6 Possible Roles For Teachers In A Personalized Learning Environment by Justin Marquis, Ph. D There is a mountain of speculation and debate about what school and learning will look like in the near future. Will education be online? Individualized? Self-paced? The Future of Learning An October, 2012 video released by telecom company Ericsson presents a survey of educational experts and entrepreneurs speculating about the future of education. The focus of the video is the ability of these technologies to track minute user data and facilitate intimately individualized instruction based on that data, including student learning preference, peak performance times, prior knowledge, and a host of other information. “Coursera’s Koller says one of the revolutions in education is that teaching will be less about conveying information and more of a return to its original roots where instructors engage in dialogue, develop critical thinking skills and spark passion about a discipline.” (23 Oct., 2012) The Role of the Educator on an Individualized World? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Revolution, Responsibility and Football: Teaching Financial Literacy to Middle Schoolers My oldest son is in middle school. He earns an allowance and is always trying out his entrepreneurial skills. What my son and his friends seem to have in common is that they want . . . everything! He's eager to learn about money management because he views it as a means to an end. So my suggestion to you is focusing on teaching middle school kids the concepts that will naturally engage them, because they're meaningful right now. Further, most middle school teachers who take the time to teach financial literacy are often taking time away from a tested subject area. Following are some lesson ideas and resources that you will find helpful. Gen i Revolution Developed for middle school and high school students, Gen i Revolution is an online game that gives your students the chance to learn important personal finance skills as they play and compete against fellow classmates. The game includes fifteen missions in which students attempt to help people in financial trouble. Hands on Banking
How Teachers Are Learning: Professional Development Remix | EdSurge Guides There are two components to the EdSurge PD framework: professional learning stages and tool classification. On the EdSurge site, each of the 28 tools listed here have been analyzed according to this framework. You can read the analysis of each of these tools by searching the EdSurge site for the individual product page for each of those products. Stage One: Engage Teachers gain tremendous value from interacting with peers and colleagues--sharing challenges, successes, what works, and what doesn’t. We have included “Engage” as the first stage of the professional learning cycle because often it is from conversations with colleagues that teachers identify new practices that they want to implement or solutions to problems they would like to fix. Stage Two: Learn New methods for teaching are being created, reimagined or revived from the past. Stage Three: Support Stage Four: Measure Measurement can be both an informal and a formal process to track growth. Tool Classification What You Learn Pedagogy
One English Town's Innovative Response To Sea Level Rise by Joanna M. Foster Posted on Share this: "One English Town’s Innovative Response To Sea Level Rise" Share: Vast stretches of the Somerset Levels, an expanse of coastal plains and wetlands in southwest England, have spent much of the winter underwater. The cliffs at Birling Gap on the East Sussex coast have suffered seven years of erosion in just two months, as over nine feet of the soft chalky cliffs fell into the sea. All along the coast of the U.K. and in other coastal communities around the world, the threat of sea level rise and more violent storms is forcing towns and governments to make difficult choices — build higher, build stronger, or retreat. The U.K.’s Environment Agency is experimenting with a kind of coordinated retreat for the hardest to defend coastal areas, a tactic referred to as managed coastal realignment. Getting Smart, Not Giving Up CREDIT: UK Environment Agency/Andrew Breiner The controversial plan? Early Returns The past winter was incredibly revealing.
Teachers are Learning Designers Late in 2012, I wrote a blog for the Huffington Post that articulated what I really feel should be and is a role of great teachers. Great teachers are "learning designers" who seek to create a space where all students are empowered to learn. I was further inspired to rearticulate this idea when I saw this video from Sir Ken Robinson: What really struck me is that great teachers create the conditions for success, just as gardeners do. Empower Yourself For so long, teachers have been disempowered to design. Stop Blaming Kids There is one pitfall in Sir Ken Robinson's metaphor of teachers as gardeners and students as fruit. Revise and Reflect As I mentioned earlier, if students are struggling, it's a great opportunity to revise and reflect on the learning design. Are more voice and choice or self-directed learning needed? These are just some of the questions I ponder when students are not successful, but there are a whole lot more.
Advanced Technologies for Small- and Medium-sized Manufacturing Companies Khang Hoang-Vu, Dr.-Ing. California Manufacturing Technology Center Regional Office - California State University, Long Beach In the 21st Century the global competition will be extremely severe. To be successful, manufacturers will have to be able to quickly draw on a variety of skills and technologies to stay ahead. With ever improving information technologies, rapid delivery systems, and enabling factories, management and delivery systems, likewise, can reside at various locations to optimize skills, costs, marketing and sales. Although most large U.S. corporations are well positioned to meet these challenges, medium-sized, and especially the small manufacturers and developing countries are facing financial, technological and human resource limitations. This paper will discuss some of the technological needs , as well as the constrains small companies are facing. Some of the changing market requirements are: Global competition is driving companies to improve their performance.
