Posts by Tom Vander Ark
WSJ Picks Problems, Misses the Promise of Learning Online
The WSJ ran a generally negative article this morning about full time online learning. There was some attempt to sample the breadth of the emerging digital learning landscape and the authors did point to several successful blended school models including SW Learning and Rocketship. But as past chair of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, I found eight problems with the article.
Getting the Plumbing Ready for the Flood of Data
Personal digital learning will helping more students achieve higher standards. The shift will require prepared teachers, effective communications, smart tools--and really good plumbing. The initiatives mentioned above are helping to create the data infrastructure for smarter education options. But for adult learners like you and me it often feels like drinking from a fire hose.
10 Big Advances in the last 12 months
Susan Patrick, iNACOL Fifteen years ago when I was a superintendent, online learning was a new idea in K-12. Six years ago when Susan Patrick joined iNACOL as Executive Director, it represented a small but growing fringe. And now, while many reform groups continue to fight old battles,…
#ETLC11: Blue Ridge Virtual Learning
Cool evenings and muted colors signal November in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I’m in Roanoke Virginia for the 17th annual Educational Technology Leadership Conference hosted by Virginia Tech. I met a teacher from southwest Virginia who’s family works in the mines—imagine a career crawling around inside narrow…
10 Reasons the Shift May Happen Faster Than You Think
At the State EdTech Directors Association (SETDA) annual conference I talked about a dozen of the factors accelerating the shift to digital learning: 1. Cheap tablets: they cost less than a backpack of books. 2. More broadband and promising initiatives to extend access to low income families.
Smart Laws of Technology
John Smart is a futurist that works with some of my former colleagues from the X Prize Foundation. He’s the founder and president of the Acceleration Studies Foundation (ASF, Accelerating.org) a nonprofit community that seeks to help individuals better understand and manage continuous accelerating change. …
OERu: Open Content to Expand College Access
OERu seeks to create new affordable learning pathways for low income adults worldwide based on open education resources (OER). Sponsored by the OER Foundation and Hewlett Foundation, the work is advanced by 13 partner institutions including Empire State, SUNY.
Good Work: Enabling Others to Act
Give the folks you work with ownership by involving them in decision making, delegating authority as well as responsibility, and backing them up when they fail. They will work harder, stay longer, and make it better. Enable others to do good work.
Kevin Johnson: Read to Succeed
“All students should read at grade level by the end of third grade.” Former NBA All Star and Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson visited the Northwest this week on behalf of our friends at the League of Education Voters promoting this simple but important idea.
Are you ready for the era of ‘big data’?
“Radical customization, constant experimentation, and novel business models will be new hallmarks of competition as companies capture and analyze huge volumes of data. “ The McKinsey Quarterly ran a great article last month calling the question, Are you ready for the era of ‘big data’? Their five big questions are adapted here for education.