ed tech

Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, Equity, OpEducation, Uncategorized

Students Searching for Universal Data

I love looking at the cellular data network coverage maps showing where your phone will be able to connect to the Internet. Every carrier has their own version, spangled in the company colors so you know who to thank. But in a way, these maps aren’t just advertorial: they show the edge of modern civilization.

After all, mobile data is quickly becoming the new standard for Internet access; smart devices are the preferred platform for everyone from doctors and nurses to college students and presidents. It is like a systemic paraphrasing of The Lion King: “Everything the data map covers is our kingdom.”

The kingdom, in the 21st century, means relevance, engagement, access to knowledge and news, having a voice. For students and schools outside the kingdom, opportunity can seem out of reach.

Needs, Dreams, and Rights

While access to the Internet is by no means a guarantee of outcomes, achievements, or even learning, the absence of this access is effectively punitive for students, teachers, and school.

By Obama’s reckoning, “The Internet is not a luxury, but a necessity,” and key to realizing the modern American Dream. In Canada, a similar spirit informed plans to get every citizen connected to high speed internet, officially designating the service as an essential telecommunications service, thereby affording it greater protections and subjecting it to different regulations. The United Nations went even further with its finding that Internet access constitutes a new human right.

But they weren’t all talking about the same Internet.

Mobile data–the stuff of cellular plans as well as ambitious projects out of Silicon Valley to make coverage maps irrelevant–doesn’t provide the exact same connectivity as dedicated high-speed cable or fiber optic lines. Indeed, the very brands working to make global connectivity a reality would also be gatekeepers choosing which sites, services, and data their users accessed. One may safely assume that free global internet provided by Facebook would send users by default to Facebook as a homepage.

But mobile data is easier and cheaper to push out across greater areas, and to upgrade as the technology improves. This is especially true for poor, rural, or extremely remote regions–those few spots on the map devoid of color and coverage. With branded Internet filling the gaps, the range and type of content users see could well become something akin to a class-based feature.

So even as access itself is championed as the sine qua non of modern living (and schooling), different types of access–to different versions and degrees of the Internet–is further complicating the question of how much data is enough.

What Do We Mean by “Internet” ?

Schools don’t necessarily need access to the full unfiltered Internet anyway.

Nearly one quarter of all mobile searches is for porn, and some 90 percent of teenagers today will encounter some form of porn online before they reach adulthood. That is hardly part of the academic mission schools pursue by securing Internet access. But “porn” itself, not unlike “literally,” has undergone a change of definition in the Internet era away from its original, specific meaning to a term of emphasis or hyperbole.

Social media has popularized various hobbies and interest groups as pornography–just search Instagram for “food porn” and take an the epicurean journey around the world; or, to satisfy your wanderlust, find any of the hundreds of “travel porn” blogs to witness entirely lust-free accounts of vacations, road trips, and cruises. And just as each subgroup has its own, personalized version of “porn,” the world has been steadily realigning itself online into isolated pockets of alternative facts.

Long before Kellyanne Conway used the term, politicos and casual browsers alike self-sorted into ideological bubble communities, where challenging ideas and interpretations of science itself were cut off from one another. To go online today is to choose a camp and stay there, insulated from contradiction or contest.

Porn isn’t porn, facts aren’t facts, the Internet isn’t the Internet, and literally is now figurative–so is data really access?

The next shift in what the Internet itself really is may hold answers.

Data, Things, and People

Were Yakov Smirnoff to apply his classic Russian Reversal joke to today’s online culture, he might say, “In Soviet Russia, the Internet uses you!” Except he wouldn’t be wrong–and this role reversal isn’t limited to one place.

The Internet of Things is already making itself known around the world. Rather than users navigating the Internet through user-friendly browsers and screen-based interfaces, smart devices are taking responsibility for creating, exchanging, and accessing information. Wearables ranging from step-tracking fitness bracelets to implantable heart monitors are gaining in both popularity and functionality. In the classroom, silent monitoring systems gauge engagement, performance, and comprehension to automatically alert teachers to individual student needs and opportunities–or simply adjust tests and assignments responsively on their behalf.

In short, people don’t just use passive technology–the technology is active, autonomous, and capable of “making” its own Internet, sharing data among a network of devices, rather than between human users. In the Internet of Things, the devices do in fact use us.

