kids Tag

MEET SHELLEY MILES—A HIGH ENERGY, HIGH INTEGRITY EXECUTIVE

15 May 2014, Posted by Sarina Simon in Animation, Edtech, Expert Interviews, kids' media

Shelley Miles Shelley has spent her 25-year career leading the growth and development of consumer-based entertainment and technology businesses. Shelley began her media career at the Walt Disney Company where she ran the children’s music group and started Disney’s interactive group. Later she worked in a number of startups including US Animation, Mommy & Me, Kidthing and Revizzit. Shelley is one of those rare individuals who came to media very much from the business side (accounting) but embraced and succeeded on the creative side, too.  In this interview, she candidly describes lessons she has learned in her career—including both successes…

CREATIVE CONTENT FOR PINT-SIZED PEOPLE

30 Apr 2014, Posted by Sarina Simon in Expert Interviews

Rachael Tobener Meet award-winning children’s writer and content designer, Rachael Sophia Tobener.  Rachael has worked with a wide range of companies, including Disney, LeapFrog, Crayola, Discovery Kids and Fingerprint Play. Though she has only been in the business for 15 years, she has written 10 full-length video scripts, designed more than 30 mobile apps, produced more than 50 toys, and authored more than 75 interactive books for kids.  Besides being prolific, Rachael is just plain good at what she does.  I sat with Rachael (in the virtual-seating sense) and asked her about her career.  Her answers are candid and reveal…

7 Challenges for Computer-Based Testing

23 Jan 2014, Posted by Sarina Simon in Edtech, Expert Interviews, Standardized Testing

Expert Insights: Erik Amerikaner, Master Teacher This year California school districts will be using computer-based internet delivered standardized exams. On the surface, this makes a lot of sense, and as an edtech advocate, it seems like an idea whose time has more than come. The ability to aggregate, parse and analyze data to learn more about students and teachers to improve learning sounds like a win. However, as a former educator, I know that’s just part of the story. Implementing successful change in schools is not a simple yes-no proposition.   I asked Erik Amerikaner , a National Board for…

Mobile Apps and Kids, or Plus ça change?*

25 Dec 2013, Posted by Sarina Simon in kids' media, Mobile App Development

ust when I was beginning to feel that mobile apps have truly changed the way kids learn and play, a former colleague who hasn’t worked in the learning space for years gave me pause to reflect. We were catching up when she mentioned she’d been contacted to write a script for a fun learning app for a major developer.  She added that she was not up to date with technology and didn’t know if she could do it. I sent her a list of popular apps and told her to take a look.  To my surprise, she called me in…