Marc Prensky, an authority on the connection between learning and technology, coined the phrase "digital native" in 2001. In his new book, Education To Better Their World: Unleashing the Power of 21st-Century Kids (2016, Teachers College Press), Prensky says our current education system is wrong for the future—not because we haven't added technology and so-called […]
Just a few years ago, CIOs—if they were involved in data analytics at all—would run a report, export it into an Excel document and create a chart or a graph to share with teachers and district leaders once a week, or at the end of each semester. Now it's all about creating systems that aggregate […]
Schools that offer more comprehensive instruction, increase school safety and student health, and better integrate educational technology may be eligible for new federal funds. A new grant program from the U.S. Department of Education will reward schools that improve access to music, social studies, environmental education and computer science, as well as support college and […]
Craig Jones discovered the difficulty of providing personalized learning to a large class when he taught science at a Los Angeles USD middle school. With 10 lab stations set up across the classroom—each with its own objectives—monitoring each students' learning was virtually impossible. Jones sought to solve the problem. After leaving the district, he helped […]
New teaching techniques and learning technology top the agenda at this fall's conference of the National Council for the Social Studies. Technology is quickly becoming a popular tool in social studies classrooms as teachers find ways to make history come alive for their students, who simultaneously learn about content and improve their technology skills, says […]
Atlanta's film industry has in recent years boomed to third place behind Los Angeles and New York City, and incoming studios noted a major skills gap when looking for videographers, scene constructors, prop creators and costume designers. Leaders of Fulton County Schools in Georgia responded. Three years ago, administrators met with studio executives to develop […]
These days, McKenna Smith is back in the classroom. She's a high school student in Missouri's Nixa Public Schools, but had been unable to attend classes since elementary school because of chemotherapy treatment. But Smith didn't miss as much interaction with teachers and classmates as she could have because she connected with them remotely—via robot. […]
A focus on teaching social-emotional skills—persistence, resilience, communication and other non-cognitive abilities—has led to an obvious jump in reading and math scores in Nevada's Washoe County School District. Washoe's students are now "less likely to be suspended, more likely to attend school, and they graduate at a much higher rate than students who didn't have […]
DA's Districts of Distinction program, which honors innovative projects in America's public school districts, will be showcased in a special annual edition of the magazine each July, starting in 2017. "Districts of Distinction will become the centerpiece of our July edition, which we think will serve as a reference guide for school district leaders across […]
Using tablets, apps and YouTube videos, students at Greenwood Elementary School in the Wayzata Public Schools in Minnesota have added new virtual elements to paintings and other artwork, so their masterpieces include videos that not only get them engaged, but also help them better understand ideas behind the art itself. It's a technology called augmented […]
