WebProNews

Tag: Education

  • Wikipedia Mobile Apps Get Nearby Feature

    Wikipedia Mobile Apps Get Nearby Feature

    Last year, Wikipedia added “nearby” functionality to its desktop and mobile sites to let users find interesting content about subjects relevant to their location. The functionality has now come to the Android and iOS apps.

    The feature shows you a list of articles for your location, and gives you the distance from where you’re at. There’s also a compass that points you in the right direction, which is pretty cool.

    This could be a pretty interesting thing to have on hand while you’re traveling, if you’re not using Andrew Mason’s Detour app.

    You can tap an entry to read the article or long-press and open it in map view.

    “With this feature, we’re bringing Wikipedia into the world around you and enabling you to explore and learn more about your surroundings,” the Wikimedia Foundation says in a blog post. “Perhaps you’ve always wondered about that monument that you pass during your commute home, been curious about an architecturally interesting building, or simply wanted a to-do list while traveling. Now, the new Wikipedia app can surface those for you, and maybe it’ll even inspire you to add your own.”

    The foundation also announced some ideas it wants to work on. These include filtering nearby items by category, searching for other articles that are near the article you’re reading, and letting you drop a pin on a map to see articles tagged near that location.

    It looks like learning is going to continue to become more mobile.

    Image via Wikimedia

  • Music Provides an Outlet for Kids in Troubled Communities, says Hip-Hop Artist JRS3

    Commissioned News Story (Source: JRS3)

    A recent study by Northwestern University shows that music education has a profound impact on troubled youth. What’s more, hip-hop has become a great way to establish a dialogue between troubled kids and their therapists.

    Music as an an important outlet for kids who may be growing up in a troubled situation. Musical Artist, JRS3 agrees, citing his own personal struggles as a child and how music helped him overcome adversity.

    “Music education allows kids to be artistic and express themselves,” he says. “If they’re old enough, they can really read into the lyrics and interpret them in their own way. It’s so important to see past the glitz, glamour, and material things in music and get to the core message of the song.”

    It’s not hard to look back on one’s own youth, and remember specific songs that made an impact. Depending on what’s going on in one’s life, certain lyrics, or even melodies themselves can leave a lasting impression.

    “Tupac’s Dear Mama was a song that really helped heal me,” says JRS3. “When I was 9 years old, my mother would leave the radio on when we left the house to make it seem like people were home. She wanted to protect us from getting burglarized.”

    While music can help kids cope with the stresses of daily life, it’s important that they have role models to look up to, and provide examples of the right things to do. The combination of these two things can make a huge difference in a kid’s life.

    “In high school, I was in an a cappella group,” JRS3 says. “Mr. Hart was my music teacher from grades 9-12. He was one of the best. Having mentors really matters.”

    “I think at the high school level, there should be fully operating music studios at the schools. Kids should also be taught every aspect of the music business.”

    Dr. Nina Kraus of Northwestern University conducted a study, selecting 80 kids from a Los Angeles neighborhood plagued with gangs, and assigning half of them to the “Harmony Project”. The others had to enroll a year later. The study found that language comprehension skills improved for the first group while not so much for the second. The second group’s skills followed suit once they eventually participated.

  • Online Education: Why Are Some Online Schools Lacking In Credibility?

    You’ve seen the ads by now for various online schools; all encouraging you to sign up today and get to work on advancing your education.

    The selling point is that you can earn your degree from anywhere.

    However, what these businesses are not telling you is that you could be wasting your time and money.

    Even though acceptance of online degrees is said to be on the rise, it could be that your particular school isn’t seen as particularly credible.

    Before signing up for an online degree program at an internet-only college, perhaps there are some things you should consider.

    Online School vs. Online Degree

    The first thing to know is that online degrees and online schools are not mutually exclusive. There are accredited colleges that have online courses. Sometimes only certain classes are available in an online format. Other times, the entire degree can be earned online.

    If you receive a degree from an accredited, respected institution, that will matter far more than if you earned that degree online.

    The Trouble With Scams and Diploma Mills

    A huge part of the reason that online degrees were seen as suspect is because many of the businesses had no background in education whatsoever.

    A study by the National Bureau for Economic Research found that many of these for-profit institutions were nothing more than “agile predators”:

    We [f]ind that for-profit students end up with higher unemployment and “idleness” rates and lower earnings six years after entering programs than do comparable students from other schools, and that they have far greater student debt burdens and default rates on their student loans.

    It’s believed that many of these schools exist to make money rather than provide students with the tools necessary to obtain a career after they’ve earned a degree.

    Credibility A Code Word For Bigotry?

    Another interesting fact noted is that these online schools tend to target persons who are poor, minorities, stay at home moms, and the elderly.

    Why is this interesting?

    Because these are groups most likely to experience a form of discrimination: classism, racism, sexism, and ageism.

