The end of ‘just Google it’: Why students need to be digitally literate. 3 Reasons Why You Should Attend an EdCamp. Powered by caffeine and adrenalin, hundreds of Kenyan and Canadian geeks will compete over Skype in a 28-hour ‘hackathon’ to develop apps to improve rural Kenyans’ health, farms and access to education.
Hackathons are marathon brainstorming sessions where computer programmers get together to write software. The Nov. 20-22 Poverty Hackathon will be the first international development-focused virtual hackathon – taking place on two continents simultaneously, the organisers say. “While it’s not common for hackathons to have virtual teams working together, we think it’s a core component of actually making impact,” said Canadian Danielle Thé, who set up the charity Devs Without Borders in Toronto earlier this year. Innovate My School: Free Online British Edtech Publication. The Age-Old Faculty Meeting Facelift. September 21, 2015 by Tom Whitby @tomwhitby Over the many years that #Edchat has been engaging educators, one topic that always generates a huge amount of interest, based on comments, is the faculty meeting.
Teachers are required to attend the faculty meetings that administrators are required to hold and very few are happy with the results. The only upside is that with each meeting a check may be placed in the box for attending. Technology may be a way to update the tired model of the faculty meeting. Email for the faculty may be a great way to distribute the mundane stuff that takes up so much time at these meetings.
Once topics are decided upon a flipped meeting should serve the faculty well. Technology offers many tools to change the face of the faculty meeting. Time in education is a precious commodity to teachers. "Teaching about Propaganda" by Renee Hobbs and Sandra McGee. The Psychology Of Gamification In Education: Why Rewards Matter For Learner Engagement. Steve Jobs’ Widow Pumping Millions Into High School Education. © Time Inc.
All rights reserved. Surprise, Surprise – New Research Finds Lectures Aren’t The Best Way To Teach. Are College Lectures Unfair?
Is the headline of a column in The New York Times reviewing new research about the ineffectiveness of college lectures, though the same could be said, of course, about them in high school, too. Their research talks about “active learning” being a better way, and they talk specifically about using low-stakes tests. Though inductive learning also provides plenty of opportunities for students to review the same material, and that’s my preferred instructional strategy (seeThe Best Resources About Inductive Learning & Teaching). 7 Facts About Differentiated Instruction. For the past several years, many teachers have focused on strategies for differentiating instruction in order to serve every student's needs.
With the adoption of the Common Core and the new, more rigorous benchmarks, other schools are taking an interest in exploring how differentiated instruction can help meet the needs of diverse learners. Whether you are new to differentiated instruction or have been practicing it for years, we wanted to find out how the advent of the Common Core State Standards as well as new research and increased access to technology are changing differentiated teaching.
So we turned to the experts at Staff Development for Educators, who recently held their national conference on differentiated instruction in Las Vegas. Here's what they, and the conference attendees, say are the key takeaways. 1) Students are number one. The 4 biggest mistakes that teachers make when integrating technology. **The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America.
The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch. Why teachers and principals should be on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram #edltechbc. If you are a student heading back to class in September should personal electronic devices like iPads, tablets or a smartphone be on your list of must haves?
Does technology in the classroom build better students? What happens to students whose parents can't afford expensive technology? Introduction to teaching with SKYPE by Russell Stannard. 10 Types of Visual Content to Improve Learner Engagement. We love visuals.
In fact, we are wired to respond more to visuals than to words. That is why, we are so hooked to Pinterest and Instagram. This is also the reason why Facebook posts and tweets with images get liked and are retweeted the most. But as an instructional designer, what should interest you more is the fact that the human brain can process visuals faster than text. So if you care about creating more engaging eLearning, you MUST include visuals (and lots of them) in your courses. Learn about the 10 most widely used and effective visual tools that you can incorporate in your eLearning courses:
Are Teachers Next? Should Body Cameras Be Used at Schools? Body cameras are changing the way police activity is monitored.
But should that same level of oversight be applied to school principals and administrators? Cameras at schools and on school buses have become commonplace, but recording an administrator’s everyday conversations with teachers, parents and students is moving into new territory. The 4,300-student Burlington Community School District in Iowa plans to use body cameras at schools, clipped to the ties and lanyards of its principals and administrators.
The decision to deploy the devices followed an incident in which a Burlington Community School District middle school principal was wrongly accused of kicking a student. Security camera footage later exonerated the administrator, according to the Des Moines Register. Cautionary tale? Kansas Underfunds Ed And Cuts Tenure. Now It Can't Find Enough Teachers. Ed-tech product roundup: July, ISTE 2015. Nearly 16,000 educators from around the world gathered in Philadelphia earlier this month for ISTE 2015.
Attendees crowded the exhibit hall floor to test drive the latest gadgets and tools for learning and instruction. SmartBrief Education editors were on the ground, covering it all. We showcased several of these products in this month’s SmartBrief on EdTech Product Showcase. Take a look at what caught readers’ attention: Educade from GameDesk. OpenEd. Check Out How These Teachers and Students are Using Augmented Reality. The 100 Best Video Sites For Educators. Via Edudemic Bringing multimedia into the classroom is a great way to engage students in learning.
Supplementing lessons, opening up new interests, and offering inspiration, online videos make for an incredible teaching tool. In 2010, we covered our favorite 100 video sites for educators, and we’ve now updated our list for 2012 with more than 100 resources and more than 25 brand new entries. Read on, and you’ll be able to check out the very best sources for educational videos on the web. Educational Video Collections. 6 Factors Of Gamification That Changes Students. 6 Factors Of Classroom Gamification by Nellie Mitchell I was 11 the year my summer camp director transformed the regular schedule, procedures, and lingo that we were used to—into the most memorable, enriching experience I had ever encountered at that point in my life. I had no idea that he had ‘gamified’ the week; I just knew that it was the best summer ever. What Are Students Biggest Motivation Killers? We Asked Them. "What can we do to motivate our students who need it the most? " my principal recently asked.
