Expert Perspectives


EduSummIT 2019: How Will Changes in Human Computer Interfaces Impact Educational Technology?

How will changes in human computer interfaces, e.g., incorporation of augmented reality/virtual reality, impact educational technology and the learning experience? Good question! In this week’s blogpost we provide an answer to that good question produced by the 10 members of "Technological Working Group 1" at the EduSummIT 2019 Conference held in Quebec City, October, 2019.

Schools Under Cyber Siege Need a Path to Resilience

It’s one thing for impassible roads to hit pause on a school schedule. It’s an entirely different and unacceptable scenario when cyber extortion not only gets in the way of educating our youth but puts data pertaining to their health, academics and social development at risk of exposure and compromise — not to mention the public funds that are flushed away to ransom payments and cleanup efforts.

Finally, A Free, Easy-to-Use Tool to Mark-Up PDF Worksheets!

All your carefully prepared, tried-and-true paper worksheets can now be used on the computing devices in your 1-to-1 classrooms! Collabrify’s PDFPal is a free, browser-based app that is truly easy-to-use — and free! Read all about PDFPal in today’s blogpost!

Transitioning to a Blended, Phonics-Based Literacy Approach

A special education teacher explains how a balance between technology and one-on-one instruction has ignited her students’ love for reading.

Reducing Dropout Rates Through CTE and Interactive Technology

While research from the Association for Career & Technical Education reveals that students concentrating in CTE programs have a graduation rate of 93 percent compared to an average national freshman graduation rate of 80 percent, simply having a CTE program as part of a school’s curriculum is only a start in reducing dropout rates.

District Communications, from Compliance to Crisis

Managing communications can be a big job, but through a combination of outsourcing and sharing responsibility internally, districts can be ready for even the deepest crises.

Two Important Lessons About Digital Transformation From Outside Of K-12

We have commented before on the Digital Transformation (DT) happening inside and outside of K-12. Well, sports fans, it’s DT time again! In this week’s blog post, then, we point out two lessons from DT outside of K-12 from which that those in K-12 might well learn.

Michigan Adopts K-12 Computer Science Standards: What's Next?

In May 2019, Michigan became the 32nd state to adopt standards for computer science in K-12. In this week’s blog post, we describe those standards, unpack the adoption process, look to the future now the "easy bit" — standards definition and adoption — is done. There is much to learn from Michigan’s efforts!

NGSS Curricula Is For All Teachers: Use Our Roadmaps!

In this week's blog post, we discuss a free, NGSS-aligned curricular unit for middle school — "Health in Our Hands: What controls my health? (HiOH)" — with a particular focus on following question: "How can middle school teachers learn how to lead their students in NGSS-style learning?" There’s a Roadmap for that, as it turns out!

A Deepish-Dive Into an NGSS-Aligned, Elementary School Lesson Roadmap

What does Next-Generation Science Standards’ "three-dimensional science learning" look like in the classroom? In this week’s blog, we examine a specific NGSS lesson, implemented in the Collabrify Roadmap Platform, that has third-grade students using their “three-dimensional science learning” to actually build a small toy that moves.

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