Educational Technology News

Edtech director describes how her school planned a 1:1 rollout with success.

"In every school community there are a handful of great teachers – the teachers who are passionate about their students, experts in their content, and beloved by the families they have served – who are also kind of scared of technology."

"When Should You Integrate Technology? Perhaps the best answer to this question might be, whenever it helps. That might seem ridiculously simplistic but consider the alternative…when it doesn’t help."

"The Vista Unified School District in California embraced personalized learning as a way to improve outcomes among a diverse group of students, and it has seen better attendance and graduation rates, reduced behavioral problems and more students opting into harder coursework."

"A little bit of technology doesn’t change much. It can make things a little easier by automating them. It could make a lesson here or there gee-wiz flashy, or even engage hesitant students. Tacked-on learning technology can do this. But deep integration of technology–real at-the-marrow fusion of learning model, curriculum, and edtech?"

These best practices from the Department of Education will help educators seamlessly integrate tech in the classroom.

"Calls for innovation in education seem to get louder by the day. “Innovation” has become the catchall term for the urge to make up for what our current system lacks; a system that, on balance, is neither delivering an equally high-quality education to all students, nor designed to reliably prepare young people for the modern workforce."

"While many teachers have embraced the digital age, incorporating technology into their classrooms with zeal, there are the holdouts that are simply not comfortable with the change. Schools would do well to allow for this variety in their schools, at least at the beginning of major tech rollouts."

"With education technology purchases way up in schools, teachers and administrators have to consider when the purchases are a waste of money and when they are truly helping students learn."

"Campuses have long supplied students with ID cards, but in light of a population more familiar with mobile tech, the cards could be migrated onto students’ smartphones and mobile apps."

Education technology should complement a learning strategy, not dictate it.

Cuts to arts programs have shown a detrimental effect on learning motivation. With the use of technology, educators can bring arts back to the classroom.

"When it comes to kids and technology, even the most tech-savvy parents proceed with caution, some even going as far as to enroll their children in technology-free schools. Some people on this list include Larry Page (the founder of Google), the late Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos (the man who started Amazon) and Jimmy Wales (the creator of Wikipedia)."

The vast majority of teachers are using technology daily with their students, and most say their use of technology will increase even more next year, according to a new study involving 2,500 K–12 teachers.

Teachers are finding that when they explicitly teach deep reading strategies geared to digital media, students can access and comprehend complex texts.

"Embracing a “21st century” classroom with its 1:1 device programs, interactive seating arrangements and student-led learning requires a significant shift in classroom management strategies."

"Matt Renwick, an elementary school principle in Wisconsin, argues there are concrete times when it makes the most sense to let technology, rather than pedagogy, drive instruction."

When educators and administrators walk through the schoolhouse doors every day, they have dozens of things to focus on, not the least of which, of course, is educating all types of students. Running districts and schools requires an incredible amount of attention to detail and anything can—and often