A 360-degree Discussion about EdTech and a New York Times Series on Digital Learning

It seems as if every month or so, the New York Times publishes a story that it bills as being part of its "Grading the Digital School" series. Recently, a Times staff writer took a look at a Silicon Valley campus of a Waldorf School, a chain of schools that takes pride in its no-tech approach to education, where, according to the article, "the chief technology officer of eBay sends his children to a nine-classroom school here. So do employees of Silicon Valley giants like Google, Apple, Yahoo and Hewlett-Packard." 

The premise of the article is that while many schools are rushing to incorporate technology into curriculums, the designers and marketers of much of today's tech, send their children to a school where there is no technology in the classroom and educators ask parents to, when the students are at home, keep their children away from computers, TV, and other media as much as possible.

To say the article, as well as the series, has rankled advocates on all sides of the issue is an understatement.

In the Oct. 30 Sunday Review, New York Times editors published a series of comments about the Waldorf School story. The comments ranged from an editor of Education Technology to parent with children who are attending, or have attended Waldorf Schools. Teachers, who use technology or who want to throw computers out of their classroom window, spoke up. So did parents who love how technology engages their children, and parents who would love to disengage their children from technology. 

Click here to read the range of responses and the spirited discussion surrounding the digital classroom. 

Tom Vander Ark: Personal Digital Learning is Changing the World

About a decade ago, the launch of Wikipedia was symbolic of an important threshold in human history -- anyone with a broadband connection could learn almost anything for free or cheap.
This year inexpensive tablet computers and free resources like Khan Academy are extending the learning revolution. The teachers and students that grew up as digital natives are bringing new tools to school. The promise of personal digital learning is finally rippling through educational institutions of developed economies and creating new opportunities for getting smart in emerging economies. The outcome will be more students in the U.S. will be prepared for college and careers and more young people in developing economies will
connect to the idea economy.
Personal digital learning is providing three primary benefits, as outlined in my new book, Getting Smart: How Digital Learning is Changing the World.
Click here to learn more about my new book and to find out why I believe the first benefit of this changing world is is customized learning.

Guest Commentary: The Next Web on how the Future of Education Depends on Technology

Newark Mayor Cory Booker shared that he can no longer watch the way school systems have worked, there has to be change. Technology, he believes, can bring that change.
Booker made this, and other observations, during a whirlwind tour of Silicon Valley. Part of that time was spent listening to pitches from companies in the ImagineK12startup incubator in Palo Alto.
Click here for photos and text on how some in Silicon Valley,and others like Newark Mayor Cory Booker, are betting on technology becoming an integral part of education's future.

Guest Commentary: Slicing and Dicing Digital Learning Now's Report Card

Brian Bridges is director of the California Learning Resource Network (CLRN) a board member of CUE, a nonprofit, California corporation whose goal is to promote technology in education Board of Directors and a frequent commentators on the virtual education movement.
Bridges recently took a detailed look at the results of Digital Learning Now's Report Card. He was disheartened to find out that, by his calculations, California finished dead last when it comes to providing a nurturing atmosphere for expansion of digital learning opportunities.
Bridges then used this protocol and ranked all 50 states--something the Digital Learning Now Report Card didn't do. In one data base, Bridges used the 50 categories used by DLN. In another analysis, Bridges fine-tuned the DLN categories and 72 data points for his analysis. Bridges' results:
"While there are 72 data points, the highest score by any state was 49, shared by Utah and Wyoming. If we weren’t grading on a curve, both No. 1s would have 68% on our test, earning 'D' grades," Bridges wrote.
"However, given that this is a new test, one might ask if all the questions are valid, if some are more important that others, if there was a rubric indicating what is required to meet each point, or if the tests are fairly graded," he added.
Click here to read more of his analysis and to find spreadsheet showing DLN totals and a spreadsheet using Bridges 72-point database.

