TIME FOR A CENSUS: Once upon a time, there was a city with 1.7 million residents. Its citizens were overwhelmingly young, male, and well-educated, with an average of 2,200 people moving to the city each day. But urban planners faced a conundrum: How could they make their city more attractive to different demographics, and what could entice new residents to explore suburbs outside of the hip, central neighborhood of Computer Science?
Yes, that city is the land of MOOCs, according to an extended metaphor in a new report from Harvard and MIT. The two universities analyzed trends in 68 MOOCs offered on the edX platform, providing data around questions of learner diversity, completion rates, and how to popularize MOOC material beyond Computer Science, which, with just nine out of 68 courses, commands over half of those enrolled in the classes.
BUILDING STORIES: Adobe is offering students and educators a new way to get creative in the classroom. On Slate, free on iPads, users can add words, images, and transitions to create documents (from book reports to science project documentation to newsletters for parents) that can be uploaded online. Check out an example from Adobe here.
PUT A PIN IT IN: Pinterest is revolutionizing the classroom, according to journalist Katheryne Joyce, writing in blog Medium’s new Bright collection of education stories. Joyce cites the visual orientation and unique sense of community among Pinterest users as signs of Pinterest’s growing influence in K-12 resources and ideas.
FLATTENING THE CONVERSATION: It’s not often that a superintendent, edtech coordinator, and teacher all sit down to debate what works in personalized learning. But that’s just what happened last Thursday when four educators from Kentucky, NOLA, Massachusetts, and the Bay Area joined a panel at the Redbird K12 Personalized Learning Symposium. Mary Jo Madda moderated the panel, which was recorded and can be found here. All four educators were featured in the EdSurge Fifty States Project--check out their articles here.
JUST FOR EDUCATORS: Apple just released a new "For Educators" page, designed to be a quick way for you to access apps, books, courses and collections all relating to education. Content comes from iTunes U, the App Store and iBooks Store to help educators find what they need, from PD materials to sample courses.
SCIENCE/HEALTH: Still reeling from the success of his Roosevelt run, Ken Burns tackles another documentary with Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies this week. PBS LearningMedia brings the new series into classrooms with supporting resources for students including clips from the film and profiles of scientists who battle the disease every day.
