THE Journal — Professional Development
STEM Equity Gets Boost from NSF
In an effort to explore methods for encouraging females to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), the National Science Foundation has awarded the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) Education Foundation an extension services grant. The grant comes through the Research on Gender in Science and Engineering Program and was awarded to implement NAPE's five-year STEM Equity Pipeline project.
(10/29/2007)
KDS Adds 11 Online Professional Development Courses
Knowledge Delivery Systems (KDS) has launched 11 new professional development courses for K-12 educators through Adams State College's Teacher Education Program. Adams State College, in Colorado, is providing one graduate credit for each of the courses, accredited through the Teacher Education Accreditation Council and Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
(10/25/2007)
Can Game Development Impact Academic Achievement?
Electronic gaming has recently been hailed as the great new potential for transforming education. A growing body of research and practice suggests videogames can motivate as well as teach and help users learn. Fewer scientific studies, but just as much potential, exist within the area of student game development. In part 1 of this two-part article series, we look at the foundational reasons for why game development matters in the K-12 curriculum, both inside and outside of school.
(10/25/2007)
ITCC To Bolster STEM Education
Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana this month received a $3.1 million grant from the state's North Central Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) initiative. The grant will be used to enhance STEM education in K-12, higher education, and businesses and will train an estimated 44,000 people in North Central Indiana over the next five years.
(10/24/2007)
PBS Boosts Peer Connection Resources
PBS TeacherLine has expanded its professional development support tools through Peer Connection, a portal tailored for instructional coaches--those who develop and deliver professional development for their peers. It now includes expanded resources in core subjects and instructional technology.
(10/23/2007)
Homework: A Math Dilemma and What To Do About It
The issue of assigning homework is controversial in terms of its purpose, what to assign, the amount of time needed to complete it, parental involvement, its actual affect on learning and achievement, and impact on family life and other valuable activities that occur outside of school hours. I have encountered all of those controversies in my years of teaching mathematics. Math homework is usually a daily event. Unfortunately, many teachers assign most homework from problem sets following the section of the text that was addressed that day. There is little differentiation. For the most part the entire class gets the same assignment. (In fairness, teachers do take into consideration the nature of those problems, which are often grouped by difficulty, deciding which to assign based on the general ability level of students in the class: below average, average, above average, or mixed.)
(10/22/2007)
Test Prep and Math Realities
As another school year is getting well under way, educators are faced with starting the process all over again for preparing students for standardized testing. It's not something that can be put off until the last moment. Failure to pass "the test" sometimes prevents high school students from receiving their graduation diplomas. Elementary students might be retained in a grade. There is the usual dilemma of teaching to the test versus incorporating activities that help students develop 21st century skills valued in the real world.
(10/1/2007)
DoE UMass Dartmouth Grant Targets Math Education
The United States Department of Education has awarded the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth $2 million for a research effort aimed at improving math education. The funds will be used by the university's recently dedicated James J. Kaput Center for Research and Innovation in Mathematics Education to "examine new strategies to excite students about learning math, and increase the number and diversity of students in the math, science, and engineering pipeline," the university reported.
(9/28/2007)
Blackboard, Wimba Partner for K-12 Collaboration Tools
CMS/LMS developer Blackboard has teamed up with Wimba, a provider of collaboration tools for electronic learning, to bring the Wimba Collaboration Suite Express to K-12 schools and districts using the Blackboard Learning System. The collaboration tools will be delivered to current and new Backboard Learning System (including Basic Edition) clients in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
(9/27/2007)
Autodesk Launches Academic Certs
Software developer Autodesk is expanding its certifications to secondary and post-secondary students through its new Autodesk academic certification program. The credential students earn is the same as the professional-level credential but is offered at an academic discount.
(9/27/2007)
FileMaker Releases Free K-12 Training
FileMaker has released a set of training materials for K-12 educators using the company's FileMaker Pro database solution. The training materials, collectively known as "FileMaker Pro Basics," are available free, along with a FileMaker 9 trial edition.
(9/19/2007)
Interwrite, TeacherTube Launch School Video Contest
Interwrite Learning, an interactive classroom technology provider, has partnered up with education portal TeacherTube to launch a new video contest for K-12 schools. The contest will award $15,000 worth of equipment to the winners for a classroom makeover, as well as $1,000 cash and a party for the schools the winners attend.
