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Since our founding, The Learning Accelerator's belief has been that blended learning is an innovation with the potential to transform the education of millions of students in American K-12 schools. By using technology to help teachers and students more deeply understand and respond to individual needs, we think schools can better reach their goals: effective, equitable, and engaging learning for every student.

"A professional learning network is a vibrant, ever-changing group of connections to which teachers go to both share and learn. These groups reflect our values, passions, and areas of expertise. Teachers build PLNs the same way they build any network: by investing time to find and connect with people they trust, who have shared interests and passions. To me, a PLN includes the organizations, communities, and individuals who help me learn and grow as a professional. My PLN also provides me with a broader perspective on education-beyond my classroom, school building, state, and even nation. It is a blend of face-to-face and digital interactions with professional buddies, mentors, and rockstars."

"I am using this opportunity, given all the press on flipped classroom, to discuss a model of teaching and learning based on experiential education.  It is a model in which authentic, often hands-on, experiences and student interests drive the learning process, and the videos, as they are being proposed in the flipped classroom discourse, support the learning rather than being central or at the core of learning."

"Between societal changes and technological breakthroughs, it's become abundantly clear that the human brain is transforming the way it processes and learns information. While there are many discussions about whether or not this is good or bad for us as a society, it's definitely a change. As educators, it's our job to make sure that students (and adults) are learning. Part of that process isn't only about making an engaging activity or lesson, but also realizing how the modern brain learns. Teachers all over America are faced with this challenge of keeping students engaged in the classroom when their world outside of school is one of constant engagement and stimulation. Knowing the world outside of our institutional walls is only one step in addressing modern learning styles. How to act and adjust schools today is the next step in making the classroom of today ready for tomorrow."

"Kahoot! empowers educators and captivates learners. Through the creation of a trusted learning space, educational content is delivered by asking meaningful questions in real-time, creating a social, fun and game-like environment. Kahoot! flips the classroom with a pedagogy based on encouraging a loop from 'learner to leader' within the learning space, which maximizes the precious learning time spent in the classroom and empowers learners to lead."

"Important research compiled on the effects of students multitasking while learning shows that they are losing depth of learning, getting mentally fatigued, and are weakening their ability to transfer what they have learned to other subjects and situations"

"Visible Thinking is a flexible and systematic research-based approach to integrating the development of students' thinking with content learning across subject matters. An extensive and adaptable collection of practices, Visible Thinking has a double goal: on the one hand, to cultivate students' thinking skills and dispositions, and, on the other, to deepen content learning. By thinking dispositions, we mean curiosity, concern for truth and understanding, a creative mindset, not just being skilled but also alert to thinking and learning opportunities and eager to take them"

Watching educational videos is a great way to learn because it allows kids to build a visual picture or model in their mind. The visual dimension not only helps them understand concepts better, but also stimulates curiosity and encourages self-learning. NeoK12 also features Web 2.0 tools for learning and teaching.

"Managing tablets as learning tools in the classroom is not easy, especially when many kids use them largely as toys outside of school, if they have access to a tablet in their home environment. Kids often come to school and instinctively want to engage with a tablet as a toy, expecting to be free to play the games they want to play and explore the apps they are interested in. To get kids to shift into tablet as learning tool, teachers are finding that instilling fair, reasonable and consistent classroom habits in tablet learning environments is key."

"The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) illustrates how teachers can use technology to enhance learning for K-12 students. The TIM incorporates five interdependent characteristics of meaningful learning environments: active, constructive, goal directed (i.e., reflective), authentic, and collaborative (Jonassen, Howland, Moore, & Marra, 2003). The TIM associates five levels of technology integration (i.e., entry, adoption, adaptation, infusion, and transformation) with each of the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments."

"'Fluency' derives from the word 'flow' and when we think about being 'fluent' in any context, it refers to being flexible, accurate, efficient, and appropriate. In other words, the way we use skills, language and speech flows naturally and easily. In a digital context for learning, fluency involves using technologies "readily and strategically to learn, to work, and to play, and the infusion of technology in teaching and learning to improve outcomes for all students""

Digital Learning Day promotes using technology. Seven golden rules of using technology.

"Note-taking and summarizing are important learning activities that everyone needs to master. But your students don't need to do it individually to maximize learning. Our brains don't actually work that way. You might be surprised at the assessment results when students collaborate and share the note-taking tasks. "

"Many school administrators, teachers and parents want the education provided to children to be high quality, rigorous and connected to the world outside the classroom.Teachers are trying to provide these elements in various ways, but a group of schools calling itself the "Deeper Learning Network" has codified some of what its members believe are essential qualities of deep learning (check out how students lead parent teacher conferences in this model)."

"Deliver engaging lessons - no matter where your learners are. Lumio is the digital learning tool for transforming lessons into active, collaborative learning experiences that engage students on their own devices"

Interactive whiteboards are a great way for teachers to engage classrooms in learning. While many teachers are spending hours a day creating their own activities for their interactive whiteboards, there are tons of free sources to help teachers learn about and use IWBs with students.

"Student agency, which we might loosely define as students' ability to influence their own learning, undoubtedly plays a critical role in education. Many schools and districts see the value in it, but it has often been difficult to achieve. Shifting to an approach where each student directs their own learning - rather than the traditional teacher-led approach - does not happen overnight."

"visuals help people understand. They help compel them to feel emotion, and give them a visual anchor to recall ideas. That means they work, so we've collected a list of visual teaching tools and resources below for your perusal."

FREE makes it easier to find teaching and learning resources from the federal government. More than 1,500 federally supported teaching and learning resources are included from dozens of federal agencies. New sites are added regularly.

"The Maker Movement, a technological and creative learning revolution underway around the globe, has exciting and vast implications for the world of education. New tools and technology, such as 3D printing, robotics, microprocessors, wearable computing, e-textiles, "smart" materials, and programming languages are being invented at an unprecedented pace. The Maker Movement creates affordable or even free versions of these inventions, while sharing tools and ideas online to create a vibrant, collaborative community of global problem-solvers. Fortunately for teachers, the Maker Movement overlaps with the natural inclinations of children and the power of learning by doing. By embracing the lessons of the Maker Movement, educators can revamp the best student-centered teaching practices to engage learners of all ages."