Because I am fascinated with motivation, because I love working with at-risk students, he wanted to know my thoughts on why our achievement gap wasn't narrowing. As a teacher, I of course had many thoughts. Part 3: What Teacher Evaluation Is Really About Ostensibly, the policy of evaluating teachers on their students' performance is designed to improve public schools by holding teachers accountable.
However, by refusing to take into account several factors which impede student learning and over which teachers have no control, this policy is, in essence, a punitive measure, a political weapon, a pre-emptive strike against teachers, intended to demoralize and drive them out of the teaching profession. Moreover, when linked to merit pay, a divide-and-conquer strategy to pit teacher against teacher, this evaluation attempts to destabilize and weaken the National Education Association (NEA), the nation's largest labor union with its three million members, a development not unwelcome to corporate America.
Why has this happened? Connect the dots: (1) Every year hundreds of billions in federal, state and local tax revenue support America's public schools and their teachers. Your Students can be 'Makers': 16 Projects Invented by Teachers. Teacher Guides for Technology And Learning. Remix: Teaching Students to Verify Social Media Content. Arizona: Teacher Exodus Grows, Due to Low Salaries and Mandates. 14 Reasons You Can’t Throw Out Grades and One Reason You Must. Brace yourself. 'Everything is awesome': Cambridge University will get a Lego professor. Everything is awesome, including this hiring news from one of the UK's most prestigious institutions: Cambridge University is getting a Lego professor.
The university announced on Tuesday the school had accepted £2.5 million from the Lego Foundation to set up a Lego Professorship of Play in Education, Development and Learning, the Cambridge University Reporter wrote. The foundation also gifted the school an additional £1.5 million to set up a Research Centre on Play in Education, Development, and Learning within its Faculty of Education. One lucky professor will start the new role on October 1, 2015. No word yet on whether Cambridge students can spend their days building the Lego Starship Enterprise, rather than slaving over books. Why We Need To Do More To Retain Teachers. Why Teachers Quit: It’s Not About Money (or Low-Pay) The Educators' Guide To Web Browsers. 6 Models of Blended Learning Teachers Should Know About. 24 Reasons Teachers Are The Unsung Heroes Of The World. How to Transform Teaching with Tablets. Maker-Minecraft mashup brings social studies to life.
20 Things Educators Need To Know About Digital Literacy Skills. Ignore the fads: teachers should teach and students should listen. Story Share: A literacy hub to re-engage struggling teen and young adult readers. Bridging the social media gap between parents and teens. 8 hours left to "Get Pay What You Want: Learn to Code Bundle" - 8 Actionable Online Courses. Donate to Chariity. Eleven Reasons Teachers Burn Out John Spencer - John Spencer. PANOPEN: Collection of peer-reviewed open source textbooks.
How to Find Out if Someone is Using a Picture of You or Your Child Online. 60 Non-Threatening Formative Assessment Techniques. Robert Gagne’s Nine Steps of Instruction: Do’s and Don’ts in E-Learning. Less Is More: 4 Strategies To Streamline Your Curriculum. A Beautiful Visual Explanation of Hashtags. POWTOONS EDU: Free Chrome Extension For Use With The Education Version Of PowToons Animation.
10 Things Any Teacher Can Do With Technology To Upgrade Their Class. Teacher's Guide to Teaching Using Social Media. The Four Important Models of Blended Learning Teachers Should Know about. Teachers often missing from debate over school reform. Teachers as Researchers: Changing the dynamics of Professional Development. Why school libraries are transforming into learning commons.
100 Years of Anzac: Education and Community Awareness of the ANZAC Centenary. The Center for Teaching Histor... Self publish a textbook with A... Designing a Blended Learning Program. Helping Your Child Succeed With Technology. Open Online Education - Help for Planning and Building an Online Course. Transforming Learning Spaces. 7 Free Audio Editors for E-Learning Courses.
How about a great bit."Paper LI" curated for education leaders; @gcouros #OGSDLearns. 10 Reasons Why Teachers Use Twitter as a PD Tool – PikeMall Tech. Exactly How A Learning Management System Can Improve Your Teaching. The Ultimate Parent Guide to YouTube — BonBon Break. Interesting video on the future of technology on education. Is it visionary or unrealistic? @erringreg Don't know if there's a specific list for BC. Most organizers add their event to the EdCamp Wiki Calendar. Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. What is Appreciative Inquiry? 11 Traits of Effective Teachers. Teachers Will Embrace Students’ Smartphone Addiction In 2015. How Introverts Can Make the Most of Conferences. What is the Role of Libraries in the Digital World? Instructables Offers Tons of Educational Do-it-yourself Projects to Use in Class with Students. The Many, Many Problems With “Follow Your Passion” John Palfrey on the importance of libraries in the digital information age.
4 key challenges and priorities of K-12 IT leaders. Fellowship of the Brick – Using Minecraft to recreate history. B.C.’s first science and business high school set to open this fall. A MOOC Research Hub Funded By The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation :-0. Transition To The Role Of Principal And Vice Principal (Report from Ont) 6 Important Components Of A Successful Online Learning Environment. My Longstanding Beef with Instructional Leaders by Bill Ferriter. The Challenges of Digital Lead... Strategies for Getting and Keeping the Brain’s Attention.