Tom Vander Ark: A Turning Point for Personal Digital Learning

It appears that 2012 will be the year where five mostly disconnected streams of tech-rich K-12 learning are finally connecting.
Districts and networks are beginning to mix and match innovations from these strands in new blended models that extend the day, personalize learning, and combine the best of online and onsite learning.
In the U.S., this confluence is being driven by the adoption of the Common Core State Standards and the planned shift to online testing in most states in 2014.
Click here to read more on why I believe we are at the turning point for digital learning.

Tom Vander Ark: Flex Schools Personalize, Enhance & Accelerate Learning

Innosight Institute’s seminal report The Rise of Blended Learning outlines several emerging school models that combine the best of onsite and online learning. Besides students taking online courses when possible, there are basically two emerging school models.

• Rotation: Students spend 20 to 50 percent of their time online. The Bay Area’s Rocketship Education is a high-performing elementary network where students spend two hours per day in a computer lab.
• Flex: Core instruction is conducted online with on-site academic support and guidance, integration and application opportunities, and extracurricular activities. Students in flex schools progress as they demonstrate mastery in most courses. In some courses, particularly those with teachers at a distance, they may remain part of a virtual cohort.

In short, rotation schools add some online learning to what otherwise may look like a traditional school while flex schools start with online learning and add physical supports and connections where valuable. As a result, the potential for innovation is higher in flex schools.
Click here to read my complete post and find out why I believe there are four big benefits of flex models.

Guest Commentary: Joel Klein on The Promise of Edtech (It's not Just About Lighter Backpacks)

Joel Klein is the former chancellor of New York City's public schools. He is now chief executive of the Educational Division of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
In a Huffington Post column, Klein recently wrote about education technology and its future.
"When Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski spoke at the first ever 'Digital Learning Day,' ' Klein wrote, "and pushed schools to get digital textbooks in students' hands within five years, it marked a vital recognition that technology can help us re-imagine teaching and learning."
But, Klein continued. "it's equally important to admit that, as nifty (and lightweight) as digital textbooks may sound, when it comes to realizing the potential of education technology to lift student achievement, we're still on our own 5 yard line. The digital textbook push is a positive step and a meaningful sign of change, but it risks being an incremental move in a field that urgently needs transformative improvement.
"As someone who led America's largest school district for 8 years, serving over 1 million children, I believe technology can radically transform the way students learn by customizing instruction, and by helping teachers focus on each student's areas of greatest need. But the key to capturing this potential lies as much inside our own hearts and minds as it does in any hardware and software we'll deploy," he added.
Click here to read Klein's complete post.

Michael B. Horn: Digital Learning Day Cometh

With the arrival on February 1, 2012 of the first-ever national Digital Learning Day, the disruptive innovation of K-12 online learning—from in blended-learning environments to remote ones—seems to be taking yet another step toward the mainstream.
For over a couple decades, supporters of technology in education have talked of its potential benefits in transforming education. But beyond a set of enthusiastic early adopters, the use of technology in formal education remained largely stalled. Its talked-about benefits remained unrealized at best, as the cramming of computers produced few notable results that scaled.
With the rise of online learning, that began to change. Its growth is rapid and undeniable. Increasingly we’re seeing online learning stretch beyond areas of non-consumption—where the alternative is nothing at all and where disruptive innovations first take root.
Click here to learn more about the goals of the first Digital Learning Day.

Guest Commentary: NYT's Online Debate 'The Frontier of Classroom Technology'

If you are part of the virtual education community, there is no doubt that the New York Times ongoing series of stories "Grading the Digital School" has come up as a subject of conversations.
Proponents of the series say the Times is shining a light fair on issues in online learning world. From for-profit companies that are entering the arena to where some of the children of Silicon Valley's Tech elite go to school (a Waldorf school that frowns on even letting the kids of the tech-savvy watch TV.)
Critics of the series aren't so kind. In a recent blog post titled "NY Times Declares War on the Future," Liberating Learning Blog contributor Tom Vander Ark wrote, "The New York Times has launched a full on war on education technology—except for when it’s in their own benefit."
"I cancelled my subscription to the Times. It was the paper of record but it’s just another pandering tabloid," Vander Ark concluded.
In an online opinion forum called "The Frontier of Classroom Technology," the Times takes a 360-degree look at edtech. Six "debaters" represent a variety of views on the intersection of education and technology. For example, Paul Thomas of Furman University calls a lot of edtech "a misguided use of money." Will Richardson, author of "Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education" writes, "Our kids are stuck in a paper-based, local-learning system that doesn't acknowledge the global, networked, always-on opportunities that mobile access affords.
Click here to read the forum and the more than 140 responses to debaters.

