iPads, MakerEd and More in Education

"It is getting harder and harder to tell the difference between alternative facts and real facts online. In a world where anyone can get online and write opinions as facts or even distort real facts to make them say what they want, it is hard for adults and children to have the digital intelligence to tell the difference."

A blog about digital leadership, pedagogy, learning, and transformative change in education.

"There are many advantages to taking notes in class. There is only one problem though. Unless you are able to write at the same speed the lecturer speaking, you miss out on important information. Writing frantically while trying to process what is being said is, to say the least, counterproductive. What if you could have an artificial intelligence assistant to take down your notes for you?"

"As technology continues to improve, teachers are finding more unique tools that can help bring lessons to life. 3D printing is the latest invention in a long string of innovation that can enhance the way students learn. Educators are just now beginning to grasp how useful this simple tool can be across all subject areas. One of the most overlooked classes that can benefit from this hands-on tool is reading."

"Students today are more distracted than ever before. Why is this happening? To explain it simply, they are immersed in their digital devices. In the classroom, this becomes an even larger problem. A recent Pew Research Study found, “87% say these technologies are creating an ‘easily distracted generation with short attention spans’ and 64% say today’s digital technologies ‘do more to distract students than to help them academically.’” While it is clear that digital technology is distracting students, the technology is here to stay."

"The popular lesson-sharing site Teachers Pay Teachers first landed on Jenny Kay Dupuis’ radar a little over a year ago. Friends and social media users began alerting her that images and material from one of her children’s books, “I Am Not a Number,” about a young Indigenous girl sent to a residential school in Canada and based on the experience of her grandmother, had made their way into paid lessons on the site that she had never seen before."

"Innovative learning spaces and equipment do not necessarily make an impactful maker learning program. Strong professional learning to help create the desired instructional outcomes was paramount to our initiative’s success."

Experts offer tips on how to make programs robust and successful and ‘infuse STEM thinking and culture into every classroom.’

"Decisions have a lasting impact. How much more when your decision is made online where it can’t be erased. A small act on the web spreads instantaneously worldwide. You can’t take it back. It’s there…forever…It’s there for your friends to see but also strangers who can harm you."

"So-called educational technology targets children from infancy and provides a convenient way for parents to feel good about using media in the early childhood years. Television programs and videos claim to be a parent’s answer to “what should my baby be learning?” and since such programming is developed by experts who certainly know more than the average parent about child development, these marketing ploys are accepted."