Five Educational Trends by Jacqueline Beaudet https://padlet.com/jacqueline_m_beaudet/54lzgjtslod5 Trends that impact education en-us 2016-07-14 11:03:26 UTC 2016-07-15 13:07:02 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Templeball.png Technology In the Classroom  jacqueline_m_beaudet https://padlet.com/jacqueline_m_beaudet/54lzgjtslod5/wish/116401286
Technology in the classroom is not new. However, what is new, is how much more quickly technology is advancing  and being implemented into everyone's daily lives.  People do argue over whether technology should or should not be in the classroom and if it is implemented, how much is too much? 

Technology is growing and emerging so quickly, there are many advances in this area that will directly impacting the way a classroom environment looks and how teachers will be teaching. 
Virtual reality is among us. A student soon will be able to open a book to what appears to be a page with a picture of the earth on it. Then, the student puts on a pair of special glasses and a three dimensional images pops out at them.
 
2013 PBS Survey:
"Three-quarters of teachers surveyed link educational technology to a growing list of benefits, saying technology enables them to reinforce and expand on content (74%), to motivate students to learn (74%), and to respond to a variety of learning styles (73%). Seven in 10 teachers (69%) surveyed said educational technology allows them to “do much more than ever before” for their students".

Pros: 
1. Jobs after high school will require knowledge in tech.

2. Alternative teaching methods. You are able to reach even more students.

3. Technology helps support students with learning disabilities with products like Dragon.

4. Technology encourages collaboration between students and students and teachers. This helps to develop team building skills which are needed after high school. 

5. Technology helps save school costs. By replacing books, printer paper, printers, and classroom supplies. It also helps parents save cost for supplies.

6. Technology can help students feel more like their peers. Students can download lower lexile reading materials on Ipads or Nooks and other students in the classroom cannot tell a difference since there is no book cover. 

Cons:
1. Cyber bullying

2. Students subjecting themselves to strangers.

3. Risk of plagiarizing/ cheating

4. Not all information on the internet is true. 

]]> 2016-07-14 11:06:54 UTC https://padlet.com/jacqueline_m_beaudet/54lzgjtslod5/wish/116401286 College and Career Readiness jacqueline_m_beaudet https://padlet.com/jacqueline_m_beaudet/54lzgjtslod5/wish/116402109
Are our students ready for college, career, trades after high school?
According to research and statistics high school graduates are not college/career ready. 

- There is a need for remediation. When looking at first-time undergraduates, studies have found anywhere from 28% to 40% of students enroll in at least one remedial course. 

-When looking at only community college students, several studies have found remediation rates surpassing 50 percent.

-Low-income, Hispanic and African-American students are more likely to need remediation than their wealthier, white peers. 41% of Hispanic students and 42% of African-American students require remediation, compared to 31% of white students.

-Only 25% of students who took the ACT met the test’s readiness benchmarks in all four subjects in 2012. 5% of African Americans and 13% of Hispanics met the readiness benchmarks in all four subjects.

- Remediation is costly for states to provide. Strong American Schools estimates the costs of remedial education to states and students at around $2.3 billion each year.


There are ways that educators, students, and parents can address this trend and work on to fixing the problem. Some suggestions:

1. Administrators need to begin with defining College and Career Readiness. Once school districts or states define college and career readiness, teachers will have a better understanding of the end in mind

2. Align the Standards and Curriculum. Students need to be exposed to the skills, concepts, and understandings that will prepare them for the next level of learning. Some school districts that declare college and career readiness as their goal have failed to align their instruction with college- and career-ready skills.

3. ID and track Progress Indicators.  Standards alone cannot guarantee that students will graduate from high school ready for college and career. School districts need to determine indicators to identify students who are off track for middle school readiness and off track for high school readiness.

4. Teach students soft skills.  Employers seek applicants who are perseverant problem solvers, communicators, and team players. These skills, sometimes referred to as “soft skills,” are needed by all high school graduates to ensure that they are college and career ready, regardless of whether they plan to complete an apprenticeship after high school or attend a two-year or four-year college.

5. Change your mindset.To establish this mindset, consider asking your staff the following questions: “What does college and career readiness look like?” “What are you doing in your grade level or subject area/department to prepare more students to graduate college and career ready? “How can central services support college and career readiness in your school?”

