education reform

In Michigan’s Lansing School District –> “Mini happens to be a chatbot.” [Carlson]

On 10/07/2021, in bots, education, education reform, engagement / engaging students, innovation, K-12 related, parents/guardians, productivity / tips and tricks, tools, vendors, youth, by Daniel Christian

A ‘New Normal’ Requires New Tools for Attendance and Family Engagement — from edsurge.com by Liesel Carlson

Excerpt:

Mini arrived at the Office of School Culture in Michigan’s Lansing School District in December 2020. She came on board to help us assess our attendance goals and strategies several months into a global pandemic. Mini immediately organized our scattered data and got to work pushing critical information about attendance to families by sending positive “nudges” via text messages, offering empathetic support and guidance.

Mini happens to be a chatbot.

Three resources for those interested in home-schooling

On 09/28/2021, in education, education reform, face-to-face, faith, homeschooling/homeschoolers, K-12 related, neurodivergent/special needs, policy, student-related, teachers, technologies for your home, United States, user experience (UX), youth, by Daniel Christian

Holt (1923 – 85) homeschooling and unschooling — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

Excerpt:

John Holt graduated from Yale in 1943 but signed up to be a submariner in WW2. On discharge, he eventually became a teacher, in various schools. This led to a disillusionment with the US education system so deep that he became an advocate for homeschooling and unschooling. This emerged from his belief that education was so deeply embedded, structurally and culturally, that it was unreformable. Neither did he believe that alternative schools were the answer. He retains his reputation as the founding father of homeschooling.

National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI)

Excerpt:

NHERI is the National Home Education Research Institute. NHERI conducts and collects research about homeschooling (home-based education, home schooling), and publishes the research journal called the Home School Researcher. The institute has hundreds of research works documented and catalogued on home schooling, many of which were done by NHERI. Simply put, NHERI specializes in homeschool research, facts, statistics, scholarly articles, and information.

Homeschooling – home education or home-based education – has grown from nearly extinct in the United States in the 1970s to just over 2 million school-age students. NHERI focuses on homeschooling research, homeschool facts, homeschool fast facts, and in-depth scholarly articles.

The Home School Legal Defense Association

Living With a Learning Disability: Challenges, Helpful Advice & Improvements [Kreisa]

On 09/17/2021, in accessibility / UDL, assistive technologies, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education, education reform, engagement / engaging students, homeschooling/homeschoolers, learning, neurodivergent/special needs, parents/guardians, participation, society, by Daniel Christian

Living With a Learning Disability: Challenges, Helpful Advice & Improvements — from inclusionhub.com by Meredith Kreisa

Excerpts:

While it is critical to remember that symptoms, comorbidities, and coping mechanisms vary, we’ll outline some of the challenges individuals with learning disabilities may face and highlight common strategies utilized by community members to address them.

Also see:

Improving Digital Inclusion & Accessibility for Those With Learning Disabilities — from inclusionhub.com by Meredith Kreisa
This comprehensive guide outlines common learning disabilities, associated difficulties, accessibility barriers and best practices, and more.

Reflections on “Defining the skills citizens will need in the future world of work” [McKinsey & Company]

On 09/17/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communications, communities of practice, competency-based learning/education, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, creativity, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education, education reform, entrepreneurship, future, global / globalization, heutagogy, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, legislatures / government / legal, lifelong learning, online learning, platforms, policy, political science, reinvent, research, skills, smart/connected TV, society, staying relevant, streams of content, surviving, training / L&D, trends, United States, using teams, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Defining the skills citizens will need in the future world of work — from McKinsey & Company; with thanks to Ryan Craig for this resource

Excerpts:

Our findings help define the particular skills citizens are likely to require in the future world of work and suggest how proficiency in them can influence work-related outcomes, namely employment, income, and job satisfaction. This, in turn, suggests three actions governments may wish to take.

