education reform

True…or false? “Education is holding Millennials back” [Harris]

On 01/16/2014, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, change, dangers of the status quo, education, education reform, entrepreneurship, experimentation, global / globalization, higher education, K-12 related, leadership, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, by Daniel Christian

Education is holding Millennials back — from blog.clomedia.com, interview with Donna Harris

Excerpt:

If you ask employers whether millenials are prepared for the workforce, there is no shortage of concern.
…
Being able to take charge of one’s own career, question the status quo, initiate change, be creative, solve problems, operate independently and be entrepreneurial will become increasingly crucial for career success.
…
Today’s workers will have dozens of jobs in their lifetimes and need a vastly different toolkit to be successful — the ability to question the status quo, initiate change, be creative, solve problems, operate independently and be entrepreneurial become crucial.
…
This massive change from a transactional, hierarchical, closed economy to one that is global, networked, transparent and entrepreneurial is a major challenge to our overall education system. We have large institutions, degrees take years to complete, students invest tens (or hundreds) of thousands of dollars, and yet employers are still saying that graduates are not well-suited for their needs. We have to rethink what we’re teaching and how we’re teaching it, with a fundamental understanding of the global economic shift we’re in the midst of.

Deeper Learning 101 MOOC

On 01/03/2014, in 21st century, collaboration, communications, creativity, education reform, engagement / engaging students, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, learning theories, maker movement, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, online learning, professional development, teachers, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I originally saw this via a Scoop from Jim Lerman who pointed out the article:

Diving Into ‘Deeper Learning’ with High Tech High’s MOOC
One school network takes charge, offering a glimpse into innovate school models

Excerpt:

It combines the principles behind project-based learning, inquiry-based learning and Maker activities to give students more agency through collaboration, communicating, and thinking critically.

HTH Chief Academic Officer Ben Daley says, “Shallow learning is about racing to the textbook, trying to cover all the topics before the year rolls to an end. Deeper learning is about covering a smaller number of topics in a greater depth, making things, and presenting to a real audience.”

Over the course of nine weeks, the MOOC will offer a glimpse into how Deeper Learning is applied in schools like Expeditionary Learning, Big Picture Learning, Envision, and of course, High Tech High. Activities will include looking at student work from these schools, experiencing a “protocol” where teachers use a structured framework to guide a conversation, and a final project that will ask participants to design and implement their own deeper learning activity.

From DSC:
In briefly reviewing this endeavor, what I appreciated about these efforts was:

Giving more agency to the students — I took this to mean, “More choice. More control.” It seems to encourage student voice.
It encourages self-directed learning, something we all will need in our lifetimes — but does so in combination with other forms of learning that involve collaboration and communication (two other skills we all need)
It seems to have been a team-based approach – something I think will often be required to be successful in the future
The active, well-thought through experimentation going on; putting learning theories into practice in new ways that will hopefully connect with learners more and engage them at deeper levels

Also, slightly-related items 🙂

Standardized Achievement Tests: What Are They Good For? Hint: Not Cognitive Ability. — from blogs.scientificamerican.com by Scott Barry Kaufman
College course asks students to develop Google Glass apps as homework — from psfk.com by John Pugh

Many of these presentations will be live streamed at:

Also see:

January 2014: Remote Webcast Locations

Reflections on a solid speech from the President of Hillsdale College entitled, “A Rebirth of Liberty & Learning”

On 12/18/2013, in 21st century, assessment, colleges, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, education reform, higher education, leadership, learning, legislatures / government / legal, liberal arts, universities, by Daniel Christian

A Rebirth of Liberty and Learning — from imprimis.hillsdale.edu by Larry Arnn, President, Hillsdale College, with thanks to Mr. Andy Thorburn for this resource

Excerpt:

At Hillsdale College students read a lot of old books, including Plato’s Republic. In the Republic they read the story of Gyges’ ring—a ring that makes the wearer of it invisible. One of Socrates’ interlocutors in the Republic, a young man named Glaucon, raises the question: Why would a man in possession of such a ring not use it to do and obtain whatever he wishes? Why would he not use the ring’s powers, for instance, to become a tyrant? In response, Socrates turns the discussion to another question: What is the right way for a man to live? What is just by nature and what is unjust?