]]> 2016-07-14 11:31:35 UTC https://padlet.com/jacqueline_m_beaudet/54lzgjtslod5/wish/116402109 Computer Adaptive Testing jacqueline_m_beaudet https://padlet.com/jacqueline_m_beaudet/54lzgjtslod5/wish/116428004
Computer adaptive testing, also known as CAT,  is testing that is completed by students on the computer. These tests automatically adapt to the student's ability by how the student performs. This is another form of how technology is being used in the classroom. 
What educators really like about CAT is that after a student completes their assessment, a teacher is then provided with immediate data.
Currently at my school district we are using STAR testing and Enguiniety. 
In Special Education we run STAR testing two times a month in each of the student's learning centers. Math and English classes test students using STAR about the same. We have also implemented the use this year of Edgenuity for both supplemental instruction for teachers to receive data, but for credit recovery as well. 

The impact of CAT on the future of education, is like anything else. It has its pros and it has its cons.

Pros:
-Tests can be taken year around at any computer that has the program on it.

-Scores are available immediately.

-Tests are individually paced and special requirements for the disabled can be better accommodated

-More accurate scores can be provided by a CAT over a wide range of abilities than by a traditional test.

Cons:
-More difficult to safeguard against cheating

-Testing software may be expensive

-Requires computer literacy

-Computers or Internet connection may unreliable during test

-Some students have disabilities that make it difficult to access computers.





]]> 2016-07-14 19:57:23 UTC https://padlet.com/jacqueline_m_beaudet/54lzgjtslod5/wish/116428004 Globalization in Education jacqueline_m_beaudet https://padlet.com/jacqueline_m_beaudet/54lzgjtslod5/wish/116429181
People believe that global education is more important then ever before. People believe this because of the ever growing and advancements of technology. Students are able to connect with people and resources all around the country and world quickly and readily. 

Global education aims to make students who have this concept running through their curriculum more curious about life and about the various intricacies which are associated with it. It aims to allow those who are being taught to think about how their actions and how they live their lives has an impact on the world in a far bigger scale than they might have imagined beforehand. Some examples of this can include climate change and global warming. 

Educators should have their students experience globalization in the classroom. It provides students with more knowledge and understanding of the world around them. It allows them to be more educated when learning about the various ways of other cultures. Students and teachers can take information from other parts of the world, specifically education methods, that are working more efficiently than ours, and implement those into their academics.  Globalization in the classroom can start as young as kindergarten. Teachers can have student connect with various pen pals around the world and learn about each others culture through their writing. 


]]> 2016-07-14 20:40:44 UTC https://padlet.com/jacqueline_m_beaudet/54lzgjtslod5/wish/116429181 Flipped Classroom jacqueline_m_beaudet https://padlet.com/jacqueline_m_beaudet/54lzgjtslod5/wish/116430266
A flipped classroom is the opposite of what is conducted in our traditional classrooms.
Tradiational classrooms have the teacher lecturing, teaching, and reviewing new concepts in class. Students then go home and practice what they were taught in their classroom for home work. The problem with homework is for some students, when having multiple classes, it can be hard to remember the lessons and can allow for homework to become overwhelming and stressful.

In a flipped classroom model, students learn the topic first by themselves through the internet. Students can access information and videos that are provided by the teacher for when they are at home. Then when students come to school they use the information that they learn and apply it to problems. This allows for better use of classroom time for critical thinking and developing more proficient ideas and knowledge. 

When accessing the knowledge at home on a computer students can individualized the work, which can be a more difficult tasks within the school due to lack of resources and time. If there is a video lesson for example, students can pause, rewind, and watch at their own pace. They can look up terms that they are unfamiliar with.  

Teachers can also set up a classroom blog so that students can interact with one another and collaborate on the topics that they are learning. 

The impact that this trend has on the future of education is opening up the door to having technology become more involved in the educational world. It also promotes students to be interactive and collaborative, which are important skills that most careers will require. 

Like anything else there are pros and cons to using this model.

Pros:
- Helps kids who were absent, stay current.

-Helps kids who don't get the lesson the first time in class be able to review it again. 

-Good resource for teacher assistants or student support staff who may not know the curriculum or may not know what to focus on.

-Passive student learning is removed, with teachers moving into a coach or advisor role. Students are encouraged to study independently or with their peers.

-Students assume the ownership of their own learning. Through independent work, students become more likely to master concepts, rather than just do the minimum for a grade.

-Students review online material at their own pace, revisiting information until they are satisfied and skipping ahead if they desire. 

-Classroom time is used to work on higher cognitive activities, inquiry learning models, application of new learning and assessment tasks.

Cons:

-Teachers need to be highly organized and plan well ahead of class. It may require creating more instructional material, including videos and exercises that you may previously have done verbally. As online lessons can be easily repurposed and updated in subsequent semesters.

-Online access poses a barrier to students without computers/connectivity at home 

-Some students prefer the traditional face-to-face lecture type classroom format.

 
]]> 2016-07-14 21:41:05 UTC https://padlet.com/jacqueline_m_beaudet/54lzgjtslod5/wish/116430266