How Third Parties Can Collect Student Data Without Parental or Individual Consent

By Henry Kronk June 30, 2018

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With each new semester and school year, educators are constantly seeking to determine how they can improve their teaching methods and learning outcomes. And in the past few years, that quest has repeatedly taken the same route: digital technology. Pedagogies like personalized or blended learning have shown promising results. Use of tools such as G Suite for Education by Google, AI-powered platforms, or curricula that direct content to students using deep learning algorithms have begun to change they way students learn. But there’s another aspect of these teaching methods that many parents have found difficult to stomach—they collect student data.


Educators Harness Virtual Reality to Enhance Special Needs Education

By Henry Kronk June 18, 2018

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Many instructors in the field of special needs education have likely heard of virtual reality (VR) and its uses for learners with physical or mental disabilities. But how should it be used? When? And for which groups of learners?


‘Creators, Not Consumers’: How a Washington Middle School Class Scanned a Virtual Museum

By Henry Kronk June 13, 2018

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In partnership with the nearby For Vancouver National Historic Site, he and computer science teacher Cindy Hagin have led students through numerous VR-based projects.


ISTE Standards–Which Tend to Be Broad, and Not Prescriptive–Benefit the Motivated Tech Teacher

By Henry Kronk June 01, 2018

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Considering the often-vague nature of ISTE’s standards, we questioned the rigor of the standards. In certain districts and classrooms, it might not be the ideal governing document. But for highly motivated, creative, and up to date tech teachers, it’s a different story.


Minecraft Provided Ideal Game-Based Learning for Benjamin Kelly. But to Use It, He Had to Cut Through Some Red Tape.

By Henry Kronk May 29, 2018

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Game-based learning has been shown to be a viable educational tool. But that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily easy to implement. When Benjamin Kelly, a technology teacher at the Caledonia Regional School near Moncton, New Brunswick, tried to get the newest version of Minecraft into his class, he found that out first hand.


Following Google’s G Suite for Education Privacy Agreement Is No Picnic

By Henry Kronk April 23, 2018

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Considering the news this month concerning Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, eLearning Inside News recently decided to take another look at an example of data collection in edtech. Google, with their G Suite for Education, is “still doing some data collection and they’re pretty open about it,” said Sophia Cope, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). “They’re collecting data for their own purposes to improve their products or just to better understand their users and in general.”


In Light of Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, Will Anyone Revisit Google’s Data Collection in G Suite for Education?

By Henry Kronk April 22, 2018

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“Google is still doing some data collection and they’re pretty open about it. They’re collecting data for their own purposes to improve their products or just to better understand their users and in general. That’s not necessarily a terrible thing, but it’s just that with students, you know students are minors and a lot of parents don’t want any kind of third party tracking and collecting data on their kids.”


Skepticism of Personalized Learning Is on the Rise

By Henry Kronk April 18, 2018

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“What’s going on is not simply the matching of teaching and level; it’s an adult that that student wants to impress and understand, and it’s an adult that’s understanding that kid. So the engineering diagram of personalized learning looks better, but something can get lost in that shuffle.”


Using VR In the Classroom Is Cheaper Than You Think. With BYOD, You Can Make It Happen for Under $10/Student.

By Henry Kronk April 09, 2018

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You’ll want to maximize screen resolution on your viewing devices. Just about every VR headset places the phone just an inch or in front of your eyes. Up that close, you can really tell the difference between standard and high definition. Some say that a 720p resolution is enough for VR in the classroom at least, but 1080p is much, much better.


Google Lit Trips Bring Novels Down to Earth

By Henry Kronk April 01, 2018

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“There’s a Google Lit Trip point for that which says something like, oh you thought things were cheap back then? Well let’s do the math. It took six men six hours each to get the money to pay for that shopping list. Then we guestimate what it’s worth today. And then you realize if it took those men that much time, they were getting paid just about nothing an hour.”