Michael B. Horn: Colorado's Crummy Policies Lead to Crummy Virtual Schools

An investigation of Colorado’s full-time virtual schools has revealed some dubious results and practices, which led the state’s Senate President to call for an emergency audit of all of Colorado’s virtual schools.
But the state shouldn’t be shocked by the report. As the truism goes, you get what you pay for.
Colorado’s policy environment incentivizes exactly what it’s getting from its full-time virtual schools—and arguably not just its virtual schools, but all of its schools statewide.
The biggest problem is this: It pays a school all of its funds on a “count day” on October 1 based on the number of students enrolled on that day. If students leave afterward, the original school keeps the funds. If students enroll elsewhere, the new school receives no funds.
This incentivizes providers to enroll students, but there are few incentives in place to focus on what happens after that. As a result, a significant number of online providers seem to have followed these incentives and done exactly what Colorado paid them to do. The end result isn’t pretty for students, as a great number of them allegedly leave soon after the count day and enroll back in district schools if they enroll elsewhere at all.
Some are using this to bash all online learning, as well as for-profit providers that are seizing this revenue-making opportunity (as many such providers did in higher education), but in so doing, these critics are missing the point.
As I’ve written numerous times, studying whether online learning is more or less effective than traditional learning is invariably asking the wrong question. Online and blended learning have the potential to dramatically transform our education system by being able to individualize for each student’s distinct learning needs, but whether it does so will have a lot to do with policy—whether we change the incentives and focus not on merely serving students and micro-managing the inputs, but instead focusing on the student outcomes and leaving behind an antiquated factory-model system for a student-centric one.
Click here to read my complete post on this. And you know what the biggest shame in all of this? By focusing on the wrong part of the story, it may set back our opportunity to leverage the rise of digital learning to transform our system into the student-centric one that each student deserves

Guest Commentary: Bryan Setser on the Mobile Charter School

Bryan Setser is Chief Innovation Officer for Open Education Solutions. Writing for the Getting Smart blog, Setser recently talked about his preparations for participating on a panel called, "Wireless Edtech."
"I am thinking about Mobile School Design as both a supplementary school service and as a future school design," he writes.
"Research in the corporate world is already underway in this space with formal and informal learning protocols for business design
"Schools and districts can design the mobile school by ensuring that e-learning courseware has a mobile component. This way students and educators can log on to courseware and professional development assignments at anytime and anywhere," he adds.
Click here to read more.

Guest Commentary: John Fensterwald of Educated Guess Bluntly Says--California is 'Dead Last in Digital Ed'

John Fensterwald is a veteran California journalist who has covered state education matters for decades. He now runs a blog called Educated Guess for the Silicon Valley Education Foundation.
This week he posted a viewpoint on where the Golden State stands as far a digital education.
"California is a backwater for K-12 online learning, according to a new analysis of states’ policies toward virtual education. Other states are clearing away obstacles and adopting innovative strategies, such as allowing middle school students to take high school courses online and letting students start online courses anytime and complete them whenever they show competency. California is stuck in the past, imposing the standard calendar and student-teacher ratios on a virtual world," Fensterwald writes.
Using the Digital Learning Now report card, Fensterwald added: "Brian Bridges, director of the California Learning Resource Network (CLRN) and a font of knowledge on digital courses, did calculate the states’ individual totals. Out of a possible score of 72, Utah and Wyoming topped the states with 49. The median was 27, he reports in his blog. With 14 points, California was last."
Click here to read Fensterwald's complete post, which includes suggestions on how California can muscle to the head of the digital learning pack.
Click here to read how Brian Bridges calculated rankings for California and other states using the Digital Learning Report Card.

Tom Vander Ark: 6 Reasons Kids Should be Allowed to Use Mobile Devices in School

Bans on student use of mobile devices exist for some good reasons—kids use them inappropriately at school and there are safety and security concerns. So why bother considering a change?
Click here to learn my six reasons for allowing kids to BYOD (Bring Your Own Device).
Click here to read my colleague Sarah Cargill's post "10 Unique Lesson Ideas for BYOD and BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology)."

