Personalized Learning
Personalized learning is a mindset and approach to teaching that focuses on meeting each learner where they are and tailoring a curriculum that considers their interests, prior knowledge and skill level, and pace. Such a demand on the teacher requires sophisticated usage of technology in a combination of personalized, blended and online learning.
K12 Statement on the NYTimes Hit Piece
The New York Times article featuring K12 Inc. is unfair and one-sided, and advances an anti-parent choice policy agenda. Instead of presenting a factually accurate look at K12's online and blended learning products and education programs, the writer mostly editorializes, selectively picking and choosing some facts and omitting many others to satisfy a pre-determined narrative. The article omitted important information on the structure of online schools, student performance, teacher training and professional development, and the full scope of education programs and services provided by K12. It liberally quotes well-known critics but gives no room for leading voices supportive of technology-based education reforms.
10 Parents Respond to the New York Times’ Hit Piece
The New York Times ran a tabloid-style hit piece on K12, the online learning provider. They apparently didn’t speak to many parents that appreciate full time virtual schools as an option. Follow are excerpts of 10 notes I received from parents this week (responding to my blog) with a different story.
Times Misses the Mark–Again
The New York Times is running a series attacking innovations in learning. Today's tirade blames K12, Inc. for public policy problems, portrays parent interest in choices as a sham, and relies on questionable sources. Here's five specific problems with today's attack piece.
What Would Iran Find if They Reverse-Engineered Our Schools?
The Iranians appear to have captured a US intelligence drone aircraft and now claim they have finished a data extraction and are now in the process of reverse-engineering its capabilities. What if they captured a school and tried to reverse engine our education system? For starters, if they did a data extraction, our kids would be safe because they wouldn't find much data on them.
Fareed’s Take: Education & Infrastructure Key to Growth
On his show and in his blog Fareed Zakaria argued that there is no evidence to the current Republican mantra about taxes and regulation stifling growth. He thinks the answer is pretty clear--we need to invest in infrastructure and improve educational outcomes.
Building a Thoughtful Blend
Innosight Institute’s report The Rise of Blended Learning defines it as “any time a student learns at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home and at least in part through online delivery with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace.” To their definition, I add a requirement that the shift to an online environment for part of the student is intended to boost learning and operating productivity. Here's a description of rotation and flex schools and tools.
HULK’s Thoughts on E-learning
Last week I had a guest in my social-media war room. He is a . . . let’s say . . . a rather misunderstood figure. Most of us think of him as a brute who is emotional and impulsive. He’s been described as part Golem and part Frankenstein monster. I’m referring to none other than THE INCREDIBLE HULK.
A Kentucky Blend
This morning I met with Kentucky Commissioner Terry Holliday and the State Board. They were the first state to adopt the Common Core and will shift to online assessments ahead of the PARCC timeline. In his own words, you can read about Holliday’s leadership promoting great educators,…
How Will the Shift to Digital Learning Happen?
New schools can provide quality options and great examples of what's possible but they won't serve many students. Here's ten change strategies that build on trends and may accelerate the transition to personal digital learning.
A 2020 Vision for Riverside Unified School District
By: David Haglund The introduction of information technologies into virtually every aspect of our lives has led education leaders, parents, and students to think differently about where and how learning takes place. Traditional concepts of schools, classrooms, and learning are being challenged as technologies introduce new ideas and capabilities into the system and new school models are emerging (e.g., Riverside Virtual School www.rvslink.net). Beyond the school walls, the global business market is demanding a new set of skills from college graduates and has an increasingly growing pool of workers from which to draw the best qualified employees.