    Could it be that online schools are distrusted not merely because of the format of education, but because they reach out to so-called undesirables?

    It’s something to consider.

    Although diplomas advertised on television may fill you with skepticism, they still represent something for which to be thankful: A continuous call to better one’s self and seek to create better career opportunities.

    The best thing you can do is to research the institution’s history and find out if it’s a trusted school. Also be on the lookout for reviews and testimonials.

    These steps to become better informed should prepare you to make the right decision about getting an online education.

  • Google Webmaster Academy Expands To More Languages

    Google launched Webmaster Academy in 2012 as a way to help small businesses improve their web and Google presence through education about various webmaster topics. It even added Panda update guidance at one point.

    Last year, Google expanded the offering to 20 additional languages, and has now expanded it to twenty-two more .

    Google said on Monday:

    Today, the new Webmaster Academy goes live in 22 languages! New or beginner webmasters speaking a multitude of languages can now learn the fundamentals of making a great site, providing an enjoyable user experience, and ranking well in search results. And if you think you’re already familiar with these topics, take the quizzes at the end of each module to prove it :).

    So give Webmaster Academy a read in your preferred language and let us know in the comments or help forum what you think. We’ve gotten such great and helpful feedback after the English version launched this past March so we hope this straightforward and easy-to-read guide can be helpful (and fun!) to everyone.

    You may be wondering why they said they launched the English version this past March, when I already noted that it was launched in 2012. That’s because in March, they launched the “new” Webmaster Academy, which included new and expanded content. You can learn more about that here.

    For some reason, Google didn’t specify which languages the offering is now available in.

    Image via Google

  • Katy Perry Talks Education And ‘Make Roar Happen’

    Katy Perry is an accomplished singer with a successful career.

    However, many fans may not know the road she traveled to chase her dreams.

    At the age of 15, the Teenage Dream singer actually dropped out of high school. Although she earned her GED, she recently admitted she regrets not finishing school and furthering her education.

    According to Yahoo! Celebrity, the 29-year-old singer opened up about her views on the importance of education. “I’m kind of bummed at this stage that I didn’t have a great education because I could really use that these days,” she said.

    The “Roar” singer went on to share a few details about her childhood. She explained how her education was often interrupted due to her parents’ hectic schedules. They spent a lot of their time traveling to start new churches, which would often interfere with her academic progress.

    “I was being pulled out of school even in the middle of school and sometimes being home-schooled,” Perry said. “Sometimes we were sent to these really half-Christian, half-education, I-don’t-know-what-they-were schools.”

    However, she did mention on teacher in particular who made an impact on her life. Perry recounted how her vocal teacher Agatha Danoff played a major role in the development of her craft.

    “There was a teacher named Agatha Danoff who was my vocal teacher and music teacher at the Music Academy of the West. It was very fancy and I didn’t come from any money … and she always used to give me a break on my lessons,” she recalled. “I owe her a lot of credit and I appreciate that she looked out for me when I didn’t have enough money to pay.”

    Teachers like Danoff are motivating factors for Perry’s “Make Roar Happen” campaign. “She believed in me, so this is how I could pay it forward from that one experience,” Perry explained.

    Image via Katy Perry, Facebook

  • Katy Perry Says She Did Not Have A Great Education In Her Younger Years

    Global pop superstar Katy Perry has sold out tours and penned songs that topped the charts, but she still has one small regret that she wishes she could change. Perry recently told Yahoo! that she wished she had had a better education when she was younger. She said, “I’m kind of bummed at this stage that I didn’t have a great education because I could really use that these days.”

    Perry grew up with pastor parents who constantly moved her from place to place, wherever they were starting churches. She said that she had been either home-schooled or was often pulled out from schools she described as “half-Christian, half-education, I-don’t-know-what-they-were schools.”

    The Prism singer will turn 30 this October, but she still tries to take every opportunity to learn about new things and increase her general knowledge. While on tour, she often visits museums and tries to immerse in local cultural experiences at each location. “I’ve learned to educate myself at this stage and how to continue my education at any age,” she said. “I’m going on 30 and I’m still very thirsty for information.”

    Despite Perry’s feeling that she lacked a solid educational base, she maintains that good teachers helped her push to achieve success. She spoke about her vocal teacher Agatha Danoff, who taught Perry while she attended the Music Academy of the West, which she could hardly afford. “I owe her a lot of credit and I appreciate that she looked out for me when I didn’t have enough money to pay,” Perry said of Danoff, who used to give her breaks on lessons when she needed them.

    Perry is currently promoting her fundraising campaign “Make Roar Happen,” which aims to benefit teachers through donations at DonorsChoose.org. Her project target of $1 million is set to fund school supplies for classrooms in the cities at which her Prismatic World Tour stops.