Guest Commentary: The Bakersfield Californian Believes Digital Schools Must be Part of Golden State's Future

The Editorial Board of the Bakersfield Californian put it bluntly: "For a state that has been at the innovative forefront of digital technology since the beginning, it's alarming to note that California lags behind in the development and deployment of online learning in elementary and secondary educational settings."
Click here to read the complete editorial and find out why editors at the Californian say "state with education challenges as daunting as California's cannot afford to stand to the side and watch for long."

Guest Commentary: AEI's Special Report on 'How Government Supports Private-Sector Innovation, Except in Education'

The American Enterprise Institute's new "Private Enterprise in American Education" series is designed to pivot away from the tendency to reflexively demonize or celebrate for-profits and instead understand what it takes for for-profits to promote quality and cost effectiveness at scale. In this third installment of the series, John Bailey of Whiteboard Advisors demonstrates how for-profit educational providers are singularly excluded from federal governmental efforts to engage private-sector actors. Bailey notes that policymakers and government officials are comfortable with for-profits routinely playing a substantial role in addressing pressing social problems in areas like health care or green energy, but not in education.
"When it comes to other crucial challenges our country faces—creating a more reliable health care system, finding efficient sources of clean energy, or improving space exploration—policymakers do not ask whether they should engage for-profit companies, but how they should,” Bailey writes. “It’s time for education policymakers to follow suit.”
Click here to read his provocative study.
Click here to learn more about AEI's "Private Enterprise in American Education" series.

Guest Commentary: Denver Post Op-Ed Describes Balance Needed Between Innovation, Accountability and Cyber Schools

Pam Benigno has served on the board of a cyber charter school and directs the Education Policy Center of the  Independence Institute, a Colorado-based, free market think tank.
In the wake of a controversial series on the quality of online education in Colorado, Benigno wrote an opinion piece for the Denver Post.
"Technological advances are continually creating new opportunities to effectively educate Colorado's K-12 students through online learning. Colorado needs to look forward in protecting an environment for innovation, while balancing needed accountability for cyber school operators," say writes.
"Two decades of open public school enrollment have given Colorado families a gift that continues to be unwrapped. Today, Colorado school districts offer numerous charter schools and other options, including full-time online programs. Twenty-two unique online schools serve students anywhere in the state, while 23 programs serve only district residents.
"Some of the dismal reports about Colorado's full-time online education programs reinforce what many of us already knew. On average, these schools have shown disappointing results in educating and retaining students. The Colorado Department of Education plans to conduct a comprehensive review of the standards and accountability for online schools. Senate President Brandon Shaffer has requested an emergency audit of online schools," she continues.
"However, technology is being developed so quickly we don't know what future programs will look like or what the challenges might be," Benigno adds.
Click here to read her complete essay and why she warns readers not to "turn back the clock on expanded educational opportunities."

Guest Commentary: Ed Next's Paul Peterson on 'Jeb Bush, Melinda Gates, Sal Khan and the Coming Digital Learning Battle

Paul Peterson, editor of Education Next, was in San Francisco last week for the Foundation of Excellence in Education's conference. He was pleasantly pleased with what he found.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush "is promoting a strikingly innovative, bipartisan reform agenda that combines the Common Core standards promoted by the Gates Foundation and the Obama Administration with the accountability and choice principles to which he was committed during his eight years as Florida’s governor," Peterson writes.
"It is digital learning that holds together and gives spark to Bush’s agenda. Common standards provide a nationwide platform upon which next generation curricular materials can be built; choice allows students to pick the courses most suited to their needs, abilities, and interests; and accountability ensures that learning is genuine," he continues.
Click here to read more and learn why Peterson believes that school districts and teacher unions can be expected to fight publicly funded online learning that offers students a choice of taking courses outside their local district school.

