Paying for Personalized Learning

Just how much does it cost to set up a personalized learning plan for an entire school, and is it really sustainable? Could a typical school budget cover the expense — and what would happen if budget cuts had to be made?

4 Design Ideas to Create an Engaging and Comfortable Classroom Environment

Teaching isn't just about transferring knowledge to students. It's also important to create an atmosphere in which kids feel understood, comfortable and supported on their educational journey.

Speech Recognition Apps Propel Literacy

Can voice recognition apps that are as common as Siri Assistant and Cortana help kids learn to read?

Web-Based, Interactive Learning Helps Middle Schoolers Excel in Science

In a new study, middle schoolers did better with science lessons when they could learn online, watching videos, playing educational games, running virtual experiments and collaborating with classmates.

Personalized Learning Is Not about Planting Students Behind Computers

Currently, policies tend to encourage a "one-size-fits-all" model for teacher certification, tracking accountability and placing seat time above competency in measuring learning success. According to a new report, transforming that model and promoting personalized learning will require educators and policymakers to shift how they "think of school."

Collaboration: It's Got to be Taught (and How to Do It)!

Some students can naturally problem solve, but for those who are less communicative or social, the benefits of collaboration (establishing leadership roles, delegation of tasks, the scheduling of team communication, listening, debating and the re-delegation of new tasks, all to make the final piece richer as a result of multiple minds working together, rather than one) are lost on them. It's just onerous.

The Holy Grail of Ed Tech Apps: Require Minimal Teacher Investment and Provide Maximal Student Impact

Why don't techies typically understand how to reach the Holy Grail of ed tech with their apps? In this week's blog post we look to Kahoot! — a Jeopardy-style game — to better understand the value of making a teacher's life easier!

How Rural Teachers Can Use Technology to Upgrade Their Classrooms

When it comes to rural schools, there are many challenges that educators face. Some of them — lower salaries, high turnover, and lack of resources — have no easy answer. However, new technology is making it easier than ever for teachers to combat one of the most prevalent challenges of teaching in a rural environment: the multitude of roles and responsibilities educators need to juggle.

Educators, Policymakers Say Problem Solving is Important, Not Emphasized in School

Nearly all educators and policymakers say that it's important for students to learn creative problem-solving skills in school, but approximately two-thirds say that current curricula do not emphasize creative problem solving enough, according to a new report out this week.

Education Workers Take More Mental Health Days than People in Other Industries

Nearly 60 percent of education employees have taken a "mental health day" to deal with work-related stress, a count that's significantly higher than in other industries. That's according to a recent survey of 1,004 office workers and business decision-makers in the United States and Canada. The survey, conducted by KRC Research on behalf of Staples, asked employees in various industries about current trends in the workplace, including health, wellness and stress issues.

Non-Fiction is a Non-Starter in American Classrooms

In spite of the push since the release in 2010 of the Common Core learning standards to get students to read more nonfiction, lift hasn't even reached 10 percent in most states. The only outliers were New Jersey and Vermont, where the gain was greater than 10 percent.

Do Pre-K Teachers Even Need College Degrees — Let Alone Online Ones?

A report out from NEPC questions the findings of a report on online programs for pre-K teachers from New America. At the heart of its concerns: whether bachelor's degrees are really essential for the job.

Report: Digital Literacy Is 'Hot' but Not Important

In education there's hot, and then there's important. In the category of K-12 reading and writing, digital literacy may be hot, but it's hardly important. That's just one of the many conclusions shared in this year's "What's Hot in Literacy Report" from the International Literacy Association, which surveyed 2,097 education professionals in 91 countries and territories. The report defined hot topics as "those trending and receiving the most attention among educators, policymakers and the media, whereas important topics are those that are most critical to advancing literacy for all learners."

Grant Alert: $30,000 in Classroom Tech Upgrades, Deadline March 23

A K–12 grant program is offering 10 grants of more than $3,000 each to educators to bring new technologies to their classrooms.

FERPA Finding Reminds Schools to Review Terms of Service

Do parents have to relinquish their students' rights under FERPA when the school signs an agreement with a company whose terms of use don't comply with FERPA?

New Project Launches Global Standards for Flipped Training

The Flipped Learning Global Initiative has introduced a new effort to establish international standards for flipped training. The standards are meant to ensure that educators are trained using the most current global research and best practices in flipped learning, according to a news announcement.

Smartphone Addiction Is Normal Need to Connect on Overdrive

We stare at our phones all the time not because the devices themselves are addictive, but because we're driven to socialize, according to a recent literature review by researchers at McGill University.

Agentic Launches Grant for Student-Centered Learning

Agentic Learning has launched a new competitive grant program offering two districts consulting, leadership coaching and software access designed to support the development of student-centered approaches to learning.

Epson Debuts 7 Education Laser Projectors

Epson has debuted seven new models in its new PowerLite L-Series of laser projectors for education. The forthcoming Epson PowerLite L615U, L610U, L510U, L400U, L610W, L500W and L610 offer resolutions reaching WUXGA and brightness ratings of up to 6,000 lumens.

iCivics Updates Free Online Tool for Teaching History and Civics

The new version of DBQuest from iCivics was redesigned for easier sharing, use on tablets, teacher tracking of student progress and simpler addition of new teaching modules. The work was supported with a grant from the Library of Congress and relies on the use of primary sources from the library's online collections.

Knewton Unveils $44 Adaptive Digital Textbooks

Ed tech company Knewton has launched a collection of digital courseware that integrates its adaptive technology with open education resources, with the intention of selling directly to instructors and students. Previously, the company licensed its adaptive functionality to textbook publishers for integration with their course content. Under the new strategy, the company noted, it could own "all aspects of the user experience" and "make a greater impact on outcomes and affordability." Each title in the new line costs $44 for two years of digital access.

New Service Uses Speech Recognition, Auto-Scoring for Early Reader Assessment

Non-profit NWEA is launching a new oral reading fluency assessment for K-3 that uses speech recognition, automatic scoring and computer adaptive technology rather than human judgment and individual administration.

Crestron Updates AirMedia Wireless Presentation Technology

Crestron has introduced the next generation of its AirMedia wireless presentation technology. AirMedia 2.0 allows users to connect their smart devices and laptops to a room display, regardless of operating system, from anywhere in a classroom space.

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