Digital Learning Today

In this episode, Jeff sits down with Kasia Chmielinski to learn how Scratch is being used in over 150 countries in more than 40 languages.

Scratch is a programming language and an online community where children can program and share interactive media such as stories, games, and animation with people from all over the world. As children create from Scratch, they learn to think creatively, work collaboratively, and reason systematically.

Millions of people are creating Scratch projects in a wide variety of settings, including homes, schools, museums, libraries, and community centers. To date, 9M Scratchers have shared over 12M projects to the online community.

Scratch is a project of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. It is provided free of charge. You can read more about Scratch here: scratch.mit.edu/about

• Scratch site: scratch.mit.edu
• ­ HOC landing page: scratch.mit.edu/hoc
• ­ WBB Scratch Studio: h ttps://scratch.mit.edu/studios/1672166/
• ­ Cartoon Network WBB landing page: cartoonnetwork.com/scratch
• ­ Scratch Twitter account: @Scratch
• ­ Scratch Facebook account: Facebook.com/scratchteam
• ­ Scratch Foundation site: scratchfoundation.org

• ­Student Created YouTube Channel
• Scratch Overview
• ­ What is Scratch?
• Creative Thinking Overview & History
• ­ WBB Overview: https://youtu.be/_Jlg5e8QWq0
• ­ WBB Hide­and­Seek Tutorial
• ­ WBB BearStack Tutorial
• ­ WBB Hoops Tutorial

Kasia Chmielinski works at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, MA, as the Product Lead for Scratch. Scratch (scratch.mit.edu) is a free visual programming language that engages youth in imaginative learning experiences to create games, animations and stories. At MIT, Kasia is responsible for defining, designing, and managing the future roadmap of the Scratch project.

Prior to Scratch, Kasia was a founding member of the startup Zestfinance, and before that, a product communications manager at Google. Kasia hails from Boston, but dabbled in architecture and engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong before graduating with a degree in physics from Harvard University. When not in front of a whiteboard or a keyboard, Kasia can be found either tutoring local students in mathematics or upon a bicycle, cycling uncomfortably­long distances.

Kasia can be found on Scratch as @petrichord, and on Twitter as @kaschm.

Recorded in 2015

Jeff sits down with Mary Jo Madda and Michael Winters to discuss how EdSurge is one of the BEST resources for educators on the planet! Learn how EdSurge was founded and how it operates today.

EdSurge is a news and information company focused on the intersection between education and technology. EdSurge readers and fans are edtech entrepreneurs, educators, investors, and education policy makers who are interested in technology K12 and Higher Ed.

EdSurge has keynoted with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, hosted an edtech video chat at the request of The White House, is one of TED’s top “education blogs to follow,” and in 2013 was awarded “Most Influential Community Builder” by GSV Advisors

• https://www.edsurge.com/

Jeff sits down with Jason Valade from Techsmith Education to discuss how easy it is for teachers to be Screencasting in the Classroom for their students. In this video, Jason shows several great reasons for creating screencasts for the classroom.

Learn how educators across the country are using video to transform teaching with flipping, project-based learning, and to get more choices in how they teach. Join former educator Jason Valade as he provides inspirational ways to teach more effectively and enrich experiences in and out of the classroom, including an introduction to popular video creation tool Camtasia.

Based in Okemos, Michigan, TechSmith provides over 180 countries around the world with screen capture and recording software for individual and professional use. We've made it our goal to give you tools that work just like you do, across multiple devices and locations.

Our desktop products, such as Snagit, Camtasia, TechSmith Relay, and Morae, make it easy to create compelling, polished content you can share with anyone. Paired along with our mobile apps and integrations we're helping people collaborate and share across different devices and make sure you can be productive wherever you are.

By constantly listening to customers and innovating new ways to solve technology challenges, TechSmith has moved to the front of the visual communication field. Now more than 200 employees strong, TechSmith develops a variety of applications that narrow communication gaps through images, video, online hosting, and remote usability testing.

TechSmith has always helped you make great images and videos to communicate your ideas. Now we're making a new commitment: to help you collaborate and share across your different devices and make sure you can be productive wherever you are.

• www.Techsmith.com
• @TechsmithEDU

In Jason’s six years as an educator, he continuously tried out new digital tools in his classroom. Now Jason brings his expertise to TechSmith, showing instructors how to use technology to transform the way they teach, and the way students learn.

Jeff sits down with Katie McClarty from Pearson Education to discuss Gifted and Talented education. Learn how the Center for College and Career Success can help you and your students.

Pearson is the world’s leading learning company, with 40,000 employees in more than 80 countries working to help people of all ages to make measurable progress in their lives through learning. For more information about Pearson, visit http://www.pearson.com.

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pearsonplc
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/pearson
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/PearsonEducation

Blog post:

http://researchnetwork.pearson.com/college-career-success/gifted-talented

Katie McClarty, Ph.D.Center for College & Career Success

Katie McClarty leads the Center for College & Career Success. She heads a team of researchers in planning and executing research in support of the Center mission, which is to (1) identify and measure the skills needed to be successful in college and careers, (2) determine pathways for students to be college and career ready, (3) track their progress along the pathway, and (4) evaluate effective ways to keep students on track. Dr. McClarty has authored papers, chapters, and presentations related to college readiness, standard setting, assessment design, computer-based testing, interface design, teacher effectiveness, and next-generation assessments. Her work has been published in journals such as the American Psychologist, Research in Higher Education, Applied Measurement in Education, Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research & Perspectives, and Educational Researcher. Dr. McClarty holds a doctorate degree in social and personality psychology from the University of Texas at Austin.

• Pearson’s Research & Innovation Network and the Center for College & Career Success
• Study about the impact of skipping a grade on gifted students. What are the benefits of acceleration for gifted students?
• Are there any consequences for accelerating a gifted student?
• “A Nation Empowered”
• The role of technology in helping gifted students becoming successful

Recorded in 2015

Jeff sits down with Jacqueline Russell to discuss why new Microsoft Surface Tablet is the perfect solution for your digital classroom.

Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, that develops, manufactures, licenses supports and sells computer software, consumer electronics, and personal computers and services. Its best-known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, Microsoft Office office suite, and Internet Explorer web browser. Its flagship hardware products are the Xbox game consoles and the Microsoft Surface tablet lineup. It is the world's largest software maker measured by revenues. It is also one of the world's most valuable companies.

• www.surface.com/education
• www.surface.com/accessories
• www.microsoft.com/switch
• www.microsoft.com/education/apps
• https://www.youtube.com/user/surface/videos
• windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/tutorial