Before universal Internet access even became a reality, the nature of the Internet, and data, and access have all been thrown into confusion. More critical thinking than ever is needed to navigate the world’s online troves of knowledge, in order to distinguish fact from opinion, reliable from unreliable sources, even real people from chat bots.

For all the importance we’ve come to place on getting schools and students connected, the most important skills of all remain social, interpersonal, and based in the real, rather than digital, world. Internet access remains a worthy goal, but equally important is ensuring that future generations of students and their instructors are equipped to navigate the web, given the opportunity.

 

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, list, Matthew Lynch

7 Educational Technology Concepts Every Teacher Should Know About

Since the Information Era began some decades ago, it has dramatically changed the way we educate our children. We live in a world of rapid change and the resemblance to yesterday is fleeting. Above all, communication has changed, and an enormous variety of information is now accessible to almost everyone at the click of a mouse or swipe of a finger.

We have seen a lot of advancement in education technology designed for the classroom, and to be effective, teachers need to stay abreast of these new technologies and concepts. The summer is the perfect time for teachers to receive retooling in the area of education and several innovations and concepts are available to help teachers familiarize themselves with important concepts.

Here, I will discuss ten education technologies and concepts that every teacher should know about:

1. BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): As a kind of movement within education, BYOD has already gained momentum in many districts across the country. In places like Chesapeake Public Schools, students are allowed to use privately owned electronic devices to access the wireless network on the school system’s filtered Internet. In Chesapeake, as in the other public and private schools where BYOD policies exist, students must sign a responsibility form that says they will only use the mobile device for academic enrichment while on school property. Students who bring their own devices into the classroom eliminate the initial costs and are also already comfortable with the technology. The downside is that not all students can readily afford such technology. Many must look for schools to develop technology financial assistance programs for families to help offset the full cost and maintenance of school-owned devices.

2. Customized learning experiences. Self-directed learning experiences are based upon the needs of individual students. The traditional way to look at learning is via the creation and assignment of work by teachers in a one-size-fits-all approach for every classroom. Customized learning, however, allows students to direct focus on feedback techniques that provide strategies for improvement during the process, instead of waiting for a given test period see if the methods are working. 

The idea of personalized learning is often met with hostility, especially as teachers must relinquish some classroom control for this trend to really work. On the flip side, though, customized learning has the potential to incorporate a variety of resources, such as virtual learning, to aid in the learning process while allowing teachers to moderate one-on-one learning experiences in practical ways. I think that the idea of handing control to students is frightening to some educators and administrators but once attempted, even on a small scale, it is easy to see the benefits of personalized learning.

3. Online learning. Virtual learning is certainly not new to the K-12 scene, but its increasing popularity is difficult to ignore. Once, only the world of distant learning embraced the process of online learning. Today, though, online learning is increasingly part of more traditional learning experiences. It is no longer all or nothing. Distance learning has become mainstream and will continue to transform in-classroom learning. Virtual learning also makes it possible for parents, teachers and students to have access to information they may need regardless of their actual physical location. In essence, it expands the classroom and gives students more time and space to complete and comprehend their lesson.

4.Virtual Laboratories. Virtual laboratories are popping up in school districts and online learning curricula across the country and making it easier and less expensive for students to do experiments remotely. Perhaps the most often cited benefit of any online learning is convenience. The same is true of virtual laboratories if the experiments are on the student’s own time. In some cases, a virtual lab may be used during regular class time but still, in such instances, there is flexibility for the teacher who is not limited by using resources within a strict timeframe.

Another benefit of virtual laboratories is instant feedback. Students can redo experiments on the spot if needed. All the results are recorded automatically, making communication between teachers and students more efficient too. Experiments no longer have a “one chance” option and students can analyze what went wrong immediately and critically. There is a fee associated with using virtual labs, but the capital and maintenance costs are drastically reduced. Instead of one school footing the bill for resources, the cost is split among the clients of the particular virtual lab. This allows schools to provide a better learning experience for students at a fraction of the cost.

