Looking Through the News for EdTech Trends

Here's a partial list of the items covered in class discussions and listed in weekly class discussion notes. These have all appeared in the last couple of months and, in my opinion, point towards significant trends in EdTech as it is used in preK-12 schools:

*  http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar13/vol70/num06/The-Basics-of-Blended-Instruction.aspx  
* Online & Blended Learning Solutions

http://www.pearsoned.com/prek

*  W hat qualities do effective digital school leaders share?

There are seven pillars of effective digital school leaders, asserts Eric

Sheninger, a senior fellow at the International Center for Leadership in

Education and a former high school principal. He outlined the pillars during

a CoSN 2016 spotlight session. eSchool News (free registration) 

*  Testing and Assessment

Online Assessment Computer Glitch Affected Thousands of State of Texas Assessments of Academic  Readiness Exams

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/k-12/Computer-Glitch-Affected-Thousands-of-State-of-Texas-Assessments-of-Academic-Readiness-Exams.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Act-On+Software&utm_content=email&utm_campaign=3%20Action%20Items%20to%20Help%20District%20IT%20Leaders%20Accelerate%20Ed%20Tech%20Success&utm_term=Computer%20Glitch%20Affected%20Thousands%20of%20State%20of%20Texas%20Assessments%20of%20Academic%20Readiness%20Exams

* Grading Software Seen as Time Saving Tool

Teachers are turning to essay grading software to critique student  writing, but critics point to serious flaws in the technology
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/03/13/25essay-grader.h33.html

*Connected Teaching and Learning, Tech Tip

Tech Tip: Enhance learning with Nearpod Virtual Field Trips

*3 Action Items to Help District IT Leaders Accelerate Ed Tech Success

Author Daniel Pink and U.S. CTO Megan Smith addressed education technology leaders at the Consortium for School Networking Conference this week.

*2016 Digital School Districts Winners Use Data Analytics, Digital Literacy Curriculum to Help Students Succeed

Three school districts earned top recognition for their education technology work in the annual Digital School Districts Survey from the Center for Digital Education. Here's insight into how they're helping students to learn.

*California Virtual Academy Begins Enrolling Students for Fall

The fully online  school is open to K-12 students and is marketed toward kids looking to pursue personalized education and opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

*From Assessment to Insight With Analytics

Want to provide teachers with knowledge that can improve student achievement as well as serve as an early warning system for at risk students? This eBook describes how turning streams of data into actionable information made a real difference in Hamden Public Schools (CT) and Auburn City Schools (AL).
*Prepare students for 21st-century careers
How do educators prepare students for jobs that don't exist yet? STEAM — adding Arts to STEM — provides a full 360-degree approach to 21st-century learning. Now more than ever, students need to engage in STEAM learning. And with littleBits, you automatically have a STEAM curriculum. Learn more>*How to use Google Map tools

Google Map has tools that can help students create stories across multiple subjects, instructional technology consultant Will Kimbley suggests. This blog post details what Google Earth, Google Tour Builder and Google My Maps can do and offers tutorials teachers can access to get acquainted with these tools.

*High-tech classrooms designed to promote innovative teaching A dozen Florida middle-school teachers are having their classrooms revamped with new furniture and technology as part of a districtwide pilot program to promote student-centered, collaborative learning. Educators applied for grants to test out a range of technology, including computerized walls, virtual reality equipment and lab discs that automatically measure and record data.

*Guidelines for funding classroom technology. GUEST COLUMN| by Mike Patterson 

Teachers and school administrators nationwide believe that bringing technology into classrooms boosts educational outcomes for students. Districts often purchase the next big device to “revolutionize” learning. In fact, overall education technology spending will reach $19 billion worldwide by 2019, according to market research firm Futuresource […]

*In Ariz. K-8 District, All Grades Learn Computer Programming

*Will ESSA expand computer-science education?

…focus on science, technology engineering and math, as well as computer science. ESSA includes computer science among core subjects, such as writing and science. EdTech magazine online
*Coding lessons are reaching students earlier, sometimes as early as preschool. Educators are using tools such as robots and apps to engage students in these lessons.

