HUGE News! Find the Best Educational Apps NOW!

Posted on August 8, 2013 by karen mahon

Balfire-Labs-Logo-RGB-300pxToday’s the day we’ve all been waiting for, so I hope you’ll forgive my overflowing giddiness! Yes, today, my new business, Balefire Labs, launches!!

Parents and teachers, we can help you find the educational apps that provide the best instruction for your kids. By subscribing to the Balefire Labs service, you will have access to more than 1200 reviews of PreK-12 educational apps for iOS. We use science-based, objective review criteria and, because we apply the same criteria to all apps, you can compare apps directly to one another in our comparison charts!

So I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your support as I’ve made this journey as an entrepreneur…well, an EDUpreneur, really. Many of you have sent kind, encouraging notes and it has meant the world to me. I couldn’t have done this without my friends and colleagues (and I count you all among them) cheering me on!

Here’s how you can continue to help!

Visit our website and subscribe!

Like our Facebook page and share our information with your Facebook friends!

Follow us on Twitter @BalefireLabs and retweet our tweets!

Follow our company page on LinkedIn!

I definitely can’t do this alone. I’m on a mission to help parents and teachers navigate this crazy world of educational apps, and further, to help kids get access to apps that actually teach! Please join me on this adventure! And THANKS!

 

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Teachers LOVE Technology!

Posted on August 5, 2013 by karen mahon

Here’s a really cool infographic to kick off your week, from the folks at OnlineUniversities.com! Continue reading →

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Diane Ravitch Doesn’t Understand EdTech Entrepreneurism

Posted on July 28, 2013 by karen mahon

part of the solutionI really try my best not to read what Diane Ravitch writes. I usually disagree with her and I find her to be quite inflammatory, and not in a good way.

But this time I feel like I really need to speak up.

Ravitch wrote a piece for Scientific American that appears in the July 31, 2013 edition, which is already available on the website. In the article, entitled “3 Dubious Uses of Technology in Schools,” she criticizes three major developments in ed tech: online virtual schools, automatic grading of essays and the storage of student personal data in the cloud. Continue reading →

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A snapshot of Google’s uphill battle getting Android into schools

Posted on July 19, 2013 by karen mahon

In spite of a lot of interest in Android tablets, it looks like iPads are still the much preferred mobile device in for the classroom. Here is some of the latest information from GigaOM. These numbers might surprise you!

Ki Mae Heussner's avatarGigaom

In May at its annual developer conference, Google (s GOOG) announced plans to launch a new Android app store, called Google Play for Education, for teachers this fall. But there’s some new evidence that it’s in for a tough battle with Apple (s AAPL).

According to a new survey, iPads are far and away the most desired mobile device among educators. When asked which devices their districts had adopted or planned to adopt in the next one or two years, 81 percent of educators said the iPad, compared with just 31 percent for a Google Chromebook (and 20 percent for an iPod Touch).

That’s not surprising given Apple’s aggressive push in education – last year, it sold 4.5 million iPads to schools and reported one billion downloads for iTunes U. But it gives an indication of just how big a gap Google may have to close. The survey involved…

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Ed App Reviews: Will My Kid Like It?

Posted on July 16, 2013 by karen mahon

I’ve noticed something pretty interesting in ed tech. I’m wondering if you’ve noticed it too. There are people out there in ed tech who think it’s meaningful to recommend a product according to whether it is liked by their own kids or students. And I think that’s so….well…strange.

Don’t get me wrong. I think that learning can definitely be fun and that we, as instructional designers, educators and teachers, can do an awful lot to create materials that kids are likely to enjoy. I just think it’s meaningless for a product reviewer to tell me that my kids are going to like a product just because their kids (or students) did. Here’s why: Continue reading →

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EdTech Reviews: What is an “Objective” Criterion?

Posted on July 6, 2013 by karen mahon

magnifying glassFor most people this will probably be an incredibly boring post. You’ve been warned. For others, like me, who are very concerned with language in science, and precision of language, this is the post for you.

I’ve always described our review criteria on Balefire Labs as “objective.” But lately I’ve been noticing that a lot of other edtech review sites describe their criteria as objective. And I don’t think their criteria are all that objective. So I wanted to dig into that here and ask for your help in thinking it through. Continue reading →

Posted in App Reviews & Recs, Balefire Labs, Instructional Design | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

What is Student Engagement? And What Should it Be?

Posted on July 2, 2013 by karen mahon

motion with progressMaybe those seems like weird questions. But they’ve been bouncing around in my head for a while now. I hear a lot of people talk about student engagement as a goal, but I get the impression that not everyone means it in the same way. So what is it? Is it showing interest? Paying attention? Spending time doing something? I’m just not sure. So I thought I’d dig into it a bit. Continue reading →

Posted in App Reviews & Recs, Instructional Design, Learner Behavior, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

When is Enough, Enough in Education?

Posted on June 20, 2013 by karen mahon

This post was written by Dr. Aubrey Daniels and originally appeared on his blog, Aubrey’s Blog. It is reposted here, with his permission and my appreciation.

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aubrey's blogOn NPR this week I heard a report of a study on teacher education in the US. The study evaluated over 1400 colleges of education and found that 7 out of 10 are doing a poor job in teaching reading! They do a worse job with other basic subjects like English, math, science and history. Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, says, “Right now, much of higher ed believes that it’s not their job to have a teacher be ready for the classroom on Day 1.” Joshua P. Starr, the superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools, said he is concerned that the new ratings amount to teacher bashing. Mr. Starr misses the point; it is not about the teachers at all but about the poor training in Universities and the management of teachers in local school systems. He seems not to understand that he is one of the people being bashed. Continue reading →

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What’s the Trend for Technology Use in the Classroom?

Posted on June 13, 2013 by karen mahon

A few weeks ago I met a woman who asked me about “the recent trend in pulling technology out of elementary school classrooms.” For a minute I was kind of speechless. Then I tried to explain to her that all of the data I have seen don’t support that assertion. It was pretty clear she didn’t believe me. I won’t say who that woman was or where I met her, but let’s just say it mattered. It was not a casual encounter. This post is for that woman… Continue reading →

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Are MOOCs and Competency-Based Learning on a Collision Course?

Posted on June 11, 2013 by karen mahon

collisionLet’s just be clear: Massive Open Online Courseware (MOOC) and Competency-Based Learning (CBL) are not the same thing. They both claim to be “personalized” learning, but that personalization is expressed in completely different ways. In the case of the MOOC, the personalization is in choosing courses that you’re interested in and being able to access those courses, regardless of where you live. In the case of CBL, the personalization is in the administration of the instruction; the learner‘s task is to master specific competencies by demonstrating skills to a criterion. The path to that mastery is adjusted based on the particular learner’s needs, thus, personalization. Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments