future of learning
Personalized Learning

What Does an Ideal Learning Environment Look Like?

Guest Author

How would you describe the perfect learning environment? Yes, I realize the question is open-ended, and after launching Compass Learning’s Ideal Learning Environment Video Contest, it’s evident that plenty of people have very specific thoughts regarding their education. We received 100 video entries of teachers, students, and parents describing or showing us their vision of the ideal learning environment. And let me just tell you: I was shocked at the range of creative ideas submitted.
Personalized Learning

Use Google Drive as a “Stepping Stone” to 3D Learning

Guest Author

Craig Roberts, assistant director of education at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, believes his students learn better when they explain things visually. So, he has them build fruit fly brains out of Play-Doh, and construct human brain cells out of miscellany from The Scrap Exchange, a local nonprofit creative reuse center. More often, he sends them to the whiteboard to illustrate core concepts using a splash of color and lots of lines.
Personalized Learning

Innovation In the Face of Dated Modalities

Guest Author

The charter school movement that began 20 years ago in Minnesota has provided an unprecedented opportunity for educators to implement innovative change. This kind of change invokes a variety of emotions.
Personalized Learning

The Shift Is On: iNACOL Conference Attendees Inventing the Future of Learning

Tom Vander Ark

When I joined the iNACOL board three years ago, I was hoping to see a shift in emphasis from virtual schools to a focus on helping all schools incorporate online and personal digital learning. That shift was evident in the name, Inventing the Future of Learning, and content of the Virtual School Symposium program this week in New Orleans.
Ed Policy

Creative Cities: Oakland

Tom Vander Ark

Social justice advocates have been working in Oakland for 20 years. Recently, they've been joined by reformers, talent developers, school networks, and investors seeking an affordable Bay Area hub.

EdTech

10 Cool EdTech Incubators Aiming to Change Education Forever

Guest Author

While there are more than 7,000 business incubators around the world, very few focus specifically on education technology. In fact, only in the past few years has there been major growth in the number of these highly-focused incubators. Part of this increased attention is an outgrowth of a mission to genuinely help education.
Personalized Learning

NCTAF Learning Studios: The Future of Learning

Tom Vander Ark

Every once in awhile, we see pictures of the future -- a graphic image, a set of relationships, new tools at work, the buzz of a culture that feels remarkably productive. For me, site visits to Big Picture and Edvision schools were really influential 12 years ago -- and why I'm still enthusiastic about flex school models that engage and empower students.

EdTech

Classroom Management Software: Training Wheels for Student Technology?

Marie Bjerede

When I worked in the high-tech industry, our products sometimes included what we called “check-box features.” These were features that would never, in reality, be used by the end customer but which purchasing agents would look at when they compared our product against our competitors. In many ways I think of classroom management software as falling into this category – with the fears about technology use that absolutely do exist among parents and educators, having a checkbox that says, “Don’t worry – we can control student technology use,” feels like a must-have.