Everything You Need to Know. Everyone You Need to Reach
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Sponsored by Everything You Need to Know. Everyone You Need to Reach. • A look at what digital & mobile learning are • Digital learning resources & apps at the district, school, and classroom levels • Company profiles and resources • Essential components of a mobile classroom • Best practices and examples • Closing achievement gaps with digital learning • Marketplace update Produced by eSchool Media | 2275 Research Blvd, Rockville, MD 20850 | 301.913.0115 | eSchoolNews.com Ensure digital equity for your K-12 students with anytime, anywhere Internet access. Connectivity for School Buildings Ensure every school building is connected to reliable Internet. School Bus Wi-Fi Off-Campus Access Extend the classroom for Students with school bus Wi-Fi. Provide access outside the classroom with Wi-Fi hotspots or LTE Chromebooks. Kajeet gives schools and districts the power to close the digital divide with: • CIPA-compliant, education-only Internet • Program control and visibility through the cloud portal, Sentinel® Contact Kajeet to learn more about • Dedicated support from the Kajeet ensuring digital equity for your students. Account Management team (240) 482-3500 | [email protected] From school to home, Kajeet has K-12 connectivity covered. www.kajeet.net/esn Guides K-12 Digital & Mobile Learning About eSN Guides About eSchool News Guides We are excited to bring you the latest in the eSchool News K-12 Guides series. eSchool News K-12 Guides are full of resources, tips, trends, and insights from indus- try experts on a variety of topics that are essential to the classroom, school, and district. The November Guide, the eSchool News K-12 Digital & Mobile Learning Guide, offers expert insight on the reasons digital and mobile learning support students’ aca- demic achievement and build the skills they’ll carry with them into the global economy. In the guide, we take a look at the various factors present in successful digital and mobile learning initiatives. Plus, we’re giving you tips to incorporate more digital resources into your instruction. Have you dreamed of using more digital tools and resources in your district’s class- rooms, but don’t know where to look for those resources? In the eSchool News K-12 Digital & Mobile Learning Guide, we’ve compiled a list of some of the most popular digital learning apps and websites. Do you want educators throughout your district to understand just how much digital equity impacts students? We explore this issue, which Thank you to our sponsors is vital to digital and mobile learning. for making this guide possible. We highlight examples of how real educators built their mobile learning must-have We appreciate your support! lists, and we’ve included a story highlighting the various ways that the federal E-rate program is essential in helping school IT leaders create robust and capable school infra- structure to support the highest quality digital learning initiatives. You also can find a complete list of digital and mobile learning partners and compa- nies in the guide. We’ll release a new guide at the beginning of each month, and we’ll feature content focused around each guide’s topic throughout the month. Stay tuned for eSchool News K-12 Guides on STEM learning and makerspaces, physical and network safety, online/blended learning, and more. Each guide also offers a comprehensive index of all the companies involved in that month’s specific focus area. We hope you’ll share this eSchool News K-12 Digital & Mobile Learning Guide with your colleagues and use it to learn a bit more about how every educator can fit digital and mobile learning into their classroom. Contents Marketplace Update Trending News The digital learning challenge that still vexes schools . .4 5 new strategies for digital content . .12 Trending News Digital learning is helping this school close achievement gaps . .13 10 awesome digital and mobile learning resources . .6 When the digital divide hits at school and at home . .14 3 amazing findings about digital and mobile learning . .7 Disrupting students’ opportunity gaps will hinge 3 essentials in a mobile learning environment . .8 on networks . .15 6 ways the E-rate supports digital and mobile learning . .9 Company Profiles . .17 5 strategies to tackle the homework gap . .10 About eSchool Media . .25 10 things to know about digital learning . .11 eSchool News Guide Calendar . .25 © eSchool Media Inc., All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. 