THE Journal: News Update: Minecraft: Education Edition 1.0.1 Released with Code Builder Support

News

Minecraft: Education Edition 1.0.1 Released with Code Builder Support
Microsoft has released a new version of Minecraft: Education Edition that adds support for Code Builder, along with a number of other new features and improvements.
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Report Examines Use of Big Data in Education in Light of Privacy Backlash

While "big data" is helping researchers better understand why some students seem to thrive while others don't, a growing backlash by parents and policymakers could hamper research efforts. On one side are concerns about "privacy breaches, hacking, the use of data by commercial software developers for marketing purposes and the possibility that sensitive information ... might limit future opportunities for students," as a new report from the National Academy of Education explained.
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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.
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More Colleges, Universities Join Scholarship Platform to Fund Good Students
An online fundraising platform that has helped high schoolers raise more than $1 billion in scholarships for college is growing its community of academic institution partners.
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Google I/O Youth: Hands-on Digital Storytelling, CS Ed for Bay Area Students
Alongside Google's annual developer conference last week, the company held its fourth annual Youth I/O event at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA. Neary 150 students in grades 5-7 from around the Bay Area participated in activities that focused on digital storytelling, inventing, science and computer science (CS), according to a company blog post.
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Blackboard Unveils Accessibility Tool
Blackboard is releasing an accessibility tool that it plans to make available for all major learning management systems.
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Microsoft Boosts OneNote Accessibility, Offers Free Accessibility Training Course for Educators
Microsoft has unveiled new accessibility features for OneNote, the company's collaborative note-taking app for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android.
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Colorado Teachers Tap Video Coaching to Strengthen Classroom Instruction
It wasn't too long ago that instructors within University of Colorado Denver's ASPIRE to Teach Alternative Teacher Licensure Program would drive from classroom to classroom all over the Centennial State to train new K–12 teachers. Now, the program utilizes video coaching to support more than 200 teachers across 25 school districts statewide.
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Google I/O 2017: Standalone Google VR Headsets from HTC, Lenovo Coming Soon
At the annual Google I/O 2017 developer conference, Google unveiled an upcoming "revolutionary" standalone VR headset that will be manufactured by HTC and Lenovo.
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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.
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Upcoming K–12 Grants
- TAF Project-Based Learning Grants for Grades 6–12
  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; Aug. 1 deadline for applications for more than $5,000
- E² Energy to Educate Program
  Sponsor: Constellation Energy
  Award: Two categories: $25,000 for grades 6–12, $50,000 for college and university
  Number of Awards: Not specified (historically 12 to 17 per year)
  Application Deadline: Oct. 1
- SparkFun Community Partner Program
  Sponsor: SparkFun
  Award: STEM/STEAM-releated prize packages, event and team sponsorships and other types of support
  Number of Awards: Varies
  Application Deadline: Ongoin: third Thursday of each month; awards announced on the last business day of each month
- Adopt a Classroom
  Deadline: Ongoing
- Brinker International Grants
  Deadline: Ongoing
- Brown Rudnick Community Grants
  Deadline: Ongoing
- Corning Foundation Grants
  Deadline: Ongoing
- DonorsChoose.org
  Deadline: Ongoing
- Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Grants
  
  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."
- Naiku Innovative Teacher Grant
  Deadline: Ongoing (approx. 10 awards per month)
- Sony Grants for Education
  Deadline: Ongoing (grants awarded on a rolling basis)
Call for Papers & Proposals
- Submit calls for papers/proposals to [email protected].
Upcoming Events
- 2017 NMC Summer Conference
  June 13–15
  Boston
- InfoComm 2017
  June 14–16
  Orlando, FL
- ISTE 2017
  June 25–28
  San Antonio, TX
- ICALT 2017 : 17th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies
  July 3–7
  Timisoara, Romania
- Campus Technology 2017
  July 17–20
  Chicago
- Distance Teaching & Learning Conference
  July 25–27
  Madison, WI
- 2017 Clute International Conference on Education (ICE)
  July 30–Aug. 3
  New York
- More events at thejournal.com
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Professional Resources

THE News Update is a thrice-weekly newsletter covering the latest in technology trends, tools, and usage for K-12 instruction and administration. Opinion pieces by leading technology experts and visionaries provide insight on a variety of critical issues. News, announcements, and need-to-know statistics give readers a quick look at timely news and events affecting the education community. Please direct any questions or comments about THE News Update to [email protected]

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News

Upcoming K–12 Grants

Call for Papers & Proposals

Upcoming Events

Professional Resources