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Great teachers, stable families and a school's location have long been said to be key to student success. But a new study out of the United Kingdom suggests that a school's physical design can improve or worsen children's academic performance by as much as 25 percent in early years. The year-long study by the University of Salford's School of the Built Environment and British architecture firm Nightingale Associates examined 751 students in 34 classrooms across seven primary schools for the 2011-2012 academic year. Students were assessed at the beginning and end of the year for academic performance in math, reading and writing, and classrooms were rated on environmental qualities like classroom orientation, natural light, acoustics, temperature, air quality and color. The researchers found that classroom architecture and design significantly affected academic performance: Environmental factors studied affected 73 percent of the changes in student scores. "It has long been known that various aspects of the built environment impact on people in buildings, but this is the first time a holistic assessment has been made that successfully links the overall impact directly to learning rates in schools," Peter Barrett, a professor at the University of Salford, said in a statement. "The impact identified is in fact greater than we imagined and the Salford team is looking forward to building on these clear results." The study will continue for another 18 months across an additional 20 schools in the U.K. Researchers seek to apply their findings to help schools "maximize their investment in the learning environment."

Beginning with student-focused goals allows us to ensure that we strategically prioritize time and resources in our classrooms. Although this way of thinking was initially designed for instructional units, it is also the perfect methodology for planning a new technology initiative.

The learning needs of today's students no longer fit the traditional model. Rather than simply learning facts and basic skills, they need to acquire more complex skills in conceptualisation and problem solving. They need affective and metacognitive skills, and the capacity to work collaboratively and to work across disciplines. They need the dispositions required to pursue such learning. They also need learning experiences of the kind of tasks that they may expect to meet in adult life. Such learning requires authentic assessment, designed to demonstrate their grasp of the skills and competencies needed to address real-life problems, and formative assessment, or assessment for learning, designed to provide learners with feedback on their progress to inform their development. The article discusses the application of higher-level questioning, marking and feedback strategies, the establishment of shared learning goals between teacher and student, and peer- and self-assessment.

There are digital tools that can help achieve the goal of educational transfer, writes Kristen Swanson, an education consultant. Educational transfer occurs when students are able to use what they've learned in the classroom in new, real-life situations, she writes in this blog post. She also offers three goals for the new year, including the use of less text when designing and consuming multimedia

"Key findings from this survey highlight variability in ICT and Computing education internationally, as well as some areas of common ground. They are potentially useful in informing discussions about how to motivate students to pursue their ICT and Computing education. They may also be useful in considering what works or might usefully be developed in the curricula in the UK. Some key findings are presented below. Others are included in the report, along with more information about the survey. Key findings In some educational systems, the subject areas of ICT and Computing are not represented in the curriculum. In some they are optional and in others mandatory. The use of ICT is included in the curriculum more commonly than the technical aspects of Computing, such as programming. The age at which the teaching of ICT is expected by the curriculum varies, from introduction at or before age 6 in Ontario and Massachusetts to first introduction at the age of 12 in Singapore and 14 in Italy. There is evidence, however, that many students use ICT earlier than the curriculum implies. The introduction of more technical Computing skills occurs later, typically from the ages of 12-14 upwards. In terms of basic technical Computing skills, students are generally expected to know common terminology, to understand concepts such as 'hardware' and 'software' and to be able to name parts of a computer system, among other elements. Programming is covered in most Computing curricula investigated. In some, specific languages are identified, while in others, there is flexibility (e.g. Ontario simply specifies that programming languages should be 'industry standard'). Only the older students are exposed to the technicalities of networking and systems management, and then not in all countries/regions. Curriculum design varies. Most courses are linear, while Ontario offers a menu of Computing courses at the higher levels, from which students can select cours

"Epistemic games are computer games that are essentially about learning to think in innovative ways. They're designed to be pedagogical tools for the digital age where the player learns to think like professionals by playing a simulated game of such professions as management, engineering, journalism or urban planning."

Learning principles * Interest-powered. * Peer-supported. * Academically oriented. Design principles * Shared purpose. * Production-centered. * Openly networked.

Connected Learning Principles