These Socratic questions were once at the center or core of education, and they remain at the center or core of education at Hillsdale College. But in American education as a whole, these questions have been abandoned.

…

Bereft of the kind of questions posed by Socrates in the Republic—or the kind of questions raised in the Bible, or in the plays of Shakespeare—modern education treats students chiefly as factors of production, as people to be trained for productive jobs. And although we all wish productive jobs for our children, as parents we know that they are not chiefly job seekers or factors of production. After all, how many of us, if we were given the choice of our children earning a lot of money and being bad, or struggling economically and being good, would choose the former?

From DSC, a portion of my thoughts back to Andy Thorburn on this were:

A great article, and highly relevant. It’s also timely, as the jury is starting to come in for me re: the Common Core. I’m not a big fan of it, because of how it was created and who developed it (few if any teachers were involved with creating it; I’ve been reading the postings from Anthony Cody for his research on these topics; example here), and the devastating impact it could have on students who are already struggling with school as it is.

Re: K-12 education:
I’m disheartened to see what education has/is becoming — packing people into molds (by age) and not helping students identify and develop their passions, gifts, abilities. I’d like to see us provide students with more choice, and more control over their own learning. We’re all into lifelong learning now, so it seems to me that if someone enjoys learning, they will have a more enjoyable/productive lifetime.

Hal Plotkin, at his keynote speech for the Sloan Consortium, said that we shouldn’t use the term “drop outs.” Instead, we should use the term “pushed outs” as that would help people better understand the dynamics at play.

Re: higher education:
I think the issue we have these days is that the price of education has forced the situation upon students/families that we find ourselves in — i.e. that when you are paying $100K-$250+ for an education, a student these days can’t help but be concerned about what job they are going to get, what vocation they are going into, how they are going to pay off their debt (which as of 2013 averages ~$30,000 per student), etc. If the total price of an education were $10,000, one could take it easier on that front and pursue the type of education Larry Arnn discussed; which is a great education, by the way.

Can we “THINK BIG” within the industry of higher education?

On 12/18/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, education reform, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, innovation, reinvent, staying relevant, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Can we THINK BIG?

ThinkBiggerYet-DanielChristian-August282013

Also see:

Moonshot Thinking
Moonshots live in the gray area between audacious technology and pure science fiction. Instead of a mere 10% gain, a moonshot aims for a 10x improvement over what currently exists. The combination of a huge problem, a radical solution to that problem, and the breakthrough technology that just might make that solution possible, is the essence of a moonshot.
.
SolveForX.com

Reflections on “Seeing the toll, schools revise zero tolerance” [Alvarez, NYTimes]

On 12/04/2013, in assessment, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, education reform, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, society, student-related, United States, by Daniel Christian

Seeing the toll, schools revise zero tolerance — from nytimes.com by Lizette Alvarez

Excerpt (emphasis):

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Faced with mounting evidence that get-tough policies in schools are leading to arrest records, low academic achievement and high dropout rates that especially affect minority students, cities and school districts around the country are rethinking their approach to minor offenses.

…

Rather than push children out of school, districts like Broward are now doing the opposite: choosing to keep lawbreaking students in school, away from trouble on the streets, and offering them counseling and other assistance aimed at changing behavior.

…

“We are not accepting that we need to have hundreds of students getting arrested and getting records that impact their lifelong chances to get a job, go into the military, get financial aid.”

From DSC:
Some thoughts immediately come to mind:

Hal Plotkin’s Keynote at the 19th Annual Sloan C conference addressed this same idea of being pushed out — we should get rid of the words/phrase “drop outs” he said. Paraphrasing Hal:

We shouldn’t use the phrase “drop outs.” Instead we should use the phrase “pushed outs.” It’s like walking by someone drowning and yelling at them to get out of the water — but not throwing them a lifeline. If we used the phrase pushed outs instead of drop outs, people would better understand what’s going on.

Students are being pushed out. They’re disengaged.

From society’s standpoint, what’s better? To have an engaged student being able to pursue his/her passions, while staying out of trouble and actually enjoying learning — or — have a youth walking the streets for a time before ending up with criminal records and being locked away? This seems to be true for the individual’s standpoint as well.

