EdSurge Guides
Resources for deeper insight.
Gaming the System: The Many Educational Benefits of Game-Based Learning
SPONSORED BY Endless NetworkGame-based learning may take various forms—purposeful play in the classroom, game-like approaches to curriculum design, even school-sponsored esports competitions. Whatever it looks like on the surface, introducing games to the educational arena has th...
Second Acts Podcast Series
There are 36 million Americans who have earned some college credit, but not an actual degree. More colleges than ever are trying to help these students return to finish what they started. But so far, colleges are better at attracting these learners tha...
These Teaching Practices Are Trending As Schools Rebuild From the Pandemic
As schools and colleges rebuild after pandemic emergency teaching, what trends are emerging in teaching practices and school innovation? To find out, EdSurge recently reached out to education experts across the nation, ran a focus group of teachers, an...
Voices of Change Writing Fellowship
In 2021, EdSurge selected seven fellows through a competitive application process. This cohort of teachers and school leaders represents a wide range of identities, experiences, backgrounds and perspectives. EdSurge published their stories throughout t...
How Learning Sciences Inform Edtech Procurement: A Tale of 3 Districts
SPONSORED BY Course of MindThe learning process is as varied and complex as the many minds that make up a K-12 classroom. Unpacking the science behind how learners acquire knowledge can go a long way toward helping educators refine their instructional strategies to motivate the ...
How Is Technology Shaping the Future of K-12 Education?
Historically, learning technology has been developed in a reactive manner, deployed as a response to identified educational needs. But recently, such tools have become a more proactive solution, providing innovative ways for schools to evolve alongside...
Survival Mode: Educators Reflect on a Tough 2021 and Brace for the Future
For many of us, glancing at our social media feeds this year was a rather dispiriting exercise. Learning gaps deepened, the pandemic frustrated schools’ return to normal and teachers talked openly of burnout and exhaustion, when they weren’t announcing...
How Pandemic Practices Shape Higher Ed
We’re publishing a series of stories about how teaching techniques, administrative policies and student services born during the COVID-19 crisis are continuing to shape higher education—and who wins and loses as a result.
Building Inclusive Childhood-to-Career Pathways in STEM
SPONSORED BY Amazon Future EngineerIt can be argued that our schools have an obligation to prepare students for the future by connecting them directly with opportunities for professional success. As the tech industry continues to boom, for example, this means increasing exposure to the ...
Preparing Students for the Creative Economy
SPONSORED BY Adobe for EducationTwo decades into the millennium, we should all have a clear understanding of what it means to develop 21st-century skills. But with the lightning-fast changes that technology brings to our schools, workplaces and communities, the concept remains elusiv...
The EdSurge Voices of Change Writing Fellowship
EdSurge introduces the Voices of Change Writing Fellowship
Bootstraps: A Podcast Series
There’s a longstanding tradition of prizing “merit” in deciding which students get access to the best educational opportunities in America. The narrative goes that a merit-based system allows anyone “to pull themselves up by their bootstraps” to land a...
Interactive 3D: Careers of the Future
SPONSORED BY Epic GamesHigh fidelity virtual worlds are breaking out of the realm of video games and into fields like architecture, filmmaking and even workforce training. Rather than painstakingly construct models, storyboards and simulations by hand, practitioners can now ...
The Past, Present and Future of Edtech
SPONSORED BY Amazon Web Services (AWS)The past year has brought challenges to education that no one could have anticipated. Yet, the experience has prompted much-needed reflection, inspired creative problem solving and strengthened the resolve of educators and edtech developers alike. Usin...
2020 Vision: Reflections on Hope and Learning in a Most Challenging Year
It might not have been the worst year in human history—historians grant that dispiriting title to A.D. 536—but it was likely the most challenging in living memory. Although we may be keen to forget it as quickly as we can, EdSurge is looking back to se...
AI is for Everyone, Everywhere
SPONSORED BY AI ExplorationsThe term artificial intelligence was coined over 65 years ago. For decades, it resided almost exclusively within the realm of computer scientists and programmers. But in recent years, AI has become a central component of our everyday lives, acting as t...
Better, Faster, Stronger: How Learning Engineering Aims to Transform Education
In university labs and edtech startups across the country, researchers are trying to crack the code of what it would take to improve education on a large scale.Their field, called “learning engineering,” is interdisciplinary, drawing on psychology, edu...
Pandemic Campus Diaries: A Podcast Series
Fall 2020 will bring the first full college term of the COVID-19 pandemic, and no one knows quite what to expect. Plexiglass has been installed in classrooms. Professors have brushed up on their online teaching skills. New social distancing rules have ...
What’s the Plan? How K-12 School Districts Are Preparing to Resume and Reopen
As COVID-19 continues to spread, a return to normalcy has been delayed. To share how schools are confronting the challenges of providing instruction during the pandemic, EdSurge and Social Context Labs, a data analytics firm, are monitoring the attenda...