Guest Commentary: Alliance for Excellent Education Revisits its 'The Digital Learning Imperative'

Researchers don't often go back to their published work to see if their predictions came true. But that's exactly what the Alliance for Excellent Education did.

 Founded by former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, the Alliance published "The Digital Learning Imperative" in 2010. It contained bold predictions and prescriptions for the future of virtual education.

Wise would go on to join former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in launching Digital Learning Now, an advocacy group that has developed model legislative strategies for expanding online learning opportunities.

Two years after the publication of "The Digital Learning Imperative," the  Alliance for Excellent Education returned to the original report. In the 2012 version, researchers revisit state education budgets, teacher quality and the impact digital learning has made, and can make, on education and public policy  in the future.

The researchers also take a second look at some of the original assumptions. In some cases, they broaden definitions of digital learning (blended learning take an important step into the spotlight).

"Simply slapping a netbook on top of a textbook, however, will not necessarily lead to significant 

outcomes. Critical for learning success with digital learning is developing a comprehensive strategy that  has a foundation of involvement and sustained career training for teachers—not occasional professional development—which concentrates not just on the technology, but also on the pedagogical skills needed to use the technology in teaching and learning," the researchers write.

"Piecemeal, incremental action is taking place in some states to move toward more digital textbooks, for example, or toward 1:1 laptop/device programs," they note.  But without well- thought-out policies that consider quality, the importance of teaching, and the experience of the student, these fragmented efforts will produce no better results than reform efforts of the past decades."

Click here to read the complete report.

Tom Vander Ark: How Edtech will Benefit Low-Income Students

Digital learning will benefit all students—particularly students from low income families where education leaders are proactive.  In light of the ‘OER exacerbates the gap’ flap  launched by Justin Reich’s blog and Audrey Watter’s response (see the post below this one for links), I thought it would be worth expanding on the ways in which Edtech, blended learning, and open education resources (OER) will benefit low income kids. Click here to see my 10 ways that digital learning will benefit low income students.

Guest Commentary: Open Education Resources and Educational Inequality

Audrey Watters is a technology journalist, freelance writer, ed-tech advocate, recovering academic, and a self-proclaimed rabble-rouser at her blog "Hack Education."
Earlier this month, Watters took aim at a  post on the blog "Educational Technology Debate" by Justin Reich on Open Education Resources and the Digital Divide.
"Reich’s story, along with his related research, raises important questions about whether or not the push for more OER is really benefiting all students in the ways that we pat ourselves on the backs, thinking that it is," she writes.
"Everyone benefits, yes. But in practice, Reich argues, not everyone benefits equally, nor in a way that’s going to close any sort of achievement gap. Rather, more affluent students may actually benefit disproportionately from OER, in part because both teachers and students have the time and the technological capacity to do more with the material," Watters adds.
Click here to read more.

Guest Commentary: A 10-Year Update on Tech & Education

Interactive Learning, a web site is dedicated to demonstrating how schools can use technology for teaching and learning, recently published an excerpt from "Technology in Schools: What the Research Says – A 2009 Update,"  a report issued by Cisco and the Metiri group, and written by Cheryl Lemke, Ed Coughlin, Daren Reitsneider.

The authors ask some provocative questions. 

"Have we over-promised and under-delivered with technology? A recent report suggests that the lack of dramatic results attributable to technology in schools is not the fault of the technology, but rather the lack of systemic changes needed to accommodate the technology, writes Jim Rosso, who authored the Interactive Learning overview.

"After three decades of technology in the schools, some people are expressing concern about the lack of transformative change that has resulted. As the report states, 'The reality is that advocates have over-promised the ability of educators to extract a learning return on technology investments in school,' " Rosso writes.

Where did virtual education advocates go wrong?

"The error was in underestimating the critical need for the system changes required to use technologies effectively in learning," Rosso attributes to the report.

Click here to read more about this thought-provoking report.

Guest Commentary: Michael Petrilli Praises 'Performance Pay--for Online Learning Companies'

The virtual education community continues to be abuzz about a New York Times article on K12 Inc.
Michael Petrilli, executive vice president at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, recently took aim at the Times article in a piece for the Education Next website.
"Whether you consider yeserday’s New York Times article on K12.com a “hit piece” (Tom Vander Ark) or a “blockbuster” (Dana Goldstein), there’s little doubt that it will have a long-term impact on the debate around digital learning," Petrilli wrote.
"Just as these criticisms aren’t going away, neither is online learning itself. The genie is out of the bottle. So how can we go about drafting policies that will push digital learning in the direction of quality?" he added.
Click here to read Petrill's complete post.