Reform education systems
Reform adult-training systems
Ensure affordability of lifelong education

Establish an AI aggregator of training programs to attract adult learners and encourage lifelong learning. AI algorithms could guide users on whether they need to upskill or reskill for a new profession and shortlist relevant training programs.

From DSC:
No one will have all 56 skills that McKinsey recommends here. So (HR) managers, please don’t load up your job postings with every single skill listed here. The search for purple unicorns can get tiring, old, and discouraging for those who are looking for work.

That said, much of what McKinsey’s research/data shows — and what their recommendations are — resonates with me. And that’s why I keep adding to the developments out at:

A powerful, global, next-generation learning platform — meant to help people reinvent themselves quickly, safely, cost-effectively, conveniently, & consistently!!!

Active Learning: 5 Tips for Implementing the Approach — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
Active learning provides ways to get your students engaged without needing to revamp how you teach.

Excerpts:

However, neither listening to a lecture or reading a textbook is the most efficient way to learn or what active learning is truly about. “What exactly do we mean by active learning?” Deslauriers says. “We mean that first, you have to be engaged. Obviously, that’s number one. Number two, you have to be engaged productively. And number three, the productivity has to be toward a goal that is deemed worthwhile*.”

— Louis Deslauriers, Director of Science Teaching and Learning
in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University

From DSC:
I appreciated seeing/reading this solid article. Just a couple of reflections and highlights here…

* But worthwhile for whom? For the faculty members? The teachers? The trainers? Or for the learners, the students, or the employees? Where is agency here? Where does more choice and control come into play here? Where’s the motivation for me to learn something if someone keeps telling me what’s important to THEM? What’s relevant to THEM? Why should I care about this topic? How is it relevant? How will it help me get a job and/or make a positive difference in this world? Can I choose how deep I want to dive in?

Later…Deslauriers goes on to make a great point when urging a pause for students to practice some metacognition:

Does this make sense to me?
How is this relevant? <– DSC: There it is.
Does it connect with something I already know? And if so, how do I integrate with what I already know?
What sort of questions do I have right now?
Can I repeat what the instructor just did? Or is it going to require a lot of practice?

“There’s no way you can undergo these mental processes when someone keeps talking,” Deslauriers says. But if educators pause during their lectures and encourage this type of focus, they can help their students learn more efficiently.

Instructors can hand out electronic clickers, use web-based tools such as Google forms, or even go completely low-tech by giving color-coded cards to students that correspond to different answers.

Also see:

Why Traditional Lectures Won’t End Anytime Soon in Higher Ed Despite Better Approaches Being Available — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
For years, research has shown that students learn more through active learning than from passive traditional lecture, but the old habit is hard to break.

Why “Challenging” Isn’t The Right Goal [Byrd]

On 09/08/2021, in attention, education, education reform, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, K-12 related, learning, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, more voice more choice more control, motivation, parents/guardians, participation, student teaching/teacher education, teachers, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

Why “Challenging” Isn’t The Right Goal — from byrdseed.com by Ian Byrd

Excerpt:

If I asked you to alphabetize the US state capitals in under 90 seconds, you’d certainly be “challenged”! But you’d also feel stressed out and frustrated.

I wish I had realized this years ago. Something can be “challenging” and also be at the very bottom of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Something can be “challenging” and even impede learning.

So here’s the word I use now when I’m planning lessons for Byrdseed.TV: interesting.

I want to “interest” students. A student who is interested will work over the weekend simply because they want to know more. An interested student will stay in from recess by choice to keep at it. An interested student is intrinsically motivated.

From DSC:
This reminds me yet again of this graphic that readers of this blog will recognize:

In the future, learning channels will offer us more choice and more control

McKinsey for Kids: I, Robot? What technology shifts mean for tomorrow’s jobs [mckinsey.com]

On 09/07/2021, in career development, change, education, education reform, emerging technologies, future, pace of change, parents/guardians, passions, research, robotics, society, student-related, youth, by Daniel Christian

McKinsey for Kids: I, Robot? What technology shifts mean for tomorrow’s jobs — from mckinsey.com

Tomorrow’s jobs will look different from today’s—and not just because you might be working alongside robots. In this edition of McKinsey for Kids, peer into the future of work and what it may hold for you, whether you’re thinking about becoming a doctor, an influencer—or a garbage designer.

