EdNET Insight - Voice from the Industry

Engaging Students in a Story—Online

Friday, May 31, 2013

Getting young people engaged in class is a difficult job for a teacher. One of the ways to do that is through storytelling. And for today’s pupils and students, the most interesting stories are told online. Working with computers is interesting for young people who feel at home in a digital environment. Although children see the Internet as a way to relax and entertain, they often, without realizing it, educate themselves and develop their abilities and imagination. As such, combining computers and storytelling is an excellent teaching method as it can be used for a variety of tasks (personal narratives, team projects, and brainstorming), and it can be used in most, if not all, subjects.

How to Become a Top-Selling K-12 Sales Rep in a Rapidly Changing Industry

Friday, May 17, 2013

It’s a leaner, faster world…and here’s what it takes now to become a top-selling K-12 sales representative:

Technology Expertise
Customer Knowledge
Product Knowledge
Territory Research
Interpersonal Skills

Fixing School District Procurement

Friday, May 03, 2013

It was a recurring theme during my conversations at the Education Innovation Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona, earlier this month and at EIA’s Education Industry Days Summit back in February in Washington, D.C: the frustrations education companies and entrepreneurs experience when they run into the delays, bureaucratic red tape, and miscommunication that passes for the procurement policies and processes of far too many U.S. school districts.

Even with good customer relations and support from senior district officials, the path from those first meetings to bid and then to contract feels a little like death by a thousand cuts. At the same time, education companies themselves often contribute to the delays, as many if not most fail to produce objectively acquired evidence of the efficacy of their products or services.

In the wake of what seems to me to be growing concerns on both sides of the education procurement negotiating table, EIA is launching our “Procurement Initiative.”

Using Blended Learning to Help Meet the Demands of the Global Economy

Friday, April 05, 2013

The 2012 Digital Learning Report, released last month from Digital Learning Now!, highlights a growing awareness of the benefits of using technology to accelerate learning. The report’s introduction discusses a glaring reality: our educational systems need to be reformed to meet the demands of the global economy and a rapidly changing society. For an increasing number of educators, this comes as no surprise. Those of us in the trenches, working with educators to bring the benefits of technology to the classroom, have been shouting this same message for years.

Students Know Best

Friday, March 08, 2013

We asked students this question, “At your deepest level, what do you most want to know in your lifetime?” Why do we ask this? Because when we know what drives them as human beings, we can better reach and engage them. We can help ignite their hope of knowing. Watch our video to see what they said.

The Evolution of Games in Educational Publishing

Friday, February 08, 2013

Over the past couple of years, publishers have increasingly developed educational games that deliver deeper, more meaningful learning opportunities than they used to. The trend is refreshing, and it’s gotten me thinking about how and why learning games have evolved over the past few decades.

Meeting the Needs of the Common Core Standards: Content, Content, Content

Friday, January 11, 2013

At the most recent meeting of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) in Seattle, I found myself at a table with the contingency from Iowa. They fought off jet lag with lattes and tweets, determined to get the most from the conference and do right by their state and their students. Their districts are working diligently to meet the Common Core Standards by 2014. But guidelines are one thing, implementation another entirely: moving from the “what” to the “how.”

Technology in Classrooms – Do We Need It?

Friday, November 30, 2012

We have all seen the advent of technology into classrooms today. Some like it and some hate it. Many more are confused. There is a general perception that technology has become intrusive in today’s classrooms. But is there merit to using technology in classrooms?

There Is Another Bubble Burst Coming – And It Needs To Happen Soon

Friday, October 26, 2012

We’ve been through too many “bubble bursts” in the past decade—the Internet/tech, housing, and banking bursts were all devastating. However, bubble bursts are natural corrections to unrealistic conditions—they are necessities. We are headed for a bubble burst in higher education’s bachelor’s degree programs of study—too many degrees are being pursued/earned in programs of study that aren’t needed by the students or the economy. For too long our government (both parties) has promoted and funded an unofficial national policy: College (actually University) is the best choice for every student. The negative consequences of that unofficial policy will burst the bubble, and I hope that it happens soon. That bubble burst will create a better future for many of today’s youth and our economy/society.

Engaging Individual Students in Their Own Education

Friday, September 21, 2012

Everyone wants students to be personally engaged in their own education. Engaging students starts with identifying their interests and supporting those interests in a constructive manner that better focuses the students’ attention daily and throughout their education career. Fundamentally, all of us involved in education, starting with teachers, try to create and maintain the highest levels of engagement with students. One of the challenges is that any level of engagement created in the classroom is subsequently broken by disruptive events, such as the end of class, transferring schools, and the transition from high school to college. During those events, students disengage and opportunity is lost. One of the issues we have been focused on for years has been the challenge of maintaining student engagement across these disruptive events.

