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School leaders: Have you mastered social media?

2/14/2019 Topics:

We’ve come a long way from when schools and districts frowned on social media use. Today, school and district leaders are embracing social media to their stories.

5 tips to get started with technology planning

1/30/2019 Topics: Essential Conditions

Whether your school, district or state has a stand-alone educational technology plan or integrates this plan into its cycle of improvement planning, it’s good to start with the Essential Conditions.

9 tips for a robust discussion on student data privacy

1/28/2019 Topics: Online safety & security Technology infrastructure

Educators around the world are encouraged to have robust discussions with parents and students regarding student data privacy.

Edcamps are redefining professional learning

1/9/2019 Topics:

Edcamps — participatory, teacher-driven professional learning events — are multiplying on a national and international scale, creating local and global communities of passionate educators.

The 10 best edtech posts of 2018

12/31/2018 Topics: Coding & robotics Digital citizenship Tools

What do educators love to read about? Judging from the most popular posts that appeared on the ISTE Blog in 2018, they are looking for ideas and strategies for using technology in meaningful ways.

8 ways to establish shared vision

12/20/2018 Topics: 1:1 Learning spaces Standards

Getting stakeholders on board with your vision is a critical component to keeping your school or district moving forward and ensuring the success of a large-scale change effort.

6 benefits of curriculum mapping

8/9/2018 Topics:

Curriculum mapping lets educators collect and record curriculum-related data that identifies the core skills and content taught, the processes employed and the assessments used for each subject area and grade level.

Open resources help CTE programs keep up with changes

3/8/2018 Topics: Curriculum

Since most schools can’t afford to update their instructional materials every time technology disrupts an industry, a growing number of CTE instructors are turning to open educational resources (OER) for help.

No internet at home? Tap into your community to narrow the digital divide

2/8/2018 Topics: Advocacy

Rowan-Salisbury Schools in North Carolina got community businesses and organizations to help provide internet to students when school was out.

What’s missing from mobile learning

7/15/2017 Topics: 1:1 Mobile learning Professional learning

Before mobile learning can make an impact on student achievement, teachers need to learn new instrutional strategies.

6 ways to get teacher buy-in for flipping a school

6/26/2017 Topics:

Though flipped learning can be executed by one teacher in a class with little support from administrators, it’s not ideal. It’s time for schools, and especially school leaders, to set up systems that ensure maximal success for teachers.

All educators can adopt a coaching mindset

6/22/2017 Topics: ISTE Conference & Expo

Educators are trained to fix things. If we build educators' capacity to fix their own problems, that's called a a coaching mindset.

Get parents involved with mobile learning

6/9/2017 Topics: 1:1 Mobile learning

The success of a mobile learning initiative hinges on parental support.

5 things schools can learn from food trucks

6/2/2017 Topics: Personalized learning

Food trucks are fun, mobile, simple, specialized and experiential. Why can't schools be more like them?

Accessible mobile learning: 3 mistakes to avoid

5/5/2017 Topics: 1:1 Mobile learning

Accessibility is a key factor in the success of any mobile learning program, yet teachers are often left scrambling to meet the needs of students with disabilities.

5 things every educator should know about digital equity

4/12/2017 Topics:

Digital equity involves making sure all students have equal access to technology like devices, software and the internet, as well as trained educators to help them navigate those tools. Find out how the digital divide affects students with learning and physical challenges, minorities, girls, and those from low-income and rural communities.

Keep remote students connected through virtual learning experiences

4/5/2017 Topics:

The remote Kodiak Island Borough School District’s virtual learning system connects students with instructors, other students and learning experiences around Alaska and the nation.

How moonshot thinking transformed a school

2/23/2017 Topics: 1:1 Education leadership Essential Conditions

Find out how award-winning educator Fanny Passeport revolutionized learning at her school using design thinking.

What being a connected educator does for students

2/22/2017 Topics: Project-based learning

Human beings have a lot of collective problems to solve, and kids have a certain creative magic that allows them to dream up answers adults would never think of. Why we should turn to students for help.

Blended learning transformed our school

2/7/2017 Topics: Personalized learning

Blended learning enrichment courses have helped us personalize learning for our youngest students.

What kind of an educator are you?

2/3/2017 Topics: ISTE Conference & Expo

There are four types of educators in classrooms today. Where you land among them determines how well you are helping students become future ready.

