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"Two years ago I attended an edtech conference focused on the then up-and-coming trend of makerspaces. The opening keynote speaker ended his presentation with a charge for all in attendance: "I hope that makerspaces don't become an edtech fad that goes away as quickly as it has risen to popularity; I hope you all can figure out how to do it right." So what is the "right way" when it comes to using makerspaces? And now that they have been established in schools all across the globe, how can we measure the impact that makerspaces have on student learning and achievement? Most facilitators would agree that standardized test scores may never accurately reflect the impact that makerspaces have on student achievement. Rather, it is a combination of the design thinking processes, service learning experiences, and 21st century skills being developed in makerspaces that are positively impacting student learning."

"The iPad has found its way into hospitals, retail stores and homes across the nation, but it's also making a big splash in the classroom, even with some of the best online colleges. With a great selection of apps focused on everything from word processing to keeping in touch with classmates, the tablet computer can be an invaluable tool for learning - no matter your age. Online science students haven't been left out, of course, and there are a wide range of applications offering help with chemistry, biology, astronomy and even the math that comes along with certain fields. If you're a college student looking to supplement your science studies, these apps are some of the best for learning, sharing, researching and just plain having fun."

"You can create any 2D or 3D game with Unity. You can make it with ease, you can make it highly-optimized and beautiful, and you can deploy it with a click to more platforms than you have fingers and toes. What's more, you can use Unity's integrated services to speed up your development process, optimize your game, connect with an audience, and achieve success."

"The Computer Science Education Week, Dec. 5-11, is an annual initiative that mobilizes educators, parents, nonprofits and the industry to inspire all young people to learn computer science and open the door to a promising future. With our rising digital economy and the nonstop pace of technological change, we have an imperative to prepare young people to pursue careers that are in demand. Computer science refers to the academic discipline of studying what can be done using a computer and how to do so. At the foundation of this is computational thinking, a mental process that allows one to formulate problems so as to design possible solutions that a computer or human can easily understand. Coding is one way that computational thinking can be expressed. It is simply writing a list of step-by-step instructions for computers to perform what we want to do. More importantly, it provides everyone a platform to unleash our creativity to create software websites, games, and apps. More than half of today's jobs require some technology skills, and this will increase to 77 percent in the next decade, according to IDC. With youth unemployment in Southeast Asia alone almost three times that of total unemployment rate, coding and computer science serve as the gateway for youth to secure a more fulfilling career or even venture into entrepreneurship. In the Philippines for instance, an entry-level tech position pays 38 percent more than the minimum wage.   I strongly encourage everyone to try coding-and here's why:"

"Virtual and Augmented Reality apps are starting to hit the market in force. While most of the buzz for these technologies has been for immersive gaming, many companies are getting involved in realizing the potential that Augmented and Virtual Reality may have as educational tools. The fraction of projected VR and AR market value taken up by education may seem small, but considering how large whole market is, this "small fraction" still represents Billions of Dollars. This article will discuss 22 virtual and augmented reality apps for education that are already available, in beta, or still in the testing process. Some of the apps are aimed at parents and preschool teachers, while most are for primary school teachers. Others will interest anybody, including higher education students, and even non-students."

"Teachers in Littleton, Colorado - like teachers in many places - are increasingly asking students to read and write online. Free tools like Google Docs have made it easy for students to work on the same piece of writing at home and at school, and have allowed teachers to explore collaborative writing assignments and synchronous editing with students. There are also many digital tools that can support students as they learn how to read deeply, take well-cited notes, and navigate the writing process. While many teachers are finding efficiency in allowing students to write and submit assignments online, not all students or teachers want to use the exact same set of tools. That's why Littleton's Instructional Technology Specialist, Dana Levesque, started compiling resources on a site that both teachers and students can access to find the tools that fit their needs."

"What are the latest emerging trends in education? As trends to do, these are changing almost yearly. Consider how quiet iPads in the classroom have been recently, whereas three years ago they were going to replace teachers and were (unsarcastically) compared to magic. While mobile devices like the iPad can indeed parallel a kind of magic in the learning process, it obviously has to 'fit' into a progressive supporting ecology of assessment, curriculum, and instruction. With that in mind, we've created a list of 15 (the graphic plus 3 bonus items below) new ideas every teacher should try. Not all will fit or work-again, it depends on the ecology of the classroom, school, and so on. But each of these ideas below-some learning models, some concepts, and some technologies-can be transformational for students, and your teaching."

The role of the teacher is slowly but surely changing and with this come new challenges. Change becomes inevitable and processes for managing this and capitalising on the opportunities it brings becomes paramount within organisations. It is perhaps not surprising that educational institutions may evolve to become what are termed 'Learning Organisations' or 'Professional Learning Communities' within which there is a focus on the application of the principles of learning to manage change and explore new opportunities. 

