IMS Global Announces Record Levels of Member Growth and Adoption of IMS Interoperability Standards. IMS partners with Mozilla Foundation to accelerate adoption and interoperability of badges in the education and workforce sectors. Download pdf Lake Mary, Florida, USA – April 21, 2015 – IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS Global / IMS), the global leader in education technology interoperability and impact, today announced the formation of the IMS Digital Credentialing Initiative.
IMS Digital Credentialing aims to further the adoption, integration and transferability of digital credentials, including badges, within institutions, schools, and corporations. IMS will leverage existing experience, expertise and momentum. IMS Digital Credentialing will complement and further IMS’s leadership in competency-based learning, including partnerships with AACRAO and the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN) to define extended digital transcript and CBE interoperability.
IMS is seeking to form a group of IMS Digital Credentialing charter members. 10 Great Kids Comics for Early Readers. When a child is just learning to read, comics can be a great supplement to help foster love and enjoyment for books. As detailed in this wonderful handout, “Raising a Reader,” from the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, comics have a lot to offer young readers. For that crucial first stage of early reading (ages 5-8, grades K-2), though, it can be hard to find appropriate comic book reading material.
Many parents will either disregard comic books as a reading option or assume that any old superhero comic will do. The appropriate range of choices for this specific age group and reading level is actually pretty narrow, but it contains some fabulous picks. I’ve put together a list of 10 great choices to consider giving your early reader. 1. Without a doubt, the best go-to option for parents looking for quality comics for early readers is the many graphic novels from Toon Books. The best part about Toon Books is the quality of the creative talent that Mouly and Spiegelman have tapped. 2. 3. 4.
THINK! Keeping young people safe online » iClevedon. What IS the Difference Between 20th and 21st Century Classrooms. We're There. What is Quest-Based Learning (QBL)? What is 3D GameLab? - 3D GameLab | 3D GameLab. 3D GameLab™ is a gamified content creation and student tracking platform where teachers can design and share quests and badges to create personalized learning for their students. Students “level up” through the curriculum, choose quests they want to play, and earn experience points, badges, and awards. Quests can be aligned to standards, including Common Core and NGSS, for real-time achievement reporting. Class is literally turned into a game, providing the opportunity for true mastery learning.
Includes monthly professional development on gamification and tech integration strategies. Used in kindergarten through graduate school in over 16+ countries! Teacher Camp Badges 3D GameLab® is also an educator learning community where we connect in the guild site, and at online and synchronous events during teacher camp, experiencing and creating engaging quest-based learning. The Power of Quest-Based Learning™ What does class look like in quest-based learning? Games Can Make "Real Life" More Rewarding. In her 2011 book, Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, game development expert and author Jane McGonigal describes a number of ways that games can improve our lives by using experience and research to link games with feelings of connectedness, self-worth, fulfillment and happiness. For instance, McGonigal describes her experiences with using the Nike+ app while running.
If you use Nike+ with an iPod or Smartphone, it will give you real time feedback on your progress. You can even share your progress on social media while running, and if your friends leave you an encouraging comment, the app will read the comment to you. Another running app, Zombies, Run! , turns your run into an epic escape from flesh-eating zombies. The more runs you complete, the more you can build up your zombie apocalypse base with supplies. Augmented Reality games overlay games on top of "real life.
" Games are the world that our students live in. 3 things you should know about Edupunk. School Change: Make Room for "Wrongdoing" Photo credit: iStockPhoto British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said, "To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often. " In schools, we ask kids to change all the time, from one class and teacher to the next, and from one school year to the next. In fact, we often have kids change every 40-50 minutes during each school day. During these transitions, they have to change gears as they readjust to new behavioral, academic, social and neurological demands and expectations. Kids are not perfect.
As educators, we have high expectations for our students -- and we should have these expectations. A former colleague of mine used to say, "We don't want them all baked and cooked. Learning by "Wrongdoing" Blogger Bruce Dixon quotes author Seth Godin, who writes about "learning from doing things wrong. " Wrongdoing is where the good stuff is. Too often, schools can view wrongdoing as the square peg instead of recognizing that the hole itself is the wrong shape. Growth as a Process. Ten Good Video Sources for Social Studies Students and Teachers.
All The Project-Based Learning Terms You Should Know. Project-based learning is far and away one of the most popular strategies teachers are discussing right now. Whether it’s at conferences, on social media, or in the school hallways, it’s easy to see that this trend is not slowing down. The effectiveness of having students collaborate around projects, get their hands a bit dirty, and explore concepts with their classmates is just too good to be true. So that means it’s probably time everyone should start getting on the same page in terms of project-based learning terms.
