Learn How a Few Simple Steps Can Encourage Collaboration in Your Classroom

We often forget how much the physical classroom and its tools can shape what we do and how we do it. We “fail to notice the ways in which space constrains or enhances what we intend to accomplish.”* While the word “makeover” may sound like a dramatic transformation, it only takes a few small changes to make our classroom spaces much more collaborative. Those small changes can be very impactful to learning. Here are just a few ways you can give your classroom a “collaborative makeover.”

Talented Individuals Dedicated to Making Education Work

As a new school year gets underway, we thought it might be interesting to share a list of some of the education industry’s most influential K-12 educators and administrators, key bloggers, cutting-edge executives, and nonprofit superstars. Did we miss anyone? Share their name and contact information in the comments section below.

Get to Know Some of the Top Ed-Tech Bloggers

We’re always looking for new resources to inspire and inform us about teaching, education trends, and technology. Today we’d like to share the following extensive list of sites and bloggers, where you will find informed opinions, reviews, and forums on all things educational.

1. 21st Century Educational Technology and Learning
   http://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com
   Blogger Michael Gorman oversees a one-to-one laptop program and digital professional development for Southwest Allen County Schools near Fort Wayne, Indiana. Mike maintains this blog along with his own 21century ed-tech wiki, and also posts articles at Tech and Learning magazine and November Learning.
   
   
2. The Answer Sheet
   http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet
   Blogger Valerie Strauss writes for both parents and teachers of pre-K through graduate school students. She discusses educational, developmental, social, psychological, and other pertinent issues.
   
   

What We Learned This Year

The City of Brotherly Love was an awesome host to this year’s ISTE Conference & Expo, where educators and technology leaders alike gained new insights into educational technologies and ways to implement them in the classroom.

The Mimio team returned from Philadelphia worn out but very pleased to have experienced the largest ISTE turnout to date:  almost 21,000 industry professionals and educators. Our team is enthusiastic about new trends in educational technology, and wish to share some of their key observations from ISTE 2015. Whether or not you made the journey this year to the largest educational technology trade show in North America, you can gain from the insights and impressions that follow.

Whether you are teaching summer school or spending the summer at home with your kids, you may be searching for some new learning opportunities and activities. With great summer weather and nature in full bloom, there are lots of exciting things to do that kids just don’t get to experience during the regular school year.

Get out and get learning with these fun summer lessons:

NEW MimioProjector Superhero Joins Forces with the League

Our team of Mimio interactive displays has super powers that can rescue a classroom from any educational archenemy! No matter what your foe may be – a budget that’s too small, bored students, or students who are reluctant to collaborate – the League of Interactivity will send the best superhero to the rescue. Now we are introducing our newest member!

School districts across the country are increasingly incorporating technology into the instructional model. Technology, after all, is second nature to today’s students., But one size does not fit all, and finding the right solution out of myriad choices can confound even the most digitally dexterous districts.

In our increasingly connected world, technological advancements have continued to cement connected devices as essential resources for K-12 learning. As the volume of these purchases continue to grow, educators have been faced with a greater need for cyber security. In an effort to safeguard families from infringements related to big data and privacy in public services, President Obama announced a modification to his 2012 comprehensive blueprint for consumer privacy, the BuySecure initiative, to include privacy protections for American students & families.  

We are excited to announce our attendance at Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) conference next week, where we will be showcasing the exciting new developments we’ve made to our software and hardware. Learn how MimioStudio™ classroom software and the MimioMobile™ app offer teachers new features to encourage classroom collaboration.

If you haven’t already registered, make sure you secure your seat today.

Attendees will get a chance to preview the newly enhanced MimioMobile™ 3 app, which allows students to participate in collaborative learning in the classroom using an Android or Apple mobile device. The MimioMobile™ 3 app allows for ongoing, automatic formative evaluations, that will help students prepare for the Common Core State Standards Assessments (CCSS).

Mobile Devices and Interactive Technology Bring Benefits to Young Students

If you ever doubted that interactive technology and mobile devices have a place in early learning, prepare to be surprised. Harmony Early Childhood Center, a preschool center serving children ages 3-5 years old in Olathe, Kansas has broken new ground in the use of educational technology.

During the winter and spring of 2014, a pilot involving two Harmony classrooms tested different types of educational technology to identify those that best met learning needs at each grade level. The pilot was so successful that the preschool center is now equipping 27 classrooms with MimioTeach™ interactive whiteboards and the MimioMobile™ application.

"Some might think that mobile technology is too complex to be a learning tool in preschool classrooms," says Dan Winkler, Mimio’s chief technology officer. "But the two teachers involved in Harmony's pilot – early childhood disabilities teachers Kim Buenger and Paige Moran – have proved that the technology can have a big impact. Both of them did amazing things with MimioMobile."