Michael B. Horn: Beyond Good and Evil

The role of for-profit companies in public education–education financed by the government–has attracted increased scrutiny over the past few years. Though for-profit entities such as textbook companies have had contracts with public school districts for decades, recent controversy over what government officials and others perceive as low graduation rates and questionable marketing practices within the for-profit higher-education space has drawn significant negative attention. As this controversy heats up, it is prompting a wider debate about the role of for-profit companies in education–a debate too often characterized by faulty assumptions and misunderstandings on both sides.
Many in public education assume the worst about for-profit corporations, arguing that they are money-grabbing entities that will shortchange the public good if it means increased profits. Critics see no place for for-profit providers in American education. Supporters view for-profits as a force for good that can harness the profit motive to attract top talent and scale quality in public education. The government often perpetuates these divides by drawing lines in the sand of what activities companies can and cannot do based on their corporate structures. Despite these views on for-profits, however, the reality is different. Policymakers, officials, providers, and other members of the debate would do well to keep three key points in mind:
--Firs, for-profit companies are not inherently good or evil
--Second, there are far fewer inherent and predetermined differences between for-profit companies and their nonprofit counterparts than many assume.
--Third, the biggest inherent differences between for-profits and nonprofits stem from their fundamental corporate structures, which determine what they do with their profits–and thus affect their ability to attract capital and scale–as well as what opportunities look attractive.
Click here to read more of my thoughts on for-profits and the role they should--and can--play in education. You will also find a link to my paper"Understanding the Role of For-Profits in Education Through the Theories of Disruptive Innovation," published by the American Enterprise Institute. There is also a link to AEI's "Private Enterprise in American Education Series."

Tom Vander Ark: Marching Orders to Make California More EdTech Friendly

Computers, then smart phones, then tablets changed how we engaged the world. Medical technology extended and entertainment technology enriched our lives. Energy saving technology made our lifestyles more sustainable. Entrepreneurs in California's San Francisco Bay Area developed many of these disruptive technologies.
New York and Boston are home to the publishers; metro D.C. is home to the giants of learning online. But the San Francisco Bay Area is poised to lead the learning revolution.
That said, on many dimensions, California education is also behind most states. California should follow the road map and remove barriers to digital learning. Given the concentration of talent and resources, there is no reason that the Bay Area shouldn’t lead the global learning revolution.
Click here to read more on my view of California and why I believe it is ready to become even more of a leader in the edtech revolution.

Guest Commentary: A Teacher Talks About How to Implement a Hybrid Learning Program

OK, maybe Andrew Marcinek isn't a teacher. He describes himself as "an instructional technologiest at Burlington High School in Burling, Mass.
Marcinek had a conversation with Rich Kiker, Director of Online Learning at Palisades School District in Pennsylvania. Why Palisades? Well, it what is happening in Palisades sounds like what is happening in a lot of U.S. school districts.
"The Palisades Cyber Academy launched this year, driven by a demand for e-learning options, an increased focus on global connections, fiscal responsibility, and a desire to enact change that will impact student achievement. Through this launch, Palisades Cyber Academy is fostering communal learning while blending the traditional and the digital, the bricks and the clicks," Marcinek writes.
Click here to read more on what one Pennsylvania school district is doing to create a nurturing atmosphers for blended learning.

Guest Commentary: Guest Commentary: All4Ed Announces 'Digital Learning Day'

Sarah Cargill, whose work is posted on  EdReforrmer and Getting Smart covered this story.

"The alliance for Excellent Education and its partners call on teachers, schools, principals, community leaders, parents and students to participate in the first-ever national Digital Learning Day."

When? Feb. 1, 2012.

"Digital Learning Day will celebrate innovative teaching practices, personalized learning and more through use of digital learning tools that will prepare students for the 21st century," Cargill wrote.

Click here to read more and learn about former West Virginia Bob Wise's role in the announcement. Then, mark you calendar.