    Katy Perry: Roar


    Image via YouTube

  • Katy Perry: Church Upbringing Ruined Her Education

    Katy Perry is successful by most measures. She is certainly a celebrity. She has hit songs, She has money and recognition.

    But Katy Perry carries a concern that she is not very well educated, or at least not as well as she’d like to be.

    “I’m kind of bummed at this stage that I didn’t have a great education because I could really use that these days,” she told Yahoo.

    It turns out that Perry dropped out of high school during her freshman year. If this is what dropping out gets you, she’s not exactly a poster child for dropout prevention. But that’s not how she sees it.

    “I’ve learned to educate myself at this stage and how to continue my education at any age,” she said. “I’m going on 30 and I’m still very thirsty for information. On tour, we go to different museums and get to soak up all kinds of different cultural experiences.”

    So why did Katy end up coming up short in the education department when she was younger? A lot of it had to do with her parents’ work as church-planting pastors. They moved around a lot, and it took a toll on Katy’s schooling.

    “I was being pulled out of school even in the middle of school and sometimes being home-schooled. Sometimes we were sent to these really half-Christian, half-education, I-don’t-know-what-they-were schools,” she explained.

    Sometimes home-schooling is a good alternative for kids who just can’t do well in the schools where they live. But a lot of religious folks are pulling their kids form schools to get them away from what they see as harmful influences. They feel they can educate their children just as well from home. In fact, 91 percent of homeschooled students had parents who said that a concern about the environment of other schools was an important reason for homeschooling their child.

    Vyckie Garrison, a former evangelical who home-schooled her own kids, explains how she sees this rising phenomenon.

    “There is an atmosphere of real terror among some evangelicals. They are horrified by the fact that Obama is president, and they see the New Atheist movement as a vocal, in-your-face threat. Plus, they are obsessed with the End Times, and believe that the Apocalypse could happen any day now… They see a demon on every corner.

    “We home-schooled because we wanted to protect our children from what we viewed as the total secularization of America. We listened to people like Rush Limbaugh, who told us that America was in the clutches of evil liberal feminist atheists.”

    But there has been a cost of this home-schooling fervor. Parents often refuse to report information that could be used to get good statistical data on the success of home-schooling. But anecdotally, there are plenty of stories like Katy Perry’s to suggest that home-schooled kids are getting the short end of the education stick.

    “It was a real struggle to do the basics,” Garrison says. “So it didn’t take long for my kids to fall far behind. One of my daughters could not read at 11 years old.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Hootsuite Launches Program To Help Businesses Educate Employees About Social Media

    Hootsuite has launched a new Custom Education program aimed at helping enterprise businesses address what it refers to as the “growing skills gap,” and accelerate their social media success.

    A spokesperson for the company tells WebProNews, “According to Altimeter, while 85% of companies have a corporate social media policy, only 18% of companies said that their employees’ knowledge about social media usage and the social media policy was “good” or ‘very good’.”

    “The program offers organizations tailored social media training programs to empower their workforce – as innovation leaders in the social media education space, we offer content and industry-leading experts on a scalable platform that other vendors simply cannot,” the spokesperson adds.

    The offering is meant to help employees become brand advocates, mitigate “social media risk,” develop an understanding of how social media impacts business, and help them get a better grasp on best practices.

    On its website, Hootsuite cites another stat fro the Altimeter Group: 43% of companies identified internal social media education as a top social business priority, while only 38% indicate having such a program in place, or in progress.

    Included in the Custom Education offering are what are described as flexible learning packages, which include the ability for businesses to select lessons from a large library of content addressing specific social media topics. Businesses can also work with “experts” to develop customized lessons based on specific company needs.

    Businesses can use the offering to roll out an education program through a private platform complete with analytics.

    The company says it has already educated over 60,000 businesses and professionals.

    For the heck of it, here’s Hootsuite’s recreation of the Game of Thrones title sequence for social networks.

    Image via YouTube

  • Mark Zuckerberg Gives $120M to Bay Area Schools

    Mark Zuckerberg Gives $120M to Bay Area Schools

    Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has just announced that he and his wife, pediatric resident Priscilla Chan, are donating $120 million to improve Bay Area schools.

    The money will go to Zuckerberg’s Startup:Education fund, which he set up back in 2010 with a $100 million investment in the public schools of Newark, New Jersey.

    “Helping improve the quality of public education in this country is something we both really care about. Priscilla has devoted her life to helping children from underserved communities as a pediatrician and as a teacher. I’ve been engaged with education issues over the past few years, and last year I taught an after-school program on entrepreneurship at a public middle school in the Belle Haven community of Menlo Park,” writes Zuckerberg.

    And he explains his reasoning behind investing in the Bay Area in a Facebook post:

    “The Bay Area is one of the most prosperous places in the world, but there are so many schools here that don’t have the resources they need. Students from low income and minority backgrounds are the hardest hit, which means fewer end up graduating or attending college.”

