Archive
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Creativity and Accountability
Yong Zhao is back in receptive Seattle this week preaching his gospel of edu-innovation. The anti-standards, pro-creativity Zhao is a Chinese-born prof at Michigan State. Here’s his thesis in a nutshell: In my new book Catching Up or Leading the Way, I mostly focus on issues facing…
Emerging Vision for Learning Platforms
There are a handful of conversations swirling around about next generation learning platforms that will combine adaptive/personalized content, assessment, learning communities, with aligned student, teacher, and school services. The ones that gain wide usage will combine open and proprietary content (e.g., basic and premium cable) with a open app platform…
Educational Dilemma: Rigor v Relevance
We argue about testing in the US, but the focus on and stakes related to testing is much higher in China and India where the tip of the human funnel is the 12th grade exam; to a large life options hang in the balance. In the US, there are lots…
Belief + Acceleration + Effective Practice = Success
Paul Wezman changed my daughter’s life. He is an extraordinary teacher that in the mid-90’s was making full use of instructional technology. Here’s a note from him about the importance of our perceptions of what kids can do and the importance of effective instruction. He’s a middle school math teacher…
How Students Show What They Know
My wife appreciates psychodrama (today we’ll see another triumphant women in a Nancy Meyer movie). I, on the other hand, enjoy a juicy psychometric-drama. And we have a thriller in the making. A couple agreements in the next few weeks will set the stage for the next decade of testing…
Learning platforms to come
The next generation of transformative learning platforms will include personalized instruction, social learning, and related services. They will integrate the functionality of learning management, student information systems, and longitudinal data systems. They’ll take advantage of the explosion of data that will come along with assessment embedded in digital content (e.g., score…
Learning a la carte (and how to make it coherent)
Rick Hess has laid out a market-friendly education agenda at American Enterprise Institute, something I appreciate, and recently hosted a form on the demand side of quality education. I participated on a panel; everyone else wrote a paper; I got off easy as ‘discussant’. Kim Smith, founder of…
Fixation with Reliability
Compared to other OECD countries the US is fixated on reliability and cost in student assessment. Our friends across the pond value validity more than we do–can you imagine oral exams being proposed in the US? WaPo reviewed Todd Farley’s book My Misadventures in the Standardized Testing Industry…
The blended world
Our kids already live in a blended world. K-12 is starting to catch up with a variety of models that combine the best of online learning and onsite support. Here’s 5 trends signaling a blended singularity: Schools become blended. The biggest growth area for online learning is traditional…
Wow, DOD gets learning
Two years ago I held a learning conference. A colleague invited a couple admirals. I though it was a dumb idea, but I was blown away by their sophisticated view of human development and job training. Today I spent an hour with a defense contractor that probably runs the…