It’s not you, dear Twitter, it’s me. I’m having some trust issues and just need some space. Like so many others, I’ve made new friends and learned so very much, but I’m not sure what the future may hold.
I’m not leaving you…at least not just yet.
But I did decide to reclaim some 15,000 tweets and 5,000 favorites accumulated over 9 years and take them offline. Maybe you can put the server space to better use? I’ll be a bit more tidy going forward.
I know you are going through a bit of a funk yourself. I’m sorry. Hope you get better soon. I’ll always fondly remember the good times we had. You know how to reach me if you want to talk…
Note to self: When deleting tweets in bulk, remember not to delete my keybase proof.
Otherwise, here’s what caught my eye this past week – news, tools, and reports about education, public policy, technology, and innovation – including a little bit about why. No endorsements; no sponsored content; no apologies for my eclectic tastes.
Strong opinions may be weakly held.
A Thinking Person’s Guide to EdTech News (2017 Week 38 Edition)
Technology Used to Track Players’ Steps Now Charts Their Sleep, Too | The New York Times →
Wearable technology has burrowed into college football this season as never before.
Tagged on: September 23, 2017
Lake Central again seeks state technology loan of $900k | NWI.com →
Each school district is eligible to receive $100 per student as determined by the enrollment at the end of September. The 1-percent interest loan is paid back over a five-year period. For Lake Central this means that at the same time each new loan is approved, an old one is being paid off. So there is no increase in cost to taxpayers. The money is used to buy SMART boards, Chromebook carts, iPad carts and replace old desktop computers.
Tagged on: September 23, 2017
Forget what you’ve been told about edtech | TechCrunch →
Patrick Brothers writes: "Investors are incessant in their hunt for the next emerging market. The investment du jour? Edtech. The tastemaker in this case is an article from David Bainbridge claiming, “Edtech is the next fintech.” While most of us can appreciate the wordplay, comparing edtech to fintech, or other “hot” industries, is a dangerous game — one that can severely damage the mission of education.
Tagged on: September 22, 2017
Leapfrogging Toward Success in Education | Stanford Social Innovation Review →
The authors write: "We define leapfrogging as any practices, new or old, that enable skills inequality to be far more quickly addressed than the current 100-year time frame would suggest. The term also describes practices that enable us to address skills uncertainty in a rapidly changing world. We argue that this progress is achievable only if we make room for new approaches in education—that is, if we innovate."
Tagged on: September 22, 2017
State board won’t check if all ECOT claims are accurate | The Columbus Dispatch →
After overpaying ECOT more than $60 million in a single school year because the school submitted attendance claims it couldn’t prove, the state Department of Education now will trust the besieged e-school and its sponsor that it meets criteria to now become a drop-out recovery school.
Tagged on: September 22, 2017
Open Educational Resources | Babson Survey Research Group →
Over three-quarters of K-12 districts have made at least one full-course curricula adoption decision over the past three years, with the need to meet changing standards driving most of these decisions, according to the results of a new survey from the Babson Survey Research Group (BSRG).
Tagged on: September 21, 2017
Google search links secret, court-protected names to online coverage | Ottawa Citizen →
Computer experts believe it’s an unintended, “mind-boggling” consequence of Google search algorithms.
Tagged on: September 21, 2017
Hampton school making do without stolen laptops | Daily Press →
After 100 laptops were stolen from George P. Phenix PreK-8 School over the summer, the students who were supposed to use them are making do.
Tagged on: September 21, 2017
The Education Department’s Office of Inspector General wants the agency to claw back $713 million in loans and grants from Western Governors University, claiming that the limited role of faculty in courses makes the online university ineligible for federal student aid.
Tagged on: September 21, 2017
Apple makes it harder to track you online, ad industry has an aneurysm | Boing Boing →
Cory Doctorow writes: "Safari has blocked third-party cookies (used to track your behavior across multiple websites) since 2010, but the ad-tech industry has fired back with a bunch of covert tracking tools that watch you even if you've adopted privacy countermeasures; the latest version of Safari goes one better, deploying machine-learning to selectively block even more tracking technologies, while still preserving useful third-party cookies that help you stay logged in and do useful work across different sites. In response, the ad-tech industry has staged a(nother) tantrum, claiming that Apple is 'destroying the Internet's economic model.'"
Tagged on: September 20, 2017
Two edtech champions to join White House offices as fellows | EdScoop →
The fellows will serve directly with White House offices and bring backgrounds in one-to-one and blended learning programs.
Tagged on: September 20, 2017
District first in Missouri to be certified 'Cyber Aware' | Daily Journal Online →
Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway visited the Fredericktown School District Tuesday and commended officials on their efforts to be a 'Cyber Aware School.'
Tagged on: September 20, 2017
Hackers Lock Down Entire School District With Threats: 'We Are Savage Creatures' | Gizmodo →
As I've reported on the K-12 Cyber Incident Map, an entire school district in Montana shut down for three days following a data breach of student and faculty records. Investigators say that parents received “extremely graphic threats via text messages” and that hackers sent the school board a ransom note demanding bitcoin payments in exchange for the destruction of hacked data.
Tagged on: September 18, 2017
Ben Herold writes: "The country's "extraordinary progress" connecting schools to affordable high-speed internet continued last year, according to a new analysis from broadband-advocacy group EducationSuperHighway."
Tagged on: September 18, 2017
Too Much Technology in AR Elementary Schools? | Arkansas Matters →
Arkansas lawmakers want to take a closer look at technology in schools and ask if it's really helping- not hurting- students. Representative Stephen Meeks (R-Greenbrier) proposed a study to see when elementary schools should introduce computers, tablets and other technology to their students.
Tagged on: September 18, 2017
AR Governor Hutchinson’s ambitious but unproven agenda has stoked both optimism and skepticism among researchers about the potential benefits that technology and computer science education can have in a state where the majority of third-graders are not competent readers.
Tagged on: September 18, 2017
Consolidation on tap as investors seek an Amazon for online education | PE Hub →
Private equity investors are looking for someone to take an Amazon approach to online education.
Tagged on: September 18, 2017
Possibly Elon Musk's Biggest Idea Yet - Revolutionizing Education | Forbes →
Elon Musk provided $15 million to the Global Learning XPRIZE, the goal of whichis to develop methods to teach the 250 million children who do not have access to primary or secondary education the means to teach themselves to read, write, and do math within 15 months.
Tagged on: September 18, 2017
The NYPD Will Neither Confirm, Nor Deny, the Stories Behind This Story | WNYC →
If you suspected that the cops spied on you, do you have the right to know about it? If you think the cops infiltrated a protest you organized and sifted through your Twitter feed, do you have a right to know about that?
Tagged on: September 18, 2017
Straight Up Conversation: Teach to One CEO Joel Rose | AEI →
Rick Hess interviews Joel Rose, the co-founder and CEO of Teach to One (nee School of One), a venture that helps schools redesign classrooms and curricula in order to customize teaching and learning.
Tagged on: September 18, 2017
How colleges aggressively use big data to target potential students | MarketWatch →
“It’s like the hardest of hard core direct marketing for any weight loss product or any cooking device,” said Andy Lockwood, a Long Island-based financial aid counselor.
Tagged on: September 18, 2017
Interest in Wireless Data Technology Soars | School Transportation News →
Whether school districts and transportation contractors are on their first, second or even third-generation wireless system, demand for data from the school bus is likely to continue growing exponentially as its value increases with real-time delivery.
Tagged on: September 18, 2017
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