    Post by Mark Zuckerberg.

    This announcement comes as some are questioning how much Zuckerberg’s previous investment in Newark’s school really helped. In a lengthy piece in The New Yorker, Dale Russakoff says that “Cory Booker, Chris Christie, and Mark Zuckerberg had a plan to reform Newark’s schools. They got an education.” Apparently, allocation of that $100 million went in large part to buying out old teacher contracts, while some went to various construction projects and other consultants. In the end, people are questioning exactly how much of Zuck’s money went to help the kids. Can more students read because of Zuckerberg’s contributions? The school district itself now faces a huge budget gap.

    Zuckerberg says that he’s learned a lot, but still has hope for the Newark school system.

    “In Newark, a lot of the work we started is still underway, but we’ve already seen some good results. Newark now has the leading teacher contract in the country that was developed with teachers to reward good performance. New district and charter schools run by organizations with a track record of success have started, including 50 new principals. Across the district, the graduation rate has grown by 10 percent. It’s still too early to see the full results in Newark, but we’re making progress and have learned a lot about what makes a successful effort,” Zuckerberg says of the donations he made to the Newark schools system.

    Zuckerberg says that the first part of the money will go to provide computers and “connectivity” in Bay Area schools, teacher training, and “leadership opportunities” for students.

    Image via Priscilla Chan, Facebook

  • LeVar Burton Works to Bring Back ‘Reading Rainbow’

    If you remember the days of LeVar Burton hosting the PBS show Reading Rainbow, then your childhood was awesome. Unfortunately, most of the kids in elementary school now can’t say the same, and Burton is looking to change that. Burton started a campaign on Kickstarter this morning to raise $1 million to bring back Reading Rainbow. If the crowdsourced project is successful, the Reading Rainbow program will be available online and will be provided to 1,500 classrooms at no cost.

    After teasing of big news to come on Twitter, LeVar Burton posted the announcement that he is trying to bring back the popular reading show this morning. The announcement was met with an outpouring of support, with people wasting no time in pledging anywhere from a buck to hundreds of dollars to bring back the show.

    Check out Burton’s Twitter announcement below.

    Burton says he wants to bring back Reading Rainbow because of the staggering number of children that will grow up illiterate.

    “I believe that every child has a right, and a need, to be literate. We have a responsibility to prepare our children…and right now, the numbers show that we, as a society, are failing in that responsibility,” Burton posted to his Kickstarter page. Burton goes on to say that “1 out of every 4 children in America will grow up illiterate,” which is a ridiculously high number for a first world country.

    Check out LeVar Burton’s Kickstarter video for Reading Rainbow below.

    As with most crowdsourced projects, people that pledge money are promised certain goodies depending on how much money they contribute. People that donate will receive anything from a special thanks on Burton’s website for a $5 donation all the way to a private dinner in Los Angeles with LeVar Burton as well as Burton’s Star Trek visor for a pledge of $10,000.

    Even though Burton has five weeks to raise the necessary funds, it looks like he will be able to raise that amount in less than a day, as more than $800,000 has already been pledged to the campaign. Around 20,000 people have made pledges so far, which shows just how much people believe in the project.

    Whether you choose to contribute to Burton’s project or not, here is a nice blast from the past:

    Image via Kickstarter

  • Angry Birds Is Coming To The Classroom

    Angry Birds is a cultural phenomenon that has earned itself fans young and old thanks to its simple yet charming mobile games. Now the Finnish developer behind the series wants to do what any popular game franchise does once it builds up an audience – edutainment.

    The Washington Post reports that Rovio is developing a new education system based around Angry Birds called Angry Birds Playground. The program is based upon the Finnish kindergarten curriculum that teaches children through free play and experimentation. Angry Birds Playground adds a bit more structure to the mix through the use of technology.

    Here’s how Rovio describes the program:

    The subject matter and skills to be learned are presented in a playful and exciting way. Children will be encouraged to get actively involved in the learning process while having plenty of fun at the same time. The Angry Birds Playground enables kids to learn in a creative, multifaceted way – making the best of technology-enriched learning environments, as well as learning opportunities within and beyond the classroom. Children will have access to Angry Birds learning materials such as activity books, toys, physical games, educational posters, mobile math, reference books, a five string instrument, game cards and physical activity games on an interactive whiteboard.

    At the moment, Rovio is training teachers in three Chinese cities how to use Angry Birds Playground, but it will undoubtedly expand sooner rather than later. After all, teachers are always looking for new ways to educate children. With Angry Birds on their side, children might stay engaged enough to actually learn something. There’s also the matter of the Finnish kindergarten curriculum being one of the best in the world and you have a recipe for success.