Lastly, my hunch here is that the Common Core State Standards and the enormous push for standardized testing is hurting us here — not helping us. In fact, I’ll bet we will see a direct relationship between the amount we press these initiatives and the number of youth we push out of the system.

Let’s try some new strategies and experiments — at least to a small degree; what have we got to lose?

From one of my early coaches:

Always change a losing game.
Never change a winning game.

School starting age: the evidence [University of Cambridge]

On 12/03/2013, in assessment, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, education, education reform, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, lifelong learning, love of learning, play, UK, United States, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
With a huge thank you/shout out to Dr. Kate Byerwalter, Professor of Psychology at Grand Rapids Community College, for this resource. Per Dr. Byerwalter (emphasis DSC):

I am a big supporter of play for younger children– the benefits are cognitive as well as social and emotional. But this new push towards early academics and testing is taking away time for play.

…one study (in the linked item above) found that kids who waited to start formal schooling until age 7 (when many cultures consider kids to be more responsible, etc.) had the same reading ability at age 11 as kids who began reading at age 5, and the kids who started later had better attitudes about reading and better text comprehension..

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

This is a brief review of the relevant research evidence which overwhelmingly supports a later start to formal education. This evidence relates to the contribution of playful experiences to children’s development as learners, and the consequences of starting formal learning at the age of four to five years of age.

From DSC:
First of all, here in the United States…I can’t help but think that the push for more “standardized testing” — as well as the Common Core being throttled at full-steam ahead — are like run-away trains (here’s but one example); that is, if you wanted to do so, they are very hard to stop. The unanswered question (at least for me) is, “Will they cause an enormous amount of damage when they have finally run their course?”

Secondly, as students get older, I think the word balance comes in to play here.

Balance in assessment. Balance in play. Balance in times to rest (see this important posting from a teacher now teaching in Finland for his thoughts on this topic). Balance in the offerings (arts, music, etc.) as well as STEM-related offerings.

Lastly, this entire posting/topic makes me think of the janitor from my college days at Northwestern. Occasionally, if I was rushing too much to get to my next class, he used to yell to me, “Take it eeeassssyyy young man!”

If we don’t heed these words of wisdom, how will these run-away trains affect students’ learning experiences and their viewpoints on education/learning? Given the pace of change and the shrinking 1/2 lives of information….we need them to at least like learning; as they will have many years of needing to do so ahead of them.

Also see:

The importance of play
Dr. David Whitebread
University of Cambridge
With Marisol Basilio, Martina Kuvalja and Mohini Verma
A report on the value of children’s play with a series of policy recommendations
April 2012

Next-gen schools thriving in Detroit [GettingSmart.com]

On 11/25/2013, in 21st century, blended learning, budgets, education, education reform, heutagogy, innovation, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, more voice more choice more control, pedagogy, teachers, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

Next-gen schools thriving in Detroit — from GettingSmart.com

Excerpts:

Student Centered:
Designed to meet the diverse learning needs of each student every day
High Expectations:
Committed to ensuring that every student will meet clearly defined, rigorous standards that will prepare them for success in college and career
Self Pacing and Mastery Based Credit:
Enables students to move at their own optimal pace and receive credit when they demonstrate mastery of the material <— From DSC: More choice, more control.
Blending Instruction:
Optimizes teacher- and technology- delivered instruction in group and individual work
Student Ownership:
Empowers students with skills, information, and tools they need to manage their own learning
Scalable:
Designed to serve many more students if it demonstrates impact
Financial Sustainability:
Sustainable on public per-pupil revenue within four years

Blended learning -- the best of both worlds

Blended/hybrid learning: Combining the best of both worlds

Only 6.7% of the world’s population has a post-secondary degree — Hal Plotkin, Sloan C Keynote Address [11/20/13]

On 11/25/2013, in 21st century, Daniel S. Christian, education, education reform, global / globalization, higher education, society, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The notes I wrote down at that point…

What % of the world has practical access to post-secondary education? Just under 7%!!! 93% has had little if any exposure to higher education!!! On average, 7th grade highest level.

