Innovative EdTech Programs Happening In Schools

By Katie Lepi 

This year marked the third year of the $200,000 Follett Challenge, which encourages K-12 schools around the US to share their innovative programs that have been put in place to prepare our modern students for the demands of the 21st century.Recently, the 4 semifinalists plus the “People’s Choice” winners —were announced. We thought that their programs were pretty cool and worth sharing. The winners were based on the number of votes they received from the public.

The grand prize winner (who will be announced in May) will earn a $60,000 prize in Follett products and services, while the other three semifinalists will each earn $30,000 in products and services.

The Semifinalists

Elementary School Category

Albert P. Terhune Elementary School; Wayne Township Public Schools; Wayne, N.J.; video: “Augmented Reality Book Trailer Program”

Middle School Category

Memorial Middle School and Thomas Jefferson Middle School; Fair Lawn Public Schools; Fair Lawn, N.J.; video: “Dynamic Math Connections”

High School Category

Belleville West High School; Belleville Township High School District 201; Belleville, Ill.; video: “A Community of Readers”

Magnet/Parochial/K12 Category

Wayland Union Schools; Wayland, Mich.; video: “Media and Technology at Wayland Union Schools”

Read More...

Contact Us -

Website- www.mschools.co.in, www.linkites.com

E-mail - enquiry@mschools.co.in, info@linkites.com

Phone - +91-731-2401952

Skype - mschools, linkites

                                                                          

 

5 Tips for Classroom Management With Mobile Devices

By Jennifer Carey

When adopting technology in the classroom, one of the key concerns for teachers and administrators is classroom management. I am often asked if there is a way to “lock down an iPad screen” or “ensure students cannot go to inappropriate websites” (e.g. Social Media). In other words, how do we keep students on task and are not distracted by the novelty of gadgets or communicating with friends via texting or social media. Often, teachers will take up devices (such as mobile phones) to avoid the issue of students texting or checking Facebook on their phones (eliminating access to a powerful, pocket computer in the process).

Classroom management is a challenging skill which I consistently strive to improve on a regular basis. Often, people believe that managing a classroom that has employed technology requires a whole new approach and skill set. However, I have found that many traditional methods of classroom management readily translate to the technological rich schoolroom – with some slight modification.

Establish Clear Expectations

Just as I start out the school year with “Class Rules” that we make and agree to as a group, we also establish expectations for when we use technology. The general topics are: civility, staying on task, and adhering to the honor code. In reality, this is no different than I would expect in a non-technology classroom. The one additional rule that I add, as it pertains to smart phones, is that when not in use they are to sit, face-down on the desk in front of them. I have found that having students “put them away” can create temptation and they are more likely to “sneak a peek” at them from a pocket or a sleeve. However, if the phone is always face-down on the desk in front of them, they are less prone to “sneak a peek” at a text from a friend or check their Facebook status and to stay on task when employing it during my lessons.

In addition to establishing expectations, you may also want to ensure that you lay out consequences for violating your established policies – this can be loss of technology privilege, a note home, confiscation of the device, meeting with the Dean, whatever you decide to ensure that everyone understands what is expected of them and the natural consequences of violating them.

Let them “Get the Giggles Out”

If I’m introducing a new tool, app, piece of software, or device, I often give students some time to “get the giggles out.” For example, if we are using Today’s Meet to do a Backchannel, they have 2 minutes to say hello to all of their friends. If we are using iMovie on iPad, I will encourage them to make one silly video before they delve into the assignment. Some of the problems of using new technology arise from the novelty of the device. Let students get passed the initial excitement so that they can be more focused when they delve into their work.

Engagement is Key

I will be the first to argue that as educators we are not entertainers. Lessons should be engaging and require students to stay on task at a solid pace in order to complete them. Ensure that the assignment requires students to stay engaged; this can include playing to their passions, setting firm due dates for assessment, and scaling the assignment for students who finish faster. Students become bored when they are not challenged or find their assignments meaningful and challenging.

One of my favorite uses of cell phones during the class, for example, is to engage in bell-ringer exercises (activities students must complete at the start of class) or exit-tickets (something they must complete before leaving). Using an app like Socrative, students can use their mobile phone to complete a brief activity that is then assessed. Not only does it keep them focused on a task, but it provides meaningful assessment for the teachers to gauge student progress.

