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Much debate continues on the effectiveness of software applications on learning and assessment of outcomes. The story focuses on claims made by "Carnegie Learning" on claims made about its math software products. This highlights challenges faced by teachers and parents in identifying educational software for children.

Lubbock School District in Texas are investing $28 million in technology. "SMART Document Camera 330 in all classrooms where core subjects, such as science, math, language arts or social studies, are taught. Additionally, the district is installing 75 SMART Height-Adjustable Wall Mounts in pre-kindergarten classrooms to ensure that younger students have easy access to the interactive whiteboard to engage with digital content."

User created app ratings for Android phones. Appsfire, a leading and pioneering marketing platform for mobile apps through visual and social discovery.

Arizona State University is using data mining to collect information on their students and help guide them to the "most appropriate major". also, in class, using data collection methods, teachers collect information to be used in assessment Ex: "Ms. Galayda can monitor their progress. In her cubicle on a recent Monday, she sees the intimacies of students' study routines - or lack of them - from the last activity they worked on to how many tries they made at each end-of-lesson quiz. For one crammer, the system registers 57 attempts on multiple quizzes in seven days. Pulling back to the big picture, a chart shows 15 students falling behind (in red) and 17 on schedule (in green)."

wow this is kind of bothersome on some levels and kinda amazing on other levels. While I can see the benefit of understanding where and how a student is more likely to succeed, I think there are some potential dangers with such a system. There is the what I would imagine the psychological effect of such a program and I am thinking particularly about STEM fields where women are already way under-represented and often self conscious about their performance, do you really also need a system telling you you shouldn't be majoring in that as well cause you're not performing at that point....or what about a student who really wants to be an engineer but maybe hasn't been fully prepared with the appropriate math courses in high school, would he or she be filtered into another major? I understand using such a system as a means to target help for example if a student could get an assessment of where they currently are, where they want to go and how to get there....

"A new, federally funded project will test students' ability to learn fractions on mobile apps through the theory of "embodied cognition"-or, to put it in non-science speak, manipulating and moving images and information on screens with their fingers."

NY City touting 5 public schools' adoption of School of One curricula in Race to Top application, but the schools' assessment scores show mixed results so far.

Another program using AI and gaming design for fundamental instruction in math.

"The intuitive software platform for EV3 is based on National Instruments LabVIEW™ graphical programming software, and includes new data-logging capabilities that allow students to collect, graph, and calculate their data."

Have we posted/discussed this? A system such as this (see following post) would work well in one of the distributive models of teaching and learning we worked with last week. I am considering integrating into my charter school and would be curious to know people's experience and thoughts...

Actually, ASSISTments is not a tutor, but it draws on insights from artificial intelligence and tutoring. It's a good example of going to scale that we will reference later in the course.

Hi Prof. Dede, it struck me at the end of the article that while the title said '...Computerized Tutors...', what the creator was really struggling with was 'Humanizing computers'. It might never be possible, but the value is really in the journey. Thank you for sharing this with us!

Here's video examples of some of the MIND Institute's games... I'm not sure how the reveal of locations behind the iPad really come into play... SURELY they could have come up with more functional examples that relate content to real life?

Can you think of more functional & relative locations to showcase?

Related to section on how iPads are currently being used in a California school. making short videos to taking photos of complex formulas displayed on a blackboard for later review. Language students record themselves reciting lessons, and then upload the files to their teachers' drop boxes for critique. And math teachers use iPads to videotape students working through problems, explaining how they arrived at the solution and thereby demonstrating mastery of a lesson.

Here's the blog from the school's iLab http://hillbrookilab.com/

In recent years there has been a major push to equip classrooms with technology, including laptops, overhead projectors, interactive white boards and tablets. It has become big business. But there are questions about whether the investment is paying off. This series explores the push to digitize the American classroom and whether the promises are being fulfilled.

This comment from a reader on one of the articles (Inflating the Software Report Card) sums it up rather nicely: "Data-driven, individualized instruction aimed at identifying a student's strengths and weaknesses, is not perfect, nor can it replace great teachers. But it can and does allow gifted students to zoom ahead, average students to keep up, and struggling students to catch up. If we really want math education to become part of the fabric of our kids' lives, not just raising their scores on a standardized test, but helping them become more competent and effective adults, we need to take advantage of all of the technology available".

The STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math) saw a definite increase as of the year 2000, with 26% of those in the field now women. This is certainly not indicative of the amount of women in the work force as a whole, currently 47% of the nation.

Interesting program to look into called "Kids College." A video game laced with reading/math assessments.

Technology is playing an increasingly prominent role in America's schools. These days, computer games teach math skills and lectures are given at home via YouTube while class time is reserved for practicing the material, in what has become known as a flipped classroom. I WOULD JUST FALL TO SLEEP IN ONE OF THESE SCHOOLS! It is a shame that people allow their biases to hinder children. People running away from the present and future --- it is like that very bad M. Night Shyamalan movie ---> THE VILLAGE. COMPUTERS are like the imaginary demon! In truth, the demon only lives within the mind of people stuck in time.

Canada's report card on schools will be handed out to the provinces Monday, revealing growing struggles in science and reading for boys across the country. Once every three years, the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program, or PCAP, measures the reading, math and science proficiency of Grade 8 students in every province and the Yukon.

I feel this author's envy/nostalgia. Oregon Trail was really popular during my grade school years

"Meet Salman Khan, your child's new teacher. If you haven't heard of Khan, rest assured that your son or daughter is in good hands. He has four degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard. He got a perfect score on the math portion of his SAT."