Eclectic Technology

ISTE has released this new infographic that shares data on how technology in impacting our learners. It is divided into the following categories:

* Technology is changing how how students learn.

* Technology is changing how teachers teach.

* Together we're changing education - one classroom at a time.

Before clicking through to the infographic take a moment to think about how technology is used in your school or classroom. Then check out the infographic and see if these statistics surprise you. There may be some new avenues you would like to explore.

If you are looking for some maps that will have students scratch their heads and consider come concepts in a new light this post will provide you with 22 choices. The one above intrigued me. It shows a map of the world, and has a circle that shows where more people live than the rest of the world. I suspect this image would bring up many questions, and that many would be interdisciplinary. Click through to the post to find many other great maps and charts.

I suspect that every teacher has seen major change over the last few years. This post provides a look at changes that have happened, or are in the process. The first seven provide the change and a look at the old, the new, the difference and a short summary. One example from the post is quoted below.

Personalization

The Old: Administer assessment, evaluate performance, report performance, then–maybe–make crude adjustments the best you can

The New: Identifying, prioritizing, and evaluating data for each student individually–in real time

The Difference: Precision

For more information click through to the post.

Are you wondering what your infographic needs to be a great infographic? This post disects an infographic, sharing what is important to include. Sections include:

* A brief look at the history of infographics

* Does it have all the important parts

   * Gotta have brains: data and story

   * Ooo la la visualization

   * Shareability

Additional information as well as links to resources are located under the infographic. If you plan on having students create infographics this year you may want to share this as a tool for discussion as students review infographics and learn to identify great infographics.

Last year I used fast foods as a way to teach students graphing (and nutrition). When surveying students as to their favorite fast food restaurants McDonald's was often at the top.

This infographic provides a great deal of information that may be new to students. This infographic shows:

* Just how big McDonald's is (and the number may surprise you)

* The one location where the Golden Arches are not golden

* Where McDonald's are located (a world map with percentages of McDonald's based on area)

* The one fast food restaurant that has more locations that McDonald's

* The number of employees worldwide (as well as the number of hamburgers and customers served)

And much more.

You can have fun with maps that look at fast food locations across the US as a tool for students to learn how to interpret visualizations as well as do some calculations. One source you might check out is listed below.

* A map of all the McDonald's in the U.S. (published in 2009 and updated in 2010 at http://www.datapointed.net/2010/09/distance-to-nearest-mcdonalds-sept-2010/

This detailed infographic provides an in-depth look at learning analytics. It begins by describing traditional education as a school bus, with the expectation that all students will get to "the finish line together."

The infographic then turns to personalized learning, where students would work at their pace and in their way to master material.

Analytics play a key role in personalized education. Why? If you use a tool that provides you with the ability to measure, collect, analyze and report data about your students you have the opportunity to adapt curriculum. The infographic shares seven areas that may be considered.

From here the infographic moves to the learning analytics cycle which moves to four areas:

* Descriptive - What has happened?

* Diagnostic - Why has it happened?

* Predictive - What will happen?

* Prescriptive - What should I do?

What comes next? The role of the teacher, which is followed by a What's Next section.

There is much to learn about learning analytics in this infographic. You may download the complete infographic from the site.

This report focused on four questions:

● What do teachers want and need from digital instructional tools?

● How can product developers use this information to more effectively serve students, teachers, and schools?

● What do we know about how teachers and districts select and purchase digital instructional tools?

● What do we know about the overall market for digital instructional tools?

The report identified six instructional purposes for technology, moving from teacher-driven to student-driven and identify both a primary and a secondary benefit. The areas are:

● Deliver Instruction

● Diagnose Student Learning

● Vary Delivery Method

● Tailer Learning Experience

● Support Student Collaboration and Interactivity

● Foster Independent Practice

One piece that pops out quickly is that 54% of teachers surveyed did not find the digital tools they use effective.

Click here for the full report [PDF]

This EdSurge Guide has 10 sections, with a "big question" for each of them and a number of resources for each. Check out the list of topics below and click through to learn more about any of the 10 areas.

* What are the influentical ideas behind "edtech"?

* How can you be part of the edtech community?
* How do you build an edtech company?

* Does the profit motive belong in education?

* How do you find and evaluate edtech products?

* Can technology help prepare better teachers?
* How can teachers help edtech entrepreneurs?

* Where does 'Making' or project-based learning fit into edtech?

* How should we measure student "success"?

* Who owns the data?

There are three to six excellent resources listed under each question. Many great resources will be found in this post!