May 23, 2008 -- I believe that HotChalk may become the next example of how to develop a winning formula in educational technology. Think of HotChalk as a social network for teachers, students and even parents. Any teacher can sign up on HotChalk for free. In five minutes they will be able to view another teacher's classroom materials and upload their own lesson plans and get feedback from other teachers. More...
Mornings with Keith & Gail: Ed Fields on Minimum F Grading
May 20, 2008 -- Keith Weinman and Gail Fallen of Fox News Radio 600 KCOL discuss the Minimum F Grading issue with Ed Fields, Chairman and CEO of HotChalk. Listen Now!
At Some Schools, Failure Goes from Zero to 50
Is 'minimum-F' grading an unfair penalty or unfair boost?
May 19, 2008 -- In most math problems, zero would never be confused with 50, but a handful of schools nationwide have set off an emotional academic debate by giving minimum scores of 50 for students who fail. Officials in schools from Las Vegas to Dallas to Port Byron, N.Y., have proposed or implemented versions of such a policy, with varying results. More...
History Comes Alive for K-12 Students Using Historic Footage
April 24, 2008 -- A unique collaboration between media giant NBC News and online learning environment, HotChalk.com, is giving students and teachers what they’ve been longing for: an interactive educational tool that is informative, engaging and relevant to the YouTube generation. The NBC News On-Demand Archives make over 10,000 video clips of historical footage and news broadcasts available to K-12 students around the world. Rather than simply reading about the non-violent movement of the civil rights era, teachers are able to show video of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking to the media about sit-in demonstrations. More...
Wikipedia Founder Proposes Support for Open Textbooks
April 2, 2008 -- Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger put out an appeal last week in the Journal of Higher Education to donate money to create textbooks online that would be free to children in grades K-12 worldwide. While that is a great idea, the appeal should be re-worded to say "support existing efforts to create open educational materials for students worldwide." More...
edbizbuzz: A Belated Friday Guest Column - Redefining Tech Support
April 2, 2008 -- Edward Field is the CEO of online teacher community HotChalk, offered free to public schools through corporate sponsorships and advertising. guest.jpg The American education system is in crisis. Teachers are scrambling to stay on top of their workload and drive the best possible learning outcomes. Meanwhile, administrators, parents, legislators and Corporate America are on the sidelines calling plays that don’t stand a chance of changing the outcome of the game. Education is the only path to ensuring America will continue to lead the global economy. Educators need our support in every way. A new game plan based on three fundamental changes is the way to approach teaching; a strategy that helps teachers overcome obstacles they face in their day-to-day practice. More...
Education & Technology: Now Is the Time - HotChalk CEO Edward Fields
March 31, 2008 -- Technology has long been a tool in the classroom but hasn’t always been the most effective one. Edward Fields, founder & CEO of HotChalk, an online learning resource for pre K-12 teachers, is looking to change that. More...
Teachers Tap Video-Sharing In the Classroom
March 26, 2008 -- When Richard Colosi wanted to teach his first-grade class about insects, he turned to the Web for help. Mr. Colosi, who works at Canandaigua Primary School in upstate New York, went to his laptop and put on a video parody of "The Dating Game" that featured different types of insects. The video was produced by a teacher in another school district and posted on TeacherTube, a video-sharing site for students and educators. Video in the classroom has evolved since the days when teachers wheeled in film projectors on carts. More teachers are using online video-sharing sites... More...
Testing rules prompt new science products
As schools prepare to add science to high-stakes testing, companies are responding with new science solutions
March 12, 2008 -- New testing requirements that will take effect this fall under the federal No Child Left Behind Act are forcing schools to ramp up their science instruction—and curriculum companies are responding in turn with solutions designed to meet schools’ needs. For the first time under the federal law, schools will be required to test students in science once a year in elementary, middle, and high schools beginning in the 2008-09 school year. Schools can use science test scores as an "other academic indicator" to determine whether they meet AYP. More...
On the Issues: A Voter's Guide to Education
February 14, 2008 -- Most education policy, as well as roughly 91% of the funding, comes from the state and local level. But as No Child Left Behind showed, a change in federal policy can still have a big impact. Here are four K-12 issues in which the next President could make a difference: More...
NBC News answers students' questions about the presidential campaign
February 13, 2008 -- NBC News is making its top political reporters and experts available to answer questions about the 2008 presidential election from the nation's students and teachers. "Ask NBC News" is an exclusive feature of NBC News Archives on Demand, a compilation of thousands of primary-source video resources created specifically for classroom instruction. The Archives on Demand are available on HotChalk, a free web-based learning management system for K-12 teachers and their students. More...
2007
Teaching History to the YouTube Generation
October 21, 2007 -- On this Tuesday morning, Jeff Jasper is engaging his American History students in a lively discussion about the Declaration of Independence -- with a little help from Katie Couric. Specifically, this sophomore honors class at Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale is debating Thomas Jefferson's use of the word "men" -- in the phrase "all men are created equal" -- in the context of a similar debate Couric moderated in 1999 when she was co-anchor of NBC's "Today". More...
An Interview with Edward Fields and Nicola Soares: About HotChalk
Outstanding Education Technology Products Saluted
December 19, 2007 -- Edward Fields is Founder, Chairman & CEO of "HotChalk" and he has extensive experience in developing and marketing educational software and enterprise software solutions. Nicola Soares is Vice President of NBC News Educational Initiatives. In this interview, they respond to questions about this intriguing new approach to learning. More...
Decades of Historic NBC News Archives Released in HotChalk's
Digital Learning Environment Engages Students in Active Learning
Online Tool Features Over Sixty Years of Historic NBC News Archives
August 14, 2007 - In a significant move to support K-12 education, NBC News is opening its video vault of over sixty-years of historic news archives and supplemental resources. Made possible through an unique partnership between NBC News and HotChalk, a K-12 focused learning management system, teachers in every school will now have access to NBC educational content specifically created for classroom instruction. Designed to engage students in active learning and provide primary source multimedia content that far exceeds what is available in traditional textbooks, more than 5,000 video resources provided by NBC through HotChalk can be used to supplement instruction in a wide range of courses: history classes can watch the civil rights movement as it happened and view interviews with key players; science students can see recreated footage of the Ice Age or watch today's arctic shelves disintegrate into the ocean; and government classes can have access to the very latest news on immigration, the presidential race, or international relations. More...