5. Autism and iPads. Depending who you ask, the iPad has varying effects on children with autism – but most parents and teachers would say that the device has made in-roads in their students’ attitude towards learning. Experts at Apple say that iPads “cure” sensory overload and give autistic children control, along with opportunities for effective communication. Using less extreme language, researchers at Vanderbilt University say that speech-generating devices, like iPads, can encourage late-speaking children with autism spectrum disorders to speak. In other words, the basic technology that is readily available in classrooms and many households may also support learning initiatives for children with a specific disorder that impact traditional learning.

6. Online Tutoring. The supplemental education services industry is expected to make over $10 billion per year annually in North America by 2017, and it’s no wonder. As students face higher pressures in classrooms, companies like Sylvan and Kumon make millions every year by encouraging parents to bring in their students and pay a premium fee to have them tutored one-on-one.

However, tutoring outside school hours is inconvenient for both parents and students who already have tight schedules. After a day in school, kids are not keen to head back into a traditional learning environment, which can mean a lot of extra tension between parents and kids that surrounds an already-anxious experience.

But what if the same flexibility that is afforded to regular K-12 and college classes was extended to tutoring too? Of course, many online tutoring options are already available but as an industry, online tutoring lacks the sophistication of the larger-scale academic offerings. As demand for this form of flexible learning rises, though, tutoring in remote ways will see a spike in popularity and availability.

Students are already native online learners and virtual tutoring could open the doors for a lot of breakthroughs – and at a greater convenience and lesser cost to students. These emerging companies just need to look for ways to set themselves apart from the outdated model of in-person tutoring to provide the most help and succeed.

7. Cloud computing. When it comes to greater educational collaboration, cloud computing has unlimited potential. This is true for teacher-to-teacher, teacher-to-parent, and teacher-to-student applications. By using a common location, academic expectations can be better accessed, along with actual student work. Instructors can also share learning materials and experiences through the remote opportunities that cloud computing provides.

Simply put, cloud storage saves space, money, and time for teachers, parents, students, and administrators. A report by CDW Government found that over 40 percent of schools use cloud applications to store their data. By 2016, schools are expected to spend 35 percent of IT budgets on the cloud. The savings add up though. Right now, K-12 schools report that their cloud initiatives are saving them an average of 20 percent on IT costs. By 2016, those savings are expected to reach 27 percent.

We are living in the midst of a tremendous upheaval in the fields of technology and communication. There is so much to look forward to when it comes to K-12 classrooms. The seven concepts and technologies that I have discussed will allow educators to better prepare students for the rest of their academic careers and for lifelong success.

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

How LRM is transforming teaching and learning

Behind every successful adult is at least one person who pushed him or her to greatness. If you ask some of the world’s highest achievers what motivated them to keep going, they usually mention a specific person who inspired them along the way – a parent, a teacher, a mentor, a coach.

Think about the people in your own life who made a positive impact when you were young. If you are an educator, it was probably a teacher of your own who inspired you to take that next step and answer the call to teach. There were likely other less-direct influences on your career choice, and others who influenced other parts of the positive parts of your adult life.

Now imagine what it would look like if all of those mentors – those teachers, those coaches – had been able to combine their efforts for a singular purpose: guiding you on the road to successful adulthood. It’s a pretty amazing thought, right? But most of those people were probably from different circles of your life with you (a kid) being the only connection between them. Technology is changing that though, by better aligning the important relationships in a student’s life.

More specifically, Learning Relationship Management is delving deeper into how mentors like teachers and coaches help guide all students to success — both academically, and in other areas of life. The Learning Relationship Management Alliance is a leader in this student-friendly technology that can also be applied to other groups that benefit from mentor support, like senior citizens in assisted living.

The LRM Alliance created this infographic to summarize exactly what the vision is for this relationship technology, including a need to cultivate authentic relationships, personalize learning, streamline content, and connect networks in a student’s life. Take a look:

 

So how is the LRM Alliance progressing these ideas in a coherent way that any district can implement? By combining the strengths of several leading companies to raise awareness about the many benefits to this learning setup. This group of edtech innovators is changing the way students succeed through electronic means that extend beyond academic pursuits. The five companies that make up the LRM Alliance are:

Through community-enabled mentorship, the strengths of a variety of people associated with each student is tapped. This includes, and is not limited to, parents, teachers, sports coaches, and more. Even older siblings can be included in the community to help encourage, monitor and ultimately guide the student to positive learning outcomes.