Tom Vander Ark: A Kentucky Blend

Recently, I met with Kentucky Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday and the Kentucky Board of Education. Kentucky was the first state to adopt the Common Core and will soon it will shift to online assessment.
With Kentucky Virtual, the state was an early leader in providing virtual learning options.  But now, through intra-district arrangements, Jefferson County eSchool and Barren Bavel Academy serve far more students statewide.  In keeping with Digital Learning Now recommendations, I’ve been recommending that the state shift from provider to authorizer and invite more providers to expand student options.
Like other states, the Kentucky board is beginning to think about how encourage quality digital learning. Click here to learn more about my discussions with Kentucky education officials and why I believe Kentucky will be a state to watch in 2012.

Michael B. Horn: Is Mandating Online Learning Good Policy?

I’ve never been bullish on mandates. As a general rule, they tend to distort markets and sectors, have unintended consequences down the line at best and immediately at worst, and lock in ways of doing things at the expense of innovation.
That said, an increasing number of advocates for online learning have come out in favor of mandating that states require students take at least one college- or career-prep course online to earn a high school diploma. Digital Learning Now!, a national campaign chaired by former Govs. Jeb Bush and Bob Wise to advance policies to create a high quality digital learning environment for each student–and where I serve as a “Digital Luminary,” is on board as well.
States are taking notice. Michigan jumped in first with an online-learning requirement for graduation five years ago, and Alabama quickly followed suit. In the last year, Florida and Idaho have jumped on board as well, and districts, such as Tennessee’s Putnam County schools, have adopted an online-learning graduation requirement, too.
But is an online-learning requirement a good idea?
Click here to read more about my thoughts.

Tom Vander Ark: How Will the Shift to Digital Learning Happen?

I visited Wireless Generation last week and received so many great questions, I’ve been answering a few at a time.
Click here to read the Q & A and to learn about my 10 change strategies that build on trends and may accelerate the transition to personal digital learning.

Guest Commentary: CQ Researcher Pro/Con 'Should Schools Use As Much Digital Technology as They Can Afford?'

CQ Researcher, the backbone for general research in politics, public policy, and American institutions of all kind, has taken an in-depth look at the growth and future of K-12 online learning in the United States.
The report, "Digital Education: Can technology replace classroom teachers?" includes a debate between Curt Bonk, an Indiana University technology professor and Paul Thomas, an associate professor of education at Furman University.
Their topic: "Should schools use as much digital technology as they can afford?"
Bonk is a definite "yes."
"Effective learning requires an environment designed for multiple paths to success," Bonk writes. In the 21st century, digital technologies--social networking, e-books, shared online video, mobile applications, virtual worlds, collaborative tools, etc.--enhance the learning opportunities for untold millions of learners."
On the "no" side, Thomas warns that "the foundational principles of public education for democracy and human agency must not fall prey to preparing children for the future by perpetually acquiring new technology because we can never know that future."
Click here to read both sides of the debate.
(H/T to CQ Researcher for citing Liberating Learning's 50-State Wiki Project as a place to track state developments in online learning politics and policies).

Tom Vander Ark: Questions About Digital Learning

I visited Wireless Generation, a leading education technology company, in Brooklyn this week.  In a discussion about my new book "Getting Smart," a couple dozen employees including teachers and technologists asked great questions about the future of learning.

Question: Your book includes a lot of “in 5-10 years” predictions, but online learning has been around for over 10 years and it still hasn’t been widely adopted by schools.  So why now?  Why haven’t we already seen the digital learning revolution, and what’s different about today that makes schools ready to accept these new forms of learning?
Click here to read the answer to this question, and the others that made for a lively debate.

Guest Commentary: Harvard Professor Edward Glaeser Says it's Time for 'E-Vouchers'

Edward L. Glaeser, a professor of economics at Harvard University and  author of “The Triumph of the City,’’ writes a regular column in the Boston Globe. Recently, Glaeser took a bold stand that would push the Federal Communication Commission beyond one of its current goals.
"The FCC is now considering whether to use some E-Rate money on a new digital-literacy training initiative. But the agency should go further and retool the program to promote educational innovation by rewarding e-learning systems that demonstrably increase student skills, and encourage competition, by providing schools with vouchers to buy effective new technologies," Glaeser wrote.
Click here to read his complete column.

