Teacher Center Archives | Page 8 of 12

Technology in the Classroom: Best Questions to Ask Before Integration

Posted on August 3, 2021September 26, 2022 by Beth

There are so many developments in technology becoming a factor in how schools develop their curriculum. So it can be difficult to discern which technologies to implement and how effective they will be.

We’ve collected questions from our customers that are key when deciding whether or not to integrate technology into your school.

Will this help all students think and learn more deeply?

This is a great question! Not just because education is how students develop crucial critical thinking skills. But it also helps teachers differentiate instruction to help every student access that thinking instead of only some.

What student outcomes are you working towards?

You might ask this when you’re considering if an EdTech tool can and should be integrated into lessons. Ask yourself if that technology will help your students achieve specific curricular goals.

Is there ongoing support for this technology in the classroom?

Technology is constantly evolving, so we highly recommend that any tool you utilize is set up for ongoing support. No one wants to struggle to learn a new update without help!

How do you already use technology in the classroom?

This question depends on how you use technology with your students right now. The right EdTech tool has the potential to be a game-changer in digital skills learning. Consider how this technology will coexist alongside what you’re already using and how it will improve student learning outcomes.

How will this tech empower students to control their learning?

At BSD, we’ve designed our online platform to follow an experiential learning cycle that encourages them to explore, learn and create. As a result, students can apply the digital skills of coding, programming, and web development (among others), to what they are learning in the classroom and what they are interested in.

Is this a toy or a tool?

By definition, education technology should always be considered a learning tool, not something to entertain them digitally. So when asking this question, consider how this technology integrates understanding and real-world application. Is it based on a pedagogical foundation? How will you be able to teach your students with this technology? Is this preparing students to be future-ready? If the answer to any of these is no, then it’s likely that this platform should not be an EdTech tool for schools to consider.

Is this the best technology to prepare my students for the modern world?

Ah! This is one of the most essential questions because the reality is that your students are experiencing the modern world. Students have already been introduced to technology, and one day, they will soon be in jobs that likely don’t even exist. That means they need tech tools that teach them more digital skills.

What are some deciding factors for you when choosing an EdTech tool for your school? We’d like to hear from you. Please send us a message at info@bsd.education or leave a comment below!

How To Teach Adaptability In Your Classroom

Posted on July 27, 2021February 3, 2023 by Beth

Did you know as of 2021, 65% of our students will be in jobs that don’t even exist yet? At BSD Education, we talk a lot about preparing students for “the future of work”. But the reality is that many of us don’t know what that future necessarily looks like. So how can we prepare students?

By cultivating adaptability in the classroom.

Our students’ natural adaptability was put to the test during COVID as their education was hit by an evolution of technology overnight. While the unpredictability of education in the 2020/21 school year was often criticized, it’s also a reminder of the uncertainty our students are facing. Especially when they look ahead to their futures – from kindergarten to senior year.

Building more skills in adaptability while they are still in school will provide them with long-term benefits when the time comes that they need to pivot their skillsets and learn new technology at a moment’s notice.

This level of adaptability is an immeasurable resource for your student and teachers are uniquely placed to help build confidence in this area as a crucial skill they will need in the future.

Not only does it help them adapt to new situations and develop new skills more quickly, but adaptable students also are more likely to have higher self-confidence and satisfaction in their lives.

Teachers have a collective responsibility to prepare their students to embrace and adapt to challenge and change. To better prepare them for the future of work, we’ve collected a few of our favorite strategies for fostering adaptability in schools.

Teach Resilience

Adaptability and resilience go hand in hand! Resilience is the ability to overcome challenges with a positive impact, but it’s also a mindset that should be developed early in life.

If something negatively impacts your student – whether it’s falling behind on grades or later on, not getting into the college they were hoping for – they always fall back on their resilience and find creative ways to push forward and improve. In a world where technology changes on a dime, this skill will be incredibly beneficial to your students.

As their teacher, you can help to foster this by encouraging them to find creative solutions to their problems and provide a safe environment to explore new ideas.

Promote Self-Regulation

Students as they grow into adulthood will need to learn how to manage their emotional thinking, especially when faced with challenges.

This is a teachable skill that gives them the ability to handle unexpected situations without obvious frustration. Teachers can reinforce this skill by educating students on how to set achievable goals, scaffolding, and other classroom activities.

Dispel the Fear of Failure

No one likes to fail and for many people, the idea of failure is absolutely devastating and debilitating for students and adults alike. There is always the risk of failing when a situation starts to change. It’s really a fear of the unknown and not wanting to do something that won’t be as successful as keeping the status quo.