Sustaining Higher Education in the Coronavirus Crisis
Higher education has offered distance instruction as an option for decades. Now that the pandemic of COVID-19 has reached every state in the U.S., many colleges have suddenly shifted to a forced kind of distance education—to keep teaching while everyon...
Navigating Uncertain Times: How Schools Can Cope With Coronavirus
The coronavirus has cast an uncertain future over U.S. education, raising a host of questions: Is remote learning possible for every school? How can educators and parents make it a meaningful experience when it’s happened so suddenly? And what roles wi...
Represent: Why the Census Matters—in 2020 and Beyond
SPONSORED BY Statistics in SchoolsA lot has happened over the past decade, and the 2020 census will give America its first good look at just how much we’ve changed in 10 years. From who we are as individuals to how we’re doing as a country, the census is a deep dive into our collective...
Reclaim the Day: How to Ease the Teacher Time Crunch
SPONSORED BY D2LA teacher’s day rarely ends when the afternoon bell rings. After juggling hectic class schedules, meetings, and professional development, educators are often required to grade, lesson plan, and interact with parents well beyond school hours. Lack of in...
A Decade in Review: Reflections on 10 Years in Education Technology
The end of 2019 marks the end of the teenage years of the 21st century. And just as the teenage years are a formative time for most people—in ways good, bad and outright cringey—so too were they for the edtech industry.As broadband internet beamed its ...
Fostering Student Engagement in the Age of Digital Distraction
SPONSORED BY ViviAmidst the clicks, beeps and dings of our digital present, attention is at an all-time premium. And with fingertip access to streaming video, social media and endlessly-looping GIFs, it’s no wonder that technology is often blamed for students’ lack of ...
Social Studies: It’s Time to ReInvest
SPONSORED BY NewselaWith digital citizenship on our minds and a presidential election on the horizon, we believe it’s time to take a closer look at social studies instruction. A fixture of our national curriculum for a century, its changing emphases reveal the evolving pr...
What Does Reading Well Look Like?
SPONSORED BY Reading PlusFew would disagree that reading is a foundational skill, if not the most fundamental. Research reminds us that solid reading skills pave the path to academic success and prop open career doors. As for the mind-expanding pleasure a good book can offer—n...
Conference Spotlight: ISTE Happenings
SPONSORED BY EdSurge's ISTE Spotlight PartnersTo celebrate ISTE 2019, we've collected interviews with inspiring educators about the innovative digital tools that are making a difference in their teaching. Read on to learn about podcasts that break down barriers; classroom tech that liberates teach...
The EdSurge Podcast
A weekly podcast about the future of education, featuring insightful conversations with educators, tech innovators and scholars, hosted by EdSurge's Jeff Young and other EdSurge reporters.You can follow the podcast on the Apple Podcast app, Spotify, St...
Game-Based Learning: Preparing Students for The Future
SPONSORED BY Minecraft: Education EditionOne of the most effective ways to nurture the 21st century’s trademark skills is by creating opportunities for kids to do what kids do naturally: play. This educators’ guide is packed with resources for gaming gurus and greenhorns alike
New Year, New Learning: Reflections on Education in 2018 and Beyond
Each year, EdSurge asks thought leaders, educators and entrepreneurs to reflect on the state of education technology, and share their thoughts on where it’s headed. We’re continuing that tradition again this year, but with an added twist: Writers from ...
Finding the Right Talent in the Edtech World
Finding the right talent for your company can feel a bit like looking for a diamond in the rough. It can be difficult in the best of times. But, don't sweat! We’ve created this guide just for edtech recruiters and hiring managers who are ready to find ...
How to Score a Job in Edtech: Tips From Experts, Experienced Job Hunters and More
If you’re looking for a job in edtech, you’ve come to the right place! Whether you’re an edtech veteran looking for a new challenge or someone who’s looking to break into the edtech world, we’ve got you covered.In this guide, you’ll find a toolkit to h...
Toward Better Teaching: Office Hours With Bonni Stachowiak
A new EdSurge advice column about college teaching.
The World Is Watching: How YouTube Shapes Education
It’s our nostalgia trip, our on-demand highlight reel and our favorite internet rabbit hole. It’s YouTube, a place where we collectively spend more than a billion hours a day.Students are some of its most loyal eyeballs. They watch videos featuring vlo...
Social-Emotional Learning: Why It Matters and How to Foster It
SPONSORED BY NewselaFiguring out how and when to teach and assess SEL skills can be daunting. This guide is packed with questions to consider and techniques to try.
