My name is Tom Patton, and I am a student at the University of Oregon and a Cisco intern. Presently, I support Cisco’s Education Marketing Team. In this position, I have had the unique opportunity to observe a number of emerging trends in education, including Bring Your Own Device (BYOD).
This blog describes my thoughts on the technological transformation made by the Katy Independent School District. Recently, the district implemented a BYOD program, an initiative that encourages vs. limits, technology in the classroom. The results have been jaw-dropping.
It seems school grants have become commonplace as education budgets continue to be cut, and therefore, the fight to win a grant is increasingly becoming more difficult. I recently had an interesting conversation with Stephanie Jones, Manager of the Cisco Grant Services Team, and Hillary Janison, Regional Grant Manager for Cisco about Putnam County School System (PCSS) in Tennessee. PCSS worked with the Cisco team to implement a comprehensive grant initiative to bridge the distance gap between the state’s classrooms.
The wide physical distribution (17 campuses) of students among multiple classrooms throughout the state presented PCSS with a number of challenges, including inability to sustain IT and teaching resources, manage personnel, and provide appropriate opportunities for advanced learners. Additionally, faced with an ever-shrinking pool of personnel and classroom resources, PCSS officials knew they would need to maximize their efficiency. Read More »
Watching the Graham Norton chat show on BBC on Saturday night I was delighted to hear that Black Eyed Peas star Will.i.am has donated half a million pounds to the Prince’s Trust to use music to inspire children to be excited about Science Technology Engineering and Maths at school.
Educators face a number of challenges, from increased pressure to improve student performance on standardized tests to shrinking state and local budgets. In addition, instructors are leaving their classrooms for better opportunities, and students’ learning skills are tuned more to social media and new technologies than to traditional educational models. These challenges require that institutions transform the way they retain talent—and the way they reach and teach students.
Although they have used recorded videos for many years to introduce new experiences to students, and some have started employing web-based video technologies to save travel costs, most educational institutions do not understand the critical role video can play in scaling resources to improve education quality despite budget constraints. Read More »
Education leaders from around the world are using the Cisco Connected Learning Experience to transform teaching and learning, improve student outcomes and enhance administrative efficiency. That’s why we say that Cisco’s true value is not in what we make, it’s in what we make possible.
Cisco is pleased to present a series of free online learning sessions, June 25-27, that showcase how schools are using interactive video technologies to create engaging, collaborative learning experiences for students. These sessions will be streamed live from the Cisco Connected Classroom at the ISTE 2012 Conference, Just visit the Cisco Show and Share video portal at the indicated date and time to view your sessions.