Also see:

http://sloanconsortium.org/conference/2013/aln/keynotes

A proposal for Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft, and any other company who wants to own the future living room [Christian]

On 11/18/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, analytics, animation, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, attention, Augmented Reality (AR), blended learning, Bring your own device (BYOD), career development, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education, education reform, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, Google, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, IBM, ideas, immersion, informal learning, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, K-12 related, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, media/film, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, motivation, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, open courseware and systems, pace of change, participation, passions, personalized/customized learning, play, professional development, real-world assignments, reinvent, second screen apps, simulations, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, social media, society, staying relevant, STEAM-related, storytelling, strategy, streams of content, student-related, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, telepresence, television, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

“The main obstacle to an Apple television set has been content. It has mostly failed to convince cable companies to make their programming available through an Apple device. And cable companies have sought to prevent individual networks from signing distribution deals with Apple.”

— Apple, closer to its vision for a TV set, wants
ESPN, HBO, Viacom, and others to come along
qz.com by Seward, Chon, & Delaney, 8/22/13

From DSC:
I wonder if this is because of the type of content that Apple is asking for. Instead of entertainment-oriented content, what if the content were more focused on engaging, interactive, learning materials? More on educational streams of content (whether we — as individuals — create and contribute that content or whether businesses do)?

Also see:

What the mobile “fourth wave” means for operators — from mportal.com by D.P. Venkatesh on November 12, 2013

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

The communications landscape has historically taken the form of a tumultuous ocean of opportunities. Like rolling waves on a shore, these opportunities are often strong and powerful – yet ebb and flow with time.

Get ready, because the next great wave is upon us. And, like a tropical storm, it is likely to change the landscape around us.

As detailed by analyst Chetan Sharma, this particular wave is the one created by the popularity of over-the-top (OTT) solutions – apps that allow access to entertainment, communication and collaboration over the Internet from smartphones, tablets and laptops, rather than traditional telecommunications methods. Sharma has coined this the mobile “fourth wave” – the first three being voice, messaging (SMS) and data access, respectively – and it is rapidly washing over us.

Addendum on 11/25:

The Smart TV app revolution is coming: Here’s what you need to know — from businessinsider.com by Dan Frommer

Reflections on “Common Core Standards: Ten Colossal Errors” [Cody]

On 11/18/2013, in art, assessment, Daniel S. Christian, education reform, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, strategy, trends, by Daniel Christian

Common Core Standards: Ten Colossal Errors — a solid article from edweek.org by Anthony Cody

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Error #1:
The process by which the Common Core standards were developed and adopted was undemocratic.

At the state level in the past, the process to develop standards has been a public one, led by committees of educators and content experts, who shared their drafts, invited reviews by teachers, and encouraged teachers to try out the new standards with real children in real classrooms, considered the feedback, made alterations where necessary, and held public hearings before final adoption.

The Common Core had a very different origin. When I first learned of the process to write new national standards underway in 2009, it was a challenge to figure out who was doing the writing. I eventually learned that a “confidential” process was under way, involving 27 people on two Work Groups, including a significant number from the testing industry. Here are the affiliations of those 27: ACT (6), the College Board (6), Achieve Inc. (8), Student Achievement Partners (2), America’s Choice (2). Only three participants were outside of these five organizations. ONLY ONE classroom teacher WAS involved – on the committee to review the math standards.

Error #2:
The Common Core Standards violate what we know about how children develop and grow.

…

Error #4:
The Common Core creates a rigid set of performance expectations for every grade level, and results in tightly controlled instructional timelines and curriculum.

At the heart of the Common Core is standardization. Every student, without exception, is expected to reach the same benchmarks at every grade level. Early childhood educators know better than this. Children develop at different rates, and we do far more harm than good when we begin labeling them “behind” at an early age.

Error #6:
Proficiency rates on the new Common Core tests have been dramatically lower — by design.

From DSC:
I’m trying to give the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) a fair look/review/analysis. But the statement under #4 strikes me as being particularly relevant and extremely true:

At the heart of the Common Core is standardization. Every student, without exception, is expected to reach the same benchmarks at every grade level. Early childhood educators know better than this. Children develop at different rates, and we do far more harm than good when we begin labeling them “behind” at an early age.

