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In The Classroom
Blended Learning: It's Not the Tech, It's How the Tech is Used (Huffington Post)
Since the 1970s we've known of Moore's Law, which states the processing power of computers will double every two years. Forty years later, computers are presumably a million times more powerful. The education world is finally beginning to harness this power, taking us far beyond the origins of computer labs where students clicked away at the Oregon Trail and practiced word processing. Finally, we're starting to reach a point where adaptive online programs engage students with rigorous academic content at their exact level while providing teachers with detailed data, allowing us to better group students and meet their unique needs. With the blast of increasingly affordable educational technology has come the titanic wave often called "blended learning." According to the 2013 Keeping Pace report, more than three-quarters of districts across the country offer some online or blended options. Within the depth of this trendy wave, the nuance is far too often washed away.
Chromebooks beat iPads as top education device (SFGate.com)
Apple�s iPad was the top learning device for U.S. schools and colleges for two years, but now the slick tablet is falling behind in an important market that could influence sales for decades. The iPad is losing ground to a cheaper, bare-bones laptop backed by Google, which in the third quarter became the best-selling device for higher education and K-12 schools nationwide, according to research firm IDC. There were 1.13 million Chromebooks sold during the third quarter in the U.S. education market for laptops, desktops and tablets, beating 793,000 iPads, IDC said. The results come as schools are struggling to update classrooms and help students keep up with technology. Some are moving to what�s called a one-to-one system, in which every student receives a loaned device, causing tech companies and their partners to aggressively market to educators.
International
As Liberian schools remain closed, tablets could become digital classroom (Mashable)
Schools in Liberia have been closed since July as the country has confronted a deadly Ebola outbreak that, so far, has killed nearly 3,000 people. With 1.4 million school-aged children currently without access to education, tech developer Rumie is hoping to help kids continue their schooling by sending 200 low-cost tablets to Liberia. It's a relatively small number. But the people behind the Rumie Initiative believe that those 200 tablets could help as many as 2,000 people. Rumie is part of an effort to bring digital education to Liberia. Cellcom, one of the country's major wireless providers, is working to provide learning tools on mobile devices, free of data charges, according to Forbes. Global literacy nonprofit Worldreader has also made an app that Liberian children can use to read electronic textbooks. Rumie is set to launch a $10,000 Indiegogo campaign on Monday to send the tablets to Liberia. For $50, a child will get a tablet that comes loaded with educational games and textbooks. While the tablets aren't necessarily state-of-the-art, what's important is that they're simple to use and cheap.
The $35 Tablet That Is Changing The Education Landscape In India (Forbes)
As anyone in the US with children of school-age can attest, technology enhanced learning has become a standard. Increasingly, that computing is embedded in the methods that children learn. Moreover, �flipped classrooms� are taking hold. Under this model, lectures and homework in a class are reversed. Short video lectures are viewed by students at home before the class session, while in-class time is devoted to exercises, projects, or discussions. This model has proven to be quite effective. Naturally, the cost of computing has been prohibitively expensive in many developing countries, and as a result the digital divide between the developed and developing world has grown. For all that we read about India�s rise as a technology powerhouse, the country has relatively poor infrastructure. Less than 20 percent of mobile towers deliver 3G service, and therefore, 3G data services are used by less than 5% of active subscribers. The country also has the slowest internet penetration growth in the Asia Pacific region at only 12.5 percent. Compare that to China�s rate which is over 42% or even Bangladesh�s, which is 21 percent.
Higher Education
Harvey Mudd among colleges experimenting with 'flipped' classes (LA Times)
Instructors at Harvey Mudd College, a school known for its science and engineering experiments, are studying a new group of subjects: their students. Over the last couple years, three professors have split some of their classes in half. One group takes part of the course online while the other has only classroom instruction. As part of a federally funded study, the professors have compared the groups to see which performed better. So far, there hasn�t been much difference. �It wasn�t necessarily the outcome we were imagining,� said Jeff Groves, the school�s dean of faculty. If the study�s preliminary findings hold up for another two years, the results could have bigger ramifications at Harvey Mudd, which has offered only a handful of courses with online elements. As the authors noted in an academic paper: �Students (like us faculty) hate change.�
Integration
Schools Deploy Flash Storage for Primary Applications (EdTech Magazine)
Corona Norco Unified School District in Norco, Calif., made the move to flash storage about two years ago when the district transitioned its student computer labs to virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). Brian Troudy, director of networking and infrastructure, says the district now has 3,500 LG zero clients running in labs across 49 schools in a district that has about 55,000 students and 5,000 teachers and staff. �We were looking to replace and streamline the management of desktops in the labs, plus we needed more processing power for VDI,� Troudy says. �Our old system simply couldn�t run 300 to 400 concurrent VDI sessions, and the result was the students wouldn�t use the VDI system.� Now, the district runs a Nimble storage array for its VDI, file server, SQL databases and virtualized servers. Practically everyone uses VDI now, and users experience response times of under a millisecond on database queries.
