It is amazing how a vision can start, grow, morph and become a reality. Van White, President of The Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) and  Rochester City School District School Board President, had a vision, and he had a dream.  His dream was to bring together students from across the county to have a face-to-face dialogue about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech, “I Have a Dream.”

On January 15, Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, students in classrooms from across the country, in Rochester, NY; New York City, NY; Camden, NJ; Tampa, FL; Tulsa, OK; Pontiac, MI; Ferguson, MO, and Los Angeles, CA came together in a 90-minute conversation to explore their viewpoints and feelings on civil rights. Students shared videos they had created, presented a mock trial, and read poems to express their beliefs. Read More »

Tags: #MLKDream, Cisco, civil rights, WebEX

Educators are using technologies like Cisco Webex to deliver anytime, anywhere learning, bring experts from across the country and the globe into their classrooms, and provide ubiquitous access to an astounding amount of resources on the Internet.

Now, educators, along with their students across the country, are using it to have conversations that transform society.  Today, at 12pm Eastern Standard Time, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, students from nearly every region in the nation, with a broad spectrum of socio-economic and racial backgrounds, will use Cisco WebEx to participate in a discussion on civil rights issues.  This event is being led and facilitated by the Rochester School District in cooperation with districts from across the country. Read More »

Tags: #MLKDream, collaboration, edchat, edtech, mlk

When talking about whether or not something is important in modern-day life, my Millennial sons often ask, “Is that really a thing?”  For example, renting a dog on Craigslist, is that a thing?

I’m here to tell you that the Internet of Everything (IoE) is really a thing in Education, and the use cases for IoE are bound only by our imaginations.  Imagine facial-recognition software for online courses that will be able to monitor and determine student engagement and provide that feedback to teachers.

Andrew Barbour in his eCampus News article, “How to prepare for everything,” discusses in great detail how the Internet of Things and the Internet of Everything is helping colleges and universities to decrease costs, increase efficiency, and improve student outcomes.

Barbour explores the importance of creating the right foundation to support the Internet of Everything, which is the integration of people, process, data, and things to make things intelligent.  And, he shows that IoE is already here.  Read the full story here.

Tags: edchat, edtech, higher education, Internet of Everything, IoE

Forward-thinking faculty members and staff at San Jose State University are using Internet of Everything technologies in innovative ways to transform education:

Project Assistant Quyen Grant is using Cisco collaboration technologies to expand learning across international borders, working with students and universities in Vietnam through the Social Work Education Enhancement Program (SWEEP); Advertising Professor John Delacruz is using Cisco TelePresence for his students to deliver final presentations to potential advertising clients who may be in remote locations. Julia Curry-Rodriguez, associate professor of Mexican American Studies, uses Cisco Lecture Capture to help non-native English speaking students improve their language skills.

These are just a few of the examples we learned about on December 10, 2014 at San Jose State University as they hosted global media, analysts, social media influencers, and Cisco for a series of roundtables that addressed how the Internet of Everything is impacting industries including education and the public and private sectors. Read More »

Tags: CiscoGEC, edtech, InternetofEverything, IoE, IoT, SJSU

Here in Silicon Valley and many towns across the globe, it’s that time of year. The time of year when we’re looking forward to spending time with family and friends. It’s also the time of year when we turn our attention to giving back to those who are less fortunate.

This season, I want to direct the focus to just a few of the Cisco Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) partners and non-profits who work tirelessly to give back all year long. These connections are what make the CSR work we do possible. Our partners give us the ability to scale our efforts and create exponential social, environmental, and business impact.

One of our CSR focus areas is education. As the world becomes more connected, new career growth and opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are more plentiful than ever. Yet the majority of U.S. students lack foundational skills in STEM. MIND Research Institute set out to ensure that all students are mathematically equipped to solve the world’s most challenging problems. By developing the game-based Spatial Temporal (ST) Math instructional software program, MIND Research Institute is revolutionizing math education through visual learning. Amazingly, schools that fully implement ST Math see double, and even triple, the growth in math proficiency than comparable schools. Cisco has partnered with MIND Research Institute for over a decade now, helping the organization scale delivery and access to ST Math by transitioning the software to a web-based platform. I’m extremely proud that this work and investment has increased access from 55,000 students in 2007 to more than 800,000 students and 31,000 teachers in 40 states, and is helping develop the workforce of the future. Read More »

Tags: corporate social responsibility, MIND Research, STEAM, stem