Returning to School: Why Video Is Here to Stay [Slusser]

On 08/13/2021, in digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education, education reform, education technology, K-12 related, learning, Learning Experience Design, multimedia, pedagogy, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

Returning to School: Why Video Is Here to Stay — from gettingsmart.com by Jessica Slusser

Excerpt:

Here are a few reasons video can be powerful and a few ways to incorporate it into your lesson plans:

Agency. We know some learners built a deep sense of agency while learning from home. Through video, students can tell their story, use a different format than they’ve used before to explain work and build and share their own lessons with classmates. Imagine the power of flipped student presentations.
Flip Your Classroom. Utilize the power of video by recording some of your direct instruction plans for learners to watch as “homework” then spending class time diving into work and building understanding.
Enriched Station Rotation. Create differentiated videos for each of your small group stations so students can watch a video that you created and be working on different review activities in their different stations. This also helps build a library of content you can use in the future.
Built in Assessment. Educators can create videos that are embedded in a Google Form that serves as a quick assessment. If a student gets the answer wrong, they’re moved into a new branch of the form that has a video to help build understanding, then when finished they go back to the original question to reassess. Students can also respond to assessment questions or submit work.
Better than Red Ink. What if instead of writing a learner’s grade with short feedback on their next written assignment, you could record a quick 30-second video that explains your grade and give real-time feedback that is more robust than the traditional red pen.

HOW SCHOOLS ARE REWRITING THE RULES ON CLASS TIME FOR STUDENTS—AND EVEN DITCHING GRADE LEVELS — from wsj.com by Yoree Koh
Educators are testing competency-based education, a form of personalized learning that emphasizes mastery of skills over hours spent in a classroom

Sandra Okita developed ProJo as a research tool to explore how #AI tools that act as a student's partner can be more effective than AI that mimics instructors. The team began testing the program in a 2-foot-tall robot in 2013.#education #edtech #learning https://t.co/UHDOU8oRoG

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) August 13, 2021

There’s a New Wave of AI Research Coming to Transform Education [Tamez-Robledo]

On 08/08/2021, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, data related items, digital learning, education, education reform, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, online learning, personalized/customized learning, reinvent, research, society, staying relevant, story, storytelling, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, United States, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

There’s a New Wave of AI Research Coming to Transform Education — from edsurge.com by Nadia Tamez-Robledo

Preparing for Students’ Second Act
With a focus on adult learners, the AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education, or ALOE, will look to improve online education for the more than 100 million American workers who will need to “reskill” over the next 10 years.

It will also learn from the massive amounts of data generated by online students that isn’t accessible in traditional in-person classes.

A Robust and Timely Discussion of a New Kind of Homeschooling [McShane; Horn]

On 08/05/2021, in education, education reform, experimentation, face-to-face, homeschooling/homeschoolers, hybrid learning, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, remote teaching and learning, by Daniel Christian

A Robust and Timely Discussion of a New Kind of Homeschooling — from educationnext.org by Michael B. Horn
Hybrid approach combines at-home learning with school attendance

Excerpt:

Hybrid Homeschooling: A Guide to the Future of Education
by Michael Q. McShane
Rowman & Littlefield, 2021, $60; 142 pages.

As reviewed by Michael B. Horn

Hybrid learning and homeschooling have become prominent models over the past school year as millions more students learned from home, whether part or full time, during the coronavirus pandemic.

Against that backdrop, Mike McShane’s new book, Hybrid Homeschooling, would seem both topical and timely.

