Coursera to Offer Free Teacher Development Classes

Posted on May 22, 2013 by coreeducation

Coursera, one of the larger MOOC’s (massive open online courses), will begin offering free online teacher development courses this summer. And for a set of courses that are just beginning, a rather impressive list of traditional universities including the College of Education at University of Washington and John Hopkins University School of Education as well as non-traditional educational institutes such as the American Museum of History, The Museum of Modern Art, and the Exploratorium have all agreed to take part.

Here is a description of the new set of courses from edSurge:

[I]n addition to covering the 101 basics of teaching, classes will allow teachers to explore more niche topics like “Tinkering Fundamentals: Integrating Making Activities into Your STEM Classroom.”

The cost to run these PD MOOCs are expected to be lower than what Coursera’s “mainstream” college partners pay, which typically range from $10K-$50K for each 10-week course. One reason may be that the duration of these PD courses will likely be shorter, lasting only three to four weeks. The company also plans to issue statements of accomplishment for teachers who finish the classes.

“We are particularly excited about the opportunity to offer professional development for teachers that are more targeted and differentiated, based on their skills and experience,” says Julia Stiglitz, who oversees business development and partnerships at Coursera, and who was previously a teacher and Program Director at Teach for America.

This “first foray into early childhood and K-12-level education” raises an obvious question: will Coursera move deeper and, say, partner with prestigious high schools to offer MOOCs for K-12 students?

The company says there are currently no plans, but adds that it has already seen many high school students take MOOCs as part of their college prep work. Still, we wouldn’t be surprised if Coursera changes its mind somewhere down the line.

Following is a link to the list of professional development courses being offered:

https://www.coursera.org/courses?cats=teacherpd

TEACHED films bolstered by $50,000 grant from TFA

Posted on May 19, 2013 by coreeducation

Teach For America (TFA) announced the winners of its annual Social Innovation Award, including education advocate-turned-filmmaker Kelly Amis, who was one of the first 500 college graduates to be accepted into this national teacher recruitment program.

Amis will receive a $50,000 grant from TFA’s Social Entrepreneurship Initiative to support TEACHED, an innovative series of short films documenting the causes and consequences of education inequality in America, particularly as experienced by urban students of color.

Based on Amis’s twenty years of teaching, research and advocacy in K-12 education, TEACHED is intended to provoke thoughtful discussion on challenging issues, remind viewers of the civil rights struggle behind many of today’s education battles and motivate more people to engage in urban education reform. Amis explains, “The short film format is designed to be more conducive to interactive screenings–the films can be easily interspersed with guest speakers and heightened audience participation–and also intended to reach a larger, more diverse audience through online streaming and social media.”

The first three TEACHED short films, collectively titled “TEACHED Vol. I,” premiered at the Napa Valley Film Festival in November 2011 and have since won “Outstanding Achievement for Short Documentary” at the Williamsburg International Film Festival and the jury prize for “Spirit of Independence” at the Amsterdam Film Festival. They are currently available for online viewing via SnagFilms and for community-organized screenings.

Teach for America received 87 applications for two tracks within the Social Innovation Award: an Overall Track for alumni entrepreneurs like Amis who have already tested their idea and a Pre-Pilot Track for those who are in the early planning and development stage. The awards were made possible with support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Doris & Donald Fisher Fund, and Joyce and Larry Stupski. Full results for this year’s awards are available at http://www.tfasocialinnovationaward.com/2013-award-winners.html.

TEACHED is a non-profit film project fiscally-sponsored by the International Documentary Association. TEACHED Vol. II and Two Boys, a feature-length documentary being filmed in Washington, DC, are currently under production.

Synopses of the TEACHED Vol. I films:

The Path to Prison (7 min.)

A former gang-member from South Central, Los Angeles helps explain how so many capable and intelligent young men-especially African-American males-end up uneducated and incarcerated in the ‘land of the free.’

