Also In This Issue

Digital content has been mispositioned as optional: as a tool for some of the students, some of the curriculum, some of the time. In this view, software serves a role of “cleaning-up” whatever gaps were left unfilled or incomplete after normal teaching.

Jordan Valley School in the Canyons School District in Sandy, Utah is using an iPad to show pictures and icons that help children on the autism spectrum to more easily manage their day so they will know what to expect. Pictures, for example, depict a toilet, handwashing in a sink, reading, and math, among other tasks.

As blended learning is implemented in more schools across the country, administrators need to consider which online programs will most effectively drive student success. This web seminar, originally presented on February 14, 2013, addressed the future of education, the benefits of implementing blending learning, and how online programs can meet students’ unique needs.

The first thing Bartow County Virtual Academy students learn is that online classes aren’t as easy as A, B, C. They’re also not for everyone. Those also were early lessons for district administrators who opened the academy in January 2012 to 50 students in a former high school located an hour northwest of Atlanta.

District IT leaders are prioritizing BYOD, assessment readiness, and broadband access for their schools, despite that 80 percent predict flat or declining IT budgets for the upcoming year, according to the Consortium for School Networking’s (CoSN) first-of-its-kind National IT Leadership Survey.

At Dublin (Ohio) City Schools, Chinese teacher Dun Zhang teaches class in three different high school buildings—at the same time. With a shrinking budget and a desire to keep the foreign language program, the district moved to a blended model this year, with a combination of in-person, online, and video conference classes, to save money while reaching as many students as possible.

Three Texas middle school students joined marine veterans and a team of surgeons on a 12-day expedition through the jungles of Central America. The expedition was part of a science education program called Exploration Nation, featuring real students applying STEM topics to the real world.

Digital coursework, student/teacher collaboration, assessment, and customization are only some of the many popular features Learning Management Systems have to offer a K12 classroom.

Online learning is all the rage nowadays as many students choose to stay at home to study rather than attend a physical school which is a block or two away from their homes. Online learning is indeed accessible especially for those who do not have the luxury of time to travel and study in a classroom set-up. Here are some of highly-recommended e-learning sites.

As an advocate of project-based learning and student-directed learning, I wanted my students to be able to use computers to create projects using the many different webtools available on the internet. There was just one problem ... I didn't have any working computers in my classroom.