3 K-12 Digital & Mobile Learning Marketplace Update Guides Marketplace Update The digital learning challenge that still vexes schools Finding real value in edtech is something schools continue to struggle with—here’s why. BY DENNIS PIERCE Here’s a closer look at what the sur- The latest Speak Up survey findings vey reveals about the state of digital from Project Tomorrow reveal how far learning in U.S. schools, where it falls schools have come in making digital short — and how one forward-thinking learning available to every student — and school system is achieving success. how far they still have to go to realize the What the survey shows full value of their edtech investment. Although the survey indicates that stu- Nearly three-fifths of administrators dents in a majority of schools are now who took part in last year’s Speak Up 6-12 say they use Google tools on a given a mobile device to use in class, there survey (57 percent) say their students weekly basis and six in 10 report taking are mixed signals about the value this are given a mobile device for learning in weekly online assessments, students use adds to their learning. For instance, when school, and 38 percent say students are other types of digital resources less fre- asked to identify the benefits of digital allowed to take their device home with quently. Only one in five middle school learning for students, 86 percent of teach- them. The type of device varies by students uses digital primary-source doc- ers and 93 percent of principals cited grade level, the survey indicates, with uments, animations, simulations, or virtu- greater engagement as the most signifi- the youngest students more likely to use al labs as part of his or her regular school- cant outcome, instead of stronger indica- a tablet and older students more likely work — and a majority of students (58 tors of success such as deeper learning or to use a Chromebook. percent) say they rarely or never access more sophisticated student work. In fact, the survey not only shows a these online tools. Julie Evans, CEO of Project sharp rise in mobile learning over the “These types of digital content repre- Tomorrow, believes schools aren’t see- last five years; it also reveals how sent learning activities that cannot be eas- ing enough value from digital learning Chromebooks have replaced laptops as ily replicated without the use of technol- because there are too few transforma- the main device of choice for middle ogy. For example, students can potential- tional uses of technology happening in and high schools. ly learn about the Civil War’s impact on schools today. In 2014, 50 percent of middle the families of both Union and “Too often, classroom technology schoolers said their primary access to Confederate soldiers by reading their implementations aim to mirror or repli- technology was in a computer lab. Now, textbook. But a more in-depth and rele- cate traditional learning modalities, just 25 percent of students in grades 6-8 vant learning experience can be gained by such as using a mobile device to take say their edtech access depends on a accessing primary-source photographs notes or take a class poll,” Evans writes visit to the library or computer lab. and letters written by soldiers to their in a briefing paper about the survey Sixty-four percent say they use a families through the National Archives results. “It’s difficult to demonstrate Chromebook in class — a 138-percent website,” Evans observes. value or justify a return on investment growth in student Chromebook use in “Similarly, it’s becoming increasing- with these substitution-type activities.” just four years, Project Tomorrow says. ly challenging for schools to provide In schools where digital learning is With classroom access to a mobile students with authentic science lab most successful, she says, leaders have device becoming more prevalent, “we experiences. Virtual labs, animations, clearly articulated instructional goals and would expect to see frequent usage by and simulations provide a unique oppor- are focused on using digital devices to sup- students of various online resources,” tunity for students to experience real- port personalized learning, student inquiry, Evans writes. “However, that’s not nec- world experiments and bring meaning creativity and collaboration, and other uses essarily the case.” to abstract concepts that cannot be repli- of technology that are more mature. While 83 percent of students in grades cated in the natural world.” 4 © eSchool Media Inc., All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. Guides K-12 Digital & Mobile Learning Marketplace Update Moving beyond engagement normal to see kids using a blend of learn- implemented the project. “It’s very When asked how technology bene- ing approaches,” Just says. “There is a lot powerful for students to see their ideas fits student learning, educators most less lecturing and more student creation come to life,” Wilson says. often mention increased student and collaboration. Students are in charge The key to realizing value in digital engagement as the primary value. of their own learning and are working on learning is to provide support structures Although research links student engage- inquiry-driven tasks. We think the four Cs that enable teachers and students to use ment with improved outcomes, teachers — communication, collaboration, cre- technology in truly transformational and administrators should be focusing ativity, and critical thinking — are a good ways.