Fashioning a Framework for Maker Education

Jaclyn Gerstein will be presenting at two sessions during the ISTE conference: “A Framework for Maker Education: Frontloading and Reflecting on Maker Experiences,” on Sunday, June 25; and “Design Thinking and Universal Design for Learning for Makerspaces, STEM and STEAM” on Monday, June 26.

Jad Abumrad Reflects on Radio, Race, Technology and Education

Jad Abumrad doesn’t do things by the book, and he’s been rewarded for it. He’s co-host and creator of “Radiolab,” a popular public radio show that’s broadcast on more than 500 stations across the United States and has been downloaded as a podcast over 9 million times per month. He’s a 2011 MacArthur “genius grant” fellow, and his radio program won the George Foster Peabody Award in 2010 and 2015.

Leslie Fisher Thinks Augmented Reality First, Then VR in the Classroom

Leslie Fisher has turned her name and talents into her own successful ed tech consulting company. She will present at seven different sessions during the ISTE conference, June 25-28, in San Antonio, TX.

Is Effective Ed Tech Implementation Extremely Important? Depends Who's Being Asked

A new report out from Project Tomorrow revealed a substantial disconnect between teachers and administrators on technology implementations in schools. The report also highlighted a dearth of systemic change resulting from ed tech adoptions.

Confronting Racism with Technology: One School's Story

Inspired by Princeton University Assistant Professor Ruha Benjamin, two educators at Minnesota's Global Academy developed a session that utilizes technology to combat and confront racism.

Transforming Learning Spaces With (or Without) Technology: 7 Questions With Robert Dillon

Robert Dillon is a an expert in K–12 learning spaces, and loves to explore the intersections of technology and learning space design.

16,330 Schools Wrap Up Media Literacy Program to Build Empathy

More than 278,000 students from 16,330 schools across the United States completed about 12 million articles and nearly 500,000 quizzes as part of “A Mile in our Shoes,” a multifaceted program run by Newsela that aims to introduce empathy and inclusivity into K–12 classrooms. In addition, Newsela has donated $10,000 to campaigns on DonorsChoose that promote diversity and inclusivity.

Google Expeditions Adds Augmented Reality for Classrooms

At Google I/O 2017 this week, Google revealed plans to bring augmented reality to its immersive education platform Google Expeditions. Expeditions AR will enable students to see 3D models of objects like volcanoes, DNA molecules and more up close in a virtual environment.

Blackboard Unveils Accessibility Tool

Blackboard is releasing an accessibility tool that it plans to make available for all major learning management systems.

Turnitin Adds Lexile Measures to Revision Assistant

To add the Lexile measures, Turnitin partnered with Metametrics, a company that develops scientific measures of academic achievement.

Edmodo Investigates Millions of User Accounts for Sale on Dark Web

A hacker going by the name "nclay" claims to have stolen more than 77 million user accounts from Edmodo, a K–12 social learning network of 78 million teachers, students, parents and other members, and has put the data for sale on the Dark Web.

Privacy Advocates Release Toolkit for Parents to Protect Student Data

The Parent Coalition for Student Privacy and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood earlier this week released a free, online toolkit that offers guidance to parents on how to protect their children’s personal information.

CodeREV Expands Tech Summer Camps Throughout CA and Beyond

Evan Boorman started CodeREV after running a successful tutoring company. He spoke with THE Journal to discuss the CodeREV summer camps, as well as the necessities of teaching coding and STEAM to young people.

Designing Your Online Course: Learning From an Expert

Christine Voelker teaches other teachers how to build their own online courses. She’s the K–12 program director for Quality Matters, a nonprofit educational organization based in Annapolis, MD. She'll be presenting an all-day workshop at ISTE Sunday, June 25.

Study Finds Digital Exam Features Impact Scores for Younger Students

A study of 33,000 elementary and middle school students, conducted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, found that these students tend to perform better on paper-and-pencil tests compared to digital tests — especially for non-native English speaking students.

Tennessee Reimburses Schools for Telepractice Services

Tennessee, like many states, has been facing a shortage of qualified clinicians, but recently amended legislation seeks to open the door for schools to use online therapy services.

Tennessee Revamping K-12 Digital Resources Library

The new version of the library will be hosted on Thrivist, an online application that pegs itself as a learning management system for blended schools.

New York, New Jersey, Connecticut Schools Expand Online Course Offerings

Three schools across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are adding more than 200 new online courses to their catalogs.

Grants & Upcoming Events (Week of May 22, 2017)

Upcoming K–12 Grants

Call for Papers & Proposals

Upcoming Events