The Blame Game: Teachers Speak Out (16 min.)

Public school teachers speak candidly about their profession and the consequences for students-especially urban minority students-of policies that treat all teachers as equal and make it difficult to fire a teacher even in the most extreme circumstances.

Unchartered Territory (17 min.)

Featuring some of the most successful pioneers of this still-developing frontier, Unchartered Territory explains what charter schools are, why they were created and why some are performing so well and others…not so much.

For more information, please contact info@teached.org or visit this website: http://www.tfasocialinnovationaward.com/

Common Core Open Resources

Posted on May 15, 2013 by coreeducation

As the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) moves ever closer, debate over them certainly has not slowed, yet that does not mean that the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and others, like the National Math and Science Initiative, aren’t doing their best to make resources available so that teachers will be prepared.

Here is their introduction to newly available resources:

The tools you need to prepare for the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the upcoming Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessments are now available to all educators.

These free resources help implement the CCSS in your state and provide you with specific information to prepare teachers to equip students with the tools they’ll need to be successful on the PARCC assessments.

To access these free resources, you will need to visit the website below, click on the “Get Free Resources” button, and create a free profile. You will have unlimited access to these resources and all new open resources developed for PARCC by NMSI.

Also, all the Common Core resources created for the PARCC Educator Leader Cadre are now available to all educators to ensure improved implementation of the Common Core.

Following is the link to the National Math and Science Initiative Common Core website: http://www.nms.org/commoncore

For the link to the webpage where you can register to gain access to the free resources, see: http://parcc.nms.org/

TNTP Launches Blog

Posted on May 9, 2013 by coreeducation

Over the last 15 years, TNTP, a national nonprofit committed to ending the injustice of educational inequality, has shared what they have learned about education policy and effective teaching mainly through publications like “The Irreplaceables.” Recently, they have launched a TNTP blog. TNTP hopes to use the blog to offer a different perspective on the issues and share more of their learning process. TNTP is inspired by the power of great teaching to change lives. This blog shares ideas, research and opinion about how to grow great teachers and build systems that prioritize effective teaching in every classroom.

Some of the topics of the first blogs include:

For more information, please visit: http://tntp.org/blog

Making the Case for College and Career Readiness

Posted on April 30, 2013 by coreeducation

A newly updated and released website, The Future Ready Project, provides college and career readiness advocates with the information, strategies, messages and tools they need to effectively make the case for the college- and career- ready agenda in their states and communities. With customizable resources and fact sheets, stakeholders may take the materials available on the site and tailor them to best fit their constituent audiences.

Looking for data and talking points to support your advocacy? Check out Make the Case: Facts & Research, which has key fact sheets on major college- and career-ready policies and reforms, relevant research to inform your case-making, public opinion data organized by audience, great sources of local and state data and pages designed to help you jump right in and tackle common communications challenges.

Putting together a communications strategy or plan and need some help? Plan Your Strategy: Tools & Messages offers tools for planning a communications strategy including a modifiable plan template, messaging tools for communicating about college and career readiness, resources targeted at engaging business leaders, videos of current students and recent graduates talking about college and career readiness, flexible fact sheets designed to help you bust common myths about the college- and career-ready agenda and communications tools from other national and state organizations.

Want to see what materials are already out there? Find Relevant Resources is a brand new searchable database of advocacy and communications resources, tools, campaigns and materials, developed by national organizations and state and local organizations. With a growing collection of over 150 resources currently available for parents, educators, businesses and a variety of other audiences, this database has appropriate materials for any and all college- and career-ready case-making.

For more information, please visit: http://www.futurereadyproject.org/

Education Week presents Common Core Instructional Opportunities

Posted on April 16, 2013 by coreeducation

The Common Core State Standards are being introduced in all but five states, presenting the need for immediate and far-reaching instructional changes. This exclusive new online-only special report explores the ways classroom educators, in a variety of subjects and with a diverse range of students, are adapting to the new framework for teaching and learning. The articles and interviews with experts shed light on new practices and innovations.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EXCLUSIVE ONLINE SPECIAL REPORT:

Charlotte Danielson on Teaching and the Common Core

Teaching expert Charlotte Danielson discusses the effects of the common standards on instructional practice and teacher professional development.

