Features


Felisa Ford and two colleagues created Lessons in Good Trouble for Minecraft: Education Edition

How an Educator’s Persistence Led to a Student Leadership Initiative & the Most Popular Minecraft Edu Game of All Time

When Felisa Ford and her instructional tech colleagues in Atlanta had trouble getting the district's teachers on board with using Minecraft: Education Edition, she created a student ambassador program to empower young Minecraft experts to coach other students and teachers, and it was so successful that Microsoft started a learning path for educators to sponsor their own local student ambassador programs. Then came Good Trouble.

InnovateEDU Launches Open-Source Blueprint for Inclusive Research and Development in Education [BIRD-E]

Education nonprofit InnovateEDU today launched the Blueprint for Inclusive Research and Development in Education, dubbed BIRD-E, an open source, universal framework designed to generate actionable, high-quality research that ed tech providers, policymakers, researchers, education leaders, and other K-12 stakeholders can easily access, understand, and apply in the classroom.

How to Use a 3D Printer to Get Students into Design and Engineering

Ffrom Alief ISD in Houston, Texas, teachers Daniel O’Kilen and Carolyn Dersen, shard their enthusiasm for using 3D printing to entice students to learn STEAM concepts at a Tuesday session of the annual convention of the Texas Computer Education Association, and shared their free online guide “11 Classroom Lessons To Use With Your 3D Printer,”

Q&A with Todd Miller: How Rave Mobile Safety Keeps Schools Safe

Todd Miller, senior vice president of strategic programs at Rave Mobile Safety, recently spoke with THE Journal about Rave’s panic button app and how it’s helping keep schools and students safe, how Rave helps automate the instantaneous sharing of information that helps safety responders, and why he believes a statewide approach to school safety technology works best.

Filmmaker Brett Culp Encourages Educators to See Their Actions as Heroic and Stay Focused on the Mission

Documentary filmmaker Brett Culp describes how his journey making documentaries that tell the stories of everyday people doing extraordinary things to make a difference in the lives of others, changed his definition of what a hero and what a leader is — and teachers are both.

Experts: Schools Will Have to Step It Up, Pay More to Get Cyberinsurance This Year

Cyberinsurance premiums are expected to skyrocket this year as insurers crack down on the amount of risk they’ll accept — and they’re starting to require organizations requesting a quote to prove that their network security is in tip-top shape, industry experts said.

New EduRecoveryHub Site Showcases Best Practices in K–12 COVID Recovery Spending

A new website, EduRecoveryHub.org, launched today showcases emerging best practices in how K–12 school districts are using federal pandemic recovery education funds, along with expert analysis from varying perspectives on what makes each effort stand out.

Advice for Overwhelmed School IT Staff from a Cybersecurity Pro: Progress, Not Perfection

Cybersecurity leader and district IT chief Rod Russeau maintains that the biggest hurdle to an effective K–12 cybersecurity strategy isn’t technical know-how; it’s getting district leaders and decision-makers on board and ensuring communication about cybersecurity goals and best practices permeates every level and every group within the district.

13 Predictions for K–12 and Technology in 2022

THE Journal reached out to district technology and IT leaders, school leaders and teachers to find out what they expect to see in the new year.

Bridging the Skills Gap: STEM and Diversity Advocate Carolina Diaz

Carolina Diaz, a project engineer at Shell, was recently recognized with a Luminary Award at the Great Minds in STEM’s 2021 Conference and Hispanic Engineering National Achievement Awards event for her contributions to bringing STEM education to underserved students.