Getting Smart posts archive

Don’t be Lame, Personalize Learning

November 29, 2012 - by Tom Vander Ark

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Our secondary students are becoming more connected, more demanding, and less patient.   After a first visit to a Sylvan Learning Center, a seventh grader said, “It wasn’t lame, in fact it was anti-lame.” Learning should be anti-lame but all too often we’ve succeeded in making it boring.  U.S. schools learning businesses like Sylvan are making the transition to digital to improve their ability to personalize learning. At a recent Baltimore convening, Sylvan Learning CEO Jeff Cohen said, “Learning should be personal.”  Cohen noted two drivers of personalized learning: consumer technology and open resources.  People accessing Massively Open Online Courses (MOOC) on mobile devices is an example of both.  Cheap devices and powerful app development platforms are attracting entrepreneurs and capital to the learning sector at an unprecedented rate. At the same gathering, I told the learning professionals about six important advances underway: Personalization: adaptive tools that quickly diagnose needs and online systems that power anywhere anytime learning. Profiles: comprehensive records of learner progress that help teachers and algorithms better meet student needs. Playlists: a sequence... more

Tags: blended learning, Online Learning, personalized learning

Category: OpEd

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Teachers Should Have the Option of Working in Teacher-Led Schools

November 29, 2012 - by Tom Vander Ark

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Ted Kolderie told me about teacher-led schools 2000. He convinced me to visit Minnesota New Country School (MNCS) where teachers had created an innovative project-based and fully individualized school — and they were in charge. MNCS teachers had formed a co-op and applied for a charter and operated with full autonomy. I announced that it was “the coolest school in America.” Trusting Teacher With School Success , a new book by Kim Farris-Berg and Edward Dirkswager, is an in depth look at teacher-led schools–why and how they work and the key ingredients of success. Every teacher should have the opportunity to work in a teacher-led environment and should read this book to find out why. The central question of the book is “what would teachers do if they had the autonomy not just to make classroom decisions, but to collectively–with their colleagues–make the decisions influencing whole school success?” Join an online discussion about the book starting November 29, 2012 atTrustingTeachers.org. Every few days the authors will address a new chapter. Discussions will run through January. The authors outline... more

Tags: edleaders, education leadership, Innovation, teacher autonomy, teacher leadership, teaching co-op

Category: OpEd

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Google Presentation for Collaborative Learning

November 29, 2012 - by Susan Oxnevad

One of my professional goals is to help teachers use technology as an efficient and effective tool  for student learning instead of using it as an add on to the end of a traditional unit of study. The Google Docs Presentation is well-suited for use as a starting point to help teachers begin to break the barriers of traditional methods of tech integration and design student driven learning experiences that require students to construct knowledge as they create, an idea supported by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). A Closer Look In this example of a project designed for third grade students, some of the features that make Google Presentation a good choice for using technology as a tool for learning are illustrated. Templates Templates are an easy and efficient way to provide students with a starting point for a digital project, Pop an essential question right into the presentation and let students work collaboratively to use the built in tools to create something original as they find the answers to the deep driving question. To... more

Tags: 21st century learning, 21st century skills, app for learning, CCSS, common core, Common Core State Standards, DigLN, EdTech, Google Docs for education, P21, presentations

Category: Smart Teachers

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Bush-Sponsored Summit Calls for Excellence at Scale

November 28, 2012 - by Tom Vander Ark

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The fifth annual Excellence in Action National Summit on Education Reform was held in Washington DC the last two days. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, chair of the host organization, kicked off the event Tuesday by urging state policy makers to hold firm on college and career ready standards. “Should we ignore that our children are not college and career ready? Or should we adjust the standards?” asked Governor Bush. (Read Checker Finn’s summary of Bush’s opening speech here.) “The U.S. needs to transform our system of expectations. We ought to shape the complacency that exists,” added Governor Bush. “Our students will rise to the standards that we give them.” During his opening keynote, Governor Bush outlined his top five steps for improving education in America. High standards Robust accountability Teacher evaluation system School choice, and Embrace technology. Extraordinarily ambitious. “We’re 14th in the world in college graduation rates,” said Secretary Duncan addressing policy makers today. Based on U.S. educational performance, Duncan said, “I’m challenging my team to be extraordinarily ambitious.” Duncan signaled more focus... more

Tags: CCSS, common core, DigLN, edreform, EIA12

Category: OpEd

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Will Common Core State Standards Accelerate or Slow Innovation?

November 28, 2012 - by Tom Vander Ark

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Some friends are working on a paper on the topic of common standards and innovation. The primary question is how and whether the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) will accelerate or slow innovation. The answer is that common standards are a big boon to innovation for four reasons: 1. CCSS and the shift to digital are coincident and complementary . Online assessment of the CCSS will respond for the need for better and cheaper assessments and will, in turn, accelerate shift to digital. First generation online assessment starting in 2015 will be step function improvement in most states. Administration of online assessments is one more reason for schools and districts to boost student access to technology and that will push thousands of schools to develop or adopt innovative blended models 2. CCSS are producing in big investment in digital content. I’ve suggested that common standards are like the iPhone for Edu, have brought up the rear in 30 states with low standards and launched an avalanche of innovation, including adaptive learning platforms like i-Ready and fully-digital, Common Core-aligned curriculums like the Pearson 1:1 launched... more

Tags: Assessment, blended learning, CCSS, common core, data, edleaders, ewchat, Innovation

Category: OpEd

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Power Management: A New Step in Digital Citizenship