But it’s important to remember – and teach students from a young age – that success comes from failing and learning from it. This can be taught through recognizing effort, building community among peers, asking questions, taking risks, and self-reflection.

By not being afraid of failure, students will be more motivated to learn and find interesting solutions to changes in an uncertain future.

Encourage Continuous Learning

Learning and developing new skills is something we experience throughout our lives, but when applied to a future workspace where change is rampant, this willingness to learn is what keeps you a few steps ahead.

Teachers can build this excitement for education with their students by indulging their curiosity and even displaying their own enthusiasm in a subject. Taking the metrics of education out of it can often encourage students to see a lesson in a new light.

This is something that they will carry with them throughout their lives and help foster critical thinking and creative problem-solving.

It’s impossible to prepare students for every eventuality. However, educators can foster adaptive skills and teach students how to respond to challenging, changing situations in positive ways. With this skill, students will grow into adulthood able to keep pace with unexpected situations and be more successful in future careers.

Learning Acceleration through Summer and After-school Programs

Posted on July 13, 2021November 2, 2022 by user

Making up for Learning Loss During the Pandemic

With classroom seats to be filled with students once again this fall, there is a sense we’re turning a corner. Although schools aren’t “normal,” reopening is upon us. And the opportunities to recover from learning loss due to the pandemic are now possible.

Learning acceleration is vital in recovering what learning that was lost during the pandemic. A task that will require schools to innovate in their approach to students. According to research by McKinsey & Company, students “lost the equivalent of three months of learning in mathematics and reading,” according to research by McKinsey & Company. Brittany Jenkins, the founder of We Are Tech, argues the impact of learning loss is more profound for communities of color. See this post where she outlines three ways to address the growing divide.

On average, students “lost the equivalent of three months of learning in mathematics and one-and-a-half months of learning in reading.”
McKinsey & Company

Simply put, students are behind, and now comes the time to help them recover. So how do we create environments for successful learning acceleration?

The After-school Solution to Learning Loss

This year, schools have limited resources to address learning loss, especially when summer and after-school programs significantly impact learning. Currently, K-12 students spend more than 80 percent of their waking hours learning outside of school. In contrast, according to the Afterschool Alliance, more than 10 million students nationwide rely on after-school programs.

The number of students and hours spent in after-school programs presents an opportunity, with research highlighting their effectiveness. This research reveals how critical they can be in accelerating learning for students. According to the Expanded Learning and Afterschool Project, regular after-school program attendance can  lower dropout rates and increase attendance, close achievement gaps for low-income students, improve performance in the classroom, and increase social, emotional well-being.

Build Meaningful Programs through Tech Education

While the general value of after-school programs is hard to argue, the quality of such programs is critical. Schools that integrate coding and digital skills learning can ensure learning loss is effectively addressed.

Digital skills are part of the solution. Digital skills like web, game, and app development are fun and engaging ways to reinforce core subjects through real-world application.

Another benefit of digital skills is enhancing skills like computational thinking, which can lift students’ abilities across subjects. This is an important benefit after an unconventional school year.

Addressing Learning Loss through Future-Proof Skills

Enhancing learning acceleration in core subjects allows schools to emphasize STEM careers and TechEd through OST programming. However, according to a recent iD Tech survey, 65% of parents with children in online or hybrid schools don’t believe the STEM offerings their child received during the pandemic meet their standards of quality, engaging activities.

65% of parents with children in online or hybrid school don’t believe the STEM offerings their child received during the pandemic meet their standards of quality, engaging activities.
iD Tech

Recognizing the need to future-proof their students, the Elementary Institute of Science (EIS) partnered with BSD Education. This partnership aims to integrate digital skills in their Steps-2-STEM after-school program.

One aspect will be expanding access to high-quality tech education, which will be made available through the partnership with BSD. Additionally, EIS provides STEM experiences that foster critical thinking and technical skills that encourage students to pursue STEM careers.

“This partnership with BSD will help level the playing field for many students who haven’t accessed these increasingly more important digital skills,” said Jim Stone, Executive Director at EIS. “Closing the digital divide is about more than hardware; it’s about creating digital literacy for everyone, and this partnership will help make this happen.”

A Partner for Learning Acceleration

Addressing learning loss due to the pandemic will take time and can’t be addressed through a single action or solution. However, quality summer and after-school programs will significantly reduce the impact of learning loss and helping students move forward. In addition, with the integration of tech education and digital skills, students can accelerate their progress.

