving complex scientific issues. To successfully formulate complex treaties, such as the recent Paris Climate Change Agreement, countries must find a way to meet the interests of almost 200 national representatives, while simultaneously getting the science right.

Learning 143
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Understanding ADHD and Helping Kids Succeed

The CoolCatTeacher

Katherine Firestone on episode 289 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter. Katherine Firestone helps parents and kids with ADHD. Having been diagnosed with ADHD herself, Katherine is uniquely positioned to help us understand what to do to help children with ADHD and their parents.

Strategy 183
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Behind the Bell: The Underlying Impact of Tardiness in K-12 Schools

Managing a K-12 campus with constant pressure to meet performance metrics is challenging. And tardiness can significantly limit a school from reaching these goals. Learn more about why chronic lateness matters, and key strategies to address the following impacts: Data errors caused by manual processes Low attendance and graduation rates that affect a school’s reputation Classroom disruption, which leads to poor academic performance High staff attrition and “The Teacher Exodus” Unmet LCAP goals t

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Subscriber Special: April

Ask a Tech Teacher

April 24th-30th: Coaching or Mentoring. BOGO — Buy one month; get the second free. Do any of these sound like you? Your kindergartners don’t know what ‘enter’, ‘spacebar’, ‘click’ or many other techie words mean but you need to teach them to keyboard, internet, and become digital citizens. How do you start? You have new students in your class who haven’t had technology training.

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Why Effective Digital Learning Shouldn’t Disrupt Traditional Teaching Techniques

Edsurge

In my work as a digital learning specialist, I’m charged with helping teachers try new classroom strategies and learn to use the technology tools that make those strategies possible. Yet, even after three years in this role at my current school, there are a handful of teachers who are still hesitant to allow students to use devices and the powerful apps and resources they contain.

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Learner-centered Design for Adult Learners

Digital Promise

If you’re looking to join the growing brigade improving the lives of adult learners through mobile learning – then welcome! We need you. More than 89 percent of adults in need of basic academic and job skills will never gain the skills they want and need with traditional classrooms and approaches. However, 95 percent have mobile phones. Mobile learning just makes sense for these learners, if for no other reason than providing access.

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If Your Child Can’t Sleep, Reduce Their Screen Time

EdTech4Beginners

Kids keeping you up all night? It happens. Maybe they’ve had a big day visiting family; their sche dule’s out of whack and their sleeping patterns are, too. Or maybe that ghost story they heard at school is sending their imagination into dark places and they can’t calm down. Or maybe…and in today’s society, more likely…their inability to sleep is down to screens.

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The Battle of the Authoring Tools: A 10-Point Comparison for Picking the Right One

Speaker: Chris Paxton McMillin, President of D3 Training Solutions

There are plenty of great authoring tools for developing eLearning, but the one you select could directly impact your course's outcomes. Depending upon your learners’ needs and your organization’s performance goals, you could be overlooking considerations that impact the both effectiveness of your courses and how long it takes to finish them. From general capabilities to specific workflow structures, some aspects are critical when it comes to learning objectives and deadlines.