Backing up a second and to let you know the “lenses” that I’m looking through…I believe that we have been incredibly designed and created by God, and God is extremely detail-oriented. For purposes of time, consider just a few examples:

The incredible amount of intricacy in the human body — especially in the amazingly-complex human brain and what it can do
The vast amount of variety in our world and beyond — of people, landscapes, animals, birds, fish, planets, stars, etc. A handful of pictures that focus just on flowers from Mr. Bill Vriesema’s Flickr account (with his permission) quickly illustrates this point:

BillVriesema-flower4

Again, my thanks go out to Mr. Bill Vriesema for the permission to use these photos
See http://www.flickr.com/photos/vreez/

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think those flowers look the same. I doubt they grew at exactly the same rate either. I doubt that they would grow the same ways in the exact same kind of soil. Some would thrive…some would die (or should I say, “fall behind?”).

Likening this to each of us as individuals, we each have different gifts, abilities, interests, and passions. We are not the same. We don’t mature at the same rates. And most of us don’t like to be controlled. School is becoming too much about control and cramming students into certain man-made molds. It seems to me that we are losing our way. Where’s the creativity, imagination, joy, wonder, excitement, and awe that should be inherent in learning about those things around us?

In fact, rewind to yesterday with me and allow me to bring this very close to home.

My son shared with me that he finds Sunday afternoons to be the most stressful, depressing days and times of the week. Why? Because he hates school and he knows that’s coming up on Mondays. Great. (And by the way, he’s a very smart young man.)

I asked him what he would do differently if he were to design a new system. He replied — without hesitation — “Allow me to choose what I want to learn and who I want to learn it from.”

So I then asked him, what if he could learn about how they negotiate contracts in the NFL…? “YES! I’D LOVE THAT!” he said enthusiastically!

And here’s one of the very real problems that we, as a society, are facing:

We are no longer running a 100 yard dash; or even a 440 or an 880. We are running a marathon! That is, we need LIFELONG learners! People who constantly learn, reinvent themselves, keep growing, keep learning.
We DO NOT need people who HATE to learn new things or have a really bad taste in their mouths about their educational experiences.

So my biggest concerns with the Common Core are that:

The Common Core State Standards are NOT helping us get to where we need to get to; if we are to use such mechanisms, then let’s add disciplines/areas of learning such as fine arts, music, drama, sports, woodworking, auto mechanics, and many other areas
The Common Core State Standards move us towards standardization and goes against how we were created — how we are made.
They do not help us run the required marathons that EACH OF US now find ourselves in!

As readers of this blog will know, I often embrace and even push change where it makes sense to do so. But when I hear that most of the public doesn’t have a clue as to what the Common Core State Standards even are — and despite where they came from and how they were developed — I get very nervous for the future of our youth and for our nation — and any other nation that follows such pathways of standardization.

I hope to have these fears assuaged — that such concerns are unfounded. But right now, I’m having trouble seeing things that way.

Rebels on the edges — from Harold Jarche

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Today we are a witnessing a similar shift, as human information processing is being drastically surpassed by integrated technology systems. This has been called the second economy. I frequently discuss the implications of work automation on what is becoming a post-job economy. Consider that about 35% of existing jobs have a 85% or greater chance of being automated. The challenge we face is how to distribute wealth when capital accrues to the few and there is no need to hire as much labour to run that capital.

…we need to seriously reconsider how value, wealth, and economic independence can be achieved. The key is creativity. “Identifying the new” will be a critical skill. The creative economy will be led by people testing the limits of all fields of endeavour. This will be fueled by big (and distributed) data, in conjunction with networked people. Innovation will be so essential that it may no longer be discussed. Innovation and creativity will be the new literacies.

This is scary because most of our schools and other institutions do not foster innovation and creativity. I think many people will be left on the sidelines of the creative economy until we develop support systems that can help people tap their innate abilities that were ignored for much of the past century.

From DSC:
Thanks Harold for this valuable posting; a couple of thoughts came to my mind as a result of reading it.

I would feel much more settled about things like standardized testing and the Common Core if people could explain to me how such things foster the incredibly important characteristics such as creativity, innovation, teamwork, collaboration (some of the key items amongst the set of soft skills that companies are asking for). I just don’t see it. Also, the “A” part of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, & Math) is hard to measure on a standardized test.

