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Personalized Learning Should Start in Libraries

Can a library be the perfect place for personalized learning? We believe the answer is yes. Libraries offer endless resources, space for learning, and individuals who are ready to assist students in the learning and research process. Sometimes when professors’ office hours do not line up with students’ schedules, we often forget, that librarians are here to help us too! That’s why we have libraries and librarians! Even if we think it is intimidating to approach a librarian, it should not be, because they are the experts in libraries! Not only are librarians available to assist us, but they are …

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Intelligence in America: Time to Test Something New

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Measuring the progress of any endeavor requires a definition of success. Education, by its very nature, is difficult to ascribe a single definition of success; “making people smarter” is far too broad and subjective, while “increasing the IQs of students” is perhaps too esoteric and subject to debate over the role of genetics and other uncontrollable factors. Measuring progress is similarly fraught in the academic sector. Grades have been a target of considerable suspicion for some time now, and rightly so: everything from grade inflation to instructor subjectivity makes grades an altogether blunt and misleading metric. There again, what do …

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What Are the Benefits of Learning Analytics?

Learning analytics are web-based measurements and reporting about student learning that is intended to help teachers improve the knowledge and skill acquisition of their students. This maximizes student learning potential while enhancing teaching and delivery methods. Though its application to education is relatively new, scientific disciplines have been using it for over forty years. Expansion into scholarship was birthed by advanced technology, and the data trails learners leave while using the internet. The data provides several benefits to aid educators and students. In this piece, we will discuss those benefits. Curriculum Mapping and Competency Determination In curriculum mapping, we identify …

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Top 9 Must Have Personalized Learning Apps, Tools, and Resources

Educators know the value of differentiated instruction. However, finding the time to develop tailored instructional experiences based on each child’s zone of proximal development is often an insurmountable challenge. This is where personalized learning comes into play. Personalized learning is a type of adaptive learning that uses computers to scaffold instruction based on the student’s previous levels of understanding when engaging with the computer program. Learning analytics and artificial intelligence are the crux of personalized learning because, without these, it would be impossible for the computer to tailor instruction based on immediate prior responses seamlessly. What is the market like …

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Teacher Leaders In the 21st Century

  As we find ourselves standing on the fault lines of shifting paradigms in education question about how we lead and will be lead seem to surface with between each mini quake and aftershock. The reoccurring rumbles to develop a mindset and culture that embraces failing, thinking outside the box, and risk taking, feel shaky when they originate from a group specifically selected because of their lack of failure, ability to maneuver within the box, and their skill to mitigate risk. New pedagogies require that we follow differently as much as that we be led differently.   In a building …

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An Open Letter to District Administrators

Dear School District Administrators, Most open letters are written as a passive criticism or open critique of a large institution. I have no wish to be passive in my critique and observations.  They are intended to spur conversation and reflection.  These are the tools of our trade as teachers.  I was hired to critique and foster reflection.       After studying and researching in your administrative offices over the previous year, you have embraced personalized learning as a targeted result, as we deploy technology throughout the district.  It is a goal widely acknowledged to be systemic in scope and …

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Virtual Science Labs: Get More with Fewer Resources

Scientific laboratory courses in most schools suffer from a lack of space and funding needed to provide materials for each student.  Even in college level classes, most students experience labs as a viewing only experience, which is crowded and does not allow for student engagement.  Various high schools and colleges are turning to virtual labs to help replace and improve this typical lab experience. Standard lab courses can have a follow the directions feel, that leaves even the most scientifically inquisitive student bored and under-engaged.  Both students and teachers suffer from a lack of time to properly prepare and execute …

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More schools are online than ever before – but it’s far from perfect

Latest CoSN survey measures how far technology has spread This article was written by NICHOLE DOBO To take full advantage of all the internet has to offer, schools need to have reliable, speedy connections. When teachers don’t know if a program will crash midway through class – or work at all – they are often hesitant to use online programs to enhance lessons. In 2013, before a massive federal push to fund and support school internet upgrades, just 19 percent of public districts in the United States reported that all their schools had a speedy internet connection, according to a …

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Why one Mississippi district ditched textbooks for laptops

Superintendent says new technology improving academics, behavior This article was written by JACKIE MADER When Philip Hickman took over the role of superintendent in 2014 in the Columbus Municipal School District in east Mississippi, technology was almost nonexistent. Students used slow desktop computers and mismatched keyboards that were at least 10 years old. Hickman, who formerly worked as an assistant superintendent for the technology-rich Houston Independent School District in Texas, said he panicked when he saw the state of technology. “It was inappropriate to even present that to our kids,” Hickman said. “It was very scary to realize we were …

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