Terry M. Moe: Virtual Education--A True Revolution

"Technology is one of the most revolutionary things to hit education."
That's how I started my talk at the Hoover Institution's October 2010 Retreat.
The impact of technology on K-12 education is unstoppable. It is going to completely change the way education is carried out in this country and everywhere else. It is going to change the nature of politics, the nature of education politics, and the structure of power.
What will the school of the future look like?
The education of the future will not be a teacher standing in front of 30 kids. That will be archaic. It will be a hybrid, a mixture of computer learning and regular school with personalized instruction for each child. Students will, in the next 10, 20, maybe more years, will take 80 percent of their coursework on online.
I also explain why technology is not a reform. Basically, technology is this big social force that is overwhelming the planet and education is not going to be able to escape from it.
Click here to listen to the audio of my talk.

Tom Vander Ark: Tech Improves Learning and Saves Money

Angus King, former governor of Maine, decided Maine was going to lead the way into the 21st century with a laptop for every child.
Starting in 2002, Maine middle schools began converting to 1:1 learning environments. In Tom Greave's forward to a report in which he identifies nine key factors that improve learning and save money, he writes, "Project RED is nothing less than a blueprint for remaking American education ... through fundamentally altering how we do education, the first real change in the process of education itself in a thousand years."
The soon to be released MDR report is based on research in almost 1,000 schools during the last school year. The research team considered 22 variables and 11 success measures.
Click here to see a list of practices that appear to improve learning the most. Technology plays a big part in what is successful.

Guest Commentary: EdReformer's Douglas Certs on Virtual Ed. Decisions in Oklahoma

Politicians in Oklahoma are leaning toward the Massachusetts mess up earlier this year, when it comes to drafting proposals for online virtual schools. The mainstay to this language seems to be that parents and student needs are left out of the mix. We are looking at the same issue here of physical location and committees being the rule of the game, rather than educational necessities and the ability to seek out the best high quality education for a kid.
According to a draft document with this heading: “210:16-34 Title 210 State Department of Education Chapter 16 – Curriculum and Instruction (New) Subchapter 34 – Online Course Procedures,” politicians in Oklahoma are lining up future online education and virtual charters rules to keep all the control in the hands of districts, rather than parents. They are also missing an opportunity to strengthen their charters law to enable virtual charters, like some of the successful statewide programs that run with great benefit to students elsewhere in the United States.
Click here to read the complete post on edreformer.com

Tom Vander Ark: How Digital Learning Will Change America

By the end of the decade, most U.S. schools will blend online and onsite learning to customize learning and extend the day and year.
Most high school students will do most of their work online. All students (and teachers) will have Internet access devices and broadband.
It's inevitable.
The transition will be uneven and depending on the state and local leaders. This week I’ll be visiting with many of almost 900 charter authorizers. The National Association of Charter School Authorizers is leading the charge for better charter schools. Susan Patrick from the International Association of K-12 Online Learning and I will encourage authorizers to lead the way in expanding high quality online options for students and families
Read my complete post on how online learning will change America by clicking here.

Guest Commentary: Reason's Katherine Mangu-Ward on Credentialing Online Teachers

Does an outstanding online teacher need another credential?
Maybe not.
In a short Reason.com post (Happiness is a Warm Body on the Other End of the Computer) Katherine Mangu-Ward writes that she is not convinced that additional credentials for online teachers is such a good thing.
"Nothing will slow the process" of exploring online education options "than a bunch of state rushing to adopt mandatory teacher certification for online schools," Magnu-Ward writes.
Click here to read her complete post.
Magnu-Ward is in good company in her opinion about the necessity of additional credentials for online teacher.
Karen Cator, the Department of Education's director of the Office of Educational Technology, suggested that "professional development" are often redundant for teachers who are more tech savvy than we think, according to Education's Week's Digital Education blog.
Click here to read EdWeek's complete report on Cator and her thoughts.

Guest commentary: AEI's Charles Murray on Using Technology to Transform Education

"In an age when teenagers master complex video games, track down arcana on the Web in a blinding flurry of keystrokes, pull things out of their cell phones that their parents never knew were in there and love every bit of it, we make them put all that aside at the classroom door. We tell them to sit quietly in groups of 25 or 30 and usually (with apologies to the many brilliant teachers who are out there) listen to a mediocre presentation of an uninspired curriculum," writes Charles Murray, the W.H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
In the Washington Times op-ed, Murray adds, "the potential of ... virtual schools to transform secondary education exists."
Click here to read the entire article.

Tom Vander Ark: States Adding Mandatory Certification for Teaching Online

Idaho is moving toward a mandate that online teachers have additional training to teach in a solely virtual environment. Most online teachers in Georgia must pass a professional-development course in virtual instruction. And many other virtual schools in other parts of the country require that their cyber educators complete professional development aimed specifically at teaching in an online environment.
Yet many states and education groups still have not addressed the issue of teacher quality for the online classroom. And dissenters say added requirements for cyber educators could exacerbate existing teacher shortages, and even be detrimental to teacher quality.
Those supporting additional certification see it differently. They say the goal is to make sure students aren’t getting shortchanged.
I believe it's clear that most of these hurdles will not add quality (just guaranteed work and revenue for state offices and colleges). Here’s the full story. Let me know if you think certification for online instruction can add value.

Michael B. Horn: Khan Academy Brings Disrupting Class to Life

What started out as a way to help some cousins in New Orleans with their math homework has blossomed into a prime example of how technology will change the education system.
Sal Khan, creator of the Khan Academy, a nonprofit with more than 1,800 free videos on topics ranging from math to the humanities, is nothing short of a phenomenon.
The Khan Academy reaches people all over the world. Google recently award the Khan Academy $2 million to create more educational videos and translate them into multiple languages.
Learn more about Khan, his academy and why I believe he is a real life "disrupting" influence.
Click here for more from me and links to a video of Khan speaking at the GEL 2010 Conference.