Guest Commentary: A 360-degree look at Fordham Institute's 'Creating Sound Policy for Digital Learning' Series

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute has given the virtual education community something to talk about.
Earlier this year, the institute announced an initiative to look at policy issues surrounding digital learning. The first report, by Rick Hess, was a no-holds barred take on the lack of accountability in online learning programs.
The debate over that paper continues and is still heated.
Now, the Fordham Institute has release two more papers in what is promised to be a five-part series. "Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction," is written by Bryan C. Hassel and Emily Ayscue Hassel, the co-directors of Public Impact, a North Carolina-based education policy and management consulting firm.
Paul T. Hill, the director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington, Bothell, is the author of the second recently released report, "School Finance in the Digital-Learning Era."
The Hassels, according to Fordham, "propose a smaller—but more talented and better paid—teaching force with its impact magnified through the expanded reach and efficiency allowed by digital technology."
Hill, the institute reports, "explains why our current school funding system could cripple the promise of digital learning—and then proposes innovative solutions."
It didn't take long for people to respond to both studies.
Liberating Learning Blog contributor Tom Vander Ark takes a thoughtful look at both papers. The Hassels "teachers report," according to Vander Ark, "this is the best current description of the implications of digital learning on learning professionals."
If states actually did what Hill suggest in his school finance paper, Vander Ark adds, "I think it would cause a digital learning revolution."
Education Sector's Bill Tucker says the Hassels "paper both rightly recognizes the fallacy of technology replacing teachers and appropriately posits that digital tools will be limited in potential if shoved into traditional teaching models."
As for Hill's "school finance" paper, Tucker says readers might take his ideas beyond the education arena.
"While many might reflectively reject Hill’s ideas as a digital-age voucher, there’s also the kernel of another more radical idea. If taken to its logical extreme, localities might not just assemble K-12 funding, but also those for all sorts of other services, such as juvenile justice, mental health, out-of-school programs, etc., enabling an approach that just might resemble a digital-era Harlem Children’s Zone," Tucker writes.
If the response to the Hess paper is any indication, this is just the first round of reviews of this part of the Fordham series.

Guest Commentary: 'City Journal' on Disrupting Class

Larry Sand is a retired teacher and president of the California Teachers Empowerment Network, a group educators in California came about when several teachers became aware that they were not getting the type of balanced information at their school sites which would enable them to make informed decisions related to their profession.
Sand recently wrote an article for City Journal, an website devoted to urban policy issues.
"Slowly but surely, 'disruptive technology' is penetrating the nation’s ossified public education system. The effects may be liberating for students, but they would be devastating for teachers’ unions. In his extraordinary book, Special Interest, Stanford political scientist and Hoover Institution senior fellow Terry Moe describes a succession of union victories—for tenure, strike rights, and seniority protection; against accountability, charter schools, and vouchers for disadvantaged families. But Moe argues that those victories won’t last. Union power will be marginalized, in part, by online learning. Emerging technology-based education, Moe writes, is the 'long-term trend . . . and the unions cannot stop it from happening,' " Sand writes.
"The greater ramifications of digital learning—and the greater threat to union preeminence—will be seen at the K-12 level," Sand adds.
Click here to read his complete post.

Guest Commentary: EdWeek on Virtual Education's Accountability Movement

Ian Quillen follows virtual education  for Education Week and contributes to EdWeek's Digital Education blog. He's been attending the International Association of K-12 Online Learning symposium this week.
One of the issues he wrote about is the "shift toward emphasizing accountability and transparency" in online learning programs.
According to Quillen, authors and sponsors of this year's  Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning report say the focus on accountability of online learning "should be embraced, not feared."
"When these programs started, they started out of a point of pain. As a result, there wasn't a lot of measurability or a lot of accountability. I think that's changed a lot, and the report reflects that, Quillen quotes Andy Scantland, the vice president of sales and marketing for Advanced Academics Inc., the Oklahoma City-based provider of public and private online programs, and a sponsor of the report from the Evergreen Group of Durango, Colo., as saying.
Click here to read Quillen's complete blog post.

Tom Vander Ark: 10 Big Advance in the Past 12 Months

Fifteen years ago when I was a superintendent, online learning was a new idea in K-12.  Six years ago when Susan Patrick joined iNACOL as Executive Director, it represented a small but growing fringe.  And now, while many reform groups continue to fight old battles, iNACOL is front and center helping to invent the future of learning.
My year as board chair for the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) concluded today.  It has been a year of great progress in online and blended learning.  Click here to read what I believe are 10 big advances over the last 12 months.