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Virtual Laboratories – All Good?

It seems that there is nothing that cannot be done online anymore. On a personal level, we do everything from paying bills to scheduling entire vacations in a matter of minutes because of online access. Think about it for a moment: What daily online activities do you do today that were not an option 10 years ago? Five years ago? Last year? Now consider classroom technology and how it is also evolving rapidly. Implementation of technology in the classroom goes beyond Google searches and reading apps. It stretches into every area of learning, including the sciences. Virtual laboratories are popping …

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Without teacher guidance, all the tech in the world will be quite useless

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.** Kentaro Toyama, University of Michigan A couple of years ago, I taught an afterschool class at a Seattle nonprofit, the Technology Access Foundation (TAF), which provides STEM education (science, technology, engineering, math) to children from less-privileged backgrounds. My students were 8-11 years old, and it was the first time that I had taught elementary school …

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How to create a collaborative learning environment with technology

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.** A guest post by Meghan Zigmund After two years of having iPads in our first grade classroom, I’ve found a few strategies that work to set up a successful and collaborative learning environment. We use our set of iPads to connect, create, share, and much more. However, without a few expectations and procedures our room would be chaos! …

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It’s ok to date new technology, you don’t have to marry it!

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.** @GwynethJones – The Daring Librarian  Education Trends-A-Go-Go  It’s SO easy to get overwhelmed with all the new education tech and trends going on in the world. 1:1 Flipping Makerspace Genius Hour Common Core Mobile Learning Design Thinking Google Classroom Brain Based Learning Project Based Learning Learning Management Systems Transformative Brain Based Learning Spaces Sheesh….I could go on! It’s …

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How digital gives literacy a boost

By way of the United States Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy, nearly 15 percent of the U.S. population cannot read. That is an astonishing number. Delving deeper into the metrics, just 29 percent of adults read at a basic level and nearly 20 percent of high school graduates cannot read. It’s why we celebrate and encourage reading in schools and observe International Literacy Day in September. From the echos of hearing “reading is fundamental” to understanding the basic nature of being able to read street signs or contracts, reading is a basic need of life. That’s …

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The power of the iPad in Kindergarten

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.** By Kristi Meeuwse, ADE Technology won’t replace teachers, but teachers who don’t teach with technology will be replaced. -unknown Last week, our school iPads were replaced.  We were very excited to exchange our iPad 2’s for the new iPad Air.  Our old iPads served us well but were suffering from frequent app crashes. The replacement …

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The positive connection between games and online learning

By Mitch Weisburgh, cofounder of Games4Ed Game-based learning has the potential to drastically improve the way children are taught. Games have peculiar qualities that let them engage hard-to-reach students in a way lessons cannot. Researchers have begun to explore the intrinsic qualities of games that make them promising learning tools, and anecdotal evidence is available everywhere. I personally know a student who struggled in history until Assassin’s Creed sparked his interest in the French revolution; he is now an honors history student. I know many students who spend hours playing Minecraft and many hours more learning new skills and techniques …

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Classroom Technology: Does it Really Make a Difference?

Public school teachers have a lot on their plate when it comes to measuring achievement. Student success is determined through assessments, graded materials and even technological savvy. The general consensus seems to be that in order to give K-12 students a fighting chance in the real world, teachers and administrators must stay on top of any and all technology trends. Is it worth the effort though? The National Center for Education Statistics reported in 2009 that 97 percent of K-12 teachers had computers in their classrooms every day. In addition, 54 percent were able to bring a computer into the …

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Technology and Graduation Rate: A Direct Correlation

There is a lot of talk out there about ways to raise the graduation rate. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan proudly wore #80 in the NBA All-Star celebrity game to tout 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 …

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Why Mobile Technology Enhances Instruction

As mobile technology continues to steal the spotlight in K-12 classroom methodology, certain areas of study tend to be gravitating towards the trends more strongly. Last week an Education Market Research report found that 28 percent of class time for math-based courses is spent using digital tools or interacting with digital content. The report goes on to outline a strong shift towards digital teaching methods for math since 2009. While students’ positive response is one of the reasons mobile technology is rapidly gaining speed, EMR’s report says that educator enjoyment of the technology is also a contributing factor to its …

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