Information and digital literacy in education via the digital path

Tech startup AltSchool wants to push the boundaries of classroom data collection and personalized learning. But are schools ready for the big data revolution?

Many teachers are using social networking in their personal lives, but not for teaching purposes because of concerns about negative repercussions, a new survey says.

Many educators agree: our education system needs an update. Too many youth see no clear connection between school and life beyond the classroom. Moreover, the skills most needed to succeed in the modern age - such as critical thinking, problem solving, and communication - are not easily measured on a standardized test.

Connected Learning revitalizes the educational process by forging links between students' academic studies, their personal passions, and opportunities to engage with peers who support and share their interests. As a result, Connected Learning can create new pathways to college, career and civic pursuits.

When we think about K-12 and higher education, educators think of them as two separate entities. Within K-12, we divide it further; primary, junior, intermediate, and senior. These artificial silos create barriers to sharing professionally about the biggest questions in education: how do students learn and what is learning? How do we recognize learning when we see it? Through a series of multiple choice tests or through the creation of a product? Is our job still to stuff into our students’ heads as much content as possible, or is it to help students learn how to plan and then create? The education system at all levels is being radically changed by social media, and the artificial barriers we’ve constructed over time are shifting, perhaps eventually to disappear. - See more at: http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/Journal/files/Higher_education_and_K12_Conversation.html#sthash.rYW50UeQ.dpufabout

Addressing digital citizenship with the “Digital Citizenship Survival Kit”.  GUEST COLUMN | by Craig Badura

It’s a simple little prop I use when teaching Digital Citizenship to our pK-12 Aurora Huskies students, but I think it sends a powerful message. I love utilizing props to try to get my point across to students and thought that creating a kit full of props would be a great way to reinforce a very important topic in our schools. Let me introduce you to Mr. Badura’s “Digital Citizenship Survival Kit.”  Each of the items has a purpose and I go through each item with students when teaching. Below are the items I have in my “Digital Citizenship Survival Kit” and what each item represents. I encourage you to copy, modify my kit and create your own kit when addressing the issue of Digital Citizenship with your students!

Starting later this year, Bing For Schools  will offer schools in the U.S. the option to tailor the Bing experience for K-12 students by removing all advertisements from search results, enhancing privacy protections and the filtering of adult content, and adding specialized learning features to enhance digital literacy.

The program is completely voluntary: schools have the choice of participating or keeping the normal Bing experience. For those that opt-in, Bing will enable the experience across all searches from within the school’s network on Bing.com, without any need for special software or a different search address. And of course, Bing For Schools is free for any school or districts wishing to participate.