3 New Tricks for Veteran Teachers

As the years go by with teaching, we become well-versed with new pedagogical techniques, but we also sometimes rely on what has always worked. In fact, many of our classes from year to year follow the same or very similar structure with the same assignments. This includes how we teach content, how we engage our students with content, and how we assess their learning -- think Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The only difference in our teaching may be different students.  The thing is, as the students change year to

Student engagement requires more than edtech tools

Key points: Student engagement is critical to academic achievement, but it can often be a struggle to engage students in meaningful and relevant ways. During a session at FETC 2024, Tom Murray, Director of Innovation for Future Ready Schools, dove into just what, exactly, makes for the effective use of edtech in supporting student engagement. “Just because it’s digital doesn’t mean it’s any good,” Murray said. “We could be 100 percent digital and also at 100 percent low-level learning.” Simply incorporating a device into the classroom doesn’t mean students will

15 edtech startups selected for the inaugural AWS Education Accelerator

Key points: This post originally appeared online and is republished here with permission. Amazon Web Services (AWS) in early January announced 15 startup companies selected to participate in the inaugural AWS Education Accelerator. Announced in October 2023, the AWS Education Accelerator supports edtech startups who are innovating to enhance the teaching and learning experience and improve educational outcomes. As education continues to evolve, data-driven decision making is a powerful strategy to transform teaching and learning practices and unlock new opportunities for student success. For startups, this represents an opportunity to change

The 2024 National Educational Technology Plan is Out: Here’s What You Need to Know

The U.S. Department of Education has released a new national education technology plan for the first time since 2016. Unlike past plans that have “largely served as surveys of the state of the field,” the 2024 National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) “frames three key divides limiting the transformational potential of educational technology to support teaching and learning,” says a U.S. Department of Education press release. These are the digital use divide, the digital design divide and the digital access divide. "The office of Ed Tech, working with other organizations, brought together

A Technologist Spent Years Building an AI Chatbot Tutor. He Decided It Can’t Be Done. – EdSurge News

When Satya Nitta worked at IBM, he and a team of colleagues took on a bold assignment: Use the latest in artificial intelligence to build a new kind of personal digital tutor.A version of this story appeared in Fast CompanyThis was before ChatGPT existed, and fewer people were talking about the wonders of AI. But Nitta was working with what was perhaps the highest-profile AI system at the time, IBM’s Watson. That AI tool had pulled off some big wins, including beating humans on the Jeopardy quiz show in 2011.Nitta

The FTC Is Proposing Updates to COPPA. Here’s What You Need To Know

The Federal Trade Commission recently announced that it is updating COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act). Many of the proposed changes are aimed at better protecting student data by requiring technology providers to take a bigger role in that effort, as well as limiting the ability to monetize student information.Data privacy rules are generally outdated. COPPA became law in 2000 and hasn’t been updated since. When enacted, COPPA made it illegal for websites and online services to collect personal information from children under 13 without parents’ verifiable consent.This isn’t to

Virtual Schooling In The News

January 13, 2024 Virtual Schooling In The News Filed under: virtual school — Michael K. Barbour @ 7:01 am Tags: cyber school, education, high school, news, virtual school Beginning with the Education Dive. 8 K-12 trends to watch in 2024 Chronic absenteeism, academic recovery, artificial intelligence and waning COVID relief funds are among the slate of challenges school leaders face. Next, the eSchool and eCampus News. PD Video: Remote instructional models that are working for districts across the country Teacher shortages are reaching unprecedented levels, and school districts nationwide are grappling

Will there be a genAI insurtech unicorn?

Funding for insurtech startups worldwide has gone through rapid changes, and another shift is underway, as insurance companies rush to take advantage of artificial intelligence. In the zero-interest rate and Covid-accelerant boom years of 2019-2021, the industry’s unicorn cohort (those privately valued at $1 billion or more) included a lot of challenger companies. In Asia, this would include general insurance tech players such as Acko General Insurance, CXA Group, Digit Insurance and ZhongAn Insurance. These firms targeted narrow segments such as cars and travel where they could use technology to

5 FETC 2024 sessions that grabbed our attention

Key points: Known as one of the nation’s premier K-12 education technology events, this year’s FETC kicks off on Jan. 23, 2024 in Orlando. Attendees will learn directly from top ed tech experts and successful real-world practitioners in hundreds of in-depth workshops and hands-on sessions. Sessions, keynotes, discussions, and the expo hall will connect attendees with need-to-know details on the latest edtech innovations shaping the education landscape. Plus, they’ll learn best practices and current trends to best leverage educational technology resources. The conference features 7 tracks for a customized experience: