Technology Affecting Kids

By Katie Lepi

Technology brings so many awesome things into our lives. A world of information is at our fingertips, not much is out of reach, and there is seemingly a new, awesome, must-have devicereleased every week. We all hear stories of parents who park their kids in front of a TV or computer so they can get things done, and while the kids generally love it, it has taken us awhile to ask important questions about what effect media and devices are having on our kids. 

The handy infographic below takes a look at the effect of media and technology on kids in the US . Some of the statistics are pretty concerning – especially pertaining to the amount of exposure that kids have to media and devices these days. Keep reading to learn more. Weigh in by leaving a comment below, mentioning @Edudemic on Twitter or leaving your thoughts on our Facebook page.

How Is Technology Affecting Kids?

• Children under age 2 spend twice the amount of time watching TV as they spend with books
• 42% of kids age 0-8 have a TV in their room
• 70% of daycare centers use a TV as a regular part of the day
• Kids spend about 110 minutes per day watching TV, and a little over 90 minutes watching DVDs or movies
• 73% of parents say they’d like to limit their child’s TV watching
• 66% talk to their kids about the dangers of social media sites
• 53% count on their kid to tell them if there is a problem online
• 43% follow their kids on social media
• 39% set parental privacy settings
• Parents’ biggest concern with social media is violation of privacy
• 79% of teachers use social media as a teaching and learning tool
• 74% say incorporating tablets would be helpful, 26% say it would be a distraction to learning
• Teachers feel that students’ attention span is what is most affected by media

Post Source : http://www.edudemic.com/technology-affecting-kids/

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Homework Helping Websites For Students

The web is teeming with good places where your students and kids can get help with their homework. Sometimes it does take a lot of time to find such good resources, however, to save you time and to provide you with some excellent platforms to start with when recommending homework help websites, I compiled the list below featuring a variety of web resources for this purpose:

BrainPOP

BrainPOP creates animated, curricular content that engages students, supports educators, and bolsters achievement.All lessons starts with a video introduction and cover various topics. BrainPOP includes games, quizzes, and activity sections for science, health, social studies, math, and writing.

Shmoop

Shmoop provides a wide variety of study materials to kids and teens to help them learn about different subject areas including literature, Math, science and many more.

Game Classroom

Read More...

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Digital Skills Students Need For Future

In a recent research article published by PEW Internet under the title " The Impact of Digital Tools on Student Writing and How Writing is Taught in Schools ", 91% of teachers surveyed report that " judging the quality of information " as the top of the digital skills students need for the future. Similarly, another 91 report that "writing effectively" as being essential skill for students while 54 % of teachers think that working with audio, video or graphic content as being important but not essential.

Reading these stats together with other sections in this research  made me think that the teachers surveyed in this study  ( so as not to fall in the blander of generalization ) put digital citizenship on top of the continuum of digital skills ; in other words, knowing how to use web tools comes secondary to knowing the reasons for which to use them, or at least that is how I interpret it. Have a look at the graph below and try to read the entire report to learn more about this study.

Post Source : http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/07/the-8-digital-skills-students-need-for.html

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Things You May Not Know About Education In Dubai

By Katie Lepi

Dubai is a pretty interesting place. We were there recently for this year’s GESF, and one of the striking things about the city is the diversity of its residents. The education system there pretty much mimics that – there are a ton of schools offering different programs, and from a US perspective – where much of the education offerings are public or not-for-profit private the private systems there are really interesting.

The handy infographic below takes a look at the growth and diversity in Dubai’s private education sector. Take a look at it and compare it to the education system you currently work in/have kids in/participated in as a student. Weigh in by leaving a comment below, mentioning @Edudemic on Twitter or leaving your thoughts on our Facebook page.

Education in Dubai

• The growth rate of private schools in Dubai is nearly 10%
• 10 new schools have opened since the 2012/13 school year
• 23K seats have been added to meet increasing demand for education
• The majority of these student are primary students
• Fees range from 1,725 to 98,000 AED (USD exchange rate, UK exchange rate, Euro exchange rate)
• About 42% of students pay less than 10,000 dirhams per year
• There is about 4.7 Billion  AED in total possible revenue per year available
• In higher ed, the majority of students are seeking a bachelor’s degree (71%)
• Only 18% are pursuing a Master’s degree
• Only 1% are pursing a Doctorate level degree
• There are currently 158 private schools in Dubai
• 58% of these students are enrolled in UK-based curriculum programs
• 31% are enrolled in US based curriculum programs
• 29% are enrolled in Indian based curriculum programs
• There are 57 higher education institutions
• 41 % of these are locally based, 39% are international based
• 26 International universities have outposts in Dubai
• Business is the most popular program of study for these universities – 44% of students are enrolled in business programs

Post Source : http://www.edudemic.com/education-in-dubai/

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Data Is the Key to Successful Course Redesign

By LindsayH

For years, it has been no secret that many students who start post-secondary education programs drop out early. To address this issue, many schools and institutions decide to redesign their courses with the hope that students might gain a greater feeling of success, continue with their chosen program and graduate.

When considering courses for redesign, many questions are asked but the most important is this: “What data should be considered to ensure our course redesign efforts are successful?” Data metrics like grades, attendance or participation rates are obvious considerations. These can be reliable metrics in driving decision-making. However, I recommend also considering student feedback, faculty load, student experience, and assessment performance as additional data points which can better inform decisions that directly impact the course redesign process.

Let’s look at each of these to see their value as data metrics in the course redesign process.