When it comes to personalized and blended learning, LRM allows K-20 brick and mortar schools and online schools to move from small pilot programs to large, full-scale implementation. Teachers and administrators have more information on how students are progressing and can tailor lessons to better fit their needs and learning styles. Personalized learning paths are in turn supported through learning relationship management and strengthened by the mentors outside the classroom who are in the student’s network. Learning Relationship Management does not just setup personalized and blended learning lesson plans; it gives students the tools to execute those plans.

Learning Relationship Management is not just about prescriptive methods, though, or simply handing out assignments. The students themselves are an integral part of the process of goal-setting, intervention planning and the communication that takes place about them. Every student can benefit from LRM tools because it does not dictate what people must take part. If a student lives with grandparents, or has a drama teacher but no sports coaches, or even has a trusted teacher he wants to keep in the system even when class has ended, LRM technology makes all of that possible.

Learning Relationship Management has the potential to combine what schools are already doing right with a stronger support group outside the classroom. There can be numerous people (invited by the student and overseen by the lead adult administrator) who weigh in on the goals, benchmarks and activities of the student. There is a lot of power in the community-enabled coaching model and the more people who can contribute to the success of a student — in a streamlined, productive way — the better that student will fare in school, and in life.

You can learn more about the Learning Relationship Management Alliance and its member companies at the organization’s site.

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

Full involvement learning: A Jedi toolbox for the teaching of tomorrow

A guest column by Lucien Vattel

For too long, educators have focused on “what we learn” over “how we learn.” To unlock an understanding of how our consciousness most intuitively engages and comprehends, a thorough exploration of the learning process becomes key. Only then will we be able to fully understand the art of inducing electrified engagement, meaningful connections, deep illumination, awe, and even rapture through idealized modalities of learning.  Such explorations allow us to more reliably provide students with transformational encounters with their universe and themselves. In essence, we need a new kick-ass toolbox for facilitating the apex of cognitive ignition.

To pursue such a mission, we require a new taxonomy that supports a variety of high-engagement, deep-immersion methods, tools, and techniques.  In todays “edu-verse”, there are an infinite number of concepts for our minds to grasp and act upon. Moreover, there are a variety of ways to shine a light upon these various structures of knowledge. And so, the grand challenge becomes this: How can we shine the most illustrious, wavelength-appropriate, multispectral light upon these realities, art forms, scientific processes, stories, skills, and understandings of our age? What tools, what technologies, and what facilitations of experience best connect us to the content we intend to explore, to the ideas we wish to grasp, and to people we wish to know and understand? For each learning outcome, and within each educational domain, I believe that we will find certain “ways-in” (through teaching approaches, experiences, and technologies) that lend themselves most naturally to the attunement of each concept’s essence. What is the best and most fulfilling library of eureka moment potentiators? What’s in the “Jedi Toolbox” for teaching in the 21st century?

Five years ago, our company GameDesk, began experimenting with a variety of approaches, techniques, and technological tools to this end. We’ve explored at home, in-school, online, and in your pocket. We’ve gone high-tech, low-tech, and no-tech. Whether it is a chalkboard, lecture, game, video, story, experiment, simulation, buildable physical system, programmable environment, or role-played experience, each tool provided a unique lens of experience on the chosen subject of learning.

As we explored and developed,, we asked ourselves: What experiences enable learners to most intuitively and accurately grasp concepts? What visualizations, words and metaphors, narratives, objects, and interactions connect us most immediately and with the most perceptual fidelity to the subject at hand? What technologies best link certain actions and choices, interweave and intimately bind them to the world of knowledge? What learning modalities best allow for students to feel energized and focused, fully immersed in their involvement, and joyful in the process of the learning? Within these these methods, which work best for novices, journeymen, and experts?

To ground this exploration, let’s cite some examples. In our latest game experiences, Geomoto and Pangean, we linked specific hand movements through a consumer hand-tracking device (the Leap Motion controller) to continental and plate movements. This 1:1 movement relationship made learning about continental drift, tectonic plates, and their resulting phenomenon highly intuitive. Here, we leveraged the affordances of hand motion to naturally attune the mind to geoscience processes. As student observes that they could actually see and feel how the plates worked and the effects they had on the earth.

