THE IT Trends
Strategies & Insights for Technology Leaders in K-12 12/3/2020

IT Spotlight





Ed Tech Research & Trends


  • LMS Companies See Surge of Usage in Fall

    Overall LMS downloads were 250 percent higher in August than February, according to a report from consultancy Sykes.

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  • Contrary to Predictions, Rate of Teacher Retirements Looks to Decline in 2020

    An analysis of teacher retirements during 2020 found that the rate was down by about five percent. Just one state under study — Alabama — showed an increase in retirements, of 7.2 percent.

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  • Nine in 10 Teachers Expect Ed Tech Needs to Grow in Next 3 Years

    Most K-12 teachers said their students received less coverage of instructional material in the spring than compared to the typical school year, and most of lessons consisted of asynchronous activities. While a majority of administrators said their districts and schools were able to provide formal professional learning opportunities on technology-based remote instruction to their educators, half as many teachers said the same.

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  • The Pandemic's Impact on Teacher, Parent and Student Attitudes

    These results came from a cut of data collected and analyzed by Project Tomorrow, an education nonprofit that runs the on-going Speak Up Research Project. The latest data compared responses from 137,000 K-12 stakeholders, including students, parents, teachers and site and district leaders collected before school closures (September 2019 to Mar. 16, 2020) and during (between Mar. 16 2020 and Jun. 30, 2020).

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  • Survey: As a Necessity, Video is Losing Its Luster

    Right now, video isn't making the positive impact on learning that it may have made in the past. In an annual survey done by Kaltura, fewer faculty and staff respondents agreed that video increased student achievement (down 11 percent from last year's survey), increased the sense of affiliation alumni felt for their institutions (down nine percent), increased student satisfaction with learning (down seven percent) or increased educator collaboration and professional develop (down five percent).

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K-12 Technology News





  • Upcoming K–12 Grants

    Quarterly K–12 Grants

    • MicroGrant Program for Educators & Teachers

      Sponsor: Educators of America
      Award: Equipment (varies by request)
      Number of Awards: Not specified
      Application Deadline: Ongoing (quarterly:January, April, July, October)
    • Mobile Beacon Connect for Success

      Sponsor: National Education Association Foundation
      Award: Up to 25 laptops and 4G LTE hotspots with free 4G LTE high-speed Internet service for 12 months
      Number of Awards: Not specified
      Application Deadline: Ongoing (quarterly)

    Ongoing K–12 Grants

    Call for Papers & Proposals

    Upcoming Events

    Webcasts

    • THE Journal Distance Learning Summit

      On Demand
      Presenters: Lisa DeLapo, Director of Information & Instructional Technology at Union School District in San Jose, CA; Rick Bray, Instructional Technology Professional Development Specialist, Professional Learning and Innovation Center at Broome-Tioga Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES); Dr. Caprice Young is the National Superintendent of Learn4Life, a network of nonprofit public schools that serves Opportunity Youth and formerly disengaged high school students; David Nagel, Editor-in-Chief of THE Journal and Editorial Director, 1105 Media Education Group (moderator)
      Sponsor: Connection, Veeam
    • NGSS Deep Dive: Middle School Grades

      On Demand
      Presenters: Elliot Soloway, University of Michigan; Idit Adler, CREATE for STEM Institute at Michigan State University; Renee Bayer, CREATE for STEM Institute at Michigan State University; David Nagel (moderator)
      Sponsor: Microsoft
    • NGSS Deep Dive: Middle School Grades

      On Demand
      Presenters: Elliot Soloway, University of Michigan; Idit Adler, CREATE for STEM Institute at Michigan State University; Renee Bayer, CREATE for STEM Institute at Michigan State University; David Nagel (moderator)
      Sponsor: Microsoft
    • NGSS Deep Dive: Elementary Grades

      On Demand
      Presenters: Elliot Soloway, University of Michigan; Sam Severance, Michigan State University; Monique Coulman, Haas Elementary School (Genesee, MI); David Nagel (moderator)
      Sponsor: Microsoft
    • NGSS Curricula: A Deep Dive into an NGSS-Aligned Curricular Unit

      On Demand
      Presenters: Joseph Krajcik, Michigan State University; Elliot Soloway, University of Michigan; David Nagel (moderator)
      Sponsor: Insight Public Sector, Microsoft, HP, Intel
    • Speak Up Survey: Trends in STEM and STEAM Education

      On Demand
      Presenters: Julie Evans, Project Tomorrow; David Nagel (moderator)
      Sponsor: Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company
    • Critical Thinking and Next Generation Science Standards

      On Demand
      Presenters: Joseph Krajcik, Michigan State University; Elliot Soloway, University of Michigan; David Nagel (moderator)
      Sponsor: Insight Public Sector, Microsoft
    • STEAM Research from the Front Lines: The Impact of STEAM on Teachers, Students, Administrators and Parents

      On Demand
      Presenters: Julie Evans, Project Tomorrow; David Nagel (moderator)
      Sponsor: Connection Public Sector Solutions
    • Funding STEM: How Schools Can Get Creative with Federal Dollars

      On Demand
      Presenters: Anand Vaishnav and Jacob Waters, Education First; David Nagel (moderator)
      Sponsor: Acer, Connection Public Sector Solutions
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Professional Resources