The path to personalized learning

2/1/2017 Topics: Personalized learning

Personalized learning done right is critical to helping students develop the skills they need to succeed in college and beyond.

Digital citizenship is more important than ever

10/23/2016 Topics: Digital citizenship

In the third edition of Digital Citizenship in Schools, author Mike Ribble explains how to teach using REP: respect, educate and protect.

5 ways to crowdsource ideas for choosing the right technology

10/14/2016 Topics: 1:1 Tools

Before you embark on a district 1:1 initiative, make sure you're getting buy-in from all stakeholders. Here are five ways to crowdsource ideas so you know you're making the right technology decisions.

4 tips to help CTOs handle their expanding roles

9/23/2016 Topics: Education leadership Technology infrastructure

Long responsible for managing infrastructure for the business office and school sites, as well as the organization's devices, today's CTOs and IT directors are also in charge of forecasting, budgeting and understanding their organization's curricular focus. Using technology to automate and streamline will make the job easier.

Will educators get virtual reality right?

8/31/2016 Topics:

Virtual reality provides an opportunity for learning that is exponentially greater than any previous digital technology and it's imperative that educators jump on the bandwagon now.

5 steps administrators can take to improve tech decision-making

8/30/2016 Topics:

When administrators don't have a clear vision and don't understand the technology terminology, they make poor decisions or let others make decisions for them. That's when the technology goes nowhere. Administrators can follow these five steps to ensure the are making sound tech decisions.

School leaders: You can transform learning!

6/25/2016 Topics: ISTE Conference & Expo

Digital age learning is authentic, empowered, caring — and necessary. Here are four reasons why school leaders should jump on the transformation band wagon.

5 ways to empower your students

5/31/2016 Topics: ISTE Conference & Expo

The key to motivating students boils down to engagement. Empowerment involves bringing meaning, competence, confidence and choice into students’ daily lives.

5 ways to help kids rein in digital distractions

5/10/2016 Topics:

Digital devices kill attention and focus, not just for adults but for kids too. Try these five tips for avoiding digital distraction.

6 resources for fostering global education

4/28/2016 Topics:

How do educators teach the skills and competencies that fall under the large umbrella of global learning? Here are six resources that offer perspectives, lessons and project ideas that you can use to enhance your students' global awareness.

Learn how 1 district transformed learning for 2,200 students

4/19/2016 Topics:

Gurnee School District near Chicago gave every student an iPad, personalized learning and improved test scores. Learn how they did it.

Learning by Design: The idea that moved a district

4/11/2016 Topics: Assessment Essential Conditions Personalized learning

Staff at Surrey Schools in British Columbia, Canada, transformed their district by moving to a learning-by-design approach that focused on student-centered learning, professional learning communities and digital assessments.

Find out what the U.S. ed secretary thinks about ed tech, testing and digital equity

3/31/2016 Topics:

In an interview in the April issue of entrsekt, U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. talks about his vision for U.S. schools.

5 things school leaders need to know before going mobile

3/16/2016 Topics:

If you’re a school leader thinking about embarking on a mobile learning initiative, there’s one thing you need to consider before you even think about devices, curricula and stakeholders. It's your mindset.

7 sensational ways to use OERs

3/10/2016 Topics:

Open educational resources are changing the face of learning and teaching. These are some of our favorite free resources, along with advice from educators about how to use them with students.

5 things every student (and teacher) should know about email scams

2/22/2016 Topics: Digital citizenship Technology infrastructure

Lessons on online safety often focus on cyberbullying, predators and privacy. But there’s another realm of digital citizenship that’s equally vital for students to understand: online scams and hacking.

Invite your students to shape the new ISTE Standards

1/31/2016 Topics:

Are the new draft ISTE Standards for Students relevant and interesting for students? What better way to find out than to ask them! Anna Baralt did and you should, too. Here's how.

5 ways to get parents engaged

1/6/2016 Topics:

Behavioral problems are an issue at every school, whether it be urban or rural; low, middle or high income; traditional or nontraditional in format. Read how the Billingsville Leadership Academy in Charlotte, North Carolina, turned things around and improved school culture.

Now’s the time to speak up

11/5/2015 Topics: Education leadership Mobile learning Online learning Professional learning

Since 2003, Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up survey has generated valuable data about student, parent and teacher use of technology in education that has influenced public policy and informed district tech integration plans. Participate in Speak Up 2015 now!