School Library Journal

http://www.slj.com/2016/04/technology/never-too-young-to-code/

*Fla. to count coding as foreign language beginning in 2018-19

Florida lawmakers have adopted legislation allowing coding courses to count toward foreign-language requirements beginning in the 2018-19 school year. Students in school districts that do not offer coding classes can enroll in the state's online school.USA Today

     

*Augmented Reality
http://www.teachthought.com/uncategorized/augmented-reality-in-education-here-are-20-examples/    September 17, 2012
Augmented Reality In Education? Here Are 20 Examples
*https://www.google.com/get/cardboard/ 
*Student Robotics
Professor Gura’s Classroom Robotics BLOG
http://classroomrobotics.blogspot.com/ 
*Maker Spaces/Maker Culture
The Maker Movement in K-12 Education: A Guide to Emerging Research As Maker Education evolves in K-12, researchers are exploring related equity issues, design principles for Maker spaces, and the impact of this approach on student learning. Read more.
*Coding
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2016/01/white_house_computer_science_for_all_initiative.html?cmp=eml-enl-eu-news2-RM
“President Obama Announces 'Computer Science for All' Initiative Today, the White House announced what it's calling an "ambitious, all-hands-on-deck" initiative to get every student in the United States coding."In the new economy, computer science isn't an optional skill—it's a basic skill, right along with the three Rs,'" President Obama said in his weekly address today. . Read more.
*Tech and Creativity (Prof. Gura’s new book for ISTE)
Make, Learn, Succeed Building a Culture of Creativity in Your School https://www.iste.org/resources/product?id=3797&name=Make%2c+Learn%2c+Succeed Expected publication date: 05/2016 - Topics: Curriculum, Robotics, STEM, Project-based learning, Personalized learning, Maker movement

* California Virtual Academy Begins Enrolling Students for Fall
The fully online school is open to K-12 students and is marketed toward kids looking to pursue personalized education and opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

*Using Video Effectively in the Classroom
Getting students to tune in through active and reactive viewing of video.
March 21, 2016
Digital Curriculum, Differentiated Instruction, and More: New Spotlights From Education Week
https://www.graphite.org/blog/using-video-effectively-in-the-classroom

 *Facebook adds feature that describes pictures to users with visual impairments    TechCrunch

	OPINION Five Steps to Powerful Virtual Coaching for Teachers When you provide feedback to a teacher by coaching them virtually, new strategies come into play. Read more. (The Startup Blog) http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/the_startup_blog/2016/03/five_steps_to_powerful_virtual_coaching.html?cmp=eml-enl-dd-news2
	*Some Needed Perspective On Ed-Tech Adoptions (Reinventing K-12 Learning)

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/reinventing_k12_learning/2016/03/some_needed_perspective_on_edtech_adoptions.html?cmp=eml-enl-dd-news3

SPONSOR WEBINAR - Wednesday, April 20, 2016, 2 to 3 p.m. ET Innovation for Diverse 21st Century Learning Environments Omaha Public Schools worked with teachers, staff, and students to implement a technology plan that has delivered improved outcomes by focusing on what is best for the student. Learn how they were able to turn their schools around. Click here to attend this free live event. Content provided by: Microsoft

*Study: Extensive social media use may lead to depression    Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

*Ind. schools have varied policies on social media    WRTV-TV (Indianapolis) (4/5) 

