Facebook’s Psychological Experiments. Each week, Educating Modern Learners will pick one interesting current event – whether it’s news about education, technology, politics, business, science, or culture – and help put it in context for school leaders, explaining why the news matters and how it might affect teaching and learning (in the short or in the long […]
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Educator (and EML regular contributor) Lee Skallerup Bessette writes about what it means to “foster independent learning” in an educational climate with restrictive curriculum, high-stakes assessments, and mandated standards. Here she offers concrete steps for engaging students in the decision-making that happens in the classroom, giving them more agency and a larger stake in their
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“College readiness.” One one hand, the meaning of the term is clear: it’s “the combination of skills, knowledge, and habits of mind necessary to fully participate in college-level courses (courses at the 100 level and above) to completion.” But as the phrase has become so deeply intertwined with political rhetoric and education policy, its meaning
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Student Loan Debt: Is It Really a “Crisis”? Each week, Educating Modern Learners will pick one interesting current event – whether it’s news about education, technology, politics, business, science, or culture – and help put it in context for school leaders, explaining why the news matters and how it might affect teaching and learning (in the short
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Following a recent killing spree in Isla Vista, California, the Twitter hashtag #YesAllWomen opened up a frank and public discussion about women’s experiences with sexual assault and harassment. But what about girls? Lee Skallerup Bessette talks about the harassment, often hidden, that happens in schools, and how we can help develop a better culture —
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What do we mean by “self-directed learning”? Who gets to undertake it? All kids? How do we make sure that when we promote “self-directed learning” that we’re opening up possibilities for all students and not foreclosing possibilities for some. In this article, Sylvia Martinez looks at the ways in which gender plays a role in
A Free College Degree for Starbucks Employees? Each week, Educating Modern Learners will pick one interesting current event – whether it’s news about education, technology, politics, business, science, or culture – and help put it in context for school leaders, explaining why the news matters and how it might affect teaching and learning (in the short
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We hear it a lot in the media: there is a “skills gap.” There are not enough workers with the right skills to fill jobs, particularly STEM-related ones. And the prediction: the future will be even more dire. The finger is often pointed at schools — both K-12 and higher education — as failing to
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What will the future of higher education look like? And in the midst of uncertainty as to how to answer that question, how do we prepare students for college? (Or do we?) In this article, Bryan Alexander explores the changing landscape of higher education — new demands and needs for knowledge, skills, networks, credentials. How
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Vergara v California Each week, Educating Modern Learners will pick one interesting current event – whether it’s news about education, technology, politics, business, science, or culture – and help put it in context for school leaders, explaining why the news matters and how it might affect teaching and learning (in the short or in the
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What do we mean by “personalization” in education and in ed-tech? The term has become a popular buzzword to talk about the potential for technologies to reshape how we teach and learn and to challenge a traditional model of “one size fits all” education. But what exactly does that challenge entail? EML editor Audrey Watters
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On lists of the most important trends in education technology, you’ll often find “adaptive learning” and its promise that technologies will be able to “adapt” instruction and assessment to individual students. In this article, EML editor Audrey Watters offers an “explainer,” an introduction to adaptive learning, the research behind, the companies building it, and the
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Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference: Each week, Educating Modern Learners will pick one interesting current event – whether it’s news about education, technology, politics, business, science, or culture – and help put it in context for school leaders, explaining why the news matters and how it might affect teaching and learning (in the short or in
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Randolph-Macon College psychology professor Cedar Riener wrote one of the first (and most popular) articles here on Educating Modern Learners: “Should We Build a Brain-Based School?” He returns here to continue the discussion and to talk about the ways in which what we know about cognitive science might in turn shape our classroom pedagogies. (Or
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The “quantified self movement” seeks to use technology to track and analyze personal data in order to glean insights about oneself. In this article, EML editor Audrey Watters writes about what, if anything, the “quantified self” might offer for learning. Can this movement help us frame discussions about learning analytics in such a way as
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