Posts by Guest Author
Personalized Learning
Escalating Tuition Costs Aren’t in Anyone’s Best Interest
Colleges and universities provide a critical service to our society. However, institutions of higher education are also businesses. In our current economy, our attention is increasingly drawn to the business side of education. Rising costs, and a scarcity of funds to help those students who cannot afford them, are hurting our bottom lines – and those of many families across the country.
Personalized Learning
Texas Welcomes a New Disruptive Innovation & Vision: Prime Prep Academy
In a recent blog post titled “A Hope for Future Irrelevance,” Michael Horn reflects on a book which discusses the tenets of American teaching technique – including ensuring every student answers the critical questions of a lesson plan, answering the question of “What exactly do I want my students to master?” and choosing challenging curriculum. He posits the challenges a blended-learning environment, particularly infused with technology, will cause for these traditional techniques.
Personalized Learning
The Transformative Power of Education & the Imperative to Educate Our Children Well: Pratham’s Footprint in India
I grew up knowing my family’s history through repeated narratives by my grandmother. She was, as I came to realize, an incredible woman. My own conviction in the transformative power of education derives directly from her experiences and commitments; my life as an Indian-American who has made the United States her permanent home and my professional life as Executive Director of Pratham USA also derive from my memory of her unfulfilled aspirations.
Personalized Learning
4 Ways to Empower Students Through Collaboration
If you want students to collaborate it is imperative that educators establish this as a norm at the beginning of the school year. Great teachers leverage group work and collaborative activities and projects in their curriculum and instruction, but oftentimes teachers “push-back” with the difficulties of having their students collaborate. I agree, it is a daunting task, but I always respond, “How have you taught them to collaborate and providing scaffolding of that skill?” This is the key! If you want your students to collaborate effectively, you must give the opportunity to do so, as well as give the necessary instruction in skills and scaffolding.
Personalized Learning
What the Learning Sciences Tell Us About Competency Education
At a recent meeting sponsored by iNACOL to think deeply about competency and assessment, we talked about what impact the last few decades of learning science should have on doing the best job planning and using competencies for learning.
Personalized Learning
Investing in Education Innovation
Ask yourself, would the next Rocketship Education or Goalbook grow in your backyard? If not, what would it take? One thing is for sure: education innovation does not happen by accident.
Personalized Learning
TheraWeb Meets Students’ Individual Learning Needs
By: Jaclyn Norton. Special education departments in schools throughout the country - namely in rural communities - experience a struggle betweenproviding immediate on-location support to students, while combating challenges that inhibit these counseling resources. Factors such as budget cuts, client distance, and shortage of counselors hinder students access to this specialized support, creating a significant demand for therapy in schools.
EdTech
We Need to Develop Expert Screen Readers
Isn’t it odd that the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for reading does not introduce electronic reading until fifth grade? Since children increasingly read from screens on computers, eReaders like iPods or Kindles, and smartphones, shouldn’t they learn to read from day one on the very media they have comfortably used since they were toddlers?
Personalized Learning
A New Bumper Sticker: My Student is More Proficient Than Your Student!
How do we serve the parents like my neighbor who want to be involved in their student’s education but don’t understand the changes that are occurring? Some say it will take a minimum of three generations before the changes we are proposing become the expected classroom culture. Regardless of whether it takes a single school year or several generations, what we need to remember is that we are on this course for a long time.
Personalized Learning
Student Chooses Online Learning to Succeed
For some kids, an online school is their school of choice. That was true for Emily Boucher, the 2012 valedictorian of the Wisconsin Virtual Academy. Her hometown newspaper recently called her, "Burlington's 'Other' Valedictorian."