Posts by Tom Vander Ark
What You’ll See More of 2013
A reporter asked me what to expect on the education front in 2013. To some extent you'll see an extension of the blog " 5 Megatrends That Shaped 2012 Education." But like MOOCs in 2012, there are likely to be a few breakout trends that few predicted.
SIIA: EdTech Market is $7.8 Billion & Growing
The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) released it’s annual EdTech report this week. Based on a survey and related research, they estimate the U.S. institutional market for education software and digital content/resources at $7.76 billion.
Blended Learning Decision: Enterprise or Portfolio
For many districts, the most important strategy decision will be whether to build a common district plan or encouraging schools to develop their own plans.
Good Schools Start With Good Goals
Good schools start with good goals. I really like the goal statements from Danville Schools, a small district south of Lexington.
Sir John Daniel: Openness Rather Than Scale is MOOC Contribution
"I'm delighted that openness has gotten to some very closed institutions," said Sir John Daniel. As the former CEO of Commonwealth of Learning and Vice-Chancellor of Open University, he knows a lot about higher education, open education resources (OER), and online learning.
Powering the Real Revolution in Higher Education
We've heard a lot about Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) -- the breakout trend of the year -- but it's still a fringe concept feeding what Clayton Christensen calls non-consumption. The real story is how the diverse web of nearly 5,000 institutions (broadly speaking) of higher learning in the U.S. are responding to cost pressure, calls for higher completion rates and better job preparation, and student demands for relevance.
Big History: An Organizing Principle for a Compelling Class, Block or School
After Bill Gates saw a series of lectures by David Christian on big history Gates said, "He really blew me away. Here's a guy who's read across the sciences, humanities, and social sciences and brought it together in a single framework. It made me wish that I could have taken big history when I was young, because it would have given me a way to think about all of the school work and reading that followed. In particular, it really put the sciences in an interesting historical context and explained how they apply to a lot of contemporary concerns."
10 Things Next Gen Districts Will Do Well
What will next generation districts do well? In the last week I've had the opportunity to discuss that question with hundreds of school board members and superintendents.
Smart Cities: Houston’s Low Tech Lift Off
"Houston, unlike other cities, is insanely entrepreneurial and optimistic. It incubates the hell out of new ideas," said nonprofit leader Rhetta Detrich. She would know; she helped build Education Pioneers national network. Lacking the provinciality of East Coast cities, "Houston exists because it was founded on the premise of outsiders bringing good ideas and industry."
McKinsey Report on Edu to Employment: Useful Frame, Missing Innovation
McKinsey released a report called Education to Employment: Designing a System that Works. The six findings are rationale but fall short on the innovation front. The big sector wide solutions that the McKinsey team described will be beneficial when and where the occur. In the mean time, watch for organic solutions that emerge around new skills acquisition capabilities and marketing signaling strategies.