"In this article, I'll take you on a tour of design thinking. It's the process that I've used countless times as a teacher, curriculum leader, technology coach, author, and entrepreneur. Here's what we'll cover: What is Design Thinking (and the LAUNCH Cycle)? How is design thinking used around the world? How can I use design thinking in (and out of) my classroom?"

"Is making something that every school should be doing-and are all interpretations of "making" of equitable value? EdSurge sat down with Resnick in his office at the MIT Media Lab to learn more, and to find out how he and his team are working to bring more creativity into the learning process."

"Last year I took a group of students to Cuba to produce documentaries about the island nation's culture and history. The main objective was learning how to produce documentaries, but one of my students learned a much more powerful lesson through the process. After completing her project, she posted it publicly to YouTube and received critical comments from someone living in Cuba. The feedback from an audience member in another country profoundly affected her, making her aware of what she was missing in her piece, and the impact that her work can have on others. No test, grade, or teacher evaluation could have come close to helping her learn that deeply, and it made clear to me how important it is for teachers to reexamine why and how we grade our students if we truly care about their success."

"Why is it that sometimes we only see the extremes in our work? Picture your strongest lessons, activities, and projects juxtaposed against ones that just didn't work, and that's how it's been so far with our Digital Shop capstone projects. Some experiences make me want to high-five the entire class all at once. Others deserve an epic facepalm. As of this writing, we still have a month of school left. How will the remaining capstones go? What have we learned in the process? Can we "fail up" and finish strong, sending kids into summer vacation with school-year memories that will last forever? As I explained in my April post, I wanted the capstone projects to: Be genuine design thinking experiences. Allow kids to showcase the skills and dispositions they worked to acquire all year. Be based on and help people from the community and the world. The results have been mixed, as this post will illustrate."

"Among the many ways to actively engage children in the learning process, educational games are one of the most fun. With so many award winning and cleverly designed games on the market, young children to teens (and even adults!) can develop new skills and reinforce other skills, without even realizing they are learning. Board, card, cooperative, puzzle games, and more encourage interactive hands-on learning in a humorous, light hearted environment. In a addition to math, reading, vocabulary, logic, problem-solving, and spelling skills regularly introduced by educational games, turn based and cooperative games foster with social interaction, communication skills, and self confidence. Consider adding one of these excellent educational games to your home or classroom collection."

Not that long ago I was a writer of interesting and engaging educational programmes. Fortunately, that is no longer the case. The programmes that I wrote and shared with a team of teachers were generally well accepted and the feedback offered was always politely positive. I enjoyed writing these programmes but in recent times I have enjoyed even more stepping away from this process and in doing so empowering the team of teachers that I learn with. The programmes that this team produces far exceed the quality I could ever have hoped to produce but more importantly the students are benefiting from their experience of highly engaged and thus engaging teachers.

"Every March, my students hold their book clubs.  It is something we work toward all year and by spring they are mostly all excited to do them.  As I have tweaked the process, one of the biggest changes I made was to step away from only a few selected books for them to read and instead open it up to as many books as possibly.  With the help of the great selection of cheap books at Books4schools.com our book club set selection is now over 50 different titles and I am always looking to expand.  We no longer have a theme to the books, besides whether or not they are a great book, and students seem to always be able to find several books that they would like to dig into."

"Computational Thinking (CT) is a problem solving process that includes a number of characteristics and dispositions. CT is essential to the development of computer applications, but it can also be used to support problem solving across all disciplines, including the humanities, math, and science. Students who learn CT across the curriculum can begin to see a relationship between academic subjects, as well as between life inside and outside of the classroom."

"Welcome to The Art of Curriculum Design. In this six month series we are exploring the why and how of curriculum design via an Arts Appreciation course created through an arts collaboration. The first few weeks were devoted to the how and why of the curriculum design process. During the current portion of the series we are looking at weekly objectives, outcomes, and assessments designed for the Arts Appreciation course. Links to the entire series can be found below. The full curriculum including daily lesson plans, handouts, and assessments will be available at the culmination of the series."

"As I've mentioned in other posts, I come from a background in Experiential Education (yes, it is a specific professional discipline). I've also discussed reflecting on the activities to increase the chances of extracting learning as well as transferable skills and knowledge from the activities which is an integral part of experiential education - see my previous posts, Where is reflection in the learning process? and The Maker as a Reflective Practitioner. Another concept common to Experiential Education, that also increases the chances that transferable skills and knowledge result, is framing or frontloading the activities as part of introducing them."