*SmartBrief celebrates education bloggers: Meet the winners SmartBlog on Education's monthly content award recognizes content written by educators, for educators, that inspires readers to engage, innovate and discuss. Visit SmartBlogs to read about -- and be inspired by -- the winners. *Everything you need to know about adaptive learning and math Join us Thursday, March 31st at 1pm ET for practical information that will help you make the best choice for your district. **** If you can't make it, no worries. Register ASAP to receive the webinar on demand. *Educators Learn About Latest Tech Tools at Google EdTech Summit Grand Canyon University was home to the 2016 Google EdTech Summit where educators from all over Arizona met to discuss the progression of EdTech. *Mich. school to use 3D printer to promote manufacturing industry A Michigan technical campus will integrate 3D printing into classes to help students experience advanced manufacturing technologies. A nonprofit organization that focuses on the manufacturing industry recently gifted the printer to the school. T.H.E. Journal (3/28)  *How can technology enhance assessments? Momentum continues to grow for using formative assessments as an alternative to traditional multiple-choice testing, writes Measured Progress' Stuart Kahl. In this commentary, Kahl asserts that technology was not used enough in assessments during the era of No Child Left Behind. eSchool News (free registration) (3/30)  *Facebook's Zuckerberg to Bet Big on Personalized Learning http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/03/07/facebooks-zuckerberg-to-bet-big-on-personalized.html?cmp=eml-enl-ii-news1-RM “….a new, multi-pronged effort by Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, pediatrician Priscilla Chan, to use their massive fortune to reshape public education with technology

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Ed Tech Advocacy / Evangelism

Ed Tech Evangelism.

Based on my experience teaching this course previously, Instructional Technology ADVOCACY has proved to be one theme that students have had some difficulty in fully embracing. Advocacy, I’ve discovered through class discussions, is an unexpected dimension of leading a school in the adoption and refining the use of technology. Further, Ed Tech truly calls for advocacy, something that other aspects of the life of a school  do not require nearly as much of.

There are a variety of types of Instructional Technology Advocacy.

Yes, certainly money is required to purchase devices; networking hardware and connectivity; and software, online subscriptions, APPs and other types of digital resource. And teachers interested in a school’s technology program receiving its fair share of that may need to lobby those who fund the school’s initiatives or decision makers within the school to allocate funds for this specific purpose. Another aspect of advocacy for funds may involve fund raising, applying for grants, seeking donations of equipment, and more.

School Technology advocates may choose to focus on getting some more attention focused on their area. Is technology considered when the school does PD, allocating not just funds for this, but time, as well. Is Instructional technology considered important? Important for the right reasons? This last point is important because there are many reasons why tech should be used that are misperceptions or common uses that establish an awareness of technology as far less important than it actually is. Yes, it’s good to have a web page that students can go to as their needs dictate that will provide information about which assignments are due and when. This however, pales in comparison with the ways that resources and practices like science simulations. Virtual field trips, digital storytelling, student robotics, and more can literally make for a very much richer, more vibrant, accessible, and effective type of instruction provided to the students.

Advocacy very likely will include also, Ed Tech Evangelism. And related to this, simple Visioning, getting the school community to envision what it wants and what it feels the greatest value would be, in refining and expanding its technology program. What’s involved here is simply informing colleagues about the role of technology and its potential in Education. What do we mean by Ed Tech when we speak of it. What sorts of things is it and does it do? Why is it important? How does it impact the important things that happen in classrooms and schools? A great deal of potential success in establishing vital and successful technology programs in schools rests on sharing knowledge, understanding, and potential with colleagues who may have their position on it greatly through such efforts. To that end, one very useful tool is video. A good number of videos have already been created and made available on line for this purpose. Can we identify a few that we feel have particular potential for our advocacy efforts and that may even provide a starting point for our own efforts in producing a video.

Below are a few videos that I’ll start off this inquiry with. What do you think of these? Do they make good points? Are they off base or misguided in the approach they take or the points they make? What did they miss? What should be added or dropped? AND can you find others to suggest be added to this list? Your input will be much appreciated.

MG

1. Can Technology Change Education? Yes!: Raj Dhingra at TEDxBend https://youtu.be/l0s_M6xKxNc
   
   
2. Beyond EdTech -- build an effective learning ecosytem | David Miyashiro | TEDxAmericasFinestCity
   https://youtu.be/_oAoTdQ80XI
3. What 60 Schools Can Tell Us About Teaching 21st Century Skills: Grant Lichtman at TEDxDenverTeachers
   https://youtu.be/UZEZTyxSl3g
   
