Posts by Tom Vander Ark
Personalized Learning
Edu-innovation will improve quality, expand choice
A charter school investor asked me what innovation had to do with school choice. The answer is that adaptive content–engaging, personalized, online learning with continuous feedback–will improve student motivation, accelerate learning, and expand options for students and families in 3 ways: * Informal learning: Improved access to broadband and powerful…
Personalized Learning
This video will change LA, then USA
Parent Revolution offers a simple powerful promise—get 51% of parents to sign up and in 3 years you get a transformed school. Wow, that’s a big idea. Easier said than done and only possible: • in states where parents can vote to convert a school to charter (I’m trying…
Personalized Learning
Challenges for Charter Schools
Read this important piece from AEI on Challenges for Charter Schools. Hess makes some good points about the challenge of scaling: • Models that rely on heroic effort have inherent limits to scale (e.g., KIPP) • The quality backlash and focus on ‘what works’ has driven innovation…
Personalized Learning
Community organizing in a post school district world
“What will happen when school districts go bankrupt or are taken over by the state?” a community organizer asked. He was contemplating future scenarios with combinations of increasing charter school market share, decreasing state and local financial support, and persistent academic failure. Paul Hill has spent more than 15…
Personalized Learning
Mission scaling
It’s tough for non-profit organizations to find scaling capital—especially now. Donations come and go. Foundations provide restricted grants for pet projects. Even with a strong sustainable business plan, it’s hard to find unrestricted grants to grow. That’s why I’m encouraged by a new generation of non-profit venture and growth…
Personalized Learning
Turning the textbook world upside down
Flatworld, a start up company that just raised $8 million, is launching a free line of college textbooks. Like Wireless Generation, which distributes www.FreeReading.net, they make money by selling related services. For the last 15 years, textbook publishers have given away CDs and digital assets to sell textbooks.
Personalized Learning
Learning outside of the classroom—culture and context will drive spiky use
TeachStreet is one of the latest entrants in informal peer-to-peer learning space. See interview with CEO Dave Shappell on The Deal. There was lots of conversation about P2P learning at the Union Square’s recent Hacking Education conference. Universities see this coming and are tripping over themselves…
Personalized Learning
In favor of risk
Risk capital made this country great—that and an amazing foundation of founding principles. But we’re getting ready to send risk capital overseas. The uniquely American combination of market capitalism, extraordinary universities, and risk capital—specifically venture capital and growth equity—are the engine behind a century of remarkable…
Personalized Learning
6 EdTech trends that will affect education
eSchool News reports on the six technologies soon to affect education – One year or less: collaborative environments and online communication tools – Two to three years: mobile devices and cloud computing – Four to five years: smart objects and the personal web…
Personalized Learning
Learning online tidbits
1. “Students say there should be more use of mobile devices in their learning.” This blinding flash of the obvious is from a recent Speak Up survey. So why is it that nearly all kids in the developed world have mobile devices and we don’t use them…