Student Feedback

Student feedback can be a rich source of data to take into consideration before investing in a course redesign project. Most course surveys ask about the instructor’s performance, however, student feedback should not be targeted or limited to the course in question. It should encompass the entire student learning experience. It is important to understand where the students stop learning and where they fail to make connections with the content. The typical approach to improving the student learning experience has been simply creating add-ons to the existing course. However the effectiveness of add-ons without thoughtful integration is questionable. We must avoid the philosophy of ‘do something, do anything’ and focus redesign efforts on activities that are both sound and rational.

When reviewing student feedback we should focus our analysis through three lenses: the content lens, the assessment lens and the learning activity or practice lens. While course redesign focuses on the sum of the parts, each of these three lenses give curriculum developers a comprehensive picture on how students put their knowledge into practice, if at all.

Here are a few suggested data points to explore when considering student feedback:

• What learning activities did students find to be the most engaging?

• What learning activities helped students connect to the content directly?

• What did the students expect to learn prior to the start of the course?

Faculty Load

Educators are continually asked to do more with less. Frequently that extends to requiring faculty to teach more students with no additional resources. Faculty load can have an influence on student success. Students may not receive adequate or authentic feedback from instructors with a heavy student load because those instructors have fewer touch points with their students. By knowing the number of enrollments to an individual faculty member, course redesign experts can make additional recommendations for support services. Additionally, faculty load may influence a different approach to content presentations, activities, assessments, and other student services.

Here are a few suggestions to explore when considering faculty load:

• How often throughout a high enrollment course is a faculty member able to offer individualized attention to students?

• When a faculty member offers individualized attention, is it to clarify a student’s understanding of the content, provide intervention, or offer genuine feedback on activities and assessments?

• What are the student’s perceptions of the faculty member’s presence within a course?

Read More...

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Effective Ways To Build Your School Tribe

By Holly Clark

It’s a crisp fall Monday morning, and freshly dressed school children are being dropped off by their parents – who by this time have gotten used to the current homework load and the personality of the new teacher. But this year, there is something different in the air; an angst that is causing mothers throughout the 4th grade to call each other and fuel the creation of new urban myths about iPads that their children are using in school.

The phone calls sound something like this…

It used to be so easy to help with a worksheet or two at night. I don’t really know how to help my child learn and organize? And why isn’t my 4th grader writing in cursive? How are these kids expected to type effectively on that iPad keyboard? What are we doing to this generation of kids? When are they going to learn to read, and how will they ever learn to read on the iPad?  My child needs books, like I used, and a organization planner. How do I know they are not just playing games when they are on that thing?

These questions echo from cell phone to cell phone, and car window to car window as parents voice their concerns to each other. This starts an almost frenzy-like atmosphere of distaste for the new 1:1 iPads. Why does this type of agitation happen? In most cases, it is a spurred by two factors: a big school-wide change to the status quo, and a lack of effective communication from the school.

Unfortunately, this is what can happen if you try to change the direction of a school without involving the parents. This is a semi-fictional account of something that happened at my own school, so when it happened I turned to one of the most brilliant business mind: Seth Godin

Read Full Article Here...

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Apps To Supercharge Your Classroom Productivity

By Mellow Study

When you are looking to improve your productivity half the battle is finding the will. The other half is discovering and refining a system that will maximize your time and make you the most efficient you possible!

These 5 apps all perform a slightly different functions, and when you combine them together they can supercharge your classroom productivity. They keep you updated on your to-dos and keep all of your ‘stuff’ in one place. You’ll waste less time and worry less, have less of a mess, and be more organized!

Evernote

Evernote is an extremely versatile app that can be used in a number of ways. It is a cloud based notebook that works across platforms and can be used to organize the mass of information you need to keep track of. You can use it for lists, saving web files for later viewing, organizing research or managing projects.

The beauty of Evernote is not in the quality of each individual function. The beauty is in the fact that it has such a wide range of functions and can be used for just about anything. This way you can keep everything in one place.

Week Plan

Week Plan is an app based on the time management system outlined by Stephen Covey in “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” The theory is that you should plan your important tasks and to do lists on a week by week basis, rather than day by day. This way you can take a step back and ensure you make time for the really important stuff, without the day to day to do list swamping you.

The app gets you to set priorities for each of the different roles you have in life such as teacher, student, sportsperson, part time worker, family member etc. Once you determine the week’s priorities you can then allocate them to the days of the week.

If it sounds simple, it is. But it will revolutionize the way you manage your time.

My Study Life

My Study Life is an app that allows you to program in your class timetable. You can then assign any notifications or information specific to each class and use it to track tasks and deadlines. It will let you know what is coming up and when things are due.

It is intuitive and easy to use and an excellent way to separate your classroom planner from the rest of your life if that is what you prefer. It is great for both students and teachers, especially for those teachers who teach a wide variety of classes with different things due at different times.

Dropbox

The ultimate storage in the cloud system that allows you to access your files from anywhere. This is particularly useful if you are not using your own device and are using computers on campus. This way the cloud will allow seamless workflow from campus to home.

Remember The Milk

This is the ultimate “to-do list” app. It works across platforms and you can sync it with Evernote if you use that as well. However Remember the Milk is good enough to stand on its own two feet.

You can create multiple lists and its features include giving tasks priorities, time estimates and locations. With this app you will be able to keep track of both the mundane and important tasks.

Post Source : http://www.edudemic.com/5-apps-to-supercharge-your-study-productivity/

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