The Top 5 EdTech Trends in Higher Education for 2015

1. BYOD Emphasizing its effectiveness in facilitating personalized learning, the 2015 NMC Horizon Report names BYOD a key trend making a significant impact on higher education. The report outlines a Bradford Network Study that revealed 85% of the responding educational institutions currently allow students to use their own devices on campus, with 52% actively integrating those devices into the learning experience; “The link between the use of personal devices and increases in productivity gets stronger each passing year as more organizations adopt BYOD policies.” 2. Flipped Classroom The flipped classroom model is continuing to make drastic improvements to higher education,…
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The Next Big Thing in EdTech: Learning Relationship Management

The Learning Management System (LMS) is nothing new, most commonly used by higher education institutions as a means of managing courses and students. The popular management tool has more recently been making an appearance in K-12 schools, providing educators and students alike a more efficient way to manage school work, retrieve reports on progress and performance, and store documentation. But the LMS is evolving at a rapid pace with new EdTech contenders pioneering the Learning Relationship Management movement. What is Learning Relationship Management? The “LRM offers a holistic student success solution that the education world has never before experienced”, says…
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What Every BYOD Classroom Needs to Succeed

So you want to convert your classroom to a student-centered learning environment? By making this decision, you’ve recognized the need to deliver more diverse and inclusive instruction that better reflects the needs of 21st century learners. Beginning with the shift to mobile learning, we’re moving steadily into student-centered education where technology plays a key role, and where there’s more student voice and choice than ever before. But what’s slowing us down? It’s the “what next” that often urges you to lose sight of your initial motivation to change, which begins with choosing what technology to use. One recurring question when…
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How is Blended Learning Revolutionizing K-12 Education?

Blended learning is widely considered one of the most significant instructional reforms ever to hit K-12 education. Learning in part through the use of digital and online media, students undertaking blended learning programs pursue a more diverse course of study, gaining an element of control over time, place, path, or pace. According to Michael B. Horn and Heather Staker in The Rise of K–12 Blended Learning, “In the year 2000, roughly 45,000 K–12 students took an online course. In 2009, more than 3 million K–12 students did.” The speed with which online learning is accelerating has made it virtually impossible…
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Pedagogy and Technology: How to Build a Personalized Learning Environment

Building a personalized learning environment depends on far more than simply finding the technology. First, it requires a change of mindset. From “sage on the stage” to “guide on the side”, from instructor-led to student-led, and from synchronous to self-paced, a personalized learning environment moves the focus from educator to learner, tailoring the learning experience to meet the different needs and aspirations of every single student. Technology comes into the mix as a tool to help educators achieve this. According to the Educause Learning Initiative, a PLE requires easy access to both people and resources, combining tools, communities and services…
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Pedagogy and Technology: Integrating the 5 C’s of 21st Century Education

Beginning with the 4 C’s, the key skills of 21st century education have been multiplying, with additions like compassion, culture and connectivity regularly making the cut. Encompassing the core values of 21st century learning, these C’s are fundamental in our understanding of changing pedagogy, and the role that technology plays. A powerful tool to drive these essential skills, adaptive technology maintains a focus on the primary C’s of 21st century education, incorporating each overlapping element in a non-linear path. With others embedded within, the following five skills remain central to personalized learning and it’s efforts in preparing students for 21st…
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Mobile World Congress 2015: Combining Innovation for Better Education Solutions

On March 2nd, the annual Mobile World Congress is being held in Barcelona. The thrilling four-day event is set to welcome tech-thusiasts from all walks of life, showcasing and exploring “the edge of innovation.” “Connecting billions of people to the transformative power of the Internet and mobilising every device we use in our daily lives”, last year’s MWC opened its doors to over 85,000 attendees, 4,500 CEO’s, 1,800 exhibitors, and 3,900 press members representing 1,700 media outlets from 84 countries. Next generation learning platform, Fishtree, is set to make an appearance at the event, exhibiting its incredibly innovative software that…
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Technology for the Sake of Technology: The Problem with SAMR

When it comes to technology integration in schools, many are looking to the SAMR model for guidance. The Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition model offers an insight into how technology can be integrated into the teaching process, following the steps outlined. However, many educators are now turning away from the model, highlighting its over-emphasis on replacing traditional teaching methods, and its lack of focus on learning outcomes. Following the model’s guidelines, many educators suggest we are losing sight of why we are using technology in the first place, making it a case of technology for the sake of technology. Once technology…
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A Beginner’s Guide to Cloud-Based Learning

Not all learning environments should be virtual. Offering students the best possible learning experience requires pedagogy that’s flexible, collaborative, inclusive, and meaningful. This means integrating technology that works around your ideas, bringing learning outcomes to the fore. As innovative teaching models that maintain this focus increase in popularity, educators are moving to the cloud for more access, less hassle, and better solutions. The Benefits of Cloud With more schools looking to learning management systems for best practice, the need for cloud is becoming greater. Cloud-based learning essentially eliminates the need for any storage device, saving every lesson, activity, and resource…
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10 Ways Technology Helps Good Teachers to Become Great Teachers

#1. It Saves Time. Good teachers want to dedicate the majority of their professional time to teaching, as opposed to managing. Technology makes it possible to alleviate the pains of administration by providing the resources you need in an instant, allowing you to build a lesson in minutes, and keep track of every student’s progress in real-time. With all that taken care of, more time can be spent engaging students, instead of maintaining them. #2. It Works Around Them. As George Evans states: “Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or in the same way.” Despite the…
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