IT Spotlight
Ed Tech Research & Trends
A new report found that while many states have figured out how to share multiple sources of education data to reduce manual data entry or improve data consistency, they still struggle to use data "to present a full picture of student learning." MoreE-rate discounts requested have dropped from $3 billion in 2017 to $2.8 billion in 2018. That's just half of what it was in 2012, when funding reached $5.2 billion. MoreThe mop-up work for Facebook in the wake of its privacy reform could take much longer than we might expect. MoreTelling parents that absences matter and offering suggestions for eliminating them reduces absenteeism by as much as 10 percent, according to a new study from researchers at Harvard and Berkeley. MoreFor all the talk of technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics doing away with the human element in corporate life, well trained human beings are still an essential ingredient. In fact, if the current skills gap remains unplugged, by 2030 the world will see "tens of millions of unfilled jobs and trillions of dollars in unrealized revenue," according to a new study. MoreTablet sales fell to 31.7 million in the first quarter of 2018, an 11.7 percent drop compared to the same period in 2017, according to a new report from International Data Corp. Detachable tablets were a bright spot in the category, showing a year-over-year improvement of 2.9 percent and a 15.3 percent market share. Sales of traditional tablets, on the other hand, were down more than the market overall, having fallen 13.9 percent below sales for 2017's first quarter. MoreSmartphone shipments fell to 334.3 million in the first quarter of the year, down 2.9 percent compared to the same period last year, according to a new report from International Data Corp. Sales in China, where shipments dipped below 100 million for the first time since 2013, are largely behind the drop. More
K-12 Technology News
If passed into law, the bill would reverse the Federal Communications Commission's December decision to end net neutrality rules put in place by the Obama administration. Those rules, set to expire June 11, bar companies from charging more for some content and from slowing down or outright blocking some content. MoreAdobe is drastically reducing the price of Creative Cloud licenses for K–12 schools and districts. Starting May 15, annual licenses will cost $4.99 per user for U.S. schools, providing full access to the Creative Cloud suite, which includes professional graphics, motion graphics, video editing, web development and other applications geared toward creative production. MoreBlackboard today introduced Blackboard Ally for Web, a solution for assessing and improving the accessibility of institutions' websites. The tool expands on Blackboard's Ally product (launched last year), which focuses on the accessibility of course materials in learning management systems. MoreD2L has updated its learning management system. The "Emerald Release" of Brightspace offers new analytics features, improvements to the user experience, functions to expedite use of the LMS by educators and updates to a parental version of the software. MoreGale has updated its resources to be compliant with Learning Tools Interoperability 1.0 standards and Deep Linking from the IMS Global Learning Consortium. The move enables single sign-on and allows instructors to embed content from their library's Gale collections to into any learning management system that supports the standards, including Blackboard, Canvas, Moodle, Schoology and more. MoreA new nonprofit has formed to focus on "identifying and supporting global standards for flipped learning and related active learning instruction." Known as the Academy of Active Learning Arts and Sciences, the organization was created out of the Flipped Learning Global Initiative's Global Standards Project, an effort to establish an international framework for flipped learning. MoreLearning management company D2L has tweaked its learning management system to accommodate professional development management for K–12 teachers as well. In April the company announced a similar offering for the higher education edition of its cloud-based Brightspace platform. Among the features: a dashboard to manage teacher PD and new kinds of assessment support. MoreA new mobile browser developed at Carnegie Mellon University offers a better search experience for people doing complex searches across multiple websites. The app offers the promise of replacing the overwhelming tab management required by iPhone's default Safari browser. The Bento browser, as it's called, compartmentalizes search sessions into a project workspace structure. More
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Upcoming K–12 Grants
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Sponsor: Foundation for Blended and Online Learning
Award: Up to $10,000
Number of Awards: Not specified
Application Deadline: May 31
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Sponsor: National Education Association Foundation
Award: $2,000 or $5,000
Number of Awards: Not specified
Application Deadline: Feb. 1, June 1 and Oct. 15 of each year
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Sponsor: National Education Association Foundation
Award: $2,000 or $5,000
Number of Awards: Not specified
Application Deadline: Feb. 1, June 1 and Oct. 15 of each year
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Sponsor: Crayola and the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP)
Award: $2,500 plus $1,000 in Crayola gear
Number of Awards: Up to 20 major prizes, plus one Crayola Classpack for every applicant submitting by the early bird deadline
Application Deadline: June 22 (June 4 for early bird prize)
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Sponsor: APC by Schneider Electric
Award: $10,000 in IT-related equipment upgrades
Number of Awards: 1
Application Deadline: June 30
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Sponsor: American Honda Foundation
Award: $20,000 to $75,000
Number of Awards: Not specified
Application Deadline: Feb. 1 and Aug. 1 for new organizations; May 1 for returning organizations
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Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award: $10 million to $20 million
Number of Awards: 9–18 total in three categories
Application Deadline: Aug. 8
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Sponsor: SparkFun
Award: STEM/STEAM-related prize packages, event and team sponsorships and other types of support
Number of Awards: Varies
Application Deadline: Ongoing: third Thursday of each month; awards announced on the last business day of each month
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Deadline: Ongoing
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Deadline: Ongoing
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Deadline: Ongoing
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Deadline: Ongoing
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Deadline: Ongoing
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Deadline: Ongoing
Award: No more than 10 percent of an organization's annual operating expenses or 25 percent of the total budget for the project being funded; awards have ranged from the hundreds to the millions of dollars.
Number of Awards: Varies
Qualification: Project should "directly serve or impact children living in urban poverty, particularly in the areas of education, family economic stability (including microfinance) and childhood health."
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Deadline: Ongoing (approx. 10 awards per month)
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Deadline: Ongoing (grants awarded on a rolling basis)
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Sponsor: Toshiba America Foundation
Award: Two categories: Up to $5,000 and more than $5,000
Number of Awards: Not specified
Application Deadline: Up to $5,000 awarded on a rolling basis; Feb. 1 deadline for applications for more than $5,000
Call for Papers & Proposals
Upcoming Events
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June 2–8, 2018
Las Vegas, NV
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June 18–21
Napa Valley, CA
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June 24–28, 2018
Chicago
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July 9–13
Bombay, India
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July 10–12
Manassas, VA
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July 12–16
St. Louis, MO
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July 16–19
Orlando, FL
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Aug. 7–9
Madison, WI
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Oct. 21–24
Nashville, TN
Editorial Webinars
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On Demand
Presenters: Joseph Krajcik, Michigan State University; Elliot Soloway, University of Michigan; David Nagel (moderator)
Sponsor: Insight Public Sector, Microsoft
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On Demand
Presenters: Julie Evans, Project Tomorrow; David Nagel (moderator)
Sponsor: Connection Public Sector Solutions
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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
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