4. Ed Tech Challenge: What is this digital shift, and how do we make it happen?
   https://youtu.be/eEv96XJHQp8
   
5. Technology in Education
   https://youtu.be/aXyCECMxhOs
   
6. The history of technology in education
   https://youtu.be/UFwWWsz_X9s
   
7. Technology in Education: A Future Classroom
   https://youtu.be/uZ73ZsBkcus
   
8. Khan Academy: The future of education?
   https://youtu.be/zxJgPHM5NYI
   
9. What is Educational Technology
   https://youtu.be/gGY2cwWC8Ag
   
10. 10 Emerging Education and Instructional Technologies that Educators Should Know About
    https://youtu.be/uPCLRwgG6dM
    
11. What Is Educational Technology?
    https://youtu.be/Q1PzO2kopRc
    
12. Instructional technologies -- Changing teaching and learning | Eric Simon | TEDxNewEnglandCollege
    https://youtu.be/E45A1UR1roE
    
13. Instructional technologies -- Changing teaching and learning | Eric Simon | TEDxNewEnglandCollege
    https://youtu.be/E45A1UR1roE

Where's the tech that would have REALLY made a difference here?

These are some great ideas for alternatives to traditional book reports. However, had the planning of these ideas included tapping the power and flexibility of simple, easy to use, COMMON technology, they could have been made much more satisfying and relevant to the students and infinitely easier to manage for the teacher in a number of ways... Seems to me that easy to use technology would have made a) doing the projects easier and given the students the sort of more professional looking products that would have further motivated and satisfied them (e.g. mining the web for images to 'collage' to create a poster, maybe with animations and links to reference sources - easy to do audio recordings would capture student verbal performances and be ready for playback on demand) - b) would have made storing the projects and the elements they are made from easier and neater, helped conserve space, and made it easier to give the students access to them. when they wanted to continue working on them - including, at home (storing projects as digital files is more efficient and practical than piles of paper, cardboard, scissors, glue, etc.) - c) would have made it possible to preserve,document, and save the projects, and (e.g. simple digital photos, teacher's or students' phone still or video cameras, etc. d) possible to share the projects with a broader audience (including parents) who would have been empowered to give feedback more practically (e.g. simple, easy class blog, etc.. Tutorials on how to do these things can be found on the web. 

From Scholastic online: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2016/01/bringing-book-reports-lifehttp://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2016/01/bringing-book-reports-life

"Bringing Book Reports to Life

By Amanda Nehring on January 19, 2016

Traditional written book reports and story plot posters are a classroom classic, but over time they can get a bit redundant. Instead of using the same old reading response projects year after year, why not try a new, creative and crafty approach to student book reports? Whether you teach the elementary grades or middle school, these hands-on projects are sure to engage your students and bring their favorite books to life!

Storybook Dioramas

Remember the science fair shoebox diorama from your childhood? Storybook dioramas follow the same idea, but in place of the water cycle or rainforest habitats your students will bring a book to life with a three-dimensional representation of their favorite scene.

The first step is to encourage students to pick a book that fits your assignment’s criteria. In the early elementary grades ask students to read their favorite picture book or simple chapter book that addresses a central theme, like teamwork or perseverance. In the upper elementary grades have students choose a chapter book from a state or national award list. At the middle grades you could even allow your students to use the book they are reading in their small-group book clubs. It won’t matter if students select the same story because each child is sure to choose a different scene to portray in their diorama.

After students have read their selected story, they should begin by choosing one scene from the book that they consider to be memorable or important to the plot. Using a shoebox and their own endless creativity the students can work to capture the essence of that scene in a 3D display.

You may choose to have your students work on their dioramas in class with materials from your art center or assign the project to be completed at home. When my first and second graders made their dioramas we had such an impressive display of artistic ability, design creativity, and wide variety in stories: everything from Clifford to Baby Turtle’s Tale to I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie.

Once the dioramas were completed we turned our classroom into an art museum. The students set up their dioramas on their desks, along with a short museum tag to introduce their story and explain why they chose to portray the scene shown. We toured the museum as a class, giving each child the opportunity to briefly share about their diorama. To assess the students’ dioramas I used this rubric, which includes rave reviews from their classmates, as we toured the museum. The students loved reading what the other children had said about their stories.