Coding and other digital skills seem daunting, but teachers don’t need any tech experience to get started with BSD’s curriculum. Instead, we allow educators with expertise to increase their capacity and continue to innovate. Contact us today to develop a partnership that will help your students reach further and be future-ready.

How To Design a Culturally Relevant Curriculum

Posted on May 10, 2021November 2, 2022 by Beth

From my experience in teaching and from designing curriculum that is used all over the world, I have found that students appreciate and enjoy lessons that are tailored to their own cultures and backgrounds. This isn’t just my opinion, it’s also backed by peer-reviewed research. Renee Smith-Maddox, a researcher in the USA, has found that culturally relevant teaching practices were shown to have a positive impact on student achievement. (Smith-Maddox, 1998) Though, in a globally connected world, what does it mean to be culturally relevant?

There tends to be two major schools of thought about culturally relevant teaching practices. The first is to tailor instructional materials so that they fit into the culture of the child. The second is to expose children to a wide range of cultures through varied instructional materials. In my opinion, a well rounded culturally relevant curriculum would seamlessly integrate both of these ideas so that the culture of origin for the child is respected before introducing other cultures and values. Western education systems are often at fault for approaching culture in education as a form of colonization, requiring students to conform to the ideal culture of the school system rather than honoring native cultures and cultures of origin. Many educators and school systems have identified this problem and have adopted methods, practices and training to improve the curriculum in a way that respects all cultures.

At BSD Education we design curriculum that is used in classrooms all over the world. This presents a unique opportunity to infuse a multicultural approach to our lessons. We intentionally use examples and images from a wide range of cultures in our instructional materials. We also encourage teachers in our professional development sessions to modify and tailor the lessons to fit the needs of their own students. For example, in our “Learn How to Make Blog” lesson, the example blog is written from the perspective of a young Indian girl named Adsila who blogs about her favorite destinations and food in Southern India. Students will learn how to design and build the blog using HTML, CSS and JavaScript, but teachers can modify the content of the blog by providing new context and images if they wanted to show a different cultural example. This type of flexibility isn’t found in traditional textbooks that can never be edited or modified.

Christopher Edmin, in his book For White Folks Who Teach In the Hood asks educators if students can see themselves in the lesson? If not, what can you do to bring more awareness to the student’s own cultures through the lesson? Oftentimes, it’s as easy as adding a few examples or allowing students to share their own perspectives. In a world where cultures merge across physical borders and into schools, it is also important to realize the wide variety of cultures sitting in your classroom; how can you as a teacher respect and support them all while also allowing for those unique cultural differences to be seen and even celebrated?

We would love to hear your ideas about culturally relevant practices or see examples from you classrooms, feel free to share on Twitter by tagging @BarkMarnett and @EducationBSD

CARE Award Nominees Lead Way in Tech Education

Posted on April 30, 2021October 4, 2023 by user

To say 2020 was a difficult year for teachers is an understatement. All educators have overcome a variety of challenges, from general safety to maintaining engagement this year. At BSD Education, we would like to recognize those that have gone above and beyond. BSD is pleased to announce the nominees for the 2021 CARE Awards!

These teachers’ passion for their students has directly contributed to classroom success by integrating digital skills.

BSD Education is passionate about providing students with the technical capabilities and ethical practices to use digital tools for good. The CARE Award nominees come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. However, each represents one or more of BSD’s four core values: Curiosity, Adaptability, Resilience, and Empathy.

The public will choose CARE Award winners, and voting will take place from May 3-14. Meet this year’s CARE Award nominees below, then go cast a vote here.

Curiosity Nominees

Alicia Johal (San Diego Jewish Academy, California, US)
– In 2020, Alicia decided to combine BSD’s real-world coding projects with her school’s community service and mindfulness initiatives. The use of BSD Education to teach digital skills in the classroom while maintaining the school’s mission qualifies Alicia for a Curiosity nomination.

Chelsey Williams (International Community School, Singapore)
Chelsey’s classroom is never boring since she always tries new things and gives her students new experiences. Chelsey went above and beyond in 2020 to design fresh content and exciting activities for her Grade 6 and 8 students using BSD’s platform.

Nick Gurol (St. James School, Pennsylvania, US) –
Nick not only pushes his students to try new things and develop digital skills, but he also uses BSD Education’s platform to teach coding in the classroom. Nick has worked hard to develop his coding skills and deserves to be nominated in the Curiosity category.