In another exploration called EDULARP, we used role-play to create deep engagement with historical systems. To help them learn history experientially, students role-played through various social classes that existed during different periods of ancient history. They became merchants, governors, astrologers, and priests. By both researching the social norms and practices of a specific culture and then interacting with one another in character, students fulfilled in-game objectives that provided them with an enriched and lasting understanding that persisted beyond the simulated reality. In this modality, role-play provides students with deep, personalized feelings and experiences of engaging in historical systems of thought, agriculture, culture, and politics.

Another tool is the ‘digital sandbox’. Sandbox technologies allows for creation-based simulations that students can manipulate to program and build objects, inventions, worlds, and even universes. Sandboxes, such as Minecraft, Scratch, Universe Sandbox, and the physics creator Algodoo, allow students to experiment and create their own mathematically driven architectural structures, galaxies, and physics-based inventions respectively. Within this learning vehicle, students are able to make predictions, design ideas, test hypotheses, and play out those predictions in simulated world environments.

There’s of course more to fully educating a person than guiding them to mastery of the core K-12 curriculum. Consider, for example, the ability to be connected, empathetic, supportive, and compassionately communicative. Let us look at what physical environments and interactive activities most facilitate human connection. What experiences inspire the imagination and assist us in redefining the boundaries of our understanding and beliefs? What are the fastest and most fulfilling methods of developing self-awareness, persistence, and flexibility? These questions lead us to designing more full-spectrum learning tools and experiences; new methods deeply needed in a society with a severe deficit in social-emotional skills.

If our teaching culture were to address the questions presented here, make a claim about what kind of learning activities fit best, and build a practice of designing experiences in this way, what would our teaching become? With such a toolbox fully realized, teachers of the future will no longer be disseminators of facts, concepts, and memorized skills; rather, they will become “experience designers.” Like Yoda, they will design encounters and challenges that are deliberately constructed to reveal what our minds, bodies, and spirits are capable of. Such constructed experiences empower us to explore, to rethink broken systems, and cultivate a daily spirit of innovation. Albert Einstein once said, “I never teach my pupils, I create conditions in which they may learn.” We are the condition-creators, the dreamers of dreams. So rise teachers of tomorrow, become the magic makers you were born to be.

___________

Lucien Vattel s the founder and CEO of GameDesk, a 501(c)3 Research and Technology Development Institute whose mission is to develop the next generation model of education, revolutionizing the tools we use and the way we teach.

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

Ed Tech Companies That I Really Love: Part I

Read the entire series of Ed Tech companies that I love here.

By Matthew Lynch

I have been blogging about education reform and innovation since 2010, and over that time span I have spotlighted a lot of ed tech companies and organizations. While reflecting on this, I came up with the idea to write a series on ed tech companies that I really love and believe in. Without further ado, let’s begin with part I.

Class Charts

ClassCharts uses data rich information to present teachers with the key data that they need to make informed seating decisions and to tackle behavior issues. When integrated between classrooms, teachers can see how the behavior of their students ranks other places and together educators can create plans to guide students toward higher achievement.  Schools that upgrade from the free version to the whole-school option give administrators and other school leaders the opportunity to see which students may need the help of extra learning resources. There are even options for informing parents of behavior issues, negative or positive, to keep them abreast to how their children are performing at school. It gives students the best chance at success, no matter what classroom they are in. Since the software became available in 2013, more than 70,000 teachers have signed up and more than 2.5 million students are in the system.

Most teachers have probably implemented seating charts at one point or another, and perhaps have put some of the ClassCharts concepts into play. It quickly becomes clear to a teacher when two particular students will not be productive near each other or when a certain student would fare better at the front of the classroom. The technology behind ClassCharts goes far beyond the seating basics though, and even calculates factors like students who receive free lunch, or have special education needs. The priorities of an individual school are also taken into consideration when ClassCharts creates a seating chart. All of the variables that a teacher would normally have to weigh are simply input and processed. Simple. And effective.