Two Eyes, Two Feet

Carl Hooker, an educational technology innovator on the cutting edge, coined the phrase “the two eyes, two feet app” in response to faculty and administration concerned about inappropriate use on cell phones, tablets, and/or laptops. The biggest shift for educators when technology enters the classroom is that you cannot be static or stable. The best way to ensure that students stay on task is to walk around the room, look at the work they are doing, discuss and engage with them about their progress. The more active and mobile you are in the classroom, the easier it is to ensure that your students are on working on what they should be. If you notice that children are quickly closing browsers windows when you come near or “double tapping” the home button on their iPad (a sign that they’re switching apps) then take the time to investigate what the student is doing and have a discussion with them if necessary.

Know When To Put Technology Away

Even though I am the Director of Educational Technology, my classes are never “all tech all the time.” Sometimes, it is not appropriate to use technology for an assignment or activity in class. In those cases, the technology goes away – in fact, I’ve been known to collect cell phones during certain activities (like mid-term exams or quizzes). Use the appropriate tool for the appropriate context – and sometimes that is a pencil and paper. Beth Holland and Shawn McCusker wrote a great article on this topic entitled “When to Put the Tech Away in a 1:1 Classroom.” As Shawn argues, when technologies interferes with class culture, it’s time to put the tech away!

Overall, classroom management is an organic and individual process. You must find what works for you and with what students. I will admit that I have classes that are easier to keep on task than others, students that are more readily distracted than their peers, and activities that just do not succeed as I hoped. At the end of your activity, pause, assess, and adjust as needed!

Post Source : http://www.edudemic.com/5-tips-classroom-management-mobile-devices/

www.mschools.co.in

enquiry@mschools.co.in

                                   SKYPE: mschools, linkites, saket.dandotia, sharad.gour

                              

Resources For Teaching About Drugs, Alcohol, and Addiction

By Katie Lepi 

Over the past few days, I’ve seen so much buzz on the internet about the death of Philip Seymour Hoffmann. His untimely death is very sad, though not nearly unusual enough for stars, but there is something about the whole situation that strikes me as worth bringing up here.

In 2006, he publicly discussed his history of drug abuse. In May of 2013, he completed a detox program after relapsing after 23 years of sobriety. 23 years sober and addiction still took his life.

Addiction is real.

Addiction can kill.

Addiction is not something that just goes away with some quick treatment.

Addiction is happening in your communities, in your schools, maybe even in your own home. Your students or colleagues may be affected even if they are not the addict. If you know someone who is battling addiction or is affected by addiction, be compassionate. They may need help or already be getting it, but they need support and compassion and not judgement. We know that you probably already know this, but your students may not.

There are many, many resources and services out there. AA, NA, and SAMHSA all offer a variety of resources, and are a great place to start. Earlier in 2013, the lovely Dawn Casey Rowe put together this fabulous list of Learnist resources for teaching about drug and alcohol abuse.  We’re reposting it now in case you haven’t seen it yet. If you have a bookmarked folder of ‘just in case’ resources, this might be a good thing to save.

Drunk Driving

Mercyhurst Prep Health has put together one of the most extensive collections on on Learnist. This board is tough to get through, because it shows the human toll of drunk driving, as well as the cost to society. With learnings about teenage drunk driving, drunk driving after the prom and the extremely emotional “Faces of Drunk Driving,” this board shows the learner, “This could be you.” Hopefully, with continued education and awareness, it never will be.

Alcohol and Drug Prevention Education in Schools

Jeff Wolfsberg is a national expert in alcohol and drug addiction. This board discusses some of the issues in schools, and how experts, students, and families can recognize problems in order provide help as soon as possible.

A Guide to Staying Healthy in College

Erica Jackson acknowledges that there are challenges to staying healthy in college. Avoiding the “freshman 15,” and keeping a workout regimen helps develop good habits, but avoiding alcohol and drugs is also critical. Many college students struggle with this very serious problem.

Generation Rx

Carly Wick knows that Generation X is exceeding previous levels in alcohol and drug abuse, including prescription meds and binge drinking. This is a very large problem and growing, spreading all across the nation.

Tobacco/Alcohol/Drug Education

Erica Pavlovich is using this in her classroom to teach about the dangers of addiction. This board helps students in health class access the material they need to understand the seriousness of tobacco, alcohol, and drug use and abuse.