November 28, 2012 - by Adam Renfro

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Power management sounds like a way to keep your Who-Moved-My-Cheese principal in check, but this power management deals energy consumption brought about by the one-to-one movement and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) initiatives that we are seeing in districts across the nation. The cost of energy is a real thing in districts and certainly a real thing in their budgets. Some districts (as many as 300) have cut back to four-day work weeks to save on the cost of fuel for buses and electricity in the classrooms. It appears that the saving are slim, but slim is the budget that many districts are working with. So what happens when you have 1,200+ new devices in your school that need power? Laptops need power. Smartphones need power. Additional routers, modems, and servers need power. It’s more than nickel-and-diming a school’s budget. I’ve been able to see a number of 1:1 and BYOD initiatives first hand, and there are some incredible things going on. Internet savvy and innovative teachers are doing some impressive things in their classrooms.... more

Tags: battery, digital citizenship, power management, recharge, solar

Category: Smart Teachers

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No, You’re Not Doing Blended Learning

November 28, 2012 - by Guest Author

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By Kevin Dellicker When our consulting team approaches educators about a new blended learning implementation, we typically hear three reasons for why they won’t engage: blended learning costs too much, teachers won’t like it, and we’re already doing it. Usually concerns about cost and teacher acceptance can be addressed with a little time and some patient engagement. However, when educators truly believe their school already is on the leading edge when they actually are not, getting the opportunity to have a substantive discussion can be very difficult. Our consultants have developed some effective strategies for helping to overcome this important barrier while working with dozens of schools over the past few years. We learned most of these lessons the hard way, through trial and error. Hopefully, our experience can help other implementers find creative and disarming ways to say, “No, you’re not doing blended learning.” Dellicker Strategies helps schools adopt innovative technologies and teaching methods to personalize learning and motivate students. Currently we oversee 15 station-rotation blended learning implementations in Pennsylvania, and are preparing 35... more

Tags: blended learning, DigLN, edleaders

Category: OpEd

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Smart Cities: New York City is an EdTech Hotspot

November 27, 2012 - by Tom Vander Ark

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New York City schools have been among the most innovative in the country as discussed last week. NYC is home to the most education industry leaders and the second most prolific tech startup and EdTech hotspot on the planet (after the Bay Area). Education Industry. The following are the larger and more notable education companies in NYC: Pearson’s U.S. headquarters is in New York. North American K-12 and professional revenues are about $5 billion. A big part of the curriculum team across the river in Upper Saddle River is moving to Hoboken. McGraw Hill Education is spinning out and may be acquired by Apollo. Scholastic is the fourth largest publisher with widely used titles like Read180. Building on NewsCorps’ WirelessGeneration acquisition, Joel Klein and Diana Rhoten are building out a cool tablet bundle at Amplify. Knewton, the adaptive learning folks (see blog about developmental math at ASU). Edison Learning has pivoted from school management to improvement and digital learning services. Mosaica Education, one of the larger charter management organizations, has a growing online learning operation,... more

Tags: edleaders, ewchat, Innovation

Category: OpEd

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Enroll Monsters In Kindergarten

November 27, 2012 - by Alison Anderson

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The kindergarteners at my school enter with an incredibly wide range of literacy abilities, so we know we need to quickly focus on their reading skills immediately in order that everyone, from the high achievers to the ones still struggling to recognize their letters, will end the year strong. Not always an easy task. Therefore, it becomes a joint effort for all the teachers who work with the Kindergartners, to support the building of their literacy skills. My job only allows me to see the Kindergartners in the computer lab for a short time once a week. When I think about where they need to be by the end of this year in order to succeed as 1st graders, I know any time we can spend reinforcing literacy will never go wasted. So, I searched to find a program that they would not only like and get excited about, but also truly help them learn to read, no matter what skills they had upon entering Kindergarten.By some divine intervention (I’m pretty sure it was a... more

Tags: Kinderchat, personalization

Category: Smart Teachers

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The Shift to Digital: District, School, and Program Exemplars

November 26, 2012 - by Tom Vander Ark

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This afternoon I moderated a Digital Learning Now session featuring three exemplars: Mooresville, KIPP Empower and Teach to One. Middle school principal Carrie Tulbert kicked off the show for the Mooresville Graded School District, a great example of a district-wide 1:1 program using the same curriculum and laptop.  With 5600 students, Mooresville is pretty representative in  size and demographics—a slice of America.  While their funding is near the bottom in North Carolina, their achievement and completion rates are near the top. When I visited Mooresville a couple months ago I noted that It’s Not About the Machine, It’s About Heart.  There is a strong culture of achievement and collaboration. High School senior Troy Eckles noted all the ways that use of the laptop across the curriculum boosted his college preparation.  Eighth grader Mark Miller noted the equity produced by giving every student the same level of access to digital learning. “The digital conversion has resulted in a dramatic shift in my teaching,” said Samone Graham, a high school science teacher.  Student publish rather than turn... more

Tags: blended learning, KIPP, School of One, ST Math

Category: OpEd

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Engaging Students Through Social Media: Real World Experience, Creativity & Future Employability

November 26, 2012 - by Guest Author

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By Rob James Social media has become an essential part of most people’s everyday lives, from checking Facebook and Twitter to posting blogs, Pinterest listings, and uploading YouTube videos. However, and with smartphones making it easier than ever to spend time on social media networks, in what ways can these networks be leveraged to engage and build a foundation for future student learning? While the potential of distraction is there, the right social media teaching strategies can lead to creative learning, and a productive approach to making social media part of ongoing professional development. There is already evidence that teachers are using social media as part of teaching strategies, with the aim of encouraging students to view social networks as less of a pleasurable distraction, and more as something that can be used in projects and for personal expression in a medium they prefer. Steven Anderson has recently proposed a comprehensive set of general approaches to integrating social media into the classroom, and focuses on the need to carefully rev

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