    This isn’t the first time Rovio has used its Angry Birds characters to educate children. In 2012, Rovio partnered with NASA on a few levels in Angry Birds Space that saw the piggies stealing the Mars Rover Curiosity. As players completed levels to take the rover back, they would learn about Mars and NASA’s mission on the red planet. Angry Birds Playground is decidedly more focused on educating children, but it’s already been proven that Rovio knows how to craft fun experiences that can also be educational.

    We can only hope that it’s nothing like the last time a popular game character tried to break into the edutainment scene:

    Image via Rovio

  • Teacher Fired After Telling Kids to Beat Up Another Student

    A middle school teacher in St. Lucie County, Florida was fired just over a year after being accused of ordering a group of students to beat up another student. The attack was caught on a surveillance video, which shows the teacher motioning at two of the boys involved in the assault shortly before it began.

    The attack happened in March of 2013 at Northport K-8 School after seventh grader Radravious Williams said something disrespectful to his teacher, Dru Dehart, during his second period class. Dehart claims that Williams threatened her in class, but Williams said that never happened. He admits to getting in trouble and telling Dehart that he wished he could curse at her, but says no threats were ever made. Other students verified Williams’ account of the in-class incident.

    Williams said that two students came to get him from his third period class to see Dehart. Williams says that when he entered the hall, he saw Dehart walking away, and a group of six students began attacking him shortly thereafter. The students hit and kicked Williams, slammed him into the lockers, and hit him with a belt.

    View footage of the attack in the video below (attack starts at the 0:13 mark).

    According to Williams’ mother, the students forced her son to apologize after beating him up. “They picked him up, carried him, holding him by the neck, took him down to her classroom and forcibly made him apologize to her,” said Latasha Darrisaw. “And her remarks to him were, ‘I’ve got my eighth-grade boys on you; you’re not so tough now.’”

    Police arrested the six students involved in the attack; no charges have been filed against Dehart to date. Dehart was suspended from teaching without pay in the fall, and the St. Lucie County School District unanimously voted to fire her in a meeting last week.

    “(She) made a very poor decision that day,” said school district representative David Miklas. “She used students to carry out discipline.”

    Dehart hasn’t spoken out on the incident, but her lawyer Mark Wilensky says that his client “wishes she would never stop teaching.”

    Darrisaw says that her son is still traumatized from the attack. “It’s like a nightmare. He’s not the same. He’s had some sleepless nights,” Darrisaw said. The mom also mentioned that Dehart never apologized. “As a person and as a parent you would like some kind of apology, but I guess we will get that whenever she’s ready.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Google-Backed Renaissance Learning Gets Acquired

    One of the first three companies to get money from Google Capital announced today that it is being acquired. Learning analytics company Renaissance Learning will be acquired by Hellman & Friedman for $1.1 billion.

    Google announced the launch of Google Capital last month. It’s the company’s investment fund for growth-stage businesses (as opposed to those just starting out, which is what Google Ventures is for). Though the fund had been investing since last year, it launched with three companies in its portfolio: SurveyMonkey, LendingClub and Renaissance Learning.

    “Today there is an incredible opportunity to harness data to help teachers unlock the learning potential of their students,” said Renaissance Learning CEO Jack Lynch. “Partnering with Hellman & Friedman will give us additional tools and resources to continue building out our capabilities, broadening our market reach, and ultimately helping teachers transform education.”

    “Renaissance Learning is an outstanding company that has been helping educators accelerate student learning for decades,” said Tarim Wasim, Managing Director at Hellman & Friedman. “We believe strongly in the mission and are excited to help grow Renaissance’s impact globally through continued investment in products that make a difference in the classroom.”

    Google Capital is expected to remain an investor in the company.

    Since Google Capital’s Launch, it has added a fourth business with an investment in Auction.com. It has also now reportedly invested in Credit Karma, a consumer finance company.

    Image via Renaissance Learning

  • Dodge Viper Ordered to be Destroyed by Chrysler

    Last month, every car enthusiasts’ hearts were broken as news was reported that a sinkhole had swallowed eight Corvettes at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Unfortunately, the nightmare for car aficionados everywhere has yet to end.

    A decade ago, Chrysler made an extremely generous gesture and gave certain schools around the country a pre-production model of the ever-classic Dodge Viper. One such vehicle was donated to South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia, Washington. Over the years, the car has served as an educational tool by which students can learn the mechanics of a vehicle and also as a popular recruiting tool for the school’s admissions office: “Everybody wants their picture taken with the Viper,” stated professor Bob Riggin.

    Unfortunately, no one will be able to take a picture with the vehicle anytime soon.

    In a sad and unexpected move, Chrysler has ordered the school to crush the 1992 pre-production Viper, the fourth ever Viper to come off of the assembly line.