Wax Museums

Photo by Julie LochenWax museums are another great way to give your students creative liberty in sharing what they have learned from an assigned book. This particular project lends itself well to biographies and autobiographies of important cultural and historical figures. First, allow your students to choose a grade-level appropriate biography of someone they find both interesting and important. Encourage students to pay special attention to the descriptions of how the character looks, feels, and acts. They can use this graphic organizer to help them as they read.

When students are finished reading their biographical texts they must work to bring their historical figure to life! Ask parents and community members to help your class put together costumes so students can get into character and become their chosen figure. Each child should write a short speech that will explain who they are and what their impact was on the world. You can even have students make buttons to hold so that visitors to your wax museum can press them, cueing the student to begin their speech.

Invite families, other classes, and even the community to come and explore your wax museum. The students will love getting to share what they have learned about their selected historical figure and the visitors will be amazed by the museum your class has created. 

Character Cans

Photo by Sandy LandvickThe fabulous third grade team at my school makes character cans each year and I am always amazed by what the students create as responses to reading. The students are asked to choose a favorite character from a book and transform an empty can into that character.

Inside the character cans the students must include six index cards with talking points to share about their story’s title, genre, information about the character, text to self connections, predictions about the story, and reason for selecting their chosen character.

Students love getting the chance to show off their adorable and creative character cans and talk all about why they love their book. Best of all, the character cans go in our school’s front entry display case for everyone to see and enjoy! It is always a memorable project and a great alternative book report.

Finally - some real insight into what needs to be done to save Education. Guess what? It's so do-able... That is IF you can see it!

Learning that occurs in spite of the educational system, not because of it, took center stage in the earliest sessions at BETT 2016, the world’s largest educational technology show that opened here today.
The idea of letting students’ curiosity and discovery drive their learning echoed in speeches by Sugata Mitra, who is piloting seven Schools in the Cloud that are based on student-directed, online collaborative learning without traditional teachers; and 16-year-old Amy O’Toole, whose experiment as a 10-year-old about bees’ ability to learn was published in a scientific journal.


With hundreds of ed-tech products and services on display at BETT 2016—a show that is expected to draw 36,000 visitors and continues through Saturday—the possibility of using instructional technology to give students’ power over their instruction resonates with exhibitors. That’s precisely what many of them are trying to sell to schools and parents around the world.


Mitra, whose presentation drew about 500 attendees, said that curriculum and assessment are two areas of traditional schooling that need major makeovers. An educational system that was designed to produce employees who sit and work studiously at desks will not serve a future dependent upon collaboration to solve problems, said Mitra, who first became known in education after he added freely accessible computers to a hole in the wall in a New Delhi slum. Children taught themselves how to use the technology, and progressed by working together—without adult supervision or intervention.
“The future of learning depends squarely on the future of assessment,” Mitra said. As currently structured, assessment systems look for identical responses from learners. “More research on automated and continuous evaluation of open-ended questions and tasks is needed,” he said. He called on attendees to “invent ways in which assessment is continuous and automatic.”

As for curriculum, “all irrelevant knowledge and skills need to be removed,” and schools’ curricula should be reviewed and updated every quarter. For example, a geography exam question is, “What is an ox-bow lake?” Knowing the answer, he said, is irrelevant. “‘Just in case’ skills and knowledge should be replaced by the skill of learning ‘just in time,'” he said.
“If we had just stuck to the curriculum, I definitely would not be here today,” said O’Toole, a 16-year-old who spoke about how creativity can enhance learning and inspire girls in science. Her private elementary school allowed a neuroscientist, Beau Lotto, to work with students on a study of bees, even though it was not part of the curriculum.

In December 2010, the scientific journal Biology Letters published the findings of O’Toole and her classmates, who did research about whether bees can learn. It all started when a teacher asked O’Toole’s class whether they wanted to “train bees to play a game,” based on the question: “What if bees can think like humans, like us?”  At first, no one in the world of science took the students’ science paper seriously.
But when it was eventually published, the paper was downloaded 30,000 times in the first day, according to O’Toole.