Alcohol Awareness Month: The Basics

Kate Garklavs discusses the basics behind alcohol addiction, including the way alcohol is processed by the body. These are important facts to know–the short term and long-term effects of alcohol are often very striking.

Addiction

Dick Dillon teaches about addiction, cautioning not to substitute one addiction for another. This is often a challenge for those trying to recover from addiction–addictions are often personality traits. It’s very easy to swap them out.

Drive Hammered. Get Slammered

Drunk Driving is never acceptable. Each state has different laws on this subject, but they are all severe. People die as a result of drinking and driving. Sometimes the driver doesn’t realize he or she has had one too many. The best course of action is not to drive–this board brings the severity of drinking and driving to light.

Emerging Drug Trends

One of the biggest issues for parents, families, and schools is keeping up on the drug trends and vocabulary. This board helps everyone to do this–this is a good board to add to if you are an in-field expert, educator, or member of law enforcement, because the more information that is added to this board, the more help it will continue to be.

Source: http://www.edudemic.com/teaching-about-drugs-alcohol-and-addiction/

www.mschools.co.in

sharad@mschools.co.in

  SKYPE: linkites, saket.dandotia, sharad.gour, sonal.khandelwal8

                              

Why Should Teachers Use Infographics?

By Katie Lepi

The Power of the Educational Infographic

What is an infographic, anyway? 

An infographic is a visual display of information, data, and knowledge. It makes information simple.

Why use an infographic?

Research on Bloom’s Taxonomy, the brain, connected learning, and Gagne’s events supports the use of infographics.

What are the benefits of using infographics?

It gives solutions at your fingertips. Infographics are simple, clickable, printable, collaborative, and shareable, among many other qualities.

Can infographics change education?

Infographics bring the educational world together, and help share experiences and encourage innovation and collaboration.

What is the reach of a typical infographic?

If sharing on just one social media outlet, an infographic from Mia MacMeekin’s site (the creator of the infographic below) reaches about 200,000 views in 5 months.

 

Source: http://www.edudemic.com/educational-infographics/

www.mschools.co.in

sharad@mschools.co.in

  SKYPE: linkites, saket.dandotia, sharad.gour, sonal.khandelwal8

                              

Why Food Education Matters

By Katie Lepi on February 4, 2014

Every teacher knows that education reaches beyond the material contained in books and lecture materials. Students learn all sorts of things in school – from study habits to social skills. With many required elements in today’s curricula and a heavy focus on standardized testing, many schools are finding that the ‘extras’ are being marginalized, or even cut entirely. Art, music, and sports all have pretty vocal advocates fighting to keep them integrated into schools, one of the things that often gets looked over is food education. 

When I was little, my mom made everything fresh. We picked fruits in the summer, and she grew so many of her own vegetables. I knew, secondhand, that pasta sauce also came out of a jar, but I had no idea why you’d want to eat it. When I was about nine, I insisted that I wanted to eat Chef Boyardee Spaghetti-Os because my friends always got to eat them. I longed for this particular forbidden fruit, without really having any reason to want it besides the fact that other kids got to eat it. Eventually, my mother agreed, but I couldn’t even manage to choke down the Spaghetti-Os I had longed for – I thought they were so gross!

The handy infographic below takes a look at how important it is to educate kids about food choices and eating healthy. So many kids don’t know that real food doesn’t come out of a box. Keep reading to learn more.

Bring Back Food Education!

• 96% of school children in the UK don’t eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables
• In Australia, 20% of children thinks pasta comes from animals and 27% believe that yogurt comes from plants
• The average American elementary student receives 3.4 hours of food education per year – less time than most kids spend watching TV each day!
• 1 in 4 Americans visits a fast food restaurant every day
• 50% of meals are eaten outside the home as of 2010
• Americans spend more than $110 Billion on fast food each year
• This is the third generation that won’t really know how to cook
• In the last three decades obesity rates have doubled for adults and tripled for children
• Obese individuals die, on average, about 10 years earlier than non-obese individuals
• Teenagers who eat with their families at least five times per week are 40% more likely to get all As and Bs
• Children who ate nutritious lunches improved their test scores and absence rates by 15%
• People with healthy diets spend about $1429 less per year on medical expenses

Katie was a teacher, graduate student, and is now the lady who makes sure Edudemic is as useful as possible. She oversees the editorial process and is basically a Swiss Army Knife of solutions.