    “Approximately 10 years ago, Chrysler Group donated a number of Dodge Viper vehicles to various trade schools for educational purposes. As part of the donation process, it is standard procedure — and stipulated in our agreements — that whenever vehicles are donated to institutions for education purposes that they are to be destroyed when they are no longer needed for their intended educational purposes.”

    Those who work at or attend school at South Puget Sound Community College feel as if 10 years is not enough time to deem the vehicle devoid of educational value. The students feel so strongly about the issue that they have even started an online petition to help save the rare vehicle.

    The students are not the only ones to feel a deep connection with the vehicle, though. Automotive professor Norman Chapman has not been shy in his opposition to Chrysler’s orders, giving the world many statements expressing his thoughts and emotions surrounding the situation:

    “It’s like taking a family pet, putting it in front of kids and destroying it.”

    “It’s like the day Kennedy was shot. No one will forget where they were when they heard the news.”

    And, my personal favorite: “If they can pardon a turkey at Thanksgiving, they can pardon a Viper.”

    You heard Mr. Chapman, President Obama. It is time to use your pardoning powers once again, except to save a more rare, $250,000 in value, species this time.

    Image via YouTube

  • Read Across America: The Dr. Seuss Connection

    If you didn’t know, today is National Read Across America Day. It is a day meant to encourage children to read and to even dare to develop a love of reading.

    Parents are encouraged to take the time to read to their children. Not just today, but as often as possible.

    “All parents can benefit from learning about why reading is integral for a child,” says Robert Nickell, the founder of Daddy & Co. Nickell admits that he makes it a point to read to his children every night.

    “Research has shown that the most important thing a parent can do to help their child learn and understand language is to read to them.”

    Nickell adds that the act of reading to your children fosters a sense of safety and trust, and can help them feel loved by their parents.

    “Their self-esteem and confidence will grow and you’ll have a stronger bond with them. All of these outcomes will shape them to be strong and capable adults with positive outlooks and bright futures.”

    Another important aspect of National Read Across America Day is that it typically falls on the birthday of none other than Dr. Seuss.

    Many of us grew up with Dr. Seuss books as they were a staple of the elementary school experience. In fact, it’s hard to find someone who is familiar with Seuss and yet does not have a favorite story written by him. Yours truly adored “The Sneetches”.

    Why not borrow a bit of inspiration from Seuss’s birthday and maybe take the time to read one of his many popular books to your child(ren)? Since Dr. Seuss books aren’t exactly a “wordy” affair, it may take about fifteen or twenty minutes. In the scheme of things, that’s plenty of time to make a wonderful and lasting impression on your kids.

    Whether you opt for a Dr. Seuss classic or another book altogether is not important. What is important is that you take a little time out of your day to spend time with your kids in a constructive manner that brings you closer together.

    Image via YouTube

  • Parents Outraged After Kids’ Lunches Are Thrown Away

    Parents of students attending Uintah Elementary School in Salt Lake City, Utah were furious to learn that their kids’ lunches were taken by cafeteria workers. Up to 40 students had their lunch trays taken from them because they had balances on their student accounts that hadn’t been paid. Instead of eating a hot lunch, the children were given a piece of fruit and a carton of milk. The food on the lunch trays was thrown away since rules prohibit food from being served twice.

    Jason Olsen, the Salt Lake City School District spokesman, confirmed that the school did indeed take lunches from students. “They did take that tray away and gave them fruit and a milk,” Olsen said. “We don’t ever let kids go without any food entirely.”

    “It was pretty traumatic and humiliating,” said Erica Lukes, whose 11-year-old daughter had her lunch taken. According to Lukes, she didn’t realize her daughter had an outstanding balance on her student account. “I think it’s despicable,” she said. “These are young children that shouldn’t be punished or humiliated for something the parents obviously need to clear up. You would think in a public school system your child wouldn’t be turned away from lunch, especially when people usually settle their balances.”

    The Salt Lake City School District released a statement on their Facebook page and apologized for the situation and says they are working on how they notify parents of outstanding balances. Check out the full statement below.

    Post by Salt Lake City School District.

    According to an article Dave Arnold wrote for the National Education Association, schools are within their legal rights to deny students lunch if they have unpaid balances. While some districts will let kids charge lunches and settle at the end of the year, others deny lunches after students get a week behind.

    “I would let them get behind for no more than a week,” Terri Prough, a Louisiana school employee, said. “Then I would refuse to feed them. I have worked in elementary, junior high, and high schools and it is always the same old story. The parents do not pay lunch bills, yet they give their children money for the concession stands that we open the last 10 minutes of every lunch period. These kids come to school with $5, $10, $20 for concessions. If they have money for that, they can surely pay for their lunch. Our lunch costs $1.10. Snacks cost $1.00.”