The following public Google Doc from BIE breaks it all down for you. Here are a few of the terms for PBL that I think are most important. So if you’re looking to start or improve your PBL classroom, it’s important you know and grasp the definition and usage of these terms. The Definition and Usage of ‘Project-Based Learning’ Definition: A theory of learning that promotes students learning by doing in order to answer a complex question.
The Definition and Usage of ‘Project’ Progress, Not Perfection: Three Tips for Your Journey. "A goal is a dream with a deadline. " - Napoleon Hill I'm a goal setter (and a teeny bit of a perfectionist). Although I don't always reach my goals, I know it's important to set them. Visions of Perfection When I was a new teacher, the goal to have the "perfect" classroom was top of my list. It started with making sure that my room was painstakingly organized, down to the last color-coded crayon holder. What is that, you ask? And that's not all. How in the world did I ever manage that? With all that time spent on perfect classroom decor, the perfect lesson plans followed close behind, starting with the planning system.
So there I am: new teacher in the perfect classroom with the perfect lesson plan, hoping to be that perfect teacher. So when did I finally stop and take a breath? Savoring and Learning from the Experience It’s important for me to share this background, because I want you to know that I made it harder on myself than it needed to be. 1. The process is simple. 2. 3. How To Cite A Tweet In Academic Papers. Twitter is a big part of education and technology. But what happens when it needs to be included in an academic paper?
Until now, you had to do your best to guess the proper citation for tweets in academic papers. That all just changed. Official MLA Twitter Citation Format The Modern Language Association ( MLA , yes that MLA format) just released its official usage for citing tweets in academic papers. Here it is: MLA gives an example using the famous tweet that acknowledged the attack on Bin Laden’s compound in May: Athar, Sohaib (ReallyVirtual). They go on to elaborate on one of the biggest issues with citing tweets: time. The date and time of a message on Twitter reflect the reader’s time zone. How to have more meaningful iPad professional development. By Tom Daccord Read more by Contributor July 23rd, 2013 Effective professional development requires less of a focus on the ‘nuts and bolts’ of technology, and more on the pedagogy of using it.
“Leading Change” column, July/August 2013 edition of eSchool News—In last month’s column, I argued that the power of the iPad in education lies in harnessing its creative and mobile abilities through the use of versatile, “evergreen” apps and the web. Yet, by and large, school leaders aren’t doing enough to put teachers in a position to excel in iPad classrooms. Often, the substantial investments schools make in purchasing iPads are woefully out of balance with the minimal investments they make in preparing teachers to use these new tools effectively.
Many school leaders simply give teachers iPads and expect them to integrate them in innovative ways. Yet, when new tools are introduced, they’re often used to extend existing instructional practices. (Next page: What educators need instead) 7 Essential Principles of Innovative Learning. Big Ideas Culture Teaching Strategies Flirck:WoodleyWonderworks Every educator wants to create an environment that will foster students’ love of learning. Because the criteria are intangible, it’s difficult to define or pinpoint exactly what they are. But one group is giving it a try. Researchers at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) launched the Innovative Learning Environments project to turn an academic lens on the project of identifying concrete traits that mark innovative learning environments. They sifted through and categorized the research on learning science, documented case studies, and compiled policy recommendations they hope will transform the current system.
Their book, The Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice and the accompanying practitioner’s guide, lay out the key principles for designing learning environments that will help students build skills useful in a world where jobs are increasingly information and knowledge-based. Game-Based Learning Ideas from ISTE. Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset: Which One Are You? | Michael Graham Richard. Here is an excerpt from an article about Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford University: Through more than three decades of systematic research, [Carol Dweck] has been figuring out answers to why some people achieve their potential while equally talented others don’t—why some become Muhammad Ali and others Mike Tyson. The key, she found, isn’t ability; it’s whether you look at ability as something inherent that needs to be demonstrated or as something that can be developed. To anyone who is into personal growth and self-improvement, this seems obvious.
But clearly, it is not obvious to everybody: look at this diagram by Nigel Holmes representing the two types of mindsets and I’ll sure you’ll recognize the attitudes of many people you know. Fixed Mindset Let’s have a look, starting with the Fixed Mindset side: People who hold these beliefs think that “they are the way they are”, but that doesn’t mean that they have less of a desire for a positive self-image than anyone else. The Difference Between Learners and Students. As academic standards shift, as technology evolves, and as student habits change, schools are being forced to consider new ways of framing curriculum and engaging students in the classroom. Project-based learning is among the most successful and powerful of these possibilities. As both a planning and a learning tool, PBL challenges teachers to make new decisions about how they plan student learning experiences, while simultaneously empowering students to take a more active role in the learning process.