Are you a future-ready connected educator?

10/30/2015 Topics:

Is your school future ready? As Connected Educator Month wraps up, keep the learning going year-round by adopting the characteristics that future-ready educators have in common.

How to think like a teacherpreneur

10/29/2015 Topics:

Teacherpreneurs are innovative, they are willing to go off script to bring new ideas into the classroom and they all possess a certain drive or attitude that pushes them.

Transforming with tech? Get everyone on board

10/14/2015 Topics: Education leadership

Before embarking on a school- or districtwide tech initiative, it's critical to get buy-in from teachers, leaders, parents, community members, and, yes, students.

Connect with Project ReimaginED

10/12/2015 Topics: Standards

Project ReimaginED is a professional learning community focused on connecting the ISTE Standards to the Common Core.

Leading change requires a specific kind of connectivity

10/5/2015 Topics: Education leadership ISTE Conference & Expo

It’s connectivity to people that will allow education leaders to change learning and teaching, according to S. Dallas Dance, superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools.

What is your district doing to bridge the homework gap?

10/1/2015 Topics:

Rural and high-poverty districts are finding ways around the "homework gap" by creating hot spots and providing devices.

Dale Dougherty: Next stop for making? Classrooms everywhere

9/22/2015 Topics: Makerspaces

Dale Dougherty, executive chairman of Maker Media, founder of MAKE Magazine and a key player in the maker movement wants to bring making to more classrooms and more students.

Develop a growth mindset to turn tech frustrations into tech opportunities

9/9/2015 Topics:

Educators can develop their own growth mindset when it comes to technology implementation by seeking out mentors and persevering when things go wrong.

What if digital age teachers were matched with forward-thinking schools?

8/28/2015 Topics:

Preservice teachers and teacher candidates should be matched up with schools that match their level of skills and philosophy around ed tech.

It’s time to demystify computational thinking

7/30/2015 Topics: Computational thinking

In the universe of computer science, the definition and application of computational thinking is widely acknowledged as a pathway to problem solving, easily transferable to other academic subjects and even everyday life.

How to develop teacher leadership in your school

7/20/2015 Topics:

Teachers have long been leaders in their classrooms. Now they are being asked to apply those leadership skills among their colleagues and to advocacy at the national level.

Hotly contested: Should coding be mandatory?

6/30/2015 Topics: Coding & robotics Curriculum Education leadership ISTE Conference & Expo

Advocates for making computer science a mandatory part of school curriculum talked it out with district leaders at the first Point-Counterpoint Debate: Coding in the Curriculum.

How to fail successfully

6/28/2015 Topics: Education leadership ISTE Conference & Expo

Educators have to learn to embrace failure in order for education to move forward.

Build student-centered learning the right way

6/28/2015 Topics: ISTE Conference & Expo

Lead & Transform panelists discuss how to give the classroom — and the learning — back to the students.

4 strategies for guiding people through change

5/29/2015 Topics: Education leadership ISTE Conference & Expo

All healthy organizations, from schools and districts to businesses, experience constant change. It's leadership's job to help others share in the vision so they are able to self-navigate.

Technology leaders: Do you have the Tech Trinity of Expertise?

5/15/2015 Topics:

Today’s technology leaders need to possess the Tech Trinity of Expertise: technical, administrative and instructional skills.

The case for project-based learning

4/29/2015 Topics: Project-based learning

Far from an educational flash in the pan, project-based learning has been proven to engage and motivate learners, improve comprehension and retention, aid the transfer of knowledge to new contexts, lead to better collaboration, and help students master critical-thinking skills.

Support your 1:1 program with a student tech team

4/21/2015 Topics: 1:1 BYOD Education leadership Mobile learning

Giving tech-savvy students training and credit to act as an onsite help desk can provide an invaluable real-world skill-building experience while supplementing a school’s IT resources.

Create a secure tech environment

3/27/2015 Topics: Technology infrastructure

Abbie H. Brown and Tim D. Green have created a process that district leaders can follow to make effective decisions about technology use to keep students safe while enriching learning.

Learn how to drive learning with mobile tech

3/20/2015 Topics: 1:1 Education leadership Mobile learning Professional learning Technology infrastructure

The Verizon Mobile Learning Academy is a rigorous 10-week course designed to teach teams of educators how to effectively implement mobile technology in a school or district.

