[ gregg festa ]

Schools are awash in data, but their tech systems lack "interoperability," or the ability to work together, a new report concludes.

While states, districts, and schools have long collected certain education data for accountability purposes and in an attempt to be more data-driven, there is growing interest in leveraging new digital learning tools, online services, educational "apps," and other technologies in the classroom. Yet, for all the data available to us through technology, school leaders and educators still lack the ability to easily transform that data to information to help guide decisions about instruction, school administration, and operations. Simply put, education data and information systems need to be in service of learning. 

SETDA developed this new report, "Transforming Data to Information in Service of Learning," to raise awareness about the major K-12 data standards and interoperability initiatives underway to address this gap and to offer recommendations for how K-12 education can become more responsive to educators and better targeted toward individual student success. The report will help education leaders understand the context for these interoperability initiatives and their relationship to teaching and learning. The widespread implementation of new and emerging interoperability initiatives will be instrumental to realizing the full potential of technology in education.

Seems like you can learn anything these days by watching a video online. Here’s one more site that let’s you do that. PopExpert is an open marketplace that connects skill and advice-seekers with so...

Kids know how to Google—they just can't tell when the results are crap.

I’ve been wrestling with what would work as an American collective narrative, what could unite us in investing and supporting public education the way we should. The Finnish people appear to agree collectively on a narrative of equity, for example.

Turning the mirror back on the United States, we’d like to believe that Americans could gather around this same call of equity. In reality though, Americans prefer a narrative of meritocracy. We tell rags-to-rich stories of folks, such as Bill Gates, for example. This so-called poor man who came from nothing and built an empire attended one of the most privileged boarding schools in the nation; the college he dropped out of was a small university — Harvard. Gates had access to a computer when few people even really knew what computers were. The reality of his narrative is really one of privilege, connections, and access.

Taking advantage of the online world's ability to help youth develop knowledge, expertise, skills and important new literacies involves risks, but how much?

Interactive tools and multimedia content are prompting teachers to take on more of a coaching or guiding role in the classroom.

Textbooks vs. Ebooks

10 great student blogs to inspire students and schools to start blogging. Use blogging to build ongoing writing, design and technology skills!

What happens if you give a thousand Motorola Zoom tablet PCs to Ethiopian kids who have never even seen a printed word?

Google revealed Hangouts, its unified text, video and multimedia messaging platform yesterday during its epic three hour I/O keynote, but while the platform pulls in Google Talk, Google+ and other sources, it was apparently missing SMS integration.

The increasingly virtual workforce has led to growth in adoption of applications such as VoIP, unified messaging, video-conferencing, and Web conferencing.

Superintendents and chief technology officers are modeling their commitment to use technology to improve schools by blogging and tweeting regularly about what works and what doesn't work.

Google unveiled a brand new look for Google Maps Wednesday. Redesigned from the ground up, the new Maps can take you from space to inside buildings.

iPad's monopoly of the ' school tablet market ' is being compromised now after the announcement of Google Play for Education. Google seems to be moving towards displacing Apple's hegemony of this market by providing a suite of productivity management apps made specifically for teachers and students.

GameDesk was created to develop a “next generation” model of education, revolutionizing the way we teach and learn.

We are a research, game development, and outreach organization that has evolved out of seven years of research at the University of Southern California. We have developed, tested and evaluated next generation digital learning software and curriculum for use in schools, community centers, and homes throughout the United States.

The organization’s focus is to help close the achievement gap and to engage students, particularly those that are low-proficient, in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) learning. GameDesk embeds STEM content into game-centered projects with a strong focus on fostering students’ sense of purpose, ownership, and personal relevance.

To successfully support students, the culture of learning must be changed. It is the organization’s philosophy that digital games and media technologies have a unique power to engage and motivate. By leveraging these technologies effectively, students have been proven to develop an appreciation for STEM learning, team-building, and a belief in themselves that carries over into all aspects of their lives.

The GameDesk Institute is an association of teachers, scholars, game-designers, school administrators, writers, engineers, artists, and career specialists who work to develop and implement GameDesk methodology and materials. The organization seeks to grow and nurture a pipeline of individuals who understand cyber, interactive, mobile, and game-based learning.

Google I/O, the company's sixth annual developer conference, got officially underway in San Francisco on Wednesday, and it was an eventful day.