Posts by Tom Vander Ark
Leadership
10 Burning Questions About Innovations in Learning
In preparation for the 2014 ASU GSV Education Innovation Summit, Mike Moe and Deborah Quazzo invited a group of advisors to contemplate the burning questions about innovations in learning. We discussed 10 big questions.
Ed Policy
Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning
A system of teacher development linked to the needs of hiring entities that awarded licenses based on demonstrated competence would provide personalized development pathways for teachers and ensure well-trained teachers for schools.
Leadership
Principals Changing Public Education
SLN (School Leaders Network) has 40 networks of about a dozen principals each that work together with a facilitator on their technical and adaptive leadership challenges. About a quarter of a million students benefit from the impact of SLN.
Personalized Learning
High Tech High: Student Engagement Leads to Deeper Learning
I've been there at lease a dozen times but I'm always floored by the student artwork. Here are two students expanding on a SketchPad art they produced to illustrate how genetic switches (contributed by parents on either side) influence our life.
EdTech
CodeHS Wins Innovation Challenge at Education Nation
CodeHS, a site that teaches high school students how to code, won the Innovation Challenge at Education Nation. CodeHS takes home a $75,000 prize from Robin Hood Foundation--and publicity worth a lot more than that!
Ed Policy
Preparing School Leaders
It's exciting and encouraging to see some of the folks training high performing leaders thinking about blended personalized learning for leaders--not just students. It suggests the potential for more efficient and effective replacements for the system of courses, credits, and credentials. However, enacting these ten attributes at scale would require new state policies governing licensure.
Leadership
LearnZillion: Dreaming Big About Collaborative PD
Historically, most PD has been the low engagement top-down model. PLCs have benefits of teacher-owned collaboration. The LearnZillion approach “combines the rigor and consistency of the top-down approach with the benefits of teacher collaboration,” said Westendorf.
Leadership
No More Boring PD with Flipped & Blended Conferences
With all the cool conferencing apps and social learning tools, there’s just no excuse for running an boring old fashioned get together these days.
Personalized Learning
K¹² Focused on Academic Outcomes, Improved Outreach & Enrollment
“We’ve renewed our commitment to academic outcomes,” said Nate Davis, Executive Chairman of K¹² after a tough couple of weeks of criticism. “We have improved the quality of our outreach and enrollment practices, and focused on improved outcomes as measured by traditional state tests.”
Ed Policy
The ASD Catapults Schools to the Top in Tennessee
The ASD seeks to "dramatically expand our students' life and career options, engage parents and community members in new and exciting ways, and ensure a bright future for the state of Tennessee."