6 Key Trends to 21st Century Teaching
Teaching in the 21st century involves trying new ways to engage students, but also a willingness to change innovative practices that didn’t pan out. Here we take a look at how faculty are using new approaches in their classroom and what they have learned.
EdSurge’s Guide to Landing a Job (or Finding the Perfect Candidate)
Welcome to EdSurge's 2018 Jobs Guide! We want to help you find the job that will brighten your world and challenge you in positive ways. For many, getting involved in education can be the most meaningful professional work they've ever done.At the same ...
Innovations in Student Success: From Campus Collaboration to Tech Implementation
SPONSORED BY Salesforce.orgHigher-ed institutions are energizing new developments in student success. EdSurge highlights the importance of partnerships on and off campus, lessons learned from technology rollouts and the evolving role of academic advisors.
Reflections From 2017 for the Journey Ahead
What have we learned about the forces that shape education?As we enter a new year, there’s still plenty of growing up to do for the edtech community. Technology can create just as many problems as it solves, and 2017 found educators, entrepreneurs, wri...
EdSurge Live: A Town-Hall Style Video Forum
EdSurge Live is our occasional online discussion forum where we talk about big question facing higher education. And you're invited to share your questions and perspectives.The event is currently on break, but we expect to be back for occasional new in...
A Lifetime of Back to School: Microcredentials in Higher Education
From universities to education companies, higher education providers today are increasingly offering microcredentials, and EdSurge set out to explore the landscape of these short-form online learning programs.
The Personalized Learning Toolkit
Think of your favorite students. Chances are they were engaged, creative, motivated. What was compelling about them? Did they have courage and tenacity to reach for the stars? Were they creative and so helped to keep the classroom interesting? Were th...
Putting It Into Words: The Future of Writing Instruction
SPONSORED BY TurnitinIt’s no surprise that as technology has infused education, it has also impacted the teaching of writing. So we’ve put our figurative pen to paper with the hope of highlighting what writing instruction looks like today, and how it might continue to evo...
Measuring Efficacy in Edtech
With more and more technology in the classroom, the quest to find tools that effectively help educators and their students becomes increasingly important—and increasingly difficult. How can educators best identify the products that meet their classroom...
The Future of Coding Bootcamps
Coding bootcamps have been on the rise, but with major players shutting their doors, EdSurge set out to answer questions about their viability, future and what traditional higher-ed can takeaway.
Thought Leaders Discuss The College (And Classroom) Of the Future
Check out some predictions (and warnings) about how technology is changing higher education. EdSurge sat down with more than a dozen leading experts from a variety of colleges and companies for their takes.
Real Life Learning: An Up Close Look at Competency-Based Education
SPONSORED BY D2LCoined in the 1970s, competency-based learning is gaining converts and building enthusiasm in our K-12 education system, taking the focus off grades and seat time—and replacing it with an emphasis on students’ mastery of specific concepts and skills.No...
Crossing the Finish Line: Stories on Student Success and What Colleges Are Doing to Get There
Predictive analytics. Early-alert systems. Google Maps for degrees? EdSurge goes deep into how colleges are rethinking “student success” and the technologies used to get them there.
The EdSurge Guide to Getting a Job (or Finding Talent) in the Edtech World
Good edtech tools and initiatives aren’t merely the result of funding and luck. In fact, it’s the people behind them—the dreamers who brainstorm and discover, the designers who test and train, the teachers and students who use and offer feedback—that ...
So You Want to Work in Edtech?
SPONSORED BY TES Global & VIPKIDHere at EdSurge, we are committed to helping the most relevant learning tools get into the right hands. But the real magic of learning isn’t about tools. It’s about the people who brainstorm and build them, test and tweak them, invest in and incubate...
Community Colleges Point Toward New Directions in Digital Innovation
SPONSORED BY VitalSourceNearly half of undergraduates in the U.S. learn at community colleges. Take a closer look at how these institutions are changing, from building tech-friendly classrooms to adopting digital textbooks.
The EdSurge Guide to Choosing, Vetting and Purchasing K-12 Edtech Products
"Procurement" sends chills down many spines because all too often the process of finding and buying technology, curriculum and other resources has become laborious and confusing. Particularly over the last five years, the job has gotten tougher for pe...
EdSurge 2017 Personal Statements
Self reflections and articulating future plans are important—just ask those high school students scampering to finish college essays now. But reflections matter as well for adults, especially those in charge of teaching and building technology supports...
The EdSurge Guide to Becoming a Future Ready Leader
So, you’ve signed the Future Ready Pledge—or perhaps you are just considering it. What do you do next? The Future Ready District Pledge is a commitment and a roadmap for superintendents and district leaders to move towards personalized learning. As p...
The Data Workout: How It’s Impacting Teaching and Learning
SPONSORED BY Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationData comes in all shapes and sizes, which can make analysis and interpretation a tricky beast. In this guide, EdSurge explores how to think about, gather and act upon education data.