Faizaa Fariya Hridi (Upskill, Bangladesh) – Faizaa spends time strengthening her own digital skills, which directly impacts her students’ improvement in the classroom. Faizaa wants to develop her students’ web and app development skills so they can prosper in our rapidly evolving digital world.

CARE Award Nominees: Adaptability

Meghan Baskerville (Ss. Colman-John Neumann School, Pennsylvania, US) – Meghan has taken on the challenges of teaching digital skills with BSD’s backing in 2020. Meghan has embraced new projects and teaching methods when introducing the coding curriculum, demonstrating her adaptability.

Richard Burkhill (The Rugby School, Thailand) – Richard shows adaptability by anticipating his students’ needs. Richard inspires creativity in his students by allowing them to modify their wor樂威壯 k using BSD, creating a learning environment.

Larisa Curran (South Island School, Hong Kong) – Larisa customizes her lessons to her students’ interests, enhancing classroom participation. Larisa, a gamer herself, uses BSD to teach her Y10 and Y11 students about real-life game development and media.

Tasha Birtha (Chester Charter Scholars Academy, Pennsylvania, US) – No coding experience? No problem! Tasha began using BSD with no prior coding expertise and is now confident enough to assist her students in building their own projects using real code.

CARE Award Nominees: Resilience

Erich Smith (Hopeworks, New Jersey, US) – In an unexpected year like 2020, Erich managed to keep tech education a priority. For his dedication to encouraging students to develop projects and use BSD’s platform to learn digital skills, Erich is a candidate for the Resiliency Award.

Deb Licorish (Haddonfield Middle School, New Jersey, US) – Deb is a hands-on code teacher who uses BSD to reinforce concepts with her students and help them learn ones. In no time, Deb adopts a new curriculum, giving her students digital abilities.

Dalia Alhaddad (Modern Knowledge School, Bahrain) – Dalia, an art and design teacher by training, has learned to code to implement a new technology program for her school. These abilities can help pupils prosper in today’s digital world.

Shasta Quilala (Good Samaritan College, Philippines) – Shasta, a teacher at Good Samaritan Colleges Philippines, has assisted her colleagues and students for over three years by helping them use BSD to teach coding and digital skills. She ensured that teachers were ready to help their students throughout the school closure.

CARE Award Nominees: Empathy

Vinita Saluja (AIT International School, Thailand) – Vinita has used her knowledge in technology and computer science to motivate and guide her colleagues to introduce coding into their classes using BSD. Getting digital skills has never been easier with such help.

David Ford (Cornerstone Christian Academy, Pennsylvania, US) – BSD helps any teacher in any subject to integrate digital skills into their curriculum and help their students be ready with 21st Century tools. As an example, David incorporated coding projects into his music class for students to showcase their favorite musicians, their studies of influential African American artists, and quiz each other on music trivia.

Jackie Mandel (Baldi Middle School, Pennsylvania, US) – Customizing projects and making them relevant for students keeps students engaged, and Jackie takes it to another level. She encouraged her students to develop significant connections to their assignments, even those who were first hesitant.

April Jean-Patric (Singapore International School, Hong Kong) – Some April students couldn’t attend live sessions due to school closures and internet access limitations. April went above and beyond to ensure these students were not left behind and provided them with advice and assistance.

6 Tech Practices to Improve Student Experience

Posted on February 19, 2021November 2, 2022 by user

We’ve had no end to the fantastic technology helping us along as the education landscape changes. However, as engagement and learning experiences have shifted, so have the ways we interact. Here are six tech practices in my classrooms that have improved the student experience this past year.

1. Be available outside of class (reasonably, of course)

If one of my students is showing interest outside of class, I want to meet them with the same level of zeal. So I check our online class chat as prep, which shows the students that go the extra mile that I’m there to work with them even when I don’t see them. And for the students that need a boost, I can review their work and get back to them before the next class, setting them up for better success for when we meet next.

2. Make specific tech practices meaningful through comments on work

Excellent job, and Keep it up are nice and all, but bookend the critical stuff when it comes to the student experience. When I call out specific aspects of a student’s project, I demonstrate that I can tell their work apart from their peers. When I make suggestions that inspire and guide, students are given a greater sense of direction. Commenting on a live document, referencing that individual line of code, or linking to additional resources, helps me integrate this practice with technology and goes beyond the traditional red marker on paper.

3. Email reminders

The occasional email to students can go a long way in improving the student experience and helping them succeed in class. For example, I have an in-person class that will occasionally meet online during snow days. After some absences and class link confusion, I decided a quick email might do the trick, and like magic, they now all show up.

