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.
Creating Sound Policy For Digital Learning
Fordham released two important papers today as part of the Creating Sound Policy for Digital Learning series. The first, Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction, is by the co-directors of Public Impact. Bryan and Emily Hassel are the Gladwells of education—they point to profound truths hiding in plan sight. In short, this is the best current description of the implications of digital learning on learning professionals.
OER Update: Open High, NROC, CK12
I’ve seen a lot of good open content for grades 6-12 in the few days. Last week I was on a panel at iNACOL with DeLaina Tonks of Open High of Utah who leads a really impressive team piloting innovative practices and building engaging content. They recently released their CC licensed OpenCourseWare, a free 9th-10th grade curriculum.
Five Things Students Want Their Teachers to Know about Online Learning
Kids love having the opportunity to learn online but it’s not merely the medium or the technology that students enjoy. At the recent iNacol Virtual Schools Symposium I listened to high school students who have experience learning this way as well as teachers who have experience with these students, share some advice for making this type of learning even better.
How Technology Can Improve Online Learning—and Learning in General
As president of a nonprofit, online university I am often asked about the quality of online learning. The answer is that the quality of education is largely independent of the mode of delivery. Other variables are far more important. There is high-quality online learning, and there is high-quality classroom learning, just as there is low-quality learning in both settings.
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.
Z Future Is Here!
Generation Z, that group born between 1992 and 2010, is making a greater impact on society than any generation in the past. This group is the first to be born in the age of the Internet. They do not know a world without it. Thanks to the ubiquity of high-speed Internet, smartphones, and tablets, their world is an on-demand, information age that they are actively helping shape before they’re even teenagers.
#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. …