We need to provide more choice, more control to students; to provide more chances for them to explore, investigate, and identify their interests and what they might be gifted in. We need to provide more opportunities for students to tap into such gifts, abilities, and passions.

Study: Teachers love EdTech, they just don’t use it — from edudemic.com by Katie Lepi

Excerpt:

EdTech Is Essential!

86% of teachers think it is ‘important’ or ‘absolutely essential’ to use edtech in the classroom
965 say that edtech increases student engagement in learning
95% say that it enables personalized learning
89% say that it improves student outcomes
87% say that it helps students collaborate

However…

Only 19% use subject specific content tools weekly
Only 31% use information or reference tools weekly
Only 24% use teacher tools weekly
Only 14% use digital curricula weekly
Despite all the buzz about 1:1 classrooms, only about 1 in 9 are implementing a 1:1 or BYOD classroom
…

From DSC:
Looking at this solid posting from edudemic and Katie Lepi, I can’t help but ask:

What might this tell us about the model/approach that we are using?
Is that model/approach working?
Is that model/approach working fast enough to prepare our students for the futures they will inherit/experience?
Are there other approaches that would work better?

I’d like to add some potential factors to the list of why educational technologies might not be being implemented in certain situations:

We decided not to use teams; that is, we decided that our teachers (or professors or trainers) should continue to do everything — “it is their job after all”
A teacher (professor, trainer) may not be gifted in a particular area (such as creating digital audio or digital video, designing simulations, developing educational gaming, designing e-books, offering mobile learning, etc.)
A teacher (professor, trainer) may not be interested in a particular area (such as creating digital audio or digital video, designing simulations, developing educational gaming, designing e-books, offering mobile learning, etc.)
May view an area as totally irrelevant because that wasn’t part of that person’s background/experience (i.e. Who needs educational gaming? Why should that matter/help? I didn’t have that in my toolbox.)

With the rapid pace of change, time is no longer on our side. That is, it doesn’t serve our students well if it takes us 2-3 generations to get teachers, professors, and trainers ready to use all of the relevant technologies. That is a pipe dream and we need to abandon it asap. No one has all of the gifts that they need. We need to work with teams of specialists. It will take team-based efforts to create and deliver learning environments, products, and services that feature more choice and more control for our students. They — and all of us actually — are encountering a different world every single day that we wake up. Are we preparing them for it?

2013 Yearbook: Technology Innovation in Education [Center for Digital Education]

On 11/07/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, attention, Bring your own device (BYOD), budgets, business side of he, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, convergence, cost of getting a degree, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education, education reform, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, higher education, innovation, interactivity, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, learning theories, love of learning, mobile learning, mobile technologies, more voice more choice more control, online learning, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, social media, storytelling, strategy, streams of content, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technology (general), trends, videoconferencing, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Description:

The Yearbook is a unique publication produced annually by the Center for Digital Education (CDE) that highlights some of the outstanding trends,

people and events over the past year in education technology. The first part of the Yearbook gives readers market awareness by outlining how much money schools spent on education technology, where the funding came from and what technologies have been garnering the most attention.

The second part features 40 education innovators who are using technology to inspire their students, improve learning and better the K-20 education system. We hope that this 2013 Yearbook issue provides inspiration to our readers to continue on their quests towards innovation in education.

From DSC:
My quote in the Center for Digital Education’s 2013 Yearbook reads:

“Educational technologists need to be bold, visionary and creative. They need to be in tune with the needs, missions and visions of their organizations. We have the opportunity — and responsibility — to make lasting and significant contributions within our fields and for the organizations that we work for.”

Learning Ecosystems

Calvin College’s January Series 2014: Some excellent presentations coming up!

Reflections on a solid speech from the President of Hillsdale College entitled, “A Rebirth of Liberty & Learning”

Can we “THINK BIG” within the industry of higher education?

Only 6.7% of the world’s population has a post-secondary degree — Hal Plotkin, Sloan C Keynote Address [11/20/13]

Reflections on “Study: Teachers love EdTech, they just don’t use it” [Lepi]

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