Posts by Tom Vander Ark
Stuff You Need to Learn to Get a Real Job
Even the best colleges don’t teach everything you need to know to be able to get a decent job. Here are the skills employers are really looking for in new hires, as well as ways to hone these skills.
Learning (and Teaching) Leadership in the Early Grades
Mukilteo Elementary School in Washington State teaches students leadership skills by implementing FranklinCovey's The Leader In Me, a program designed to teach the '7 Habits of Successful People' to younger students.
Probably Approximately Correct
The best we can hope for when it comes to decisions is to be probably approximately correct. It wasn’t until the recently that human analysts were aided by smart machines that could learn from big data sets and improve predictive power.
Denver Public Schools Partners with KIPP Colorado for Student Success
As we witnessed on our recent school tour in Denver, the state's educational options are improving and getting much more interesting, including a partnership between DPS and KIPP. Here are a few examples from the schools we visited.
10 Ways to Scale Nonprofit Impact
This updated blog from December discusses the challenge of bringing a nonprofit to scale, and provides 10 tips on how to expand impact based on two decades of work with over 400 nonprofits.
Visiting Schools: Transformative Professional Learning
Over the years we've visited hundreds of schools, and have found that seeing innovative education models in person can be a transformative professional learning experience for educators and edleaders.
Watson University: A Great Place to Incubate Your Startup
Watson University offers a new model of higher education that is affordable, applied, based on social impact and bolstered by mentorship to “Unleash next-gen talent to solve the toughest social, economic and environmental challenges facing the world.”
Wall-to-Wall Project-Based Middle School Learning
Bulldog Tech was the first New Tech Network school in Silicon Valley, and to this day the middle school continues its commitment to project-based learning and student collaboration.
Supporting English Language Learners with Next-Gen Tools
Supporting ELLs, and ultimately all students, involves multiple strategies, professional learning and environmental support. It also means providing next-gen and technological tools that can support language acquisition.
Welcome to a Project-Based World (A 5 Minute Commencement Speech)
The life contrasts observed on a recent school tour in Silicon Valley inspired this five minute commencement speech around the good news, bad news and recommendations for the next generation as they join an increasingly project-based world.