future of learning
The adolescent politics of virtual education
In 1995, I was sure that the explosion of the web would result in a good deal of online learning competition—and fast. I may have been right about the first but not the second. It took a dozen years for online learning to get big and competitive, but…
How will the new world order be created?
I’m finding an increasing number of people that draw similar pictures of the future on the back of napkins over lunch. The piece parts usually include: · A social learning platform with apps for content, classroom, schedule and learning management · A vetted and organized body…
Unleashing Knowledge and Innovation
There is little R&D in education—not enough public or private investment, limited research into the great challenges of our time, and limited innovation in a sector bound by local, state, and federal regulation. Larry Stupski wants to change this. His foundation is sponsoring a conference—Unleashing Knowledge and…
Virtual alignment of high school & college
We’re seeing the beginning of aligned high school and college assets online. Apex led the way with online AP courses—the most popular college credit strategy—and most online providers including K12 followed suit. Milken’s impressive education portfolio includes KC Distance Learning (Keystone,…
This week in America: the big scramble
1. As I travel the country, I see evidence of thousands of districts, charter networks, and non-profits scrambling to mobilize for stimulus money—the great ARRA premobilization. Everyone knows Duncan’s four priorities; everyone is trying to figure out how this is going to play out; everyone is trying to…
Great edu web developer wanted
We need an edu-passionate web developer for two new sites: 1. Urban charter school network: innovative blended secondary school network focused in the Northeast opening Sept 2010, hiring leaders now. Â Need simple phase 1 site up in Sept for hiring, phase 2 site in Jan for enrollement including 3…
More money for more innovation
This week I met with a private equity firm and talked to a new venture fund both interested in education. That makes a couple dozen of each that at least look at learning deals. Most of the VCs fall into the ‘hacking education’ category and only…
iSchool in the middle
I spent a day with the NYC iSchool co-principals thinking about a middle school design. Not surprisingly, we decided it should look at lot like iSchool: engaging integrated projects with individualized online learning. Other design elements we discussed included: · A month long ‘welcome to middle school’…
Updated Grant Opportunities
I made the ultimate board member mistake of leaving off two exciting organizations off my great grant opportunities list. So here’s my updated list leading off with two groups that I support as a board member. (The list also includes friends, clients, and portfolio companies)…
Adaptive content: potential to change the curve
Adaptive content will be a game changer—the first real chance to change the learning productivity curve. By ‘adaptive content’ I mean: · Engaging: 2 & 3D animation, video, source documents · Personalized: a ‘play list’ targeted at learning level, by interest and modality · Networked:…