4. Encourage, but don’t enforce, varying types of virtual participation

I’ve had virtual classrooms with students ranging from Kindergarten to 12th grade, and the variety in types and amount of interaction has been just as wide. Your school requirements notwithstanding, I aim to be approachable regarding things like “cameras on” and verbal participation. Virtual hand-raise or Zoom chat might not just be easier for you to manage, but the preferred way to speak up from the student. But if an AFK turns into an MIA, I’ll call them out on it. There’s a balance of comfort and accountability that’s important to maintain.

This year, some of my most successful periods have been when students share their screen, which I suppose is the new “standing in front of the class.” The level of individual engagement and class collaboration exceeds expectations when my students share what they’ve been working on. It’s even better when we do a bit of “bug hunting” and solve the coding mistake in a student’s project. I’ve had the same results when projecting student work for all to see in an in-person or hybrid class.

6. Virtual backgrounds and other goofiness

Sometimes the right background, emoji, or filter sets the mood just right, especially on a Friday. Your mileage may vary, but you know your kids best, so consider bringing some fun to a virtual class when needed. Just ensure them that you’re here live and not a cat.

Since online space has become an educational platform, we must utilize its strengths to work for both teachers and students for continued success. So, if you have class tips and tech practices that improve the student experience, let’s keep the conversation going! Contact BSD here. We would love to hear from you.

6 Ways Machine Learning Will Evolve Classrooms

Posted on January 12, 2021August 21, 2024 by user

As a technologist, I spend a lot of time with my ear on the ground for the latest happenings around the EdTech Industry.

One of the trends I’ve seen in 2021, is the use of Machine Learning being implemented in EdTech tools and teaching practices.

This is an interesting development because, by definition, machine learning uses artificial intelligence to improve upon itself. When utilized by educators in the classroom, it opens up a number of opportunities for schools to optimize their curriculum and teaching strategy with detailed insights.

In this article, I’ve identified six interesting developments and challenges from my research that may help to guide educators through 2021.

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1. Predict when students will struggle with a type of concept

Are you about to start teaching a topic focused on critical thinking?

Will a particular student struggle based on previous critical thinking based topics? – These are the type of answers Machine Learning can provide to teachers.

Using historical assessment data, many EdTech companies are able to predict when a student may need more help.

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2. Which technique works best for a student

The term personalized learning has been around now for over 10 years but we are finally going to see this implemented this year.

To help us get there, Machine Learning is using various information points to identify a student’s learning style, as you can see in the diagram below.

A large task for educators will be to consider tagging individual learning modules. This will allow algorithms to better understand what modules worked better for which student using relationships between the tags.

It should be noted that GDPR’s maturity and accessibility have played a big part in allowing access to relevant student data and will continue to do so.

[/kc_column_text][crum_single_image image_size=”full” align=”aligncenter” _id=”391279″ image_source=”media_library” image=”13617″ caption=”Learning styles being identified by student behavior”][kc_column_text _id=”734700″]

3. Teachers building their own learning models

Machine Learning relies on its training data to learn how to navigate data.

To date, EdTech companies are training their own Machine Learning systems. This year we will start to see learning models provided by teachers.

Instead of using preset and student data, teachers will start providing their own data to Machine Learning. This will allow these tools to become effective teaching assistants in a sense.

[/kc_column_text][crum_single_image image_size=”full” align=”aligncenter” _id=”253930″ image_source=”media_library” image=”13579″ caption=”Teachable Machine is a great project that can be the start of how each of us will train our own Machines”][kc_column_text _id=”402340″]

4. Automated testing of curriculum

Curriculum designers are often looking to run test groups to improve their curriculum designs. With the aid of Machine Learning, data can be used to enhance areas such as curriculum flow. Does your lesson have the right amount of reinforcement? The system can even recommend quizzes where student engagement could increase.

A method commonly used by many EdTech organizations is the A/B test, which samples the curriculum with two groups and measures the effectiveness.

With Machine Learning and the added benefit of digital learning, we will also be able to measure student impact on assessment, engagement rates, the effectiveness of reinforcement techniques, and more.

In addition, the speed at which Machine Learning can analyze data is far greater than what we can achieve without its help. This will be a great step in the direction of truly personalized learning.

[/kc_column_text][crum_single_image image_size=”full” align=”aligncenter” _id=”361520″ image_source=”media_library” image=”13620″ caption=”Machine Learning can easily conduct A/B testing used to determine a winning solution”][kc_column_text _id=”92973″]

“We help thousands of teachers at BSD Education with our ready-made digital curriculum and projects” – Nickey Khemchandani

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5. Body language detection and Audio analysis on video calls for behavioural health

Remote learning is now common practice. Teachers are facing the difficult task of identifying engagement or interest via the student body language on a video call.

