Vander Ark on Innovation
This blog was written by Tom Vander Ark (@tvanderark), an education advocate, adviser, and author of Getting Smart: How Personal Digital Learning is Changing the World. Tom is Founder and Executive Editor of Getting Smart and a partner in Learn Capital. This blog is no longer being updated.
Student Achievement
Opinion
Busting the Zip Code Curse with Blended Learning
Online learning holds great potential to transform rural education by ensuring that every student has access to great instruction.
Classroom Technology
Opinion
Supporting ELL Students with Automated Writing Feedback
With recent English Language Learning enhancements, efficacy studies of writing feedback systems like Criterion, PEG, and WriteToLearn will be valuable to the sector.
Education
Opinion
Next-Gen Personalized Learning for ELL Students
In partnership with The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we are conducting an analysis of promising new tools and instructional strategies supporting English language learners and teachers.
Artificial Intelligence
Opinion
Intelligence Unleashed: How Artificial Intelligence Will Improve Education
'Intelligence Unleashed: An Argument for AI in Education' is a new report from Pearson and the UCL Knowledge Lab, University College London.
Education
Opinion
What Learning Will Look Like in 2035
We don't know what learning will look like in 2035 but we can predict a wider variety of approaches and options.
School & District Management
Opinion
Three Smart State Approaches to Competency-Based Education
A progress report on three states you might consider unlikely policy innovators when it comes to competency-based education: Idaho, Georgia and Ohio.
School & District Management
Opinion
12 On-Ramps for Personalized and Competency-Based Learning
It is challenging and controversial to convert an entire school system to a personalized and competency-based approach but you don't have to do it all at once. These dozen entry points provide places to start with limited investment and risk. With a few working examples in place, it creates local reference points and field trip opportunities.
School & District Management
Opinion
How Houston Schools Are Making Houston a Great Global City
Houston is rapidly becoming a great global city. Houston schools are a big part of the success story. So when next month when Superintendent Terry Grier steps down, he should deserve a lot of credit for his contribution to Space City.
Classroom Technology
Opinion
Literacy Design Collaborative Boosts Student and Teacher Learning
The story of Arturo Garcia and Laura Flores from Cigarroa High School in San Antonio who when seeking better literacy results turned to Literacy Design Collaborative, