EdTech
EdTech
Online Learning Saves Education
The only way online education companies can respond to concerns about quality and age-appropriateness is if they are given the chance to experiment and win over students and parents. Government policies need to be tweaked, and companies need investment to grow. But for online education to really take off, we need to let the chalkboard in the little red schoolhouse go, and learn to love the glow of a child’s face lit by a laptop screen. -- Katherine Mangu-Ward, Washington Post
Personalized Learning
Flat Lining Schools; Tinkering Won’t Work
This week the “The Nation’s Report Card” showed no progress. That’s really quite disturbing given aggressive federal policy (NCLB), a handful of cities like New York making real progress, states like Louisiana and Florida pushing hard, and national foundation efforts. It suggests that tinkering won’t come close to…
Personalized Learning
Mobile Learning Maturing (Slowly)
Article worth reading in EdWeek on mobile learning. Â I particularly like what Seth Weinberger at Innovations for Learning is doing with the $100 TeacherMate, a cool primary reading and math handheld game pad. See feature in next months Fast Company. Getting close to the device and price point…
Personalized Learning
Fixing No Child Left Behind
The WSJ, published an editorial that both praises and is critical of the President’s Blueprint. Â I thought it was worth a full read: The Obama Administration wants to revise the No Child Left Behind education law, which is understandable because the law has flaws. But it’s too…
Personalized Learning
Most RttT Finalist Have Lame Online Plans
Most of 16 Race to the Top finalist have lame online learning plans–and this is the best of the bunch.  iNACOL posted a useful review. FL is the best of a bad lot and they’re just coasting on Jeb’s leadership and still protect district enrollments by stopping the Internet at…
Personalized Learning
Games Will Change Everything
Games (and other smart adaptive learning media) will be part the core instructional program for most kids in a few years because they are: Adaptive: continuous performance assessment identifies and targets a student’s instructional level and provides instant feedback–it’s personalized learning; Engaging: good games use creative media to teach key…
Personalized Learning
Building a Better Teacher (the Online Version)
New York Times Magazine got the title right but the story wrong. Doug Lemov is great and his book, Teach Like a Champ, will be a big contribution to the sector. But we’re still trying to solve a 1990 question—how does one teacher lift the achievement level of…
Personalized Learning
What Stuck? Key EdReformer Question
What Stuck? What faded? As an EdReformer, it’s interesting to think about the investment of time and money with a little hindsight. Seven years ago, Caprice Young chaired the LAUSD board. She went on to run the California charter association and is now CEO of KCDL, a leading…
Personalized Learning
RttT Changed the Landscape
Race to the Top has already changed the landscape–that and Obama and Duncan’s backbone. Â They’ve done what no Republican president has had the nerve to do–take on teacher effectiveness. Â Their willingness to incorporate tough language in RttT resulted in 40 states developing very aggressive plans to dramatically improve teacher effectiveness.
EdTech
Common Core, Day 2
It’s the dawn of a new era. America took a big step forward yesterday and you probably missed it. The nation’s governors and state school chiefs released Common Core State Standards to a decidedly mixed buzz—there is something for everyone to criticize. Before the carping, editing and adding reach a…