Fourier Education

A student with a tablet or smartphone in hand has a portal to hundreds of apps that support STEM learning. There are a lot of things that students can do on basic tablets and phones, but there are also products like the einstein Tablet+ from Fourier Education that have a specific focus on STEM initiatives. Instead of going out and searching for STEM-centric lessons, the einstein Tablet+ comes preloaded with experiments and modules that cover physics, biology, human physiology, chemistry, and environmental science. This STEM-specific tablet can be connected to classroom projectors and monitors so that all the students can participate at once, or can be used as an individual tablet for customized learning in grades K-12. Teachers can search mobile apps for highly-reviewed ones, some of which are completely free, to use on the screens in their classrooms.

HelpHub

The online tutoring company HelpHub uses an innovative way to match tutors with students, 24/7 and at times that are convenient for both. The unique platform connects students and tutors with each other over interactive messaging, web video and phone features that mean a tutee can find answers and help in the moment. Each interaction is analyzed and information that is helpful to the larger HelpHub community is used to begin online communities that center on particular schools, networks or topics. By utilizing the instant access to technology that already exists, HelpHub connects students and tutors in a moment and ensures that a frustrated student finds needed help quickly.

Peerless-AV

Peerless-AV and a wireless projector system that it believes is the key to overcoming technology obstacles in K-12 classrooms. Its Short Throw Projector AV System applies a modern take on the classroom technology of projection that has been around for a few decades. The projector comes with a built-in wireless receiver and stream sound and HD content (up to 1080 pixels) from up to 131 feet. Teachers can connect up to five audiovisual input devices (all wirelessly) including their computers, tablets, DVD players, MP3 players and even VHS tapes. Instead of having to switch between media devices, and deal with all of the cords that accompany it, teachers have a streamlined way to project their content from many device sources. Teachers are also able to stream their own audio in real-time through a microphone, even with their backs to the class.

A product like this Peerless-AV projector takes the best of available technology and multisensory learning and combines those things with a communal learning process. It allows for teachers to speed up or slow down lessons if needed but keep the attention of the class in the process. It is easy to use and cuts out the clunkiness of multiple audio-visual systems and their wires.

In coming posts, we will look at more ed tech companies that I really love.

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, Education Leadership, Education News

Are we getting closer to 1:1 iPad programs?

It’s been almost a half-decade since education communities started pushing for an iPad for each student in classrooms. The amount of individualized learning available on tablets that are equipped with Internet technology is virtually limitless, making customized learning more possible than ever. Many school districts are still trying to reach this standard, of course, but in the areas where the iPad-to-student ratio is 1:1, that connectivity is making a positive difference.

Recently, Carl Hooker, the creator of iPadpalooza and director of innovation and digital learning at Eanes ISD (TX), was honored as 2016’s Thought Leader of the Year by PR with Panache! Hooker was recognized for his district’s personalized learning initiative that has put iPads in the hands of 8,000 students. He’s also the founder of iPadpalooza – an event that brings together global education leaders to talk about the role of technology in classrooms and beyond. Hooker is the author of the Mobile Learning Mindset series that approaches the technology of learning from a positive place.

In 2014, Hooker was also named Leader of the Year by Tech & Learning.

What leaders like Hooker are getting right is this: technology can benefit teachers and students when it is implemented correctly. Screen time can never replace the benefit of one-on-one teacher contact — but in classrooms where individual attention is scarce (and that’s most of them), tapping technology for customized learning can be a complete game-changer. Finding ways to extend technology resources to the schools that need it the most should be a goal of any progressive education advocate because within technology is the capability to reach more students with more customized learning experiences.

You can learn more about Hooker’s award and work by clicking here. 

Has your district implemented a 1:1 iPad program yet? What sort of changes has it made in your classroom, for better or for worse?

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, list, Matthew Lynch

3 Disturbing Trends Made Prevalent By Technology

The Information Era has dramatically changed the way we educate our children. We live in a world of rapid change and the resemblance to yesterday is fleeting. Above all, communication has changed, and an enormous variety of information is now accessible to almost everyone at the click of a mouse or swipe of a finger.

From the accessibility of online learning to students who otherwise would struggle in traditional settings to assistive technology for students with autism, there are lots of great technologies that teachers need to keep track of to be effective.

