future of learning
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:…
10 edu-entrepreneurial opportunities
With the Race to the Top language out, it’s time to refine the list of opportunities for education entrepreneurs (both .org & .com). From largest to niche size they include: 1. School improvement: between RTT, Inovation, and School Improvement, there will be a couple billion…
How new should a new school be?
During a recent AdvanceIE.org school design session, I was struck by the challenge of designing a high school right now. If it opens in 2010, what should it look like in 2014 when the first class graduates? Here’s just a couple of the new design questions: 1. Time to…
ADVANCE Innovative Education school design session
One of my favorite activities is spending time with smart people thinking about new schools. ADVANCE innovative Education, a provider of alternative certification programs in Louisiana, held a design session today with a great group. The assignment was to design a STEM school and a media arts school. Sponsors hope…
School of One: pilot project lives up to its name
Education changed on July 6 at PS131 when Joel Rose and an intrepid group of teachers opened a sixth grade summer school pilot program ambitiously called School of One. The NYTimes summarized it well today, but allow me a little hyperbolic extrapolation. Schools tell kids what…
Obama's Grad Initiative is Promising
This week President Obama called for the creation of the American Graduation Initiative, a $12 billion effort to encourage degree completion especially Associate degrees and certificates. America has slipped in high school and college completion rates to the middle of the OECD pack. David…
10 friends, clients, and portfolio companies that would make good philanthropic investments
1. Advance Innovative Education : alternative teacher and leader certification in Louisiana. Leader development is like NLNS but with entrepreneurship component with LSU B school. 2. Advance Path Academics : great drop-out prevention network. Districts could use small grants to promote adoption. AdvancePath retrofits…