At EdView360, we’re big fans of digital learning. We’ve seen the transformative effect that excellent digital instruction can have on students, teachers, and entire classrooms, and we couldn’t be happier today to be celebrating Digital Learning Day (DLDay).

Now in its fifth year, DLDay is an Alliance for Excellent Education event dedicated to celebrating the very best that digital learning has to offer. As educators, we also see today as an occasion to reflect on the changes that technology is bringing to our classrooms. What makes digital learning so great? And what exactly makes great digital learning?

Thank you for being part of the EdView360 community this year. We hope that our blog has helped and inspired you in some small way as you continue to enrich the lives of our youth.

Enjoy a well-deserved break, and we'll see you back on the blog in 2016!
 

Thanks for Giving …

… Your Time

… Your Energy

… Your Expertise

… Your Guidance

… Your Self

… Your Love.

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving break—you deserve it!

Hello, EdView360 readers, and welcome back from your summer break! Don’t you just love the sound of it? Summer break. What a wonderful and highly deserved time for education professionals.

You might have spent your days traveling, focusing on professional development, enjoying time with family, or refreshing your look and enhancing your greatest attributes … like we did! We spent the past few months picking the brains of some of the industry’s greatest minds (like YOURS) to ultimately uncover what matters most to our readers, the individuals who serve as the backbone of our education system.

The month of May has arrived, and whether you’re merry or at the brink of sending out a Mayday, the end of the school year is upon us.

If you are in the midst of state testing or working with students on culminating projects, you may not have had time to notice that today kicks off Teacher Appreciation Week. We hope that you have felt appreciated the entire school year for doing what could be the toughest (and most rewarding) job on the planet.

By Amy Blowers

What did we ever do before tablets, smart phones, and computers? How on earth did we ever teach students without PowerPoint^®, interactive whiteboard, and Google^™?

As an online learning teacher, I find it fascinating to think about teaching and student literacy before technology. I believe that, when it is used appropriately, technology can be the key to the kingdom of excellent student literacy.

I have taught high school English Language Arts for 15 years. When I started, I had a desktop computer, and the high school I worked for had one computer lab with 10 computers. The most engaging activity incorporated into teaching literacy at that time in my classroom was gaming. I had games for everything: vocabulary (Race to the Chalkboard Challenge), sentence building (Grammar Gladiators), and comprehension (Sherlock Search).

Thank you, educators, for taking the time to submit such well-written and thought-provoking blog entries on the four education topics that we provided. It was a tough process, but we have narrowed the entries down to three finalists. Now it’s your turn to read the entries from the links below and vote for your favorite blog! 

Bridget Clark
AshaLee Ortiz
Jennifer Doyle

By Anne M. Beninghof

I pulled my first all-nighter my freshman year of college. My roommate and I had both been assigned to Mr. Seager’s 8 a.m. chemistry class. Mr. Seager was a science whiz who was passionate and knowledgeable about his topic, but he was a lousy teacher. After dozing through many of his uninspired early-morning lectures, Kaye and I had fallen way behind in our understanding of the content. We knew we had to stay up all night and cram.

Up until this point in my life, I had never had a cup of coffee. Both of my parents were British immigrant tea drinkers who believed in serving whole milk to their growing teenagers. But then came college—no rules, no parents, no sleep. And Mr. Seager.

To be fair, Mr. Seager was not atypical of the teachers at many universities. Their practice was to stand at the front of the room, back to the class, as they wrote notes on the board and lectured simultaneously. This type of teaching was fertile soil for dozing students.

By Michelle George