It was not uncommon to hear the sound of disengagement or stress in student voices when teaching online. One of the areas Machine Learning was able to step in and help was to highlight “stress” indicators in students’ voices in a lesson.

Years ago, I read an amazing research paper by Ishan Behoora and Conrad Tucker from Carnegie Mellon University [https://bit.ly/3npEB1S] explaining how Machine Learning can classify the emotional state of designers in real-time. This got me keeping tabs on this space for how it can be utilized in Education.

As video calls become a norm in education, expect to see real-time detection of student engagement and attention tracking coming soon.

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The following is from a sample class we conducted with a technology partner. The voice of a pre-teen [below 13] was analyzed to identify stress levels. (Voices of pre-teens are easier to analyze since often their voice patterns sound similar and there are fewer similarities to an adult voice).

[/kc_column_text][crum_single_image image_size=”full” align=”aligncenter” _id=”618870″ image_source=”media_library” image=”13621″ caption=”Zoom already allows hosts to identify participants that are not actively on the zoom tab or session “][kc_column_text _id=”812158”]

6. Assisted grading of non-binary assessments

We have all seen multiple-choice questions being graded using machines. They work great and have been an incredible help for teachers.

With Machine Learning tools used in popular plugins such as Grammarly or the Hemingway Editor, it was only a matter of time before essay writing was also supported.

Research papers are already sharing promising developments and improvements in this space with the inclusion of Machine Learning.

[/kc_column_text][crum_single_image image_size=”full” align=”aligncenter” _id=”152890″ image_source=”media_library” image=”13587″ caption=”The Hemingway Editor is one of my favourite tools when creating a curriculum. http://www.hemingwayapp.com/”][kc_column_text _id=”417369″]

“Machine Learning tools need to be accessible by students as well. These tools can help students solve problems while they are encountering them. This is one of the goals technology aims to serve in Education.”
– Nickey Khemchandani

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At BSD Education, supporting educators/teachers is at the core of who and what we stand for.

With so much to look forward to as technology develops in education, it will be critical for the education community to support teachers throughout these transitions.

We are excited to hear how more schools incorporate machine learning in 2021.

Three Key Elements To Facilitate Successful Maker Learning (or Any Educational Intervention)

Posted on June 16, 2020November 2, 2022 by user

We have written about maker spaces and maker learning in past issues and why we feel it can be an important part of the curriculum. After helping many schools worldwide develop and facilitate maker spaces, our Vice President of Education and maker space expert, Mark Barnett, shares his 3 key elements for successful maker learning.

After starting my own maker space in 2013, a mobile maker space in 2015, and helping dozens of schools worldwide design, use and teach in maker spaces, I have learned quite a bit about what works, what doesn’t, and why. Schools have made great strides in adding maker spaces to their curricula with a growing interest in maker learning. Some of these schools have done a remarkable job, and others have been left wondering what the hype is all about.

I see that maker learning is just one of many education interventions that a school can facilitate. Other education interventions include social-emotional learning, project-based learning, or even curricular products for math and literature.

To implement any of these strategies or interventions successfully, there are usually 3 main factors contributing to the success or failure of implementation. Each of these factors requires thorough commitment, and even if only one area lacks commitment, the whole intervention is likely to fail.

Here are the 3 key elements of commitment required for maker learning (or any educational intervention):

Commitment to the tool or technology
Commitment to the pedagogy that supports the use of the tool or technology
Institutional commitment to the success of the tools, technology and pedagogy

Commitment to the tool or technology

For the case of maker learning, this means that the school must commit to tools, technologies, and materials that support maker learning. Commitment in this element looks like this:

Acquiring the tools and technologies needed in a makerspace
Providing the proper use and training of the tools and technologies
Ongoing support and maintenance of the tools and technologies
Continued training and development of staff using the tools and technologies

Commitment to the pedagogy

Most educational interventions have an accompanying pedagogy that is best suited to support the intervention. For example, maker learning has its own pedagogy that includes tinkering, play, design thinking, and constructionism. Commitment to the pedagogy looks like this:

Providing training, support and professional development to teachers
Creating work-groups or cohorts of teachers who can spread the pedagogy and help pass along knowledge and training to other staff
Sending staff to conferences to attend and present shared knowledge on best practices and strategies
Provide access to educational research in the field of the pedagogy to stay current with the evolving understandings and to learn from others

Institutional Commitment

This final element is the most important one and, from my experience, the one element that makes or breaks the success of a maker learning program (or any intervention)

Creating a core team of champions who are charged with the success of implementation and are accountable for success
A strong team of leadership who truly believes that the intervention has merit and is dedicated to the hard work required to see the success
Financial commitment to all of the above mentioned points

It really is a simple formula to follow, and it is easy to implement once you have thought through each key element. Typically when I work with new schools, we discuss all 3 key elements before deciding to do any work together to ensure that the school is prepared to commit to all 3 areas before any work is done.

