2012 was a big year for technology in education, and as promised, I’ll be diving into 5 of the top tech trends in education that are sure to take 2013 by storm! One of the biggest trends I hear teachers and administrators talking about is the Flipped Classroom. While this isn’t a new concept, it certainly became much more prominent trend over the last couple years.
A high school biology teacher in Los Gatos, California is using the power of video to implement a Flipped Classroom and transform his students’ learning environment. As Renee Patton points out in her blog post, it’s not all about the technology, but when implemented with sound pedagogy the technology can have a profound impact on student engagement and learning. Read More »
After a well deserved break and perhaps a bit of indulgence over the holidays, we are now back to the books and looking ahead at what 2013 has in store for education.
With a landmark year for education technology behind us, now is the time to harness the momentum and drive innovation forward in 2013. So as we slither into the year of the snake, here are four high impact trends worth watching:
Transition to hybrid learning: With online courses on the rise, educators will experiment how to best integrate them with traditional teaching methods. This year schools and universities will hone in on the most effective formats for learning in the digital age.
OK, we all see a lot of college-ranking lists -- everything from top technical schools to top party schools -- but most recently with the explosion of technology in higher education a new list has debuted, named the Most Connected Colleges. The listing, launched by U.S News & World Reports, is the first-ever ranking to honor schools that have successfully applied technology to improve the connections between students and educators.
We were excited to see Maine’s Bowdoin College rated right at the top of the list! Among many tech initiatives, Bowdoin College engaged Cisco to help extend a reliable and secure wireless network throughout its campus with indoor and outdoor access.
Mobile learning is an important trend in education today. The Mooresville Graded School District (MGSD) is at the forefront of this trend with their successful “Digital Conversion” and 1:1 laptop initiative. MGSD embarked on this journey in 2007. Today, MGSD ranks second in the state in overall student achievement even though it is one of the lowest funded districts in North Carolina.
While much of the discussion around mobile learning centers on new devices, MGSD CTO, Dr. Scott Smith, is quick to highlight the importance of a robust network and wireless infrastructure that supports what teachers and students want to do in the classroom. In this video, Dr. Smith also discusses the importance of making strategic investments to “future proof” the network for evolving models of teaching and learning.
We’re seeing more and more how critical community colleges are to the success of so many Americans, young and old: They’re providing a path back to work for the unemployed and offering the targeted training needed to succeed in specialized jobs—a benefit the Obama administration seeks to further with its Community College to Career initiative.
In a time of deeper and deeper cuts to education budgets, keeping community colleges afloat can prove challenging, but it’s a problem for which technology can provide one possible solution. The fiscal crisis has colleges experimenting with collaborative and virtual efforts to increase access to courses, as online education and mobile learning not only expands community colleges’ reaches, but also saves them money. Through one-time investments in equipment like telepresence endpoints, community colleges can set themselves up to offer increasingly desirable distance learning options for years to come. And, by embracing popular trends like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), community colleges can also configure their networks to support mass wireless connectivity and virtual access, mobilizing their academic offerings and making them more attractive to potential students.
We’re seeing more and more how critical community colleges are to the success of so many Americans, young and old: They’re providing a