Here's Where to Watch Webcast of 'Draft Digital Learning Report Cards'

At long last, Digital Learning Now will unveil its look at the state of digital learning in all 50 states.
The reveal is scheduled for Oct. 13, 1:45 p.m. West Coast time.
Click here for the webcast of the "Draft Digital Learning Report Cards."
And thanks to everyone who sent in nominations for the first states for Liberating Learning to spotlight. We will be posting results and comments in our blog as quickly as possible.

Guest Commentary: Colorado Springs Gazette Wants State to Take K12 Inc.'s Advice and Let Money Follow the Student

The Colorado Springs Gazette took a bold stand. It said that the money the states allocates for each public school student should follow that student, no matter what school the students attends.
"School choice, the modern wave of education, is always under attack by the establishment. New schools threaten the old union-controlled, one-size-fits-all government education monopoly," the editorial board wrote.
"Those who liked the old way simply don’t like anything about the new way
A three-part investigative series that began running in last Sunday’s Gazette pointed out concerns about online government schools that deserve serious attention from politicians and the general public. An at-home, online education is exactly what a small percentage of students need. But it’s not for everyone, and it is probably not for most.
"When a student abandons an online school, the online school often keeps the state tuition cash. Colorado bases school funding on a single enrollment count. Once the count has been taken, the money is allocated and belongs to the school even if students soon thereafter," the editorial continued.
"That means another school ends up with former online students, but not the tuition.
"The administration of Colorado’s largest online public school, Colorado Virtual Academy, agrees that online schools should not keep the money.
" 'Colorado should move away form a school-funding model based on a single-count date to a better model, such as an average daily membership,'  said Jeff Kwitowski in a statement to The Gazette’s editorial board. He’s the vice president for public affairs for K12, the curriculum provider for Colorado Virtual Academy."
Click here to read the complete editorial.

Michael B. Horn: The Rise of Online Education

Clayton Christensen, my co-author on "Disrupting Innovation" teamed up again to write an article for the Washington Post.We take a look at the Los Altos School District and how it is disrupting methods for teaching math with a blended learning approach.
"Powered in part by the Khan Academy—a non-profit that offers free educational resources such as online lessons and online assessments—the school district is expanding the 'blended-learning' pilot it ran last year," we wrote.
"The district’s fifth, sixth and seventh graders learn online for a significant portion of their in-class math periods at the path and pace that fit their individual needs. Meanwhile, teachers will coach the students to keep up with their math goals and help them apply the math concepts in small-group and class-wide projects."
Lectures online and on video. Teachers coaching homework assignments and providing guidance to the students in groups and on projects.
Click here and read why we believe for the first time in roughly a century a dramatic change in the basic way we structure our educational system is afoot.

What Grade Did Your State Get from the Foundation for Excellence in Education?

About 700 education reformers are gathering in San Francisco for the 2011 "Excellence in Action: National Summit on Education Reform."
The agenda is packed with panels, workshops and speeches by leading reformers and innovators. The Grand Ballroom of the headquarter hotel will be filled by "edu-preneurs," software and hardware companies, digital textbook companies and more.
For the remainder of the week, this will certainly be the center of the universe for education reformers--from charter school advocates to leaders of the digital learning movement.
Even if you can't be there, you can be a part of it. Click here to find a viewer for live streaming of many of the events. Be part of the conference conversation by getting on Twitter and using the summit hashtag #EIA11.
The centerpiece of the summit is scheduled for Thursday afternoon. That's when Digital Learning Now co-founders former Govs. Jeb Bush and Bob Wise will unveil the "Nation's Digital Learning Report Card." This will be Digital Learning Now's first assessment of states’ policies on digital learning. The goal is to make this an annual assessment.
Now governors and state school chiefs don't need to start quaking in their boots. What will be reveal is being called "Draft Digital Learning Report Cards." Governors and state education chiefs will have until Dec. 31, 2011 to challenge the findings. After that, letter grades, possibly the traditional A-F, could be handed out to the states. The hope is that the report cards will "provide state leaders and reformers with the right questions and the potential policies to advance digital learning in their states."
“Our goal is to ignite a movement of reform to transform education for the 21st century,” said Patricia Levesque, Executive Director of the Foundation for Excellence in Education.
Feel free to come back to Liberating Learning on Oct. 13 and Oct. 14 and click here to see the live stream from the conference.
Liberating Learning will also be focusing on how each state fares in this comprehensive look at digital learning policies with the first postings to go up minutes after the report card is published.

