Archive
element:where
Good news, bad news
Good news 1. It’s great news that the Utah State Board approved a pilot of computer adaptive testing. Perhaps it’s another sign of the beginning of the end of the rampant misuse of 1950’s psychometrics. 2. High performing charter schools seem to have capture the attention of…
The end of the university as we know it
Read End of the University As We Know It , a great forward looking piece on higher ed by Mark C. Taylor, the chairman of the religion department at Columbia. Here’s a couple excerpts including recommendations: GRADUATE education is the Detroit of higher learning. Most graduate…
2020 Forecast: Implications
The KnowledgeWorks Future of Learning map points into the fog with the following identified implications: · Resilient School Communities: I’ll buy the need for better connections and more transparency · Amplified Educators and Learners: agreed—innovation will emerge from outside the formal…
2020 Forecast: Creating the Future of Learning (1 of 2)
As soon as you finish reading this, go to www.FutureOfEd.org and check out the 2020 Forecast: Creating the Future of Learning, a recently released landscape map produced by KnowledgeWorks and the Institute of the Future. My friend Chad Wick flipped his foundation from a focus on…
Can economic development & social justice coexist?
A friend asked, “Can economic development and social justice be achieved simultaneously?” I think the answer is, “Yes, they always develop together but are often in conflict.” This is the central question of the American experiment. We each contemplate the opportunity-equity dialectic when we vote (e.g.,…
Private Capital in Public Education-Feedback
1. Response from the Gadfly: But, of course, there’s a profound trade off. Vendors are not reformers. Consultants are not agitators. Advisors are not change agents. Okay, maybe they’re gradual change agents over the very long haul. In real political cycles, however (and in the…
Read new AEI white paper on edu innovation
American Enterprise Institute suggests an entrepreneurial approach to most problems we face including education. They recently published my white paper Private Capital & Public Education: Toward Quality at Scale. …
Day in the life of online learner; limited social networks
1. Read Learning Without Limits for a good description of a 5th graders day in Florida Virtual School. 2. Despite all the teacher social network startups, the “National Online Survey of District Technology Directors Exploring District Use of Web 2.0 Technologies” …
Edu-innovation will improve quality, expand choice
A charter school investor asked me what innovation had to do with school choice. The answer is that adaptive content–engaging, personalized, online learning with continuous feedback–will improve student motivation, accelerate learning, and expand options for students and families in 3 ways: * Informal learning: Improved access to broadband and powerful…
Learning outside of the classroom—culture and context will drive spiky use
TeachStreet is one of the latest entrants in informal peer-to-peer learning space. See interview with CEO Dave Shappell on The Deal. There was lots of conversation about P2P learning at the Union Square’s recent Hacking Education conference. Universities see this coming and are tripping over themselves…