Source: http://www.edudemic.com/why-food-education-matters/

www.mschools.co.in

sharad@mschools.co.in

  SKYPE: linkites, saket.dandotia, sharad.gour, sonal.khandelwal8

                                       

8 Things Successful People Do

By Katie Lepi

Building up students for success is really what teachers ultimately do. The devil is in the details, obviously, and the details can range from spelling and basic arithmetic to complex problem solving and writing.

The handy infographic below (via) looks at 8 things successful people do and why they work. The graphic is definitely geared towards a more business-focused audience, but when I looked at it, I saw so many different ways that these tips and tricks can be applied in the classroom, at home with your own kids, and even for yourself. Take a look below at the ideas the graphic offers. We’ve summarized it below and added in some classroom applications, but the graphic offers some additional explanations.

8 Great Tips For Success

Don’t Have A Back Up Plan

The Concept: If you don’t have a back up plan, you’ll work much harder to achieve your primary goals. Sometimes you need to learn NOT to rely on a safety net!

In your classroom, if your students know that they’ll always have the chance to get extra credit points for an additional project or paper, why would they work as hard on their primary work? While offering extra credit is often a nice (and admittedly, sometimes almost necessary) gesture, if there is always an extra credit back up plan, it isn’t really ‘extra’, is it?

Effort

The Concept: Greatness comes from effort. There are no overnight successes or shortcuts.

This especially holds true in the classroom. There’s no shortcut to understanding a concept and learning to apply it appropriately. You might be able to write down all the formulas you’re supposed to know for an algebra test on your hand, but if you don’t know it and aren’t able to apply it later, that shortcut hasn’t helped you.

Work More

The Concept: Successful folks clock a lot of hours – not necessarily because they have to, but because they want to. If you’re not willing to put in the time to achieve your goals, then they aren’t that important to you.

I think we see this a lot in students – they don’t want to put in the time because the task at hand isn’t what they’re interested in. While students can’t get around some of that (you have to take certain classes without choice, right?), the idea that you should apply yourself to what interests you really stands out. Get students involved and working on things they like. Perhaps a certain type of project would be more interesting, even if the material isn’t really exciting.

Don’t Follow The Herd

The Concept: Avoid the crowds. Conventional wisdom leads to conventional results. Sometimes you need to be a pioneer to achieve success. Don’t follow trends, go where there is less competition.

This one kind of follows the last idea: do what you’re interested in – don’t just do what everyone else is doing. I think that at least half of my high school graduating class applied to Boston College (if not more – it was totally *the* place to go from my school). I applied, too, even though it wasn’t really the type of school I wanted to go to at all. Following the pack isn’t what is going to help you stand out.

Start At The End and Aim High

Start with where you want to end up. Make that your goal, and work backwards to create the steps you need to complete to achieve your goal.

A great problem solving technique that can be applied to many areas of the classroom, working backwards isn’t a new idea, but can definitely provide a fresh look at a situation.

Once You Get To The End, Keep Going

Don’t stop just because you achieve a goal. Use each success as a launching pad for achieving the next success. Successes in one area can help you with successes in other areas, too.

When students succeed in one area, it can help their confidence in other subjects, too. Goal setting is important, but goal adjusting and revising our ongoing goals is just as important.

You’re Going To Have To Sell 

Your ability to sell will contribute to your success. Helping others understand what you’re doing and why will encourage others to work with you and overcome obstacles.

Learning to sell your ideas (and often, yourself) is a great skill to have regardless of what you do. It helps build relationships, forces you to work on your communication skills with a variety of people, and having to explain what you’re working on to someone else often forces you to examine it from a number of different angles, which can help you to understand it better. Having your students present their work to different audiences can tick this box and create a number of different types of projects to work on.

Never Be Too Proud

Be willing to admit when you’ve made a mistake, when you’ve gotten help from others (and from where) and failed at times.

This one is a pretty universal life lesson that we can all use a dose of from time to time.