(9/11/2007)
2 Districts Sign On for Discovery Education Streaming
San Francisco Unified School District and the School District of Philadelphia have signed on with Discovery Education "streaming" (formerly known as unitedstreaming), a service that provides digital video-based learning resources for schools. It's currently used by more than half the schools in the United States, according to Discovery.
(9/11/2007)
NSF Kicks in $634K for STEM Education Development
The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of Rochester Warner School of Education $634,157 to "help encourage and train both talented undergraduate majors in science, technology, mathematics, and engineering and STEM professionals considering a career change to work as math and science teachers in high-need school districts," according to the university.
(9/10/2007)
Districts Nab Principal Training Grants
The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation has awarded $8.3 million to two districts in the United States--Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia and Long Beach Unified School District in California--and to the University of Illinois at Chicago as part of an effort to deliver training and professional development to school principals.
(9/10/2007)
Angel Launches CMS Webinars
CMS/LMS developer Angel Learning is launching three new webinars covering course management systems specifically for K-12 educators. The idea of the webinar series is to show how CMSes can be of benefit to K-12 education, including curriculum alignment to state standards; remediation; professional development; and the incorporation of wikis and blogs into education.
(8/28/2007)
Pearson Debuts ELL Professional Development Program
Pearson last week introduced a new professional development program for teachers of English language learners (or "English learners") called "Enhancing Instruction for ELs with The SIOP Model." The program is designed to help instructors teach academic subjects to ELL students while focusing on English language development.
(8/28/2007)
MVU Revamps Professional Development Portal
The Michigan Department of Education and Michigan Virtual University have revamped LearnPort, a professional development portal for K-12 educators in that state. Aside from a comprehensive redesign, the portal also gets a new "Collaboration Center" for educators to share their best practices with one another.
(8/27/2007)
Curriculum Advantage Rolls Out Professional Development for Instructional Technology
Curriculum Advantage has expanded and revamped its professional development programs following a year of review of effective implementations, according to the company. Included in the expansion are new methods for implementation planning and 25 new or retooled training courses designed to help improve the results schools see from their technology implementations.
(8/21/2007)
Senate Considers ATTAIN Bill
The United States Senate late last week introduced S. 1996, its version of ATTAIN (Achievement Through Technology and Innovation), a bill to reauthorize the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) Act of 2001. ATTAIN was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives back in May.
(8/10/2007)
Pasadena ISD To Deploy SIS in 56 Schools
Pasadena Independent School District in Texas has signed on with information management provider Mizuni to deploy a student information system, including a data warehouse and Web-based information portal, across all of its 56 schools, encompassing some 50,000 students.
(8/6/2007)
HP Awards $1.2 Million to K-12 Schools
HP has announced the recipients of its 2007 Technology for Teaching Leadership awards. Fifteen K-12 schools received awards totaling $1.2 million in equipment and professional development.
(8/1/2007)
Atomic Learning Launches PowerPoint Workshop for Educators
Atomic Learning, a provider of online training solutions, has launched a new workshop for educators called PowerPoint 2003: Creating an Effective Presentation. The workshop combines "software training with tips on how to develop effective and eye-catching projects," according to Atomic.
(7/19/2007)
Hawaii DOE Consolidates Professional Development Statewide
The Hawaii Department of Education (HDOE) is streamlining its professional development operations for educators with the creation of the statewide PDE3 eLearning and Professional Development Portal. The portal is a collaboration between HDOE's Office of Human Resources and Office of Information Technology Services. Education technology provider TrueNorthLogic has been contracted to help develop the portal.
(7/18/2007)
Can IT Turn Around Teacher Turnover?
Teacher turnover (also known to some as "teachers quitting their jobs") is becoming a critical concern for school and district administrators. Not only can it have a negative impact on student learning, especially in troubled districts, but it's emerging as a fairly major financial drain on districts in all regions, according to findings released last month by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF). So is there anything school and district technology leaders can do about it? According to the NCTAF report, there is.
(7/5/2007)
