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.
- By Tina Barrera-Melde
- 02/14/18
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!
- By Cathie Norris, Elliot Soloway
- 02/12/18
A school transportation director shares his experience in using GIS technology to enhance school-parent communication and plan for the future.
- By Freddy Cornejo
- 02/02/18
In its first decade, 1998-2008, "mobile learning" was all about getting devices into the hands of K-12 students and teachers. Palms initially proliferated; then Pocket PCs. In those early days, there was plenty of excitement and energy — for good reason — amongst the early adopters. Why didn’t mobile learning catch on, then?
- By Cathie Norris, Elliot Soloway
- 01/22/18
TV – live shows (news, documentaries, etc.), not just YouTubes – is now available on all devices as an app. And, TV as an app makes absolutely unique resources readily available in the palm of a learner’s hand. However, as we discuss in this week’s blog post: if only it were that simple!
- By Cathie Norris, Elliot Soloway
- 01/08/18
Personal computing devices are entering the K-12 classroom at a dramatically increased rate. Using those computers to support personalized learning is definitely in the cards. However, we urge those in charge: remember your Dewey — "education is a social process" — and use those computers for social learning as well!
- By Cathie Norris, Elliot Soloway
- 11/27/17
Singer and Ivory, in their Nov. 4 New York Times article, made a major mis-speak: "... there is little rigorous evidence so far to indicate that using computers in class improves educational results." In this week’s blog post we identify research that addresses Singer and Ivory’s concern, as well as documenting the fact that K-12 students write more and write better when using a computer.
- By Cathie Norris, Elliot Soloway
- 11/06/17
Building a community's culture takes more than providing instruction; it takes a systematic intentional approach that engages the entire community of students, educators and parents.
- By Jeff Mao
- 10/26/17
Educators typically have mixed views on their school’s IT staff — to put it mildly. In order to better understand IT staff’s priorities, responsibilities and resources, we lunched with them recently. Our eyes were opened by those conversations!
- By Cathie Norris, Elliot Soloway
- 10/23/17
1-to-1 is no longer a tired notion. 1-to-1 is changing. 1-to-1 is about to ... take off! Nevada has just announced its renewed commitment to 1-to-1. Let’s use what we have learned since Maine when 1-to-1 in 2002 to ensure a success in Nevada — and in all the states that will be going 1-to-1 in the near future!
- By Cathie Norris, Elliot Soloway
- 10/02/17