thejournal.com

The Siemens Foundation has opened its annual Competition in Math, Science & Technology. This year’s program will offer scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $100,000.

Big money going to students for original research. Do you have students who would fit this? Yet another reason every school should have #geniushour and kids should do original research

This is a discussion to have with all IT integrators. Many adopt the attitude of leaving the hibernating bear alone. After all, eventually, the resistant teacher will come out of the den ready to enjoy the springtime of learning? No. Not necessarily.

But technological change is as much emotional and psychological as it is instruction. If you don’t first have the teacher in the mood to learn, you’ll be struggling. So, be careful of labeling the teacher as resistant in the first place and be willing to teach and encourage the teacher wherever he/she is. This is a nice article from Elena Aguilar. Check out part 2 after reading this one.

The new service, which adopts the name of one of Google’s most popular and beloved products, replaces Google Talk, Google+ Messenger, and the original Google+ Hangout video chat service — Hangouts will eventually replace all of Google’s communication properties. The new Hangouts is basically a messaging app, in the same realm as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, but with some of its own twists.

Instagram is something kids are using. Here are some tips for helping your child be safe on instagram. I totally agree about talking to your child about the photo map. If you haven’t already, talk to them today about NOT using the feature which puts their photos on a map of where they were when they took it. Like that paint in your new bedroom? Photo map it? Boom. The lat and long of your daughter’s bedroom. Just a bad idea. I do think instagram and other location based websites are going to get into hot water. Lat and long disclosing by kids should be approved by parents.

Grading handwritten answers by students as a feature of a copier? Producing data analytics as a result?

IF this works, it will not only sell more copiers, but also make handwritten work more of a commodity. Maybe if a computer can quickly grade the easy stuff, teachers can spend more time assessing project based learning and other work that computers cannot do.

This won’t help me much - except when I teach binary numbers and memory conversion which do require me to check work (I never do multiple choice.) I could see how math teachers would be thrilled.

“Xerox later this year plans to roll out Ignite, a software and web-based service that turns the numerous copiers/scanners/printers it has in schools across the United States into paper-grading machines. Unlike such staples of the educational system as Scantron, which uses special forms where students choose an answer and fill in the corresponding bubble, Ignite will grade work where the answers are written in by the students, such as the numeric answer to a math problem.

Ignite takes right and wrong answers and turns them into web-accessible data for teachers with reports that say whether a student or groups of students are consistently having more trouble with certain kinds of math problems. Those reports can be used by teachers to tailor what they’re teaching — such as by identifying what group of students needs more help with a certain topic — or given to students so they know where they should focus their studying. It also opens the door to specific tests or homework assignments for specific students becoming more the norm, each tailored to academic strengths and weaknesses.”