What are the top transportation challenges at school startup? The biggest challenges are routes, drivers and buses. School bus routing is more complex than other routing. District routes can be affected by ongoing school enrollment and by families moving. During the summer, districts experience higher turnover in bus drivers, which can impact startup. Lastly, readying […]
Augmented reality Brain Power is a digital coach that empowers children and adults with autism to teach themselves social and cognitive skills. http://www.brain-power.com/ NuEyes is a lightweight, wireless, head-worn, voice activated device for the visually impaired https://nueyes.com/ Link to main story: Edtech equalizers in special education RightHear is an accessibility solution for the blind and […]
The reach of K12 bulk purchasing and co-op agreements has expanded substantially as more districts join to save substantial amounts on everything from software to playground equipment, according to a recent AASA report. Education funding has recovered somewhat since the 2008 recession, yet 73 percent of superintendents surveyed consider their district still "inadequately funded" says […]
An externship program run by the Oklahoma State Department of Education expanded this summer, allowing K12 teachers to gain professional STEM experiences they can bring back to the classroom. During the pilot last year, teachers tested soil samples and worked in a concrete-making lab, among other activities, during a paid two-week externship at an Oklahoma […]
A renovated, expanded library and a new 8,840-square-foot wing with four classrooms now stand at Donaldson Primary School in Louisiana. CHALLENGE: From 2009 to 2012, enrollment at Donaldson Primary rose from 573 to 611. So Ascension Parish Public Schools decided to add more classrooms. The district also renovated and expanded the primary school's library. "The […]
Principal Doreen McSain of Glenwood Elementary School has taken to heart the quote "Everything I know, I learned from dogs." She welcomes canines into her school in western Long Island, New York, to encourage her students to read to them. McSain also instituted a program wherein second-graders read to residents at a senior living community. […]
Advocates of design thinking in education know what you've heard. "Its hard to look at design thinking and not see it as a buzzword" says Ryan Bretag, director of instructional innovation at Glenbrook High Schools District 225 outside Chicago. "When we narrow down design thinking to just a bunch of steps that you can follow […]
Empathize: Gather information from users In action: Fourth-graders in Colorado solicited ideas from local residents to help their city redesign a local park. Define: Frame the problem In action: Administrators in Glenbrook High Schools District 225 considered student experience when redesigning classrooms. They chose furniture that let learners move around. Ideate: Generate possible solutions that […]
Ware County School District in Georgia has downsized its inventory of assistive technology. Thanks to a slew of technological advances, many of the specialized tools their special education students had used to communicate and learn are now redundant. "We don't need portable keyboards or word processors anymore" says Barbara Sonnier, the district's assistive technology coordinator. […]
Though not yet used widely in special education, virtual and augmented reality have the potential to be game-changers. Dan Phillips, director of the Technology Resource Center at the Marin County Office of Education in California, has given VR headsets to children in wheelchairs, allowing them to walk and move virtually as they work on a […]