Are Existing Tech Tools Effective for Teachers and Students? The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation just released a report detailing the results of 3,100 teacher surveys and 1,250 student surveys on the kinds of digital instruction tools that are useful and effective. The foundation has asked teachers and students what they need when it comes to digital instruction, aiming to close the communication gap between commercial developers and schools. One of the biggest takeaways is that most teachers — 54 percent — don’t find many of the digital tools they use effective. [Click on images below for higher resolution.] In terms of content, teachers are looking for digital tools that support their efforts to help students become college and career ready, including tools that are aligned to Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards. Click here for the full report [PDF]. Related
Altergaze: 3D printed VR Goggles for Smartphones by Liviu Berechet Antoni Making an existing game or app compatible and ready to use with the Altergaze couldn't be easier. All you have to do is replace your existing in game camera with the Altergaze Camera Script, and set all your input commands to be triggered from the Altergaze Controller App as opposed to your own GUI buttons. You can either re-release the game as a stand alone Altergaze VR version, or simply add a button ‘use with the Altergaze - on / off’. Developed as part of the Altergaze Project, the Altergaze Controller App, is a simple application that facilitates the use of a 2nd device as an input controller. It can be an iOS or Android tablet, a Macbook or any other laptop, and potentially even your XBox or Playstation. The connection between the two devices is done via WiFi. Furthermore, the Altergaze Controller App can also be used as a gyroscope controller, promoting the development of unique and innovative double-gyroscope games and applications. Your support will help achieve all of these.
Technology Advances Professional Development for Teachers Posted by Herff Jones | Nystrom on Wednesday, April 23, 2014 · Leave a Comment While classroom technology provides a range of benefits for students, teachers can equally benefit from its use. Online sites, such as Twitter and Pinterest, offer perfect platforms on which educators can virtually exchange ideas, lesson plans and stories. Using these devices as tools for professional development can not only lead to higher achievement scores for students, but also increase the impact educators may have on the field of teaching as a whole. Video coaching helps early educators The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Childcare recently announced that it would adopt a video-coaching software to help prepare early-learning instructors. “TALENT can be used either asynchronously or synchronously and it enhances professional development when it is paired with face to face training,” Thiel said to the source.
untitled When classroom observations make sense Shared on flickr by Ralph Hockens People are incredibly sensitive to the environment and the culture—to the norms and expectations of the communities they are in. ~Chip and Dan Heath Full disclosure: I am no Instructional Rounds expert. The majority (ok all) of my exposure to Instructional Rounds has been experiential and in context of the work I do as part of our district’s Instructional Leadership Team (6 teachers who work on site with teachers in an iterative cycle of co-planning, co-teaching and co-learning). The majority of our work happens on site with a school based group of teachers. Onto co-planning The co-planning stage sets up the tension for the underlying why of classroom observations (in my limited experience!). Why this kind of classroom observation makes sense: 1. But more than anything else this process helps remind us: Like this: Like Loading...
Centre for Science and Environment Ranked at the top among developing countries New Delhi, January 26, 2015: Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has been ranked 17th among a global listing of top environmental think tanks. CSE also features on the top of the chart among environmental think tanks in the developing world, after the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The rankings have been published in the Global Go To Think Tank Index, which is compiled each year by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program of the University of Pennsylvania in the US. The index includes regional and international rankings of the world’s pre-eminent think tanks and emerging trends of the role and importance of think tanks in influencing policy worldwide. Said Sunita Narain, director general of CSE: “This recognition for CSE comes at an important period in global environmental policy making and climate negotiations. • To access the Think Tank Index, visit
Recruitment and Retention Part 6: Enhance Teacher Career OptionsThe Educator I’m someone that needs a good challenge, whether it be in my personal or professional life. I like the thrill of facing a difficult problem and having to come up with a creative solution. For example, possibly my most exciting day this year was when my air conditioning went out and I had to figure [&hellip... courtesy of teacherleaders I’m someone that needs a good challenge, whether it be in my personal or professional life. I like the thrill of facing a difficult problem and having to come up with a creative solution. The challenges inherent in teaching are one of the reasons I continue to do it. No educator should ever need to feel that teaching has become boring or mundane. Here’s how a teacher career ladder works in concept. Such systems have faced opposition from veteran educators accustomed to the old step and lane salary systems. Evidence suggests that a career ladder policy similar to the one outlined here would enhance our ability to retain irreplaceables in the classroom.
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