Microsoft Educator Network

1:1 Learning What Can Failing Restaurants Tell Us about 1-to-1? Recently I was reading some articles on 1-to-1 programs that didn’t live up to expectations. This is not a new story, of course. But there sometimes is a tendency to believe that giving a device to every student in a school or district or subset of this is miraculously going to solve all ills: Test scores will rise! Technology skills will skyrocket! Students will be engaged! The community will support us more fully! People will visit! Everyone will love us! It’s the ...

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1:1 Learning 1-to-1: Starting Well I have visited and consulted for schools in the U.S. and overseas around 1-to-1 and also . These schools are in varying stages of planning, implementation, rollout, refresh and analysis. Most want advice on how their programs are going in any of these stages. There is always the chance to return and correct, but schools save themselves the most time if they start well. Here are some pointers for this: o Involve all your stakeholders in the visioning and planning. While not every person can sit on...

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1:1 Learning Deploying a Successful 1-to-1 Strategy. Mar 12th at 5:00pm, room 116/117 @ the Microsoft Global Forum in Barcelona. To learn more about the forum please use this link In order to be successful with a 1:1 initiative, it is prudent to have a clear vision with actionable and measurable goals. As a leader, it is important to look at the vision for your school and lay out clear expectations. You also must understand the changing role of educators, provide appropriate levels of professional development, as well as design a strong implementation plan that includes parent communication, security, budget and ...

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1:1 Learning Adaptive Learning: concept and questions In 1-to-1 classrooms, personalized activities are always rich environments for our students. In this environment, a new concept is in fashion: "Adaptive Learning". What do we know about it? Wikipedia defines Adaptive Learning as: _ “An educational method which uses computers as interactive teaching devices. Computers adapt the presentation of educational material according to students' learning needs, as indicated by their responses to questions and tasks”._ (1) Although the concept of ...

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1:1 Learning Another perspective on 1-to-1 In mars, 250 teachers from around the world are getting together in Barcelona, Spain. We are named ”Expert educators” and were chosen from over 28000 applicants. We live in various countries with different ethnic backgrounds however we have share the same goal, to give our students the best possible education. However we have different prerequisites. In the western world, like Sweden, where I come from, schools are adopting 1-to-1 rapidly and it has been the signum of an attractive school. ...

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1:1 Learning 1-to-1 and Phones We're heard from many Partners-in-Learning members that 1-to-1 is a great idea but they lack to funds to implement it. One way may be to take advantages of student cell phones. There's a lot that can be done with cell phones along with polling, accepting work via phones, using free apps, and more on a device students may already have in their hands. For a good overviewof what is possible, I highly recommend a book written by one of our 1-to-1 bloggers entitled "Teaching Generation Text." Here's ...

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1:1 Learning 1-to-1 and BYOD on a Budget We're talking 1-to-1 and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)and some schools are onboard but some say - nice idea, we can't afford it. Here are a few ideas to help with this: Do you already have computers? Were you planning to replace them? Why not take the replacement money and little-by-little start purchasing digital devices that move around with your students? How about mobile phones? These can be amazing 1-to-1 vehicles. If your students have them - if your community has them - consider ...

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1:1 Learning Flipped Classroom Model: reverse teaching Self-access is a hard learning model that needs certain amount of self-control and motivation. To help students to gain autonomy and entrepreneurship for learning success, can be a good way to start. Flipped Classroom is a model of blended learning in which students acquire new information online, usually by watching videos or reading at home, and do problem solving later in class, with teacher's help and personalized guidance. With one-to-one approaches, this reverse teaching can offer more ...

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1:1 Learning How can BYOD help developing inquiring minds? How can we encourage inquiring minds in an academic environment? BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) can be a useful tool to stimulate inquiry and encourage lifelong learning. Teaching is not just transferring what teachers know, but helping students inquire and learn what nobody knows yet. We can help them stimulate their curiosity by involving them in real collaborative investigations: - Ask them to search examples of different opinions, opposing or supporting ideas with arguments for defending ...