However, it is not just important to know which piece of technology will assist in the education of students, but to watch out for certain disturbing trends that have arisen as a result of the availability of these new technologies. Here are just three of those trends:

  1. Texting and awful grammar in K-12 schools. Internet and cell phone cultures have brought a whole new meaning to American slang. Not only are kids these days speaking informally, but now those relaxed rules of grammar are sneaking into written words too.

The biggest problem with these digital avenues of composition, according to surveyed teachers, is the blurring of lines between formal and informal writing. Abbreviations are common, particularly on platforms like Twitter that have a 140-character limit. Most smartphones now have no limits on texting characters, but students that owned phones with the 160-character limits of just a few years ago have already formed short, abbreviated habits. In the digital realm, short and sweet is the key – even if a grammar, punctuation and writing formalities fall by the wayside. The same is not true of educational writing pursuits though, as K-12 writing instructors must prepare students for the demands of strong, professional writing in college and the workplace.

A report released by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills found that over 26 percent of college graduates have deficient writing skills. These findings were not based on graduation assessment exams, but compiled by interviewing actual employers. These employers said that many college-educated employees could not even accomplish the basic writing tasks of the job proficiently. How are these students earning college degrees if their writing is not up to par though? With the average U.S. student accruing $35,200 in college debt, it would seem learning the basics of writing, at least above a “deficient” level, would be a given takeaway.

A report released by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills found that over 26 percent of college graduates have deficient writing skills. These findings were not based on graduation assessment exams, but compiled by interviewing actual employers. These employers said that many college-educated employees could not even accomplish the basic writing tasks of the job proficiently. How are these students earning college degrees if their writing is not up to par though? With the average U.S. student accruing $35,200 in college debt, it would seem learning the basics of writing, at least above a “deficient” level, would be a given takeaway.

  1. Sexting and sexual harassment. Today, sexual harassment between students is even more widespread because of the viral nature of the internet and sexting. A photo that a young man sends his latest crush can quickly become fodder for a school-wide joke when it appears on a social media account or is texted to a large group of other students. It is also much harder for students to get away from harassment because their school lives follow them more closely than ever outside classroom hours, due to technology. It is also difficult to know where a school’s jurisdiction ends when it comes to harassment between students that takes place outside of school hours.

The problem of sexual harassment in schools is persistent.  Schools can act more responsibly on the issue by formulating proper and specific sexual harassment policies and providing special training programs for teachers, students and other administrative staff.  Seeking the support of parents is also beneficial. The challenges around implementing sexual harassment policies are made even more difficult because students shy away from reporting incidents, for fear of suffering additional consequences or being ridiculed.  The solution is to create a safe environment in the school so that such instances of harassments simply do not take place and the students feel secure, although this is often easier said than done.

  1. Cyber bullying. According to an article published on VoicED.org.uk, a poll of 2000 11-16 year olds found that almost three in five (57%) have done something ‘risky’ or anti-social while online. In addition, almost two in three (62%) said that they felt under pressure from peers to act in this way on the internet.

The activities described included saying negative things about other people, viewing unsuitable websites and, perhaps most worryingly, sharing unsuitable videos or pictures of themselves. Moreover, a fifth of those surveyed admitted to having pressured someone else to act in a negative way online (this rose to 32% in London).

Of the 2000 respondents, almost half (47%) said that they had viewed something on the internet that they did not think their parents would want them to view, whilst around one in seven (14%) said they had sent images of either themselves, or of someone else, that they did not think their parents would want them to send.

A tenth had signed up to online sites or services which were not meant to be viewed by their age group.

In terms of cyber-bullying, almost three quarters (72%) of respondents aged 14-16 had witnessed some form of online bullying, or had been subjected to it. While this is a bleak statistic, there are positive signs. Three quarters had blocked another user of an app or on a website, two thirds (68%) had supported someone else who had suffered cyber-bullying and 74% had ‘stood up for themselves’.

Classrooms are becoming more high-tech, and a lot of innovation has come from that. However, it is important to keep in mind how these new technologies influence disruptive behaviors.

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, list, Matthew Lynch

3 Ways Technology Can Fix Education

As the use of technology becomes more and more prevalent in schools, concerns have popped up about its ubiquity in schools. Some will even go as far as to say that technology will ruin education in America.

