Facilitating a move away from grades and towards better learning is no easy feat. Educators are attempting to make the ambitious move through the use of technology, forming innovative movements that focus on accelerating student learning, and exposing the flaws of standardized testing. Rooted in the efforts of such teachers are the technology providers focused on personalizing the learning experience for every student. Adaptive systems like Fishtree are combining efforts with connected educators, focusing on a similar goal that foresees a shift from standardization to personalization. 1. From Regurgitation to Mastery High-stakes testing generally promotes memorization and regurgitation as an…
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No Child Left Behind: From Standardization to Personalization
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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5 Habits of Highly Innovative Educators
#1. Connect Constantly Regardless of the many curveballs that may be thrown their way during a typical school day, innovative educators are always connected. With a base camp on Twitter, they move from hashtag to hashtag, sharing, connecting and learning, branching out regularly to other social media platforms to expand their reach. Embracing helpful feedback, discovering exciting concepts, and constructing new ideas, these educators then attempt to import their new-found expertise to the classroom, turning theory into practice, and ideas into movements. #2. Self-Assess Hourly With every class delivered, innovative educators try to make time for self-assessment. Analyzing each lesson,…
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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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Why Real-Time Learning is the Future of Education
The real-time web has completely transformed the way we interact. With the ability to receive information as it’s published, virtual environments are making us more productive, and more connected, than ever before. Many of us already take real-time media for granted, using it instinctively to communicate without considering the impact it has on our relationships. Facilitating a more personal and one-to-one experience, real-time technology (RTT) is revolutionizing how businesses interact with their customers, how consumers interact with their content, and how we interact with those around us. Building new and improved relationships, the real-time web is making the world a…
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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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The Top 10 Qualities of Great Educational Leaders
1. Innovative An innovative leader is not afraid to implement new ideas and take risks. Without the belief that failure is an essential component of real success, a school can never reach its full potential. 2. Confident Confidence is contagious. With the right amount of confidence leading a school, staff and students are guaranteed to follow suit, inspired by the portrayal of inner strength and fearlessness that says: “I can achieve anything.” 3. Collaborative A great leader knows that success comes only through effective collaboration. By including staff-members in decision-making, and confiding in teachers for ideas, suggestions, and support, an…
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