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1:1 Learning BYOD, Communities and a Webinar When invited to visit 1-to-1 schools, I pose two overarching questions – How are students involved in 1-to-1 here? How is 1-to-1 growing your learning community? These questions become important with a program with school-supplied or school-recommended digital devices – and even more so with BYOD programs. Because if you are expecting everyone to supply their own device for learning, you need to: Make sure students are fully involved and onboard right away. Bring students into committees and ...

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1:1 Learning Check for Understanding via Polls When I was teaching Middle School daily, sometimes I would sense the students weren’t getting the concepts I was trying to convey. Sometimes I would stop and say “how’s this going?” – and the students would tell me. They’d describe in depth and relevance what they didn’t understand, and start brainstorming suggestions. There would be a great discussion and we’d review through their ideas on how to change the approach. Then we’d try one or two of the suggestions. Maybe once a term we’d do this. ...

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1:1 Learning 1-to-1 Observations Observations about 1:1 for the classroom: 1-to-1 is about the people not devices – the educators, the students, the parents, and administrators – and making sure voices are heard. Teachers who empower student voices to help with decisions, choices, and classroom norms will transform their classrooms. Every classroom is different and how 1:1 is used will be different for every teacher and every grade and subject. An online learning community is vital — one that every student can access – to ...

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1:1 Learning 5 ideas to strengthen the home-school connection in the 1:1 classroom Family involvement is important to student success in every classroom. In 1:1 classrooms, the traditional note home in the backpack can be replaced with new methods allowing innovative educators to access a whole new set of tools that can strengthen the home-school connection. If you’re still connecting with parents the way you always have, here are some ideas to update your practice. 1) Open Access - Make sure you provide time for parents to access computers and the internet at your school....

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1:1 Learning 1:1 in the Classroom - Digital Distraction I frequently visit schools planning or already using 1-to-1. Teachers sometimes express frustration with the distracting elements of technology – how students are attracted by social media applications – and spend much time randomly checking these sources at the expense of schoolwork. Lately, I have been hearing students say the same thing. Students describe sitting down at their computers to do homework and instead drifting into checking and posting to Facebook, reading multiple Tumblr blogs, ...

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1:1 Learning Five reasons cell phones benefit a 1:1 environment Go into any office today and you’ll notice that 1:1 does not exist. To operate effectively in today’s workplace, at the very least, a 2:1 environment, with a computer and a phone, is required. It’s likely that there are one or two other devices in use as well. This is the world for which we have to prepare today’s students. Not only is it beneficial to support students with their success in school environments that look like real-life environments, it is also beneficial to schools. Here’s why:...

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1:1 Learning Student 1:1 Expectations and Buy-In Many teachers begin their first class meeting with a setting of expectations activity for classroom behavior and procedures. All students benefit when they know and understand what’s required of them and can contribute their thoughts. This especially includes 1:1 classrooms. This might start with a discussion on how the classroom, as a community, now has an online extension. Students and teachers can work and communicate outside of class, and learning is continually possible. The always-there ...

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1:1 Learning Co-Learning and 1-to-1 - Pamela Livingston Introduction I’m so pleased and honored to be writing for the Hot Topics 1-to-1 blog for Microsoft Partners in Learning. Passion for educational technology led me down the and there’s been no looking back. The potential for deep sustained learning possible when every student has their own digital device is huge. I’ve been so fortunate to work with talented educators at schools and districts around the U.S. and in Australia, Canada, Israel and South Korea. With committed teachers at the helm of or ...

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1:1 Learning The Value of 1-to-1 SAT and ACT Prep It is not about the quantity of the hours spent on SAT or ACT prep, but about the quality of those hours. Completing endless pages of practice problems for months (or years) will not necessarily produce better results come test day. A targeted approach will yield the greatest increase in scores while decreasing time, energy, money, and stress spent on test prep. 1-to-1 test prep is the optimal choice for any student for one simple reason: students already know the content! SAT Math barely ...

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1:1 Learning Introduction to Eric Karlan My name is Eric Karlan and I am excited to join the Microsoft Learning Project team! After growing up in Connecticut for my entire life, I moved to Philadelphia to attend the University of Pennsylvania. I earned my Bachelors in 2009 after creating an individualized major: Journalism, History, and Culture. The following year, I co-founded : an academic tutoring, SAT/ACT test prep, and college essay consulting company. Since starting Ivy Experience, I have enjoyed working with students, parents,...

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