How Libraries are Advancing and Inspiring Schools and Communities (Mind Shift)
It�s well known that public libraries are no longer just about the books � even e-books. Many community libraries are receiving 21st century digital-age makeovers: Numerous digital technologies, maker spaces to invite creation, even video production suites and 3-D printers now inhabit many libraries across the country. But a report just released by the Aspen Institute Dialogue on Public Libraries asks us again to reconsider how the library can serve communities in the 21st century. �Rising to the Challenge: Re-Envisioning Public Libraries� aims to �capture the momentum and excitement of the innovations taking place in public libraries across the country, and the impact these are having on communities,� said the group�s director, Amy Garmer. The report asks: With all the new technology and layered networks, what can be done beyond current advancements?
Coding
Coding Education Programs Expand In U.S. As IT Jobs Market Flourishes (Tech Crunch)
Unemployment in the U.S. is declining, as demand for new jobs picks up across the country, and nowhere is the need more acutely felt than in tech industry. With its heady mix of Horatio Alger rags-to-riches success stories, its emphasis on individualism and privileging hard work and education, no industry is a better poster child for post-industrial American capitalism than the startup world of coders, marketers, and salesman. But underneath the headline-grabbing startup economy and its Silicon Valley billionaires are thousands of programming jobs at companies ranging from Avis to Winn-Dixie. It�s those jobs that are the backbone of the tech economy, and they need to be filled. That�s why hundreds of continuing education programs � startup bootcamps, general assemblies and codecademies � have cropped up across the country to train (or in some cases re-train) workers whose jobs had either been innovated or rationalized out of existence during the recession in 2008.
Google
Google's LTE-enabled balloons take 5 minutes to inflate, can last 100 days (Mashable)
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... Google. The search giant shared some new details on Project Loon, the company�s network of LTE-enabled balloons that deliver Internet access to connect people in rural and remote areas. The balloons, which travel through the stratosphere and can raise or lower into the wind, have travelled 1.86 million miles since the start of the project in June 2013. The company equates that to almost four trips to the moon and back. Google has refined its balloon manufacturing process to increase the life of the balloons, an average of about 100 days � which is 10 times longer than they lasted a year ago. Improvements have also been made to the inflation process; Google can now launch 20 balloons a day, thanks to a five-minute inflation, the company said.
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FACT SHEET: ConnectED to the Future
 [November 19, 2014], President Obama hosts school leaders and educators from across the country at the White House for �ConnectED to the Future,� a day-long convening to explore the potential of education technology and the innovations needed to bring America�s schools into the digital age. At the event, the President will launch his Administration�s effort to assist school leaders in their transition to digital learning, following his plan to connect 99 percent of America�s students high-speed broadband internet in their schools and libraries. The President will applaud superintendents across the country that will collaborate with students, educators, and parents to become �Future Ready.� More than 1,200 school superintendents will join the Obama Administration�sFuture Ready District Pledge to set a vision for digital learning across America. These educational leaders will foster a culture of learning through technology across their schools; assist their students and families in the transition to high-speed connectivity; provide their learners greater access to high-quality digital devices and content; and provide teachers and principals the support needed to use technology in innovative ways. Together, they will reach approximately 10 million students across more than 16,000 schools across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
U.S. Treasury Awards $610,000 Contract To Oakland EdTech Startup, MindBlown Labs
 Revolutionary education technology company, MindBlown Labs (MBL), has been awarded a $610,000 research contract by the United States Department of the Treasury from its new Financial Empowerment Innovation Fund for the company's development of its financial education mobile game, Thrive 'n' Shine, and its innovative framework to teach financial capability to high school students. For multimedia assets, go to bit.ly/mbltreasuryaward. The purpose of the Innovation Fund is to "develop, test and evaluate new ways to empower Americans with their finances and help them access safe and affordable financial products and services." "MindBlown Labs has always striven to help people develop strong financial problem-solving and decision-making skills, and we're honored to receive this award," said Jason Young, Mindblown Labs Co-Founder and CEO. "It's encouraging to know that Treasury supports our goal and vision to foster these important life skills." More than 320 organizations applied, including technology companies, state and local governments, financial institutions (including credit unions and community banks), non-profits, and card providers. MindBlown Labs is the only financial capability company selected to receive this prestigious award.
Seizing the Moment: STEM Education in the Digital Age
 The National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training (NCTET) invites you to attend and participate in a frank dialogue focused on STEM education among representatives from the business, policy, scientific, and education communities. During this conversation, these stakeholders will discuss how technologically well-equipped schools are vital to creating the STEM-savvy students businesses and the economy need.
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