Archive: 2012
Personalized Learning
21st Century Learning, At All Levels
Last Friday, Mark Edmundson, an English professor at The University of Virginia, wrote a scathing critique of online learning in The New York Times. Mr. Edmundson's understanding of his subject lacked an in-depth intellectual or practical study of the myriad diverse programs available to students from grade school to graduate school.
Personalized Learning
Staff Picks: LPS, Innovation, Documentaries, Global Learning
This week's staff picks focus on politics of innovation, Leadership Public Schools, documentaries as learning experiences and global low cost private schools.
Ed Policy
Principles for Model Online & Blended Learning Legislation
The International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) released a Statement of Principles for Model Legislation in States. The principles are fully aligned with Digital Learning Now!, a framework for state policy released in 2010. The principles are a useful guide not only for state policy…
Personalized Learning
NRC Report Highlights Importance of Deeper Learning
While the NRC definition of deeper learning purportedly shifts from "21st century skills" to broader "21st century competencies" including skills, knowledge, and expertise, the definition seems accurate - but a bit shallow.
Innov8
SMARTtech Roundup: From Blended Learning to Big Data
Blended Schools & Tools Blended Schools Sprouting. Vail Blended Learning is a new blended middle school in Arizona that uses laptops as its main learning tool using online content developed by K12 Inc., e2020, and VBL Curriculum and Instruction. Students have a flexible daily schedule and move through…
EdTech
We Need More Launching Pad Politics
This country is stuck in disingenuous debate fueled by superpac superficiality. There are great examples of launching pads around the country. It would be great if, rather than mudslinging, we saw more launch pad politics.
Personalized Learning
Storytelling: Open Your Classroom to the World
Documentaries have been my favorite genre of film for a long time. I think it was Hoop Dreams, back in 1994, that truly got me hooked. It wasn't an action film or thriller that I typically chose to see with my friends at the theater, but, still, I was mesmerised by these two boys playing basketball and surviving life by focusing on their love for the game of basketball. I truly loved it because it was storytelling at it's absolute best.
Personalized Learning
The Trouble With Views On Online Education
Recently, I read with interest an opinion piece in the New York Times by Mark Edmundson touting “The Trouble with Online Education.” It just so happens that after nearly three decades of face-to-face classroom teaching (including at the college level) and a handful of years experimenting with “blended” courses to varying degrees, I have begun teaching a fully online course for the first time this Summer. So, naturally, the title of Professor Edmundson’s piece piqued my interest.
Personalized Learning
Good Schools for the World’s Poor
Steady progress has been made toward universal access to primary education–a 2015 Global Development Goal. But in the developing world the quality of government schools in urban slums are terribly bad. Parents desperately seek alternatives but few solutions. In some South African townships parents pay twice as much in…
EdTech
Blended Case Study: Leadership Public Schools
Leadership Public Schools (LPS) is a network of four small high-poverty high schools in Richmond, Oakland, Hayward, and San Jose, California. These locations (and nearby Summit Prep and Downtown College Prep) are the best example of great high schools combining the historic benefits of small rigorous and supportive environments with the potential of incorporating personal digital learning.