In Common Core, Teachers See Interdisciplinary Opportunities

Educators around the country are exploring innovative ways to teach the new common-core literacy standards, and some are calling attention to an approach they say is working well: cross-subject thematic units.

Math Teachers Strive to Bring Core to At-Risk Students

Despite often lacking support and clear guidance, math educators are taking steps to refine their practice and adopt creative methods to help at-risk and struggling students make the shift to the new instructional paradigm.

Principal Sees Course Rigor as Basis for Common-Core Readiness

Veteran principal Carol Burris has a suggestion for schools struggling to transition to the common standards: Make classes harder.

For the entire report, see:

http://www.edweek.org/tm/collections/package/common-core-instruction/index.html?intc=TCH-TP0313-EML

MOOC for Educators: “Digital Learning Transition”

Posted on April 15, 2013 by coreeducation

The Alliance for Excellent Education and the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation are offering a first-of-its-kind online course for school district leaders.

Last month, the Alliance for Excellent Education and Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University opened enrollment for a first-of-its-kind Massive Online Open Course for Educators (MOOC-Ed). Titled “Digital Learning Transition,” the free course will examine how the effective use of digital learning can help school districts meet educational challenges, including implementing college- and career-ready standards for all students and preparing teachers to make effective use of technology to enhance teaching and learning.

The course—a component of the Alliance’s “Project 24” initiative and the first of a series of MOOC-Eds planned by the Friday Institute—will help school district leaders develop a set of digital learning goals to address their students’ specific needs. Participating educators will learn how technology and the global information age impact both what students need to know and how and when student learning can take place. They will study the elements necessary for a successful digital learning transition, develop a set of goals for digital learning aligned to desired student outcomes, and create an action plan to meet these goals.

“By participating in this ground-breaking effort, educators can experience first-hand how digital learning can change teaching and improve learning,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. “At the same time, they will develop a valuable plan for how to take their school or district through a digital learning transition.”

Throughout the course, participants will have access to digital learning experts who have successfully implemented digital learning efforts that are supporting teachers and positively impacting student learning. And by conducting the course on such a massive scale—literally thousands of district leaders can participate—participants will also benefit from “crowdsourcing,” a collaborative professional learning experience that uses the “wisdom of the crowd” to discuss ideas, share strategies and resources, and exchange constructive feedback with other participants in similar roles and schools.

“The Digital Learning Transition MOOC-Ed enables educators to experience using innovative technologies as learners and collaborators, which will help them gain insights into what these technologies can mean for students,” said Glenn Kleiman, executive director of the Friday Institute. “We look forward to having many innovative educators join us in exploring this new form of large-scale, flexible, multimedia, and collaborative professional development.”

Each of the course’s seven sessions will include core resources and supplemental materials around a specific topic, while allowing for a great deal of personalization and flexibility. Participants are expected to navigate their own paths, consistent with their own goals and the needs of their school or district, while being supported and guided by the facilitators, resources, and fellow participants.

Running through May 24, the seven-week course is designed for school and district leaders, including superintendents, principals, curriculum directors, technology directors, financial officers, instructional coaches, lead teachers, and others involved in planning and implementing K–12 digital learning initiatives. Participants should expect to commit between two and four hours each week, but there will be opportunities for those who wish to invest more time and explore issues more deeply.

Interested individuals can obtain more information and register for the course at dlt.mooc-ed.org. After registering, they are strongly encouraged to take Project 24’s free online self assessment to help frame a vision for digital learning and specify how technology can help align efforts to achieve college- and career-ready standards. Upon completion of the self assessment, participants will receive a personalized report analyzing their district’s progress in integrating technology into instruction.

