When schools try to innovate, they often take a traditional top-down approach: devise a strategy, roll it out to teachers and support a high-fidelity implementation. The end result is often one that lacks teacher support or genuine enthusiasm — initiatives putter along and change is sporadic or modest.In education and beyond, innovation is usually the result of iteration rather than central planning. In schools that succeed in implementing real instructional improvements, teachers figure out how to improve teaching and learning by journeying through multiple passes of a cycle of experiment, reflection and adjustment.
Number one on their list is, what I feel, an important and overlooked aspect of education. Research and development is all too often replaced with, “the research says we should be doing this, so let’s implement this across the building or district, without doing any R&D”.
Does your classroom mirror the rectilinear seating arrangement popular in Sumerian classrooms, circa 2000 BCE? Or is your classroom seating flexible and tricked out with the IDEO designed Node Chair by Steelcase? What classroom design changes can you do on a budget that supports learning? Source: Tips for Creating Wow-Worthy Learning Spaces | Edutopia A…
New research by scientists at Michigan State University suggests that laptops do not enhance classroom learning, and in fact students would be better off leaving their laptops in the dorm during class. Although computer use during class may create the illusion of enhanced engagement with course content, it more often reflects engagement with social media, YouTube videos,…
Our smartphones make it harder for us to think whenever they’re near – even if they’re turned off, according to a new study published last week. “It’s not that participants were distracted because they were getting notifications on their phones,” said the lead author of the study, Adrian Ward, an assistant professor at the McCombs School of…
Maine Lobster Festival Strips Sea Goddess Taylor Hamlin of Crown | PEOPLE.com Taylor Hamlin dreamed of winning the Maine Lobster Festival’s prestigious Maine Sea Goddess pageant since she was a little girl, but two social media photos deemed “inappropriate” by competition officials would cause the 18 year old to be stripped of the title just 24 hours after…
With the Common Core’s emphasis on data-driven instruction there is a misguided focus on using technology to deliver content and collect data rather than cultivate learning and stimulate cognitive development.Using education technology isn’t so much about students mastering a device or procedure so much as it is about mastering themselves first. Source: Use edtech to maximize student knowlege, skills and…
…a year ago we called for better methods for evaluating educational apps to help states, districts and schools have more transparency into what technology was really making a difference for teaching and learning. The need to make good decisions based on evidence, as opposed to relying on marketing hype or the buzz among a small…