    Arnold also notes that the parents could face charges in some areas if they don’t pay for lunches for their children. “When a parent knowingly allows their child to go without food for a certain period of time (the time limit differs from state to state) then it could be interpreted as child neglect,” Arnold said.

    Image via YouTube

  • Samsung Unveils Galaxy Tab Designed For Students

    Samsung Unveils Galaxy Tab Designed For Students

    As the tablet market matures in the U.S., manufacturers will have to start looking for alternative revenue streams. Apple has already demonstrated that education is a sure fire way to increase sales of tablets with schools all over the nation adopting iPads for use in the classroom. Samsung is now heading down the same path.

    At FETC 2014, Samsung announced that it plans to release a version of its Galaxy Tab built specifically for education. The tablet will be taking advantage of Google’s new Google Play for Education initiative that sees a special Google Play store set up with access to grade-appropriate educational apps.

    “Samsung and Google for Education share a commitment to delivering innovative learning experiences to improve student outcomes,” said Tod Pike, senior vice president at Samsung’s Enterprise Business Division. “The new Galaxy Tab with Google Play for Education integration was created to specifically address the needs of today’s schools and support our vision for powering education by empowering educators.”

    As far as specs are concerned, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab for education is no slouch. It’s the standard 10.1-inch model with WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n support and Android 4.4. Samsung also notes that the tablets feature NFC so teachers can update each tablet simply by touching their tablet to it.

    Samsung’s Galaxy Tab for education will be available in April through Samsung’s own distribution channels. If tablets aren’t your thing, Samsung is also showing off its latest Chromebooks as a cheaper alternative for schools looking to drag themselves into the 21st century.

    Image via Samsung/Business Wire

  • Contrary To Popular Belief, Video Games Don’t Turn Your Brain To Mush

    I, like many children who grew up in the 80s and 90s, spent a lot of time playing video games. We could have spent those hours outside, but we instead chose to stay inside trying to save the princess or collect all seven chaos emeralds. Parents may have been rightly concerned about our habit of playing video games for nine hours straight, but some good may have come out of it.

    In the latest video from AsapSCIENCE, they ask if video games can make you smarter. As you might expect, the answer is yes. The how behind it, however, is the surprising part. In a study, scientists had participants play Super Mario 64 for 30 minutes a day for two months. At the end of those two months, the participants who played video games saw an increase in the areas of their brain related to memory, strategic planning and fine motor skills.

    What about violent action games? Surely, games like Call of Duty have no positive side effects, right? Wrong. Studies have shown that those who play action games, like first-person shooters, have better attention-related skills than those who don’t. Studies have also shown that those who play action games are better at differentiating between shades of grey – a skill that degrades as we age.

    While video games are helpful and fun, your parents may have been right to scold you for playing Mega Man X for nine hours straight. Too much of anything is a bad thing, including video games. There are unfortunate stories every year of men and women who play games for hours on end to only suffer a heart attack as a result of their sedentary lifestyle.

    In short, video games exercise your brain, but they don’t exercise your body. If you find that exercise lacks the fun of video games, you might want to check out one of the many dancing video games that have become rather prominent in recent years.

    Image via AsapSCIENCE/YouTube

  • President Obama Challenges Americans To Learn Code

    Ever since the dawn of computing, computer programming has always been a subject that has been heavily influenced by math and science. Just the thought of programming, where a person sits in front of a computer staring at lines and lines of code on end, does not sound like an exciting career to most. However, there is one initiative that has recently come to pass to let the “Average Joe” create a simple program without having to break a sweat or strain their brain cells. This initiative has been called The Hour of Code.

    Earlier this week, President Barack Obama released a video on YouTube that challenges Americans of all ages, races, and credos to learn a programming language. Along with this challenge, President Obama has teamed up with various students, teachers, businesses, and non-profit organizations that are taking steps to support and enhance Computer Science within the American school system. With this in mind, President Obama challenges Americans not just be participants of technology, but to engage in the creation of it:

    “Don’t just buy a new video game, make one. Don’t just download the latest app, help design it. Don’t just play on your phone, program it.”

    President Obama continues his speech by stating that learning how to program code is not just important for your future, but it is important for the country’s future as well. The more programmers our country has, the more America will stay on the “cutting edge” of technology.

    To help give the public a taste of how computer programming has evolved, along with how fun it can be to create something using a computer, The Hour of Code (THOC) website will show you. To describe what THOC is all about, I have provided a brief summary from the site’s about page below.

    “Code.org is a non-profit dedicated to expanding participation in computer science education by making it available in more schools, and increasing participation by women and underrepresented students of color. Our vision is that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer programming. We believe computer science should be part of the core curriculum in education, alongside other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, such as biology, physics, chemistry and algebra.”