What Personalized Learning Looks Like Across the Country: The 2017 Fifty States Project
If you're in education, chances are you've heard the term "personalized learning." But what does that phrase mean? What does "personalized learning" look like from coast to coast, classroom to classroom? For the last few years, we’ve collected storie...
Give Your Kids a Most Excellent Coding Adventure
SPONSORED BY Dig-It GamesFor a new generation of students growing up in a digitally-connected century, all roads lead to code. Coding is the new literacy. It will not replace foreign languages, but it will be the global vernacular for understanding how technologies work. Un...
Community College: Digital Innovation's Next Frontier
SPONSORED BY Macmillan LearningCommunity colleges aren’t often where investors and change-makers first look for inspiration. But a lot is happening there, and in this guide, we share 10 digital initiatives we’ve got our eyes on.
Going Back to School With the 2016 EdSurge Fifty States Project
Educators, we know you're getting ready to go back to school—or potentially have already started. But what if you need support? Have a question about technology, or how to integrate it? To help you out with tips and tricks from educators who've been ...
What's Next for Maker Education
SPONSORED BY AdobeConfession: We at EdSurge are a bit in love with what may be America’s favorite new pastime: making. Indeed, it’s been a busy two years since we published our first guide on making, during which makerspaces have spread into classrooms and curriculum ...
Bridging Education and Work: New Models for 'Skilling Up'
SPONSORED BY Salesforce.orgTimes they are a-changin’—and so are career paths. In this guide, we explore how institutions, companies and learning providers are helping students build skills to meet new demands of the workforce.
EdSurge 2016 Personal Statements
As the dust of 2015 settles, we’re taking time to reflect on the chisels that sculpted our year. We have questions: What was the biggest deal of 2015? How did education technology change, for better or for worse? What will 2016 hold?To ensure we’re not...
Exploring Blended Learning Leadership
SPONSORED BY Capella UniversityHere at EdSurge, we don’t miss a chance to celebrate. Right now, we’re whooping it up over Connected Educator Month. And because it wouldn’t be a celebration without a little gift-giving, we’ve prepared something just for you.It’s an adventure—a guide ...
How to Build Your Makerspace
SPONSORED BY AutodeskLearning by making has been around since long before edtech—just think about what the adventurous explorers or intrepid settlers of yore would have thought of "Do-It-Yourself." But with thousands of kid-friendly tech tools and a whole World Wide Web of...
Winning in the Classroom with Your Personalized Learning Playbook
SPONSORED BY School Improvement NetworkPersonalized learning means different things to different people. Visit different schools with different models, and chances are they will all tell you they are using some form of personalized learning. But what does “personalized learning” mean, and...
Adult Learning: Building Paths to a Better Future
Through the on-the-ground perspectives of adult learners, get to know the burgeoning relationship between adult education and education technology.
EdSurge 2015 Personal Statements
Although many of us are penning fresh resolutions this week, perhaps none are reflecting on the past year quite as feverishly as high school seniors, scrambling to finish up college application essays before the new year. So this year, we asked thought...
From School to Shining School: 52 Stories from Educators Across the U.S.
Oh, say can you see--amazing educators using edtech! For the past twelve months, we’ve been collecting stories written by educators--teachers, edtech coordinators, librarians, superintendents and others--from all fifty states, the District of Columbi...
All Aboard the Connected Classroom!
All aboard! Learning--for both students and teachers--is increasingly connected. We share learning practices, lessons and insights both to support one another and sometimes just for the sheer joy of it. Throughout " Connected Educators" month, we'll s...
EdSurge 2014 Outlooks
We'll be the first to agree--2013 was an active year for educational technology. We saw successes. Venture investment increased by 6% from the previous year. New edtech incubators and accelerators popped up in countries and cities across the globe, i...
Tweeting Down The Classroom Walls
For decades, teachers have been a lighthouse--we stand alone, surrounded by a sea of desks, making hundreds of decisions every day, isolated in our own classrooms. It can be a lonely profession. Now there is an alternate, Twitter universe: we wake up...
Playing Games In School
It doesn't take a PhD to know that when students are engaged, they learn. Any game that fails to engage students gets chucked into the trash or relegated to a yard sale. Ergo the hypothesis that if "education" is more like a game, kids will be engaged...
Education Technology 101: From Assessments to Zombies
Why shouldn't the smartest people in the world want to go into education? One reason that comes to mind: maybe they just don't know much about how education--and for that matter, how quickly education technology has been evolving. And yep, we'd lik...
Teaching Kids to Code
Every era demands—and rewards—different skills. In different times and different places, we have taught our children to grow vegetables, build a house, forge a sword or blow a delicate glass, bake bread, create a soufflé, write a story or shoot hoops...