Use these 3 keys to help guide you on the successful implementation of any educational intervention. If you want more information or have specific questions about maker learning and maker spaces, please feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or by email.

Digital Skills Students Will Need for The Future of Work

Posted on March 24, 2020November 2, 2022 by user

With the arrival of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there have been significant changes and disruptions to various industries. Additionally, technological advances in the past decade have transformed how we live, work and prioritize digital skills.

While some jobs will disappear as they become automated, such as factory and administrative roles, new jobs will surface to meet the disruptions brought about by Industry 4.0. Moreover, by re-aligning our priorities to equip our children with the necessary digital skills, we can help them be future-ready.

Educators globally have been identifying essential digital skills for their curriculum to help make their students future-ready.

After seven years of working with schools worldwide to integrate technology education across all subjects, I’ve identified a list of three critical digital skills I believe will play a crucial role in student’s development and success as they enter the future of work.

Complex Problem Solving Skills

Usually, problem-solving involves applying a standard set of steps and processes, including defining the problem, setting a goal, deciding on the best solution, and applying it.

However, it’s important to note that these steps are largely insufficient for the complex issues ahead.

An exemplary process for developing complex problem-solving digital skills is the RATIO (Reflect, Analyze, Target, Implement, Observe) Problem Solving steps, which the CoThink Academy introduced.

The RATIO process improves how we tackle complex issues and problems. Also, this process introduces a more profound critical thinking skill set into the process. This is accomplished by focusing on objectives and possible methods and tools to solve them.

This helps students learn how to reflect and observe – allowing solutions to be iterated upon to match the ever-changing demands of the future workforce.

A great example of this process in the workforce is how the manufacturing industry used RATIO to tackle its bottling line. During the Observe phase, they identified issues that they had to cycle back and reflect upon.

Another example of a future complex problem will be maintaining privacy as our lives become increasingly digital. We know that the advancements of technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) collect and compile our data. The question is, how can we use this data to help reduce global waste?

Creative Thinking Skills

For more than half of the jobs we see today, 30% of tasks are automatable. As technology rapidly evolves, this is projected to increase. As a result, we will quickly forget the previously revered technological breakthroughs, and specialized skill sets become obsolete. Creative thinking allows us to be agnostic to technologies and think outside the box to tackle future challenges we will face.

An essential skill for the future workforce facing technologies like automation is creative thinking. Technologies like automation are simply tools that can be seen to augment us instead of replacing us. These tools heavily rely on our creative thinking to identify novel ways to use them to solve problems.

For example, the retail sector is currently using automation to handle transactions now. Their goal is to provide the sales teams information on their customers to lead to a more personalized customer experience.

To ensure a future workforce, we must be able to do what machines are unable to.

It is essential to invest in the growth of people who are creative and versatile. And who are eager to learn and will be flexible through each technological advance.

Outside of the usual digital skills, it‘s essential to look at transferrable or soft skills that allow us to collaborate and communicate more effectively.

Social and emotional skills, like self-awareness, empathy, respect for other individuals, and the ability to communicate will be essential as classrooms and workplaces become more ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse.

Interaction in the workplace means collaborating as teams, people playing off each other’s strengths and adapting to changing circumstances. Such non-repetitive interaction is at the core of the human advantage over machines.

There are specific social-emotional skills, like visual processing, that schools can look to promote with their students. These skills allow students to practice solving logical problems visually to comprehend the information better.

Education fosters the types of attitudes and values, such as openness and respect for others as individuals. However, moving forwards, students need to be more inclusive and reflective of more diverse societies that they will find when they enter the future workforce.

To back this up, research held by some leading industry experts identifies the importance of these digital skills. For example, the study maintained by Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends Survey showcases an increase in demand for digital skills.

If you want to chat more about future-ready skills, feel free to email me at nk@bsd.education!