“Keep Calm and Carry On,” said the Dutchman

Friday, September 07, 2012

Key Curriculum Press was founded in 1971 by Peter and Steve Rasmussen. In 1997, Springer, a global scientific publisher, invested and became a shareholder in Key. With Springer’s investment, Steve Rasmussen, as publisher, led the development of a full high school mathematics “Key Curriculum”—basal textbooks, dynamic learning tools (such as The Geometer’s Sketchpad), professional development, and supplemental books and manipulatives. I joined the company in 1996 and worked alongside Steve in many different roles, mostly focused on sales, marketing, operations, and support, until I became President and CEO in the fall of 2008. The fall of 2008 was also the start of the global financial crisis, and we knew that by the summer of 2009, schools would be feeling it—hard

Metadata – The Big Data of the Educational Resource Community

Friday, August 24, 2012

For years pundits have touted the promise of technology to improve students’ educational engagement and achievement. Now, as the “big data” buzz rolls across the education space, this promise is coming into clearer focus. The capabilities for mining student assessment data, pinpointing areas of need, and subsequently enabling personalized instruction at the teachable moment are more advanced than ever before. The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) is keeping close tabs on these potentially game-changing developments to help the educational resource community figure out what it all means and make sure no one gets left behind.

Collaborative Tools Designed for Education: Maximize Learning and Cut District Costs

Friday, July 27, 2012

As more schools move to embrace collaborative social learning, mainstream tools, such as Facebook and Twitter, are increasingly finding their way into classrooms. At any given education industry trade show conference, there are dozens of workshop sessions showcasing speakers, authors, and consultants, touting the use of such general market tools as a result of their ubiquity in popular culture. It’s understandable that in today’s tightened-belt climate, educators might turn to the free resources and social networks they use in their personal lives as a matter of convenience and familiarity. Unfortunately, though, many school technology administrators are finding these mass-market tools have extremely limited curricular functionality, don’t enable ideal classroom collaboration, stress school networks, offer no protected legacy of schoolwork or integration with school information systems, and are potentially more costly than education tools in the long run. Rather than empowering teachers and learners to create, collaborate, share, and store in a digital classroom eco-system, mainstream tools are having the opposite effect. When we don’t use tools specifically designed for education, we’re relegating students and teachers to modern day “digital detention” as they attempt to perform tasks and activities the 21st century expects of them.

The Value of Spending More

Friday, June 22, 2012

As business owners, we are always looking for ways to make our companies more efficient and cost-effective. However, as any successful owner or CEO knows, “most cost-effective” does not necessarily translate to “cheapest.” This is particularly true when thinking about the professional services that any small (or large) business needs. Certainly, you can make low rates a priority for basic tasks (data entry, bookkeeping, etc.), but it has always paid off to look for the best of the best in other areas, such as legal advice and financial consultation. Though you will pay more for the input of seasoned professionals, their expertise will often pay off through generating additional cash for your company—but only if you take the time to manage these high-priced resources effectively. Let’s take a closer look at when you should consider spending more for professional services and how you can make sure your increased investment pays off for your company.

Designing Technology for Early Learners: What Separates the Tools from the Toys

Friday, May 25, 2012

Decision makers in early learning technology are headed for a traffic jam on the information highway, and the children impacted by these decisions are sitting in the backseat. The increased demand for classroom technology has landed many devices in classrooms without consideration of widely accepted research that reveals best practices in early learning to help struggling children achieve school readiness skills. The industry must recognize that the same indicators that researchers have used to define quality early learning programs must also define appropriate early learning technology. It’s time to separate the tools from the toys.

Changing the Conversation to CAREER and College Readiness

Friday, April 27, 2012

There is a lot of talk about college and career readiness today but I believe they have it backwards. The conversation needs to revolve around high school students making the right career pathway decisions, and then deciding what post secondary education or training is really needed. Why do I say this?

Personalized Education: Building Success One Student at a Time

Friday, March 30, 2012

Just about every industry on the planet is highly evolved in its ability to focus on and meet the needs of individual customers. Why should education be any different? Today’s article will share with EdNET Insight’s readers what the “data” suggests about personalized education, the misconceptions surrounding its successful implementation, and the motivation to adopt change, one student at a time.

Using Technology to Make Timeless Texts Sing

Friday, March 02, 2012

My daughter Alexandra, a high school junior, was prompted by an article she was reading on human evolution to ask me exactly how much our species has advanced over the last 10,000 years. It set me to wondering, what really are our evolutionary advantages? Physically we are slighter and weaker than those earlier Homo sapiens. Not so convincingly, I suggested to her that what we lack in muscle and bone, we make up for in intelligence, our smaller brain size notwithstanding. “Hmmm…,” she said, thoughtfully. I knew the next question before she asked, “And, what exactly is intelligence?”

The “X Factor” in Student Success: Student Ownership Inspired by Intelligent Adaptive Learning™

Monday, February 06, 2012

Queen Anne Elementary prides itself in being “A School for 21st Century Learners.” Administrators and teachers strive to effectively integrate technology to enhance the curriculum and inspire creativity and learning. This is abundantly evident when you drop in on teacher Katie Cryan-Leary’s first- and second-grade classes. You’ll see a blended learning environment of traditional classroom instruction paired with adaptive learning technology.

From BASIC to HTML5 – Teaching in the World of BYOD

Friday, January 06, 2012

It does not seem possible that it has been a third of a century since I worked with Enn Pajur, the then-principal of Sharbot Lake High School, to install the first computer in an Eastern Ontario school in September of 1978. Being involved in the evolution since then has been fascinating. Those 4K Commodore PETs with their chiclet keyboards and audio tape recorders are a far cry from the 16-gigabyte tablets used by so many kids today. Surprisingly, both were priced about the same, and the impact on education of both is huge.