The MOOC-Ed is part of “Project 24,” a ground-breaking new initiative led by the Alliance to help school districts plan for and effectively use technology and digital learning. Project 24 is an urgent call to action on the need for systemic planning around the effective use of technology and digital learning to achieve the goal of career and college readiness for all students. Project 24 participants benefit from free comprehensive district-level planning tools, expert advice, creative ideas, and tangible suggestions from experienced education experts and nonprofit education membership organizations. Already, more than 1,000 school leaders from nearly 500 school districts—representing 6.5 million students—have signed up to participate.

The Digital Learning Transition MOOC-Ed is provided by the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation as part of ongoing work to support the effective use of technologies and innovative teaching and learning practices in K–12 education.

“Make no mistake; digital learning holds the key to preparing millions of additional students for college and a productive career, but district leaders need to approach this opportunity with sound planning to leverage the potential and achieve the best results,” said Wise. “Going forward, our goal is to get every district to sign up and start planning.”

For more information, please visit the following:

http://dlt.mooc-ed.org/preview

Emerging Education Technology

Posted on April 10, 2013 by coreeducation

Educational technology is rapidly changing. To help you keep up, the New Media Consortium has recently released a forecast for educational technology, focusing on uses in higher education.

The infographic below outlines four technologies that you can expect to see in the next year, four for the next 2-3 years, and four that are 4-5 years from widespread implementation in higher education.

DREAM: The Free Cost-modeling Tool for School Districts

Posted on April 7, 2013 by coreeducation

In the current economic climate, with budget cuts a necessity and many states seeing their education budget battles going to state supreme courts, states and districts need help weathering the storm. DREAM hopes to help states and districts do just that with a “new way to explore school budgets.”

DREAM was created by Education Resource Strategies (ERS), “a non-profit organization dedicated to helping urban school systems organize talent, time and money to create great schools at scale.”

DREAM employs algorithms which make it easy for school leaders to consider changes to their budgets, and see what those changes would actually mean.

According to the DREAM website, “You can do less with less, or you can change your district’s cost model by rethinking how schools and systems are structured. DREAM allows you to adjust key cost levers in your district and instantly see how these changes impact your budget and other critical measures.”

“DREAM uses the most recent available (2009-10 data in most areas, 2008-09 financial data) NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) to generate a cost model for your district. This model is represented as a series of ‘sliders,’ each representing a key cost lever. By adjusting the sliders, you can drive changes in cost and other important measures of quality and efficiency such as time or class size.”

You can give it a try at the DREAM website: http://www.erstools.org/dream

A Bill of Rights and Principles for Learning in the Digital Age

Posted on March 27, 2013 by coreeducation

With the large increase in online learning in recent years, more and more students are reaping its benefits as well as facing its challenges. In response, a group of scholars recently joined together to compose the “Bill of Rights and Principles for Learning in the Digital Age.” Here is an introduction from the authors:

On December 14, 2012, a group of 12 assembled in Palo Alto for a raucous discussion of online education. Hybrid Pedagogy contributors Sean Michael Morris and Jesse Stommel gathered together with folks from a diverse array of disciplines and backgrounds, representing STEM fields, the humanities, schools of education, corporations, non-profits, ivies, community colleges, and small liberal arts colleges. Among us were adjuncts, CEOs, a graduate student, several digital humanists, and two outspoken educational technology journalists. As a group, we’d chaired online programs, designed MOOCs, dropped out of MOOCs, and the term “MOOC” was even coined in one of our living rooms. The goal of the summit was to open a broader conversation about online learning and the future of higher education.

The text version of the Bill of Rights and Principles for Learning in the Digital Age is here: http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/Journal/files/Online_Learning_Bill_of_Rights.html

Below is an infographic that outlines the key points of the Online Learning Bill of Rights.

The "Core" of Education

Category Archives: Online Communities & Resources