Guest Commentary: Brookings Institiution on 'Using Technology to Personalize Learning and Assess Students in Real-Time'

Darrell M. West is vice president and director of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He has just released a paper that looks at personalized learning and to set the stage, he reached back to see what John Dewey had to say about personalized learning.
That's right, John Dewey.
"In 1915, famed educator John Dewey wrote a book entitled 'Schools of Tomorrow' in which he complained that the conventional public school' is arranged to make things easy for the teacher who wishes quick and tangible results.' Rather than fostering personal growth, he argued that 'the ordinary school impressed the little one into a narrow area, into a melancholy silence, into a forced attitude of mind and body.'
"In criticizing the academies of his day," West continues, "Dewey made the case that education needed to adopt new instructional approaches based on future societal needs. He claimed that 20th century schools should reorganize their curricula, emphasize freedom and individuality, and respond to changing employment requirements. Failure to do so would be detrimental to young people. In one of his most widely-quoted commentaries, Dewey predicted that “if we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.' "
Dewey's words still hit the mark with many edtech reformers.
In his paper, West examines new models of instruction made possible by digital technologies. "Pilot projects from across the country are experimenting with different organizations and delivery systems, and transforming the manner in which formal education takes place.
"By itself, technology will not remake education," West writes. "Meaningful change requires alterations in technology, organizational structure, instructional approach, and educational assessment.[iv] But if officials combine innovations in technology, organization, operations, and culture, they can overcome current barriers, produce better results, and reimagine the manner in which schools function."
Click here to find the complete report.

Guest Commentary: What Do We Know About the Impact of One-to-One Computing?

James Rosso, writing for K-12 computing Blueprint, took a look at a recent report "Laptop Initiatives: Summary of Research Across Six States." This is a white paper issued by North Carolina State University’s Friday Institute for Educational Innovation and it takes a close look at how well such one-to-one computing initiatives goals are being met in Florida, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia's Henrico County.
Some of the findings include:
-- Teachers and students generally agree that laptops increase student engagement.
-- Teachers and students in some states concur that laptops increase student motivation, but results are mixed.
-- Students and teachers in some of the states thought that the use of laptops had a positive impact on student achievement, although this was not always supported by the test scores.
-- Students not only were participating more in group work but also were engaging in self-directed learning.
Click here to read a closer look at the white paper's findings and a link to the report.

Guest Commentary: Education Sector Looks at Reports on Online Learning

A hat tip to Bill Tucker and his "The Quick & the Ed" blog for taking a step back to put four recent reports on online learning into perspective.
Tucker launched what appears to be a multi-part series by looking at reports from Minnesota and Colorado. He also made mention of reports from Pennsylvania and Ohio. All the studies raised some concerns about the quality of online learning in those states. In Colorado, for example, a state senator has called for an audit of online learning schools.
Tucker's "Quick & Ed" post notes that the Minnesota shows that will the number of part-time students in online school nearly doubles and the number of full-time students more than tripled, since the 2006-2007 school year, "full-time online students have become less like to finish the courses the start; when compare with students statewide."
The Colorado study, Tucker reports, shows that the state expects to spend $100 million for about 18,000 students to attend online schools. What's more, "of the 10,500 students in the largest online programs in fall 2008, more than half--or 5,600--left their virtual schools by the fall of 2009. They were more than replaced by 7,400 new recruits by that fall."
The Colorado series is the result of a 10-month investigation by EdNews Colorado.
Click here to read Tucker's complete post and to find links to the reports.
Click here to see a video about the impact of online learning on one school and one student's perspective.
Tucker plans to update his report on Ohio online learning this week. We'll be reading and updating.