“I think we should be given the opportunity to do something amazing, and our current curriculum doesn’t allow us to do that,” she said.
Read the full article at its source: https://marketbrief.edweek.org/marketplace-k-12/worlds-largest-ed-tech-show-launches-student-led-learning-theme/?cmp=eml-enl-eu-news3 

Is the U.S. Dept. of Education Acting Like an Ineffective Elementary School Teacher? Is the State Dept. of Education Echoing Bad Classroom Management?

The article (in quotes) below is from the Connecticut Mirror  

In my first year as a teacher I discovered that you can only punish outliers and that punishing too many kids, too often, and for too many things was to risk losing my authority and to come off as an over-reactive paper tiger, struggling to control situations that should not have arisen in the first place. I think that all good educators come to this conclusion and I wonder why this doomed approach seems to be the only arrow the U.S. Department of Education has in its quiver when dealing with the Opt Out Movement. As explained in the article below and numerous others recently, apparently the U.S. Dept. of Ed. is threatening to punish state departments of Education (quite a good number of them) if they don't force a sufficient enough number of their state's students to take standardized tests. This, in the face of growing dissatisfaction with the culture of testing in our schools and more and more parents and their children simply 'opting out' as their coping mechanism of choice.


As a teacher and then as a central office program director, a curriculum department head, and finally a member of the Deputy Chancellor for Curriculum and Instruction's cabinet, I witnessed several Chancellors and Mayors of NYC declare that Social Promotion would be ended on their watch and that only students who actually achieved to the levels considered minimal for promotion would go on to the next grade at the beginning of the following school year. This of course was silly, because making this threat could not possibly change the achievement of low performing students and then, … well, what are you going to do with all of those kids who've been left back? Re-doing the entire school system to accommodate the remedial needs of an overwhelming percentage of the student body  would have derailed the organizational structure of the school system and cost more than the system could have afforded. No doubt, too, it would have precipitated the disdain of the public and the press who surely would have asked, "Well, why didn't you teach those kids properly in the first place?" Outsiders to the profession always seem to see the responsibility of educating a generation of youngsters in simplistic, black and white terms.


At any rate, what would make sense here would be for the U.S. Department of Education to sincerely ask "Why is it that so many kids and parents want to opt out?" THAT should be the starting point for coping with this growing trend, not forcing compliance!!! By the way, there are many good reasons to eliminate these tests; I think far more and far better reasons than there are for giving them considering their substance and the way that they currently are administered... but that's a topic to explore another day...

"State sets penalties for schools with high exam ‘opt-out’ rates

By: Jacqueline Rabe Thomas | December 29, 2015 

CtMirror.org file photo

School districts where more than 10 percent of students miss required statewide exams for a second consecutive year will lose funding and  may have their performance ratings downgraded.

The state Department of Education decided on the penalties after the U.S. Department of Education directed Connecticut and 12 other states to come up with plans to deal with high numbers of students that missed the annual exams last school year

 Districts that achieve the federally required participation rate of 95 percent will receive a letter of commendation from the state education commissioner, and those that have participation rates between 90 and 95 percent will receive a letter reminding them they must raise their participation rate to meet the federal requirement.

 This approach will ensure that districts meeting the standard are commended, those failing marginally are gently alerted, and those falling behind are strongly reminded of the potential consequences and provided support to remedy the situation," Connecticut Education Commissioner Dianna Wentzell wrote in a letter to the federal government earlier this month. The letter was released Tuesday by the state education department.

It was not clear how much money the state would withhold from sanctioned school districts. The state gives schools performance ratings on a number of quality measurements, and schools that fall far short of required exam participation rates will be given a lower rating.
About 11,200 students did not take the state exams last school year — a growing trend referred to as the "opt-out movement." It coincides with growing concern among parents that their children are spending too much school time being tested or prepared for tests..."

Read the full article at its source: http://ctmirror.org/2015/12/29/state-sets-penalties-for-schools-with-high-exam-opt-out-rates/