A lot is being said about Twitter these days in the education arena, and it seems to be a growing trend. Despite its reach, Twitter still offers a lot of resistance within certain conservative educational groups that are married to the concept of professional development being a formal process taking place only in selected events [...]
When Holly Rocchetti started teaching fifth grade at Mount Vernon Community School in Alexandria, VA, about six years ago, she relied heavily on textbooks, Xeroxed handouts, and a chalkboard. These traditional methods may have worked at the time, but over the next few years they gave way to an array of technology-based educational solutions. Among [...]
To cap off a civics project involving U.S. government and how it functions, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., conversed with a fifth-grade class at J.S. Clark Leadership Academy Thursday morning. In a sign of the times, she did so through Skype — a free communication medium that provides a computer alternative to a phone, complete [...]
As districts cope with tightening budgets and testing schedules, field trips often fall by the wayside. But a new generation of field trips may make it easier to integrate curriculum and even assessment into real-world local settings students can explore. Researchers and educators in a symposium at the American Educational Research Association conference here this [...]
Andrew Vanden Heuvel, an online physics teacher, is one of just a few thousand people so far to try Googles new wearable computer, Google Glass. Using the prototype, he took a South Christian High School class on a virtual trip to the Large Hadron Collider LHC at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research in [...]
A new generation of teachers that grew up with technology are about to enter the field, bringing lots of new ideas with them. It’s the job of more experienced teachers to help mentor them. So how do they do it when they may not understand the technology the teachers in training are using? Read more: [...]
When game designer Jane McGonigal found herself bedridden and suicidal following a severe concussion, she had a fascinating idea for how to get better. She dove into the scientific research and created the healing game, SuperBetter. In this moving talk, McGonigal explains how a game can boost resilience — and promises to add 7.5 minutes [...]
Educators have taken to exploring the educational possibilities of Augmented Reality (AR) in the classroom and the very real opportunities afforded by this sense-expanding technology. A generation in love with gimmicks, AR has taken the public fancy. The cutting edge technology has been gradually working its way into our collective conscious through such hi-tech marvels [...]
Linguist John McWhorter defended the language of most teenage girls (and quick-typing adults) in his TED talk. Teachers and parents alike bemoan texting as the fall of literacy, turning writing into an informal landscape that neglects the tenets of language. But during his TED talk, linguist John McWhorter introduced a more positive view of the [...]
Many of us have known for some time that the face of teaching is changing. We are no longer the all knowing, fountain of knowledge. And apparently at this year’s SXSWedu Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas the idea of us being facilitators of personalised learning was popular. About time I hear from the back. So [...]
One effect of computer and Internet technology is the dramatic change in the way students communicate, learn and interact with their peers. This change paved the way for online education. Over the years, online education has gained enough ground for becoming a mainstream educational approach in the overall learning process. The Trend of Free Online [...]
The Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies has launched Smithsonian Quests, a digital badge program designed to foster project-based learning and inspire students to explore their own ideas and interests. To earn digital badges, students complete a series of online activities and submit their work for review by Smithsonian education experts. All quests engage [...]
