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Also see:
From DSC:
As I was reviewing Mel’s presentation, I couldn’t help but think of the amazing amount of pressure colleges and universities will be under towards “standardization” — or at minimum, institutions may need to accept much of what has occurred at another school. The costs are too high not to — and the expectations from parents, students, legislatures, and the general public may force this to occur.
Along these lines, I think that the dynamics of teaching and learning change when we talk about the cost of an education going from a few thousand to 150,000+ for 4 years. Expectations are one thing that change; Mel’s presentation points to this a bit. But I also wondered…how will institutions of higher education differentiate themselves if these pressures for portability continue to build? How will they keep from becoming a commodity?
Also noteworthy was Mel’s slide re: what students can ultimately DO as a result of their educations — this may become more of the Holy Grail of Assessment.
From DSC:
A global push continues to be evident in some of the things that Pearson has been up to in the last year:
The 19,100-student Grand Rapids school district in Michigan launched blended-learning classes this past fall. The district has started with high school social studies and math classes.
“There was some initial resistance from the public—concerned parents with the perception that kids are just going to be stuck in computer labs—but that’s absolutely contrary to what [this] is,” said John Helmholdt, the director of communications for the district. “When you say blended, people don’t understand what that means. It took months of really trying to educate and raise awareness of really what it was we were trying to do.”
Moving to a blended model actually made teacher-student ratios better, according to Mr. Helmholdt, by layering on support-staff members to circulate when the students were completing work online.
In Grand Rapids, the blended classes go through a three-day rotation of face-to-face and online instruction. During the first day, students receive a traditional lecture-based class in a regular classroom where a new concept is introduced. On the second day, the class starts by going over the concept again and then beginning to use some of the online software and support tools that reinforce the concept. On the third day, the students work solely with digital resources. [Rest of article here.]
From DSC:
I am very glad that the Grand Rapids school system is moving in this direction! It is a huge step in the right direction and I congratulate the district’s leadership for their vision and patience while this plane gets off the runway. This endeavor will help the students begin to build digital/information literacy. It will open their minds up to numerous creative possibilities — as well as career opportunities and goals. They are beginning to have “the world as their school“.
Running On Empty: The Failure to Teach K–12 Computer Science in the Digital Age
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Executive Summary
Computer science and the technologies it enables now lie at the heart of our economy, our daily lives, and scientific enterprise. As the digital age has transformed the world and workforce, U.S. K–12 education has fallen woefully behind in preparing students with the fundamental computer science knowledge and skills they need for future success. To be a well-educated citizen as we move toward an ever-more computing-intensive world and to be prepared for the jobs of the 21st Century, students must have a deeper understanding of the fundamentals of computer science.
The report finds that roughly two-thirds of the country have few computer science education standards for secondary school education, and most states treat high school computer science courses as simply an elective and not part of a student’s core education. 
Executive Summary Full Report
Also see:
— my thanks to Professor Joel Adams at Calvin College for this resource
Also see:
Exploring Computational Thinking
Google is committed to promoting computational thinking throughout the K-12 curriculum to support student learning and expose everyone to this 21st century skill.
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Concept, graphics, idea from Daniel S. Christian:
But free for your taking and implementing!
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What:
Features
Why:
Have fun whomever takes this idea and runs with it! The choirs of the world will appreciate you — and so will their audiences! 🙂
Along these lines…another win-win here includes:
Daniel Christian
What do we need? — from weblogg-ed.com by Will Richardson
So I’m asking for a little crowdsourcing feedback for a chapter I’m writing. I’m trying to frame out all the things that ideally need to be in place for an existing school to make the transition to one that provides a more relevant learning experience for kids in the context of the social online technologies that are disrupting the current model. Call it School 2.0, a 21st Centuryized School, or something else, but I’m wondering what qualities or conditions should we be working toward in order to successfully make a transition like that?
Here’s what I’ve been thinking (in no particular order in terms of the big buckets):
From DSC:
Will provides a nice list of areas/items that need addressing…and asks for further feedback here.
