Author Archive

Top Hat Staff

This post is written by the Top Hat editorial team.

  1. SXSW EDU 2019: 4 Key Takeaways About Education Technology

    Personalized learning, formative assessment and improving student interaction all require technology to be teacher-led and focused on results

  2. A Textbook That Teaches Students How To Learn

    On-demand and interactive media is now the norm for Generation Z students coming into their first year of college—in fact, Generation Z’s eldest members are already in their senior year. Generation Z want personalization and they live and socialize online; having to purchase expensive, print-based textbooks leaves them nonplussed. Many don’t bother buying or reading […]

  3. Grit and a Gift for Engineering Pave a Way for Women in STEM

    Gina Cody, the first woman to have an engineering school named after her in Canada, worked relentlessly to distinguish herself in a male-dominated field. But her success isn’t a one-off. It’s trailblazing a path for other women in STEM to succeed

  4. Want to Make Education Better? Leave Academia

    Lisa Petrides—founder and CEO of ISKME, an independent education nonprofit—knew she could improve education. But she had to quit her dream job at Columbia to make it happen

  5. Technology in Education 2019: 5 Trends to Watch

    In 2019, education technology will be about social change, better use of resources and improved infrastructure—not the branded gadgets we’ve come to expect

  6. 5 Innovative Professors On The Future of Higher Ed

    Top Hat’s panel of innovative educators have one piece of advice for rookie educators eager to start afresh in 2019—try something new, but slow down. “This is your domain, and you get to choose how you want to instruct students,” says Leslie Sprunger, associate professor at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. “Be willing […]

  7. Sir Ken Robinson: From Special Ed To Academic Royalty

    Knighted in 2003 for his service to the arts, Sir Ken Robinson, the bestselling author of The Element and Creative Schools, charted an unlikely course to find international success—he chased whatever truly interested him

  8. Student Evaluations: Problems and Possible Solutions

    End of semester student evaluations are unreliable, biased and usually incomplete. Is there still a place for them?

  9. Bloom’s Taxonomy Words Point The Way To Clearer Outcomes

    Armed with the Bloom's taxonomy words, you can plan lesson activities and tasks, decide lecture and course outcomes, and accurately measure your students' progress

  10. How an Unlikely Academic Ended up Running a Groundbreaking Harvard Lab

    Todd Rose—bestselling author of The End of Average—dropped out of high school because he couldn’t fit the mold. Then he realized that being different could be his ticket to the Ivy League

  11. Top Hat Ranked Number 200 Fastest Growing Company in North America on Deloitte’s 2018 Technology Fast 500™

    Top Hat’s CEO and co-founder Mike Silagadze credits the team, business model, and edtech platform.

  12. Multiple Choice Test Ideas For College Classrooms

    Learn when it’s appropriate to set a multiple choice test for college students, and how to make sure they achieve your classroom’s learning goals — even higher-order thinking

  13. Formative Vs Summative Assessment: How They Work Together

    In this edited extract from a Top Hat e-book, we look at formative vs summative assessment, and how both have roles to play in a well-structured course. We also look at how effective deployment of one can help the other, and why student achievement depends on a good balance between evaluation and teaching and learning

  14. Where AI Could Take The Classroom

    In the view of Eran Ben-Ari, chief product officer at Top Hat, artificial intelligence is doing exactly what it is supposed to – enhance and strengthen the work that students, teachers and administrators already do. Read the full article from the Globe & Mail to learn more.

  15. Meet the Winners of the Top Hat Innovative Educator Awards 2018

    Every year at the Engage conference, we honor some of the most exciting work done by the professors who use the Top Hat platform. From saving students time and money, via creating content and organizing workflows for remedial students, to supporting and promoting their colleagues’ work in technology adoption, each of our award winners have […]

  16. Edtech Early Adopters and Users Surge Among Faculty: Survey

    The classroom has changed—and now there’s proof. A new survey by Inside Higher Ed, tracking professors’ attitudes towards educational technology and new teaching methods, has revealed that more and more instructors are becoming comfortable with being the first to try new teaching tools, a result that echoes Top Hat’s own yearly poll of higher education […]

  17. 4 Tips To Build An Agile Classroom, Courtesy of Engage 2018

    All of our speakers at Engage 2018, our yearly Chicago conference for innovative educators, took the theme of the agile classroom to heart

  18. Education Needs Radical Change: Sir Ken Robinson at Engage 2018

    In a highly memorable and humorous talk at Engage 2018, Top Hat’s conference for innovative higher educators, international education expert and TED talk alumnus Sir Ken Robinson spoke about the radical changes needed in education to help the next generation thrive. There are forthcoming challenges in the 21st-century—climate change, ethics around artificial intelligence, and more—and […]

  19. The Unconventional Way This Cloud-Based Startup Broke Into the Education Sphere

    In this latest video from Entrepreneur Network partner MaRS Discovery District, entrepreneur Mike Silagadze talks about making his career pivot. Watch the full video from Entrepreneur to hear more about Top Hat’s journey..

  20. What is FERPA? Student Privacy in the 21st Century Digital World

    What is FERPA? FERPA, or the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, was signed into U.S. law in 1974 with two purposes: first, that college students could receive copies of their educational records and were authorized to correct them if need be, and second, to block the release of personally identifiable information from those student […]