Beth Holland Archives - EdTechTeacher

February 19, 2019

The Pen is NOT Mightier than the Keyboard – Strategies to Embrace and Scaffold Digital Learning

By Beth Holland Few empirical studies may be more detrimental to advancements of effective technology use in K-12 education than Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014) and Carter, Greenberg, and Walker (2016). Both assert that students in lecture-style courses perform worse when allowed to use technology. However, neither mentions any instruction to help students capitalize on digital […]

May 16, 2018

Creating a Community of Change Agents at the Inspired Learning Convention

Last week, I had the privilege of keynoting the first annual Inspired Learning Convention in Mendon-Upton, MA. Whereas many schools and districts talk about the need for innovation, educators in Mendon-Upton use the concept of inspired learning. As I wrote in a post on EdTech Researcher, I like this definition as it places the focus on the […]

October 5, 2017

Creating Custom Extraordinaire’s Cards with Book Creator

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For the last few years, I have used the Extraordinaires game in my workshops. Beyond just the fun of playing, the design of the character cards may be what really makes this game unique. Each one presents the character in multiple ways: their daily life, a surprising detail, an unexpected fact, etc. The cards encourage students to […]

May 1, 2017

Three Little Known Features about Google Scholar

Google Scholar can be a great research tool; and like all things Google, it also has a few hidden features that can prove to be invaluable.

Beth Holland Blog Google

Though most students knows about Google, few realize the power of Google Scholar. Unlike a regular Google search, Google Scholar limits its results to sources considered to be scholarly: books, journals, abstracts, theses, and even court cases. Also unlike Google, instead of ranking results by popularity, keyword, and past searches, Google Scholar examines the text […]

January 10, 2017

Design Thinking & Book Creator

Beth Holland Blog Design Thinking

When employing Design Thinking in the classroom, documenting each step in the process presents a challenge to teachers as well as students. However, with the multimedia capabilities of Book Creator – which will soon be available on ALL devices including Chromebooks – one app offers up a robust solution to this problem. First, with Book Creator, students […]

October 11, 2016

Project Based Learning as Mindset – from Beth Holland

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This post first appeared on the EdTech Researcher blog at Education Week. I had a fascinating conversation with a few teachers the other day. Though their school leadership viewed Project-Based Learning (PBL) as a pathway to student-centered learning, these teachers explained that many of their colleagues viewed PBL as a “box to check” before going […]

September 26, 2016

An “Extraordinary” Approach to Bringing Design Thinking into Any Classroom – from Beth

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This post first appeared on EdTech Researcher at Education Week. In his 2009 book, Catching Up or Leading the Way, author Yong Zhao argues that students need to engage in creative problem solving across the curriculum to develop the skills required for success in a global economy. However, most curriculum primarily focuses on student acquisition […]

September 22, 2016

The Best App for Your Coursework Isn’t a Single App – from Beth

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This post first appeared on Edutopia. At EdTechTeacher, we have a philosophy that All the Good Apps Fit on One Screen. These days, many of the teachers that we work with would rather just find ONE app! However, that single solution may not exist. Depending on the tasks that students may need to complete, and the skills that […]

September 9, 2016

PBL and Design Thinking to Unleash Student Creativity – from Beth

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This post first appeared on EdTech Researcher at Education Week. In January of 2016, the World Economic Forum released a series of reports about the future of work. According to their research, we are entering a Fourth Industrial Revolution. Where the first industrial revolution brought steam engines, the second ushered in electricity, and the third […]

August 25, 2016

Back-to-School with Design Thinking – Webinar with Beth Holland and Douglas Kiang

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August 23rd 3pm EST on EdWeb.Net >> Watch the Webinar Recording on EdWeb Design Thinking encourages students to engage in empathy, define problems, prototype, iterate, and solve real-world problems. Makerspaces help students foster critical thinking, open-ended creativity and iterative design. In this webinar, Beth and Douglas presented the design thinking process. They showed examples […]