Making the Big Shift Policy and Advocacy | Feature Making the Big Shift Districts in Indiana have created innovative alternatives to textbooks, thanks in part to a change in state policy. By Geoffrey H. Fletcher06/17/11 There's a lot of talk from schools about moving away from--or, at least, weaning themselves off of--textbooks as the primary content delivery platform. Policymakers and educators who are struggling to bring about this shift might look to Indiana to see what districts can do once they are given freedom to spend their instructional materials dollars not to just deliver content, but to usher in profound educational change. Creative Financing In November 2009, the Indiana State Board of Education changed the definition of a textbook to include digital content and the devices necessary to deliver or experience the digital content. Indiana has a unique business model for the acquisition and use of textbooks--parental rental. Some corporations have gotten very clever with the math.
Utah Open Textbook Project | Demonstrating the Cost Effectiveness and Educational Effectiveness of Open Textbooks Personalize Learning Instructional Technology Purchases Guidance Smarter Balanced and PARCC Issue Guidance for New Instructional Technology Purchases Specifications Provide Assurance that New Devices will be Compatible with Next-Generation Assessments April 25, 2012 – The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) today issued guidance designed to inform schools and districts as they make annual instructional technology purchases. The guidelines include hardware and operating system specifications covering the vast majority of commercially available computers and tablets. Specifications common to both consortia are described below. Minimum Guidelines for New Hardware Purchases The specifications issued today are meant to inform current and future purchasing decisions. The specifications do not constitute the full list of technical requirements that will be necessary to administer Smarter Balanced and PARCC assessments 2014-2015. About Smarter Balanced
Competency Works Online Collaborative Course Authoring UdutuTeach & Udutu Learn: Facebook Plugins UdutuTeach allows you to import courses from myUdutu, manage which people can take your courses, and track the learners' progress. UdutuLearn lets you view courses that you have been given access to and shows your progress. You simply need to install the UdutuTeach and UdutuLearn Facebook plugins and follow the steps in our handy User Manual. Social networks as learning management systems To create a learning organization where knowledge is passed from experts to newcomers and where personal growth is encouraged, you need to create a social learning network. Leverage technology!
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