In this context of trying to make sense of exactly what progressive learning was, in 2009 I sketched out a graphic that visualized 9 Characteristics of 21st Century Learning, and recently created a follow-up framework, the Inside-Out Learning Model. The four primary goals of this model of learning are: Authentic self-knowledgeDiverse local and global interdependenceAdaptive critical thinkingNew media literacies The Background Learners vs. What do I mean by the "form" of the school? Three Google Sheets Scripts That Help Teachers Save Time. One of the great things about technology is that it can help use do things more efficiently which in turn means we get to spend more time on the more enjoyable parts of teaching, like working with students instead of working with paperwork. If you're a Google Apps user there are three Google Sheets (spreadsheets) scripts that I recommend trying.
These scripts can help you save time on on sorting, grading, and assessing students' work. Flubaroo is an easy-to-use script that will grade multiple choice quizzes for you. You can even set-up the script to email all of your students their grades with just one click. Complete directions for using Flubaroo can be found here. gClassFolders is a script that will create folders for you for as many course sections as you need. Doctopus is a Google Spreadsheet script that can help teachers manage the flow of shared work in in their Google Drive accounts. Doing More with Less (and Other Practical Educational Technology Tidbits) Another year of school is upon us. My son, who just turned three, just started his first school. He excitedly talks about it, plays pretend school with his Superman and Thomas the Train toys, and loves to carry his new backpack around our house. Watching his eagerness, I hope that, in some way, we all feel that way about this new school year.
And why not be excited? However, sometimes we need some help getting started. 1. Oftentimes new initiatives, whether they be related to educational technology, incorporating a new program for math, or even something as simple as a new district policy regarding attendance, these can all throw us for a loop. We need to embrace and try these new initiatives, while realizing that it's okay to fail. But in school, where there are often a multitude of constraints and demands on the teacher, their students, and the time that they have -- it is difficult to try, not succeed, and then take the chance to try again in the hopes of an alternate result. 2. 3. Debates about Gamification and Game-Based Learning(#GBL) in Education. By Justin Marquis Ph.D., from OnlineUniversities.com There is a tendency in life to see things in absolutes. Sensationalist media thrives on the love/hate, friend/enemy, smash hit/trash it dichotomy.
The proposition of including games in the classroom at any level is no different. There are those who love the concept and are all in for redesigning entire classes, curriculums, and even whole schools that are focused on game-based learning (GBL), such as Quest to Learn and the Playmaker School. There are also those who think that games and gamification have little value in education. In reality, however, those who are really using games for learning such as Susan Bohler (stay tuned for our upcoming Google+ hangout where we’ll discuss this very issue) know that, like any innovation, games must be deployed in a measured and systematic way that maximizes their benefits while minimizing the negative consequences.
The Negatives The Positives Still Open for Debate/Research. A Note from George Lucas: Celebrating Unsung Heroes in Education. How Teachers Can Start Curating Information for Professional Development. How Teachers Use Technology: The Latest Research. Eric Sheninger: The Device Conundrum. Mind the Gap: Engaging Gifted Readers - The Book Whisperer. Myths, mid-core and mobile: Facebooks message to developers. NC Common Core and Essential Standards Toolkit K-5. A Great Blooms Taxonomy Wheel for Teachers. Animation Challenge Revealed: Salt Bat – Top Gear Parody. Are Your Students Learning Ready? - Finding Common Ground. Be your own Devil's Advocate with Instructional Technology. How to Gain Parent Buy-In for Classroom Technology Integration.
What Teachers Really Think About Game-Based Learning. An Updated COPPA, A Liberated Textbook Catalog, and (Of Course) More MOOCs. Bridging the New Digital Divide. Game Blocks offers free, open-source game creation for novices. Google Docs and Drive for Educators by Rich Kiker. Teacher's Guide to The Use of Blooms Taxonomy in The Classroom. 10 Lessons From the Best District in the Country. iGrade for Teacher (The Classroom Gradebook) for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store.
5 Video Projects to Try With Your Students. Teaching Kids the Rules of the Game. Mark Slabinski's Blog - 8 Key Principles of Writing Effective Game Dialogue. Blogging about. Supporting New Teachers to Make Global Connections. Technology in Math Education: the iPad a Game-Changer? Erin Klein (KleinErin.