future of learning
Personalized Learning
Advocating for online options
We’re building a advocacy initiative for online and blended learning. some of the goals include paint pictures of the future of learning promote quality options for kids/families guide state and local policy development encourage investment in innovation Tell me if I missed something obvious and if there are groups that…
Personalized Learning
SES helps kids trapped in failing schools, not school fix
The MN Daily Planet makes a careening series of attacks on Supplemental Educational Services (SES). The primary criticism is that tutoring some of the low income students didn’t fix the schools. SES was not designed primarily as a school improvement strategy; it is an effort to quickly and directly counter…
Personalized Learning
Charter applications tougher but better?
As the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) prepares to meet in Salt Lake City next week, it’s an appropriate time to reflect on the art of authorizing. I’ve had the opportunity to observe four charter school applications over the last year and a half–that’s how long it takes…
Personalized Learning
No physics teacher? Emerging solutions
You’re a rural principal and you don’t have a physics teacher. What do you do? Eduwonk posed this prompt yesterday. The simple solution is to offer an online course. There are solid offerings in most states (but it does depend on state policies; there are a…
Personalized Learning
Systems of Survival
A board dinner discussion about scaling educational impact reminded me of Jane Jacobs’ Systems of Survival. The Library Journal summarized it this way: Jacobs argues that modern societies utilize two distinctive moral systems–one being suited to the world of commerce, the other to the world of politics. Commercial morality…
Personalized Learning
Early hybrids show the way: the PLC story
Clay Christensen talks about innovation occuring at the margin–often the choice between something and nothing. That’s certainly true in education where we’ve seen innovation start in alternative or special education. Neil Shorthouse co-founded Communities in Schools, the most respected dropout prevention network in America. After three decades of working…
Personalized Learning
Reflections on Excellence in Action: 2009
Gov. Bush puts on a good conference. As you can see from the text of his keynote (Wednesday’s blog) he’s on fire about the transformative power of learning technology. Michelle Rhee rocked the house with an honest assessment of performance in DC schools and her plans…
Personalized Learning
Jeb Bush was great at his national summit
Gov Bush keynoted the Excellence in Action 2009 summit. While moderating a conversation with the Governor, I had the opportunity to tell the audience that he was the best education governor of the last decade. His leadership on data,…
Personalized Learning
Stop dumb stuff, start smart stuff
I’m stuck on a comment in Bill Maher’s closing commentary last week. He said something like, “In America, we can’t stop doing dumb stuff and we can’t start anything big and important.” Once a government program gets started, we can’t kill it after it has served its…
Personalized Learning
New tools bring new roles
New tools and formats will not only increase options for students, they are creating a much more diverse range of employment options for learning professionals including: · content development of lessons, units and courses · platform development of social learning platforms, recommendation engines, learning management applications ·…