Education Elements recently walked through classrooms in Evanston, Wyoming where personalized learning will reach more than 3,000 students by 2017. The superintendent, Dr. James Bailey, has set the guiding light for teachers and leaders regarding the goals of personalized learning. He asked teachers to help students take more ownership over their learning and we already see this happening with students in K-12.
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November 2014 Newsletter

EE News and Updates

The Ed Elements Oasis at  #iNACOL14 #plearninginthedesert

iNACOL’s Blended and Online Learning Symposium: Powering Personalized Learning starts today and we are here in full force.  Come join our preconference session featuring leaders from four school districts: DC Public Schools, Horry County Schools, Enlarged City School District of Middletown, and Uinta, check out our panels: A Superintendent’s Personalized Learning and Big Success in Small Places, Big Successes in Small Places: Blended Learning in Rural Districts, and Points in Time in a Personalized Learning Implementation: Lessons Learned and Next Steps for Big Thinkers or ask for an invite to our book party for Michael Horn and Heather Staker’s new book!  We’d love to see you at Booth 323 for demos, contests, and swag. Check out all the info here.

 

There’s a New Kid in Town in Cyber Charter Schools...and it's Education Elements!

We are very excited to announce our partnership with Agora Cyber Charter Academy to serve as their strategic technology partner. Our personalized learning platform Highlight will be their next generation learning platform providing students with access to all their digital content and teachers with access to the data they need to personalize instruction. We are excited about teaming up with a recognized leader in the virtual charter school space.

 

Cast Your Vote For the 2014 Classroom Refresh Contest™!

As part of a national contest, over 100 classrooms submitted music videos for a chance to win a classroom makeover package worth up to $70,000. The 15 finalists, representing the top music videos from K-12 classrooms across America, will be narrowed down to three grand-prize winners in each grade category (K-5, 6-8, and 9-12) by a guest judging panel and through votes submitted by the general public on the contest site, www.classroomrefreshcontest.com.

The three classroom makeover prize packages include cutting-edge personalized learning software, hardware, professional development and support packages from Compass Learning®, Education Elements, SMART® Technologies, and NWEA™. Winners’ classrooms will be “refreshed” with education technology to help individualize and enhance instructional techniques and meet the diverse learning needs of students.

Go to www.classroomrefreshcontest.com today to vote for your favorite!

 

Learning in Lexington 1

Education Elements just kicked off a new project launch in Lexington, SC with district and school leaders on Friday, October 10th. District staff gathered to review the project roadmap as well as participate in a blended learning simulation.  We discussed how we will move forward together over the next 3 months as we prepare to create unique blended classroom models and launch the new designs in late January. Welcome aboard Lexington 1! We are excited to be partnering with you.

 

Recent Posts from our blog, BYOT (Bring Your Own Thoughts):

 

Design Spotlight

Uinta County School District #1

Education Elements recently walked through classrooms in Evanston, Wyoming where personalized learning will reach more than 3,000 students by 2017.  The superintendent,  Dr. James Bailey, has set the guiding light for teachers and leaders regarding the goals of personalized learning.  He asked teachers to help students take more ownership over their learning and we already see this happening with students in K-12. 

53 teachers have opted into the personalized learning program this year and are using digital content coupled with small group instruction to accelerate and differentiate learning in their classrooms.  Teachers are telling students and families that they are trying a new style of teaching and empowering students to track and monitor their individual progress.

This 3rd grade classroom sign welcomes visitors and explains how and why  learning is happening differently in Ms. Groll’s classroom.  

Newsletter_DesignSpotlight_Nov1

Students in this 3rd grade class are no longer passively learning.  Below is a math journal, which students update every day after using digital content.  Students ask themselves, am I gaining math fact fluency?  Which facts did I need to focus on today? At the end of the week, students journal about their progress and new set of goals. The District is only the second month of PL implementation and already students are taking ownership!

Newsletter_DesignSpotlight_Nov2

We are so excited to see what happens next in Evanston. Want to visit a school or learn more?  Email amy@edelements.com.

 

Partner Spotlight

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www.goorulearning.org

Founded as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in January 2011, Gooru’s mission is to honor the human right to education. With the belief that teachers and students can use the web to positively impact learning outcomes, Gooru is building an open and collaborative online community of educators, learners, partners, and developers to facilitate personalized learning.

Gooru’s free web-based product for teachers to to find, remix, and share collections of web resources on any K-12 topic. With millions of open multimedia resources and quiz questions, Gooru organizes all online learning content and connects a community of educators and learners to meet students’ unique needs. With Gooru, teachers can find standards-aligned multimedia learning materials, remix web and original content to create custom collections, share collections with students to meet their unique needs, and monitor the real-time engagement, comprehension, and progress of their students. Gooru provides tools to customize content and track student progress through data analytics to adapt the learning experience for each student.

Gooru’s web and mobile applications use an open-source platform, and Gooru offers APIs for other developers to use for free. Gooru’s content and technology partners co-create content and web and mobile applications, enabling them to tailor Gooru to their own communities while sharing their expertise with the larger Gooru community.

Gooru is supported by grants from the Gates Foundation, Susan Crown Exchange, Hewlett Foundation, National Science Foundation, and Office of Naval Research, among others.

All Gooru content is available through the Search and Assign tool in Highlight. 

Articles We Read

Check out a few articles we have gotten excited about over the past month:

Mind Shift: How Can Students Have More Say in School Decisions?

Edudemic:  The 14 Best Resources on the Web for STEM Educators

Hechinger Report:  Classroom technology can make learning more dangerous, and that’s a good thing

 

Events We're Attending

Connect with us!

iNACOL Blended and Online Learning Symposium
Palm Springs, CA - Nov 4-7  

Nevada Association of School Administrators Fall Conference
Las Vegas, NV - Nov 17-18

Want to meet up at an event? Email newsletter@edelements.com and tell us where you will be! 

 

Superintendents Share Their Journey

Superintendents and district leaders from Newark Public Schools (New Jersey), Middletown (New York), and Horry County Schools (South Carolina) discuss why they decided on implementing blended learning in their schools, what the benefits have been for students and teachers, and the early results.  

Watch this inspirational message about district transformation

 

 

Read Our Blog

Keep in touch!  We would love to keep sharing our thoughts with you from our blog.

 

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