Katie was a teacher, graduate student, and is now the lady who makes sure Edudemic is as useful as possible. She oversees the editorial process and is basically a Swiss Army Knife of solutions.

www.mschools.co.in

  SKYPE: linkites, saket.dandotia, sharad.gour, sonal.khandelwal8

                                       

6 Core Benefits of Competency Based Education

By Katie Lepi on January 27, 2014

From flipped classrooms, to 1:1 programs, MOOCs and project based learning, there are a lot of educational trends to keep up on. Realistically, keeping up on more than a few of the things you read about can become a full-time job, and can start to feel overwhelming. So with the aim of helping to simplify things for quick and easy understanding, voila- the handy infographic below. Mia MacMeekin has put together a quick and easy guide to some of the benefits of competency based education (aka competency based learning). Think of it as a simple, handy guide to this great teaching and learning concept. Tomorrow, we’ll share Mia’s step by step guide to implementing competency based education in your own classrooms, but for now, keep reading to learn more. 

Benefits of Competency Based Education

• Competency based education’s goal is to demonstrate a set of skills and knowledge in a select field through authentic assessments. It allows the student to learn what they need to learn in the way they learn best.
• With competency based education, students must demonstrate proficiency in many areas in order to graduate the program with a degree, certificate, or distinction.
• Some students may come to the program already able to demonstrate certain proficiencies, so students can easily enter the program at different points.
• Each student learns at their own pace.
• Each competency has rich content to choose from to meet the needs of each student.
• Learning can be quite individualized while still teaching a larger group of students.

Katie was a teacher, graduate student, and is now the lady who makes sure Edudemic is as useful as possible. She oversees the editorial process and is basically a Swiss Army Knife of solutions.

Source: http://www.edudemic.com/competency-based-education/

Survey Reveals Parents Concerned About Student Data Privacy

By Karla Scoon Reid

Cross-posted from Digital Education

Nine of ten American voters are worried about advertisers using personal data to market to children, and an overwhelming bipartisan consensus has emerged in support of proposals geared towards safeguarding children's personal information.

That's according to Common Sense Media, a San Francisco-based nonprofit seeking to institutionalize such privacy protections before the digital devices, software, and apps now flooding schools become completely ubiquitous.

On Wednesday, the group released new findings from a survey of 800 registered voters, which included 227 parents.

"American families feel by incredible margins that students' personal and private information should not be for sale, period," Common Sense Media CEO James Steyer told Education Week's Benjamin Herold earlier this week.

The survey found that a huge knowledge gap exist about what is currently taking place with children's data. Many respondents, including most parents, reported knowing little or nothing about the information that schools now collect about students, the increasingly common practice of districts contracting with private companies to store that information in the cloud, and the lack of restrictions on what those companies can do with children's data. Almost six in 10 parents were almost completely unaware of this practice, according to the survey.

"It's the Wild West out there, with a grab-bag of [privacy-related] proposals" that vary from state to state and district to district, Steyer said.

The new findings are the result of telephone interviews with 800 registered voters conducted Jan. 6 - 9 by pollsters from the Benenson Strategy Group. The results contain a 3.5 percentage-point margin of error for all respondents, and a 9.5-point margin of error for parents alone.

Student data privacy has become a hot-button issue in recent months and is raising the alarm of some parents. This week, Education Week took an in-depth look at what has some parents and privacy advocates so concerned, including the potential for identity theft, nuisance advertising, wrongful profiling of students, and even physical harm. Common Sense Media is spearheading an initiative to get leading ed-tech companies to agree to broad principles related to protecting children's data, and Steyer said his group is playing an active role in trying to help shape the related legislation that has started popping up in statehouses around the country, as well as in Congress.

In its new survey, Common Sense Media found broad support for action across the country's bitter partisan divide: 91 percent of respondents support stronger parental-consent requirements related to the sharing of sensitive student data, and 89 percent supported tighter security standards for cloud storage, with no meaningful differences between Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.

Steyer said it's important to leverage that consensus in order to prevent the establishment of troubling norms in which children's sensitive information is automatically shared or sold for non-educational uses unless parents decide to opt out.

"That's how the consumer world works, because those rules were written by the tech industry," he said. "We should be automatically safeguarding student information unless parents want to give it up."

Not everyone agrees with the increasingly loud alarm bells being rung over student data privacy, or the proposed fixes. The Software and Information Industry Association, for example, has maintained that current federal laws contain strong restrictions and that businesses are committed to their responsibilities to student privacy.

Next month, Common Sense Media will host a forum on the issue at which U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is expected to speak, said Steyer.

"The good news is that we believe we have the chance to get this right," he said.

www.mschools.co.in

                  SKYPE: linkites, saket.dandotia, sharad.gour, sonal.khandelwal8