Blog Posts

ISTE 2019: What’s new, what’s for you, and what to do next

Posted by Preston Frazier on July 26, 2019

About a month ago, we were gathered for ISTE National Conference in Philadelphia with 20,369 attendees from all 50 states and 81 countries. There were 3,196 presenters, including 479 students and more than 500 exhibitors. All the new, upcoming, and breakthrough ed tech and 21st-century learning trends were on display. There were so many options –everything from 3-D printing to virtual reality to coding were there for administrators and teachers to try out, test, and see.

And as expected it was a connected conference – 123,479 tweets using #ISTE19, #ISTE2019, and #ISTEinPA were sent and Instagram stories were viewed 104,222 times, with messages such as how Ursuline School was super pumped to meet Mr. Robot. And TAG teacher David Lockett was happy to share the good news about Fable and Smart Buddies.

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Topics: ROBOTICS, Technology, Trends, Coding, TETRIX Robotics, innovate, Conferences, 3-D Printing, Virtual Reality

Robotics: Urban Search & Rescue strengthens participants’ career choices

Posted by Admin on July 25, 2019

Flavio Tello graduated from Texas State Technical College in Harlingen last spring where he studied Mechatronics, which includes electrical and mechanical engineering as well as programming. He now works for Koenig & Bauer and will soon be visiting their home base in Germany to learn how to troubleshoot and repair printing presses located across the United States.

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Topics: Middle School, High School, ROBOTICS, Technology, Careers, Coding, USAR, Future Ready, TETRIX Robotics, 21st Century Skills, Hands-on Learning, innovate, Workforce Development

What in the world is FreeBSD? Open-source, open to more.

Posted by Preston Frazier on June 19, 2019

This week we celebrate FreeBSD Day on June 19. This national day, unfortunately, doesn’t celebrate Biscuits, Sausage, and Donuts. While that sounds delicious, this day is a little lesser known but definitely appealing.

FreeBSD Day stems from the University of California-Berkeley in 1993. FreeBSD is an open-source operating system that is considered a pioneer in open-source technology and is seen through many different platforms that we recognize today. Better yet, it’s used by billions of people across the globe, and companies use FreeBSD in their products. (www.freebsdfoundation.org)

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Topics: IN THE CLASSROOM, ROBOTICS, Technology, STEM, Coding, 21st Century Skills, Hands-on Learning, Workforce Development

Stories and algorithms? The 4 Rs of 21st-century STEM education

Posted by Admin on June 18, 2019

The three Rs of education – reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic – were the foundation for much of 20th-century learning. Even as we advance well into the 21st century, those foundational skills still carry significant importance for today’s learners. Students absolutely need solid literacy skills – print and digital – as well as the ability to write well and complete basic to complex mathematic tasks.

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Topics: IN THE CLASSROOM, Science, Technology, STEM, Trends, Resources, Engineering, Coding, Future Ready, 21st Century Skills, Math

Hands-on coding experiences help elementary students develop workforce-ready skills

Posted by Admin on April 30, 2019

Coding in elementary school? That used to be a radical thought. But in order to prepare students – our future workforce – we can't start soon enough. 

The Backstory 

Last year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published The Future of Education and Skills: Education 2030. The purpose of the 2018 report, and the goal of the OECD Education 2030 project, is to help schools around the world identify the skills students will need by 2030 and develop appropriate curricula to effectively instill those skills. Coding, robotics, and other employability skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, empathy, and computational thinking are among those at the top of the list.  

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Topics: IN THE CLASSROOM, Elementary School, ROBOTICS, STEM, Coding, Hands-on Learning, Workforce Development