McShane’s book is instead a treatment of a strand of homeschooling that has received relatively little attention: “hybrid homeschooling,” which he defines as “a school that for some part of the week educates children in a traditional brick-and-mortar building and for some other part of the week has children educated at home.”

Also relevant/see:

What Is Modern Homeschooling In 2021? — from elearningindustry.com by Dariya Lopukhina
The COVID-19 pandemic saw over 300 million students all over the world become homeschooled according to Thinkimpact.

The College Program Attracting — and Retaining — Black Male Teachers [Koenig]

On 07/26/2021, in Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), change, colleges, community colleges, education, education reform, higher education, ideas, innovation, law schools, leadership, learning ecosystem, society, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

The College Program Attracting — and Retaining — Black Male Teachers — from edsurge.com by Rebecca Koenig

Excerpt:

When the initiative started two decades ago, people “really didn’t believe that we would be successful at being able to attract a 17- or 18-year-old Black male to become a second or third grade teacher,” says Roy Jones, a provost-distinguished professor at Clemson and the executive director of Call Me MISTER.

And yet, the program has graduated about 300 African American men from college education departments in South Carolina, more than doubling the number of Black men teaching in elementary and middle schools in the state.

Reimagining Education: What to Keep/What to Ditch — from techlearning.com by Matthew X. Joseph
When reimagining education, the focus needs to be on finding and keeping the best learning practices

We have a unique opportunity to look at programmatic and philosophical shifts to promote energetic and curious learners.

New Research: Flipped Classrooms Improve Student Academics and Satisfaction — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
A new analysis of more than 317 studies found flipped classrooms to be tremendously successful although a partially flipped classroom might be best of all.

Excerpt:

In a meta analysis recently published in the Review of Educational Research, Bredow and her co-authors examined 317 high-quality studies with a combined sample size of 51,437 college students in which flipped classes were compared to traditional lecture classes taught by the same instructors. They found significant advantages for flipped versus traditional lecture in terms of academics, interpersonal outcomes, and student satisfaction.

But there were also some surprises in where and when flipped classrooms worked.

From DSC:
I love the idea of the flipped classroom due to its powerful ability to turn over more choice and more control to the students. They have much more control over the pacing of the delivery of content.

Companies are key to solving the digital skills gap [Afshar]

On 07/12/2021, in 21st century, career development, change, changing business models, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, education, education reform, ideas, learning, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, new business models, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Companies are key to solving the digital skills gap — from zdnet.com by Vala Afshar
The digital skills gap is becoming a digital skills crisis. An innovation expert discusses the root cause of what is driving the digital skills shortage and how can companies contribute to closing the gap.

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Vala Afshar: When we talk about the digital skills gap, what do we really mean?

Simon Mulcahy: Fundamentally, it’s an issue of supply and demand: a mismatch between the need for a digitally savvy workforce and the availability of workers trained in those skills. Every organization — whether a bank, healthcare company or retailer — is becoming a digital organization. Core digital skills aren’t the purview of a single department but increasingly hard-wired into nearly every job on the planet.

On the flip side, there’s a massive shortage in the skills needed to operate and lead in a digital-first environment. More importantly, there’s no mechanism in place to fix it.
…
VA: What can be done to address this growing gap, and what role should companies play?

SM: We need to revamp the way we deliver education. Of course, we need to build a foundation early on, but there are much better ways to equip people than through exams that don’t evolve to match society’s needs or degrees that force young people into onerous debt.

Instead, we should think of ourselves as lifelong learners. In support of that, we need just-in-time training that’s integrated into our working experience and relevant to wherever we are on our career journey. We need education that’s widely available, simple to access and affordable. It has to be easy to upskill or gain the knowledge we need to divert onto a different path. We also need education to be a lot more personal, matching what an individual needs in the moment.

Learning Ecosystems

Living With a Learning Disability: Challenges, Helpful Advice & Improvements [Kreisa]

The College Program Attracting — and Retaining — Black Male Teachers [Koenig]

Companies are key to solving the digital skills gap [Afshar]

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