    On THOC’s website, participants can program code using the following methods:

    • Tutorials for beginners – Learn the basic concepts of Computer Science with drag and drop programming.
    • Tutorials that teach JavaScript – Learn the basics of JavaScript programming while creating fun drawings with your code.
    • No device or internet? Try ‘unplugged’ computer science – Using a pre-defined “Robot Vocabulary,” students will figure out how to guide each other to accomplish specific tasks without discussing them first.
    • Tutorial apps for any device – Learn core programming logic, starting from super-basic programming, for ages 4+, on iOS or Android (or Web browser)
    • Other programming languages – Choose from 3 activities designed to give you your first experience programming.
    • Make your own apps – Know some programming already? Learn to make an iPhone game in an hour!
    • Other learning options – A collection of 8 fun activities for children of all ages to try programming.

    Are you still not convinced that programming can be easy? See actress Angela Bassett, actor Ashton Kutcher, and singer Shakira get involved with The Hour of Code.

    [Image source: YouTube screenshot (1:02)]

  • Kindle FreeTime Gets New Education Features

    Kindle FreeTime Gets New Education Features

    More and more kids these days are making the switch from TVs and video games to consuming everything on tablets. While tablets are great, the personal nature of the device also makes it harder for parents to make sure their children are fulfilling their obligations before they start to play games or watch TV shows on Netflix. That’s where Amazon FreeTime comes in.

    Amazon announced that its FreeTime app – an app that allows parents to control when and how their children use a Kindle Fire device – will soon be getting an educational shot in the arm. This update will allow parents to set educational goals that their children must complete before they’re allowed to play games or use other entertainment apps on the device.

    “Kindle Fire is already the best tablet for kids and families—and now we’re making it even better,” said Peter Larsen, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “We know kids spend a lot of time every day looking at screens, and we’re excited to add new tools that help parents make this time more educational. Parents can use features like ‘Learn First’ to ensure study comes before play and set daily educational goals for reading and learning. If you subscribe to FreeTime Unlimited, your kids will enjoy thousands of new educational books, apps, games and videos.”

    Of course, edutainment doesn’t mean what it used to mean. Amazon wants parents to know that there’s plenty of content available in Kindle FreeTime that will make kids want to learn. Here’s what you will find:

  • Thousands of common core-aligned leveled readers and supplemental readers are coming to Kindle FreeTime Unlimited and the Kindle Store—most of these books will be available for the first time digitally. Hundreds of these titles will be available in time for Christmas, with the rest coming early next year, from trusted educational publishers like Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Starwalk Kids Media LLC, The Child’s World, Sleeping Bear Press, Lerner Publishing, and Cherry Lake Publishing.
  • Kid-friendly educational apps such as Team Umizoomi Math, Super Why!, Stack the States, Curious George at the Zoo, Elmo Loves 123’s, Write the Alphabet, Kids Learn To Read and more.
  • Award-winning and engaging educational apps from BrainPOP and Agnitus.
  • Over 2,000 educational TV Shows and Movies from well recognized educational content providers including Sesame Street, PBS, Reading Rainbow and BabyFirst TV.
  • Beginning level foreign language video learning programs for Spanish, French, Chinese and more from Little Pim.

    • Alongside all of the educational content, FreeTime will also be updated with two new features to make sure your kids are using the Kindle when you want them to:

  • Bedtime: No more cartoons in the middle of the night—set a Bedtime so FreeTime only works the time of day you choose—for example, between 8 am and 8 pm.
  • Weekend and Weekday Time Limits: All days of the week aren’t created equal—configure educational goals and screen time limits differently for weekends and weekdays.

    • On a final note, Amazon says that parents will soon be able to check out an eBook from a public library and then make it available to their children in FreeTime. Prime members who use the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library will be able to do the same.

    If you want to learn more about FreeTime, check out Amazon’s landing page.

    [Image: Amazon]

  • Office 365 Student Advantage Now Available Globally

    Microsoft has been doing everything in its power to get students using Office 365 – the company’s cloud-based productivity software. The company has offered free trials, discounts and is now even giving away free subscriptions to students at qualifying universities.

    Microsoft announced today that its Student Advantage program is now available to universities around the globe. In short, Student Advantage is a program that lets universities that license Office 365 for its faculty and staff give away free subscriptions to Office 365 ProPlus to its students.

    It’s obvious that Microsoft is doing this to get more people using its software, but there’s a hint of altruism in the company’s latest promotion. Microsoft says that most hiring managers these days are looking for college students with 20 essential skills and the third on that list of skills is proficiency with Microsoft Office. By offering Office 365 to students for free, Microsoft hopes that universities will be able to better equip students to meet the needs of the modern workplace.

    Microsoft has put together a little infographic to display all the benefits students receive by using Office 365 and Student Advantage:

    Office 365 Student Advantage Now Available Globally

    To learn more about Student Advantage and Office 365, check out the promotion’s landing page.

    [Image: Office 365 Education]