EdTech Tools Educators Should Try This School Year

Posted on February 11, 2020October 4, 2023 by user

Undoubtedly, the learning and development of digital skills is a big focus in Education this next decade. At BSD Education, we’re working to prepare students for a technology-driven future as an EdTech tool.

We aim to help them be consumers of technology and media and have the tools and skills to become innovators or creators.

One of the best ways to slowly start bringing Technology into your classrooms is using fun EdTech tools that will help you or your students boost learning or teaching experiences. Check out the top 10 we thought you should try this year!

1. Formative

Formative is a great web-based app that allows you to give assignments to students and provide personalized and real-time feedback. You can use ready-made “formatives” or create your own to share with your students. You can then view student progress and answers in real-time and assess their learning and progress as they go.

To sum it up: an easy-to-use tool that simplifies assessment in your classroom.

2. Equity Maps

Equity Maps is a great iPad EdTech tool that enhances collaboration, helps you keep track of which of your students participate in class discussion and how much they are experiencing.

All you have to do is tap your students’ icons as they engage in the discussion. In the end, you’ll get summary analytics of how often each class member participated and how many were active participants. The instant feedback helps participants reflect and enables you to ensure that your classroom discussions are equitable and inclusive.

To sum it up: a tool to encourage honest dialogue and broader collaboration in your classroom.

3. Geoguessr

Geoguessr is a fun game that develops students’ global awareness, problem-solving, and research skills. The game starts by dropping the player into a random location on Google Street view. The player then has to figure out where they have been lowered to the closest possible point. Finally, students have to think about different types of information within the map that they can use to solve a problem, use initiative, and demonstrate perseverance.

To sum it up: an excellent EdTech tool that can be used as a class filler to develop a range of skills.

4. ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid does what it says on the tin – it’s a tool that helps your students improve their writing assignments, but not just with spelling and grammar. This tool looks at everything from sentence variety to the use of cliché!

All you need to do is write directly on ProWritingAid or upload a document, and you’ll get a summary report giving the strengths and weaknesses of the piece. You can then discuss this with your students.

To sum it up: a handy tool to help you give in-depth and personalized feedback on your students’ writing.

5. Creaza

Creaza is a tool that can be used to create presentations, mind maps, cartoons, and videos. Students can collaborate on their projects in real-time.

6. Thunkable

Mobile Apps have been a rage for over a decade now, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Thunkable is a free and easy-to-use online tool for building mobile apps using a simple drag and drop code builder. As you create, you can test the app in real-time on an iOS or Android device and tweak it as you go. In addition, less experienced students can choose to “remix” an existing app instead of starting from scratch.

6. Roblox

Creating games is a great way to learn a wide range of real-world digital skills, like storytelling, art, design, programming, maths, etc. Roblox is an online platform for creating and playing multiplayer online games. As a teacher, you can take your students on a journey of creating their favorite online games. They can learn to develop games using Roblox Studio, test them with their peers, and publish them online for users to play on a computer, mobile device, or even Xbox. They can also choose to publish the game for free on the Roblox platform or charge them “Robux ”, the digital currency of Roblox. To support teachers, Roblox publishes resources like how to start guides and lessons.

7. Thinglink

Boost your classroom engagement by creating visual and interactive resources for your students. Thinglink makes it very easy for you to augment images, videos, and online tours with extra information using simple-to-use hyperlinks. Create an educational treasure hunt for students or mix it up and let them create visual learning journeys for their peers.

8. MindMeister

Mind maps are a tried and tested method for people to take notes or brainstorm ideas effectively. MindMeister is an excellent EdTech tool that takes this further by making mind mapping a collaborative exercise. Students can collaborate with peers in real-time in the classroom while a teacher explains concepts or works virtually from home when creating a group project.

9. Smiling Mind

Students (and all of us) can face a series of social and emotional challenges. To help them cope with these, they must be aware of their mental well-being and learn practical ways to be mindful. Smiling Mind is a free, not-for-profit app that encourages mindfulness and better mental being in schools. It is specifically built for students and teachers and breaks down activities for 7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-18, and adults. In addition, it comes with Professional Development training for teachers, classroom resources, and student workshops.

10. Bonus – BSD Online

Of course, we would love it if you tried our online learning platform, BSD Online. Through scaffolded guided exercises, BSD Online makes the teaching and learning of digital skills and coding easy, fun, and engaging. We suggest our Hour of Code Project – Life Under Water if you’re wondering where to start.

We’d love to learn what other apps or EdTech tools you’d like to try this year!! Feel free to share by tweeting us at @Educationbsd or tagging us on Instagram at @BSDEducation. We look forward to hearing from you!

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