Online learning landscape becoming more regulated

2/24/2015 Topics: Online learning Standards

Understanding the K-12 online environment requires an awareness of state and federal policies and legislation that influence teacher qualifications, curriculum and accountability for student outcomes. Here’s a short FAQ to help you navigate.

Overwhelmed by online learning? We’ve got answers!

1/30/2015 Topics: Online learning

The growth of online learning in PK-12 education has expanded brick-and-mortar schools to include a virtual learning environment far beyond the boundaries of the traditional classroom.

Create a community of kindness in your school

1/27/2015 Topics: Digital citizenship

Digital citizenship is too important to be restricted to the classroom. Teach educators, parents and students how to support each other in a community of kindness that spans both their online and offline lives.

Liven up PD with a Digital Skills Workshop

1/23/2015 Topics:

When college journalism students worked with high school students to create video stories, the result was The Digital Skills Workshop, a professional development course that shows educators how to lead their students in digital storytelling.

6 elements of a successful iPad implementation

11/17/2014 Topics: 1:1 Mobile learning Professional learning

Boulder Valley School District’s creative approach to implementing 1:1 iPads includes enticing public funders by providing equitable access to digital devices.

Take aim at innovation, with students in the center

11/12/2014 Topics: Personalized learning

Innovation shouldn’t look like a tablet or a laptop. It should look like a learning environment where students — with teachers at their side — choose their learning targets and aim to hit them.

Search for learning resources like a pro

10/16/2014 Topics: Personalized learning

The Learning Resource Metadata Initiative can help you tame your unwieldy internet searches and zero in on the right educational resources for every student.

Put students in charge of their learning

8/21/2014 Topics: Personalized learning Project-based learning

The results-only learning environment engages students by letting them choose the digital tools they will use to create their own assignments and learning.

Five inspiring EdTekTalks

8/15/2014 Topics:

Inspiring leaders from a range of fields shared insights and connected dots to education during the ISTE 2014 EdTekTalks.

Make the most of student data

7/31/2014 Topics: Assessment Education leadership Professional learning

Student data has the potential to completely revolutionize education. But it is only as effective as an educator’s ability to use it. Here are five things leaders must provide to help their staff make the most of data systems.

Leading a school of innovation and design

6/10/2014 Topics: Education leadership Learning spaces Personalized learning Project-based learning

Propel Braddock Hills High School is integrating elements of design thinking, student-centered learning, passion-based learning and community involvement to create an environment that engages, supports and prepares students for the digital age.

This is what personalized learning looks like!

6/9/2014 Topics: Digital citizenship Personalized learning Project-based learning Standards

The Digital Learning Center – designed to create “world class thinkers” – offers integrated thematic units in a student-centered classroom that allows for deep levels of differentiation.

If you can flip a classroom, you can flip a district

5/28/2014 Topics: 1:1 Assessment Flipped learning Mobile learning Personalized learning Professional learning Technology infrastructure

A districtwide iPad implementation allows educators and teacher to embrace flipped learning and incorporate a project-based approach across all grades and subject areas.

All ISTE Blog Topics

Most popular

Computational thinking for all

10/31/2018 Topics: Computational thinking

ISTE and the Computer Science Teachers Association collaborated on a series of resources designed to help prepare young learners to become computational thinkers who understand how today's digital tools can help solve tomorrow's problems.

The 9 hottest topics in edtech

4/25/2018 Topics: ISTE Conference & Expo

The most compelling topics among educators who embrace technology for learning and teaching are not about the tech at all, but about the students. And that’s a good thing.

9 resources for teaching digital citizenship

12/25/2018 Topics: 1:1 Assessment Augmented reality BYOD Coding & robotics Computational thinking Digital citizenship Digital citizenship Digital storytelling Flipped learning Gamification Gaming Makerspaces Online learning Professional learning Technology infrastructure Tools

Most educators recognize the need for digital citizenship, but many are at a loss for how to teach it. Here are some resources to help.

8 STEM tools you can use for any subject

12/6/2018 Topics: Makerspaces STEM & STEAM

Choosing the right STEM tools for your students can be intimidating. Here’s a short guide to the factors you should consider, from grade level and subject area to cost.

Turn your classroom into a personalized learning environment

2/21/2019 Topics: Assessment Flipped learning Online learning Personalized learning Standards Video

Today’s technology makes personalized learning an attainable goal. Here are five things to consider as you make the transition from a traditional classroom to a personalized learning environment.