Education IT News For VARs — December 11, 2014
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
In news this week is a post that looks at the debate over who actually calls the shots in educational IT spending. Also, the Chromebook is dominating the educational technology marketplace and blended learning has ROI for math education.
Solutions Providers And K-12 Officials Face Off Over Who Controls School Purchasing
This blog post from Education Week takes a look at who actually controls purchasing decisions in school districts. According to the post, a recent study of district procurement demonstrates that solutions providers and district officials often have very different perspectives regarding who is calling the shots.
Chromebook Sales To Schools Skyrocket
This article from Education Week reports the Chromebook is dominating the U.S. K-12 educational marketplace, comprising 35 percent of all personal computing devices sold to schools during the third quarter of 2014. This is a new high for the Chromebook, and it also represents the second quarter that the Chromebook has outsold iPads to schools.
Study Shows Personalized, Blended Program Aids Struggling Math Students
Digital Education reports that a new study from Teachers College, Columbia University, has demonstrated that middle school students who participated in a blended-learning math program achieved significant gains in math skills, compared with those at the lowest-achieving levels making the largest gains after using the Teach to One: Math program. Blended learning incorporates online instruction along with other teaching methods — requiring solutions in the classroom.
Higher Ed Tech Trends To Watch In 2015
This article from Education Dive examines the 13 higher education technology developments to watch closely in 2015, from companies that could emerge as leaders in the field. They include Biometric Signature ID, Capella University’s FlexPath, Civitas Learning, Colorado Technical University’s Intellipath, Ellucian, Excelsior College’s OWL, Hitachi ID Systems, iDashboards, Johnson County Community College’s Learning Studios, Respondus, Skillsoft, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s U-Pace, and Verificent Technologies. Each has been recently recognized for the innovation.
Education IT Talking Points:
According to Tech Crunch, Apple is participating in the Second Annual Hour of Code, a worldwide event geared to generate interest in and provide access to coding education among students. Apple will offer free one-hour workshops at its Apple Store retail locations today. In addition, Apple is offering a weeklong list of speakers and other events to support Computer Science Education Week.
For more news and insights, visit BSMinfo’s Education IT Resource Center.