As the Maker Movement starts to gain momentum, schools that are trying to find ways to foster the do-it-yourself environment can learn a few lessons from another nexus in the universe: public libraries. Dale Dougherty, founding editor and publisher of Make Magazine — and the de facto leader of the Maker Movement — has a … Continue reading Want to Start a Makerspace at School? Tips to Get Started →
Getty There appears to be no shortage of new businesses looking to apply technology to education. An entire ecosystem has emerged in recent years to develop and promote the latest product or service for the classroom or district. But a major hurdle remains: the divide between what entrepreneurs build and educators need. The ecosystem stimulating … Continue reading Closing the Gap Between Educators and Entrepreneurs →
At the end of the year, pundits love to share their versions of summarized lists of what was hot in ed tech in 2012. In addition to the obvious — Common Core curriculum and assessments, games in learning, consumer tech in education — there are others that may be more subtle or even counter-intuitive. Here … Continue reading 2012 Ed Tech Trends: Insights From Insiders →
Reading Rainbow app YouTube clips. Texting. Twitter. Facebook status updates. The prevalence of short-attention-span media — easily scanned or consumed — has led to much hand-wringing over how students will develop that lifelong love of reading perceived to be so critical to lifelong learning. One answer (in addition to “it’s not as bad as you … Continue reading Going Retro: Reading Apps for Real Books →
Flickr:Flickingrbrad Increasingly, digital games are cropping up everywhere in education. And that’s stimulated a flurry of activity leading to the expectation that no longer are learning games only likely to come from traditional education companies, but a wide variety of sources. The expectation-setting stats and statements, at least, are straightforward. Both the New Media Consortium’s … Continue reading Where Do Educational Games Come From? →
Perhaps the best way to think about games in education is not to automatically call everything that looks like fun a “learning game.” Lumping all digital game approaches together makes no more sense than a toddler’s inclination to call every four-legged animal a “doggie.” Game interest is definitely on the upswing in K-12 and higher … Continue reading What’s the Difference Between Games and Gamification? →
A new initiative, supported by state education leaders and funded by prominent foundations, plans to provide a place in the cloud for each state to store all data for every student, using "free" open source software. And, in the process, student achievement information will be connected to instructional apps and web resources.
By Frank Catalano Schools are moving from creamy to chunky — but not in relation to cafeteria peanut butter. The change in texture is happening with content. Instruction that was structured linearly, captured in books that were all-inclusive monoliths with a predetermined progression for a uniform, somewhat “creamy” consistency, is shifting to newer forms of … Continue reading How Open Education is Changing the Texture of Content →
By Frank Catalano The future of tablets in our schools may not be coming from Cupertino. Or even the U.S. Despite the craze around Apple’s iPad, it’s only been two years since the device was introduced, and that may not be enough time to separate fad from trend over the long term in education. And … Continue reading Which Device Will Win the Tablet Battle? →
By Frank Catalano Schools have been adopting iPads with lightning speed — more than 1.5 million have already been distributed to students, a mere two years after the original iPad launch. But beyond Apple’s influence in education, the high-profile tablet appears to be the poster child for a different trend. Call it the consumerization of … Continue reading When Technologies Collide: Consumer, K-12 and Higher Ed →
Author and analyst Frank Catalano writes about the importance of letting kids tinker, fail, and build. And, of course, of exposing them to Star Trek. Source: Geekwire It’s inevitable. New babies are coming into the world. I began to notice this when former colleagues were no longer available for a chat, coffee or Words with … Continue reading Quick Look: 7 Ways to Raise a Geek Child →
Things have changed dramatically in classrooms across the country. Teachers are experimenting in innovative ways, trying to find the best method of engaging students in learning. Last month, the Association of Educational Publishers presented Content in Context Conference, at which educators discussed the ways in which they’re mixing it up. Frank Catalano headed up some … Continue reading How Educators are Finding Ways to Mix it Up →