For better or worse, the various educational technologies are here to stay. In fact, they can and have made an impact on K-12 education today. Here are three areas in which technology can actually improve the quality of education in our country:

  1. High school graduation rates. We have recently experienced the highest graduation rate the country has seen since 1974. Educators are collectively working harder to help students make it to the high school finish line and get prepared for college and the workforce. There is a lot of credit to be handed out for the successful graduation rates around the country (of course, there are still plenty of areas for improvement) but I think one shining area deserves a lot of the praise: technology.

The website DropoutPrevention.org singles out technology as a leader in high school graduation upsurge. The site states:
“Educational technology is needed for a variety of reasons. It provides an alternative method of learning for those who struggle to learn using traditional methods.

Technology can be used to address multiple intelligences and also to provide authentic learning experiences for students.”
In other words, technology has made it possible for students who fall off the traditional path to jump back on and finish what they spent most of their childhood working towards. This may be in the form of taking remote classes from home, remedial classes in on-campus computer labs or even by enrolling in full-time online schools, public or private.

Having in-classroom technology more directly impacts the graduation rate by providing customized learning experiences. A student who needs extra help on a particular topic need not hold up the entire class, or feel embarrassed asking for that help, when there are computer modules and tablet apps available for individual learning experiences. Teachers who spot a trouble area with a particular student can gear that teen towards more exercises to master the topic. Of course technology is not the magic wand to fix all problems, but it does allow for more flexibility of the learning process which in turn makes it easier for a wider group of students to stay in classrooms until the end of the K-12 journey.

  1. Students with disabilities. In 2011, 22 percent of non-institutionalized adults with disabilities had less than a high school education. If this statistic was applied to the general population, my suspicion is that there would be an outcry to reform K-12 education to have better graduation results. But for students with disabilities, there is no shock or outrage and that is something that has to change. The key to improving the educational experience for students with disabilities is better accommodations in schools and continued improvements in assistive technology.

Assistive technology in K-12 classrooms, by definition, is designed to “improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability.” While the word “technology” automatically conjures up images of cutting-edge electronics, some assistive technology is possible with just simple accommodations. Whether high-tech or simple in design, assistive technology has the ability to transform the learning experiences for the children who benefit.

Here is a look at strides being made in just a couple of common assistive technology areas:

Alternative input devices: These tools are designed to allow students with disabilities to use computers and related technology easily. Some alternative input devices include touch screens, modified keyboards and joysticks that direct a cursor through use of body parts like chins, hands or feet. Some up-and-coming technology in this area is sip-and-puff systems, developed by companies like Microsoft, to perform computer functions through the simple process of inhaling and exhaling. On-screen keyboards are another area of input technology that is providing K-12 learners with disabilities better use of computers and mobile devices for learning.

Sensory enhancers: Depending on the disability, children may need to learn differently than their peers. Instead of ABCs and numbers first, a child with language hindrances may benefit from bright pictures or colors to learn new concepts. Sensory enhancers may include voice analyzers, augmentative communication tools or speech synthesizers. With the rapid growth of technology in the classroom, these basic tools of assistive technology are seeing great strides.

  1. Urban students and the education achievement gap. Students in urban schools tend to have stereotypes attached to them. Rather than see these students as individual learners, many urban kids and their schools are often thrown into the “lost cause” category. Problems like deteriorating buildings and overcrowding often become too overwhelming for reformers.

In a 2009 article in the Harvard Political Review, writers Tiffany Wen and Jyoti Jasrasaria discuss the “myths of urban education.” The article points out that many people are quick to label urban schools as lost causes without actually investigating individual issues or how they can be resolved.

As with all aspects of K-12 improvement, finding the answers to higher achievement for urban students is a complicated process. I believe that technology can work to teacher and student advantages though. The implications of mobile technology in K-12 classrooms are still being realized but one thing is certain: more individualized learning is now possible. In cases where overcrowding is detrimental to learning experiences, mobile technology can serve as a placeholder teacher in terms of directing students and keeping them engaged in learning when the physical teacher is unavailable.

At its core, the American educational system is about democratization of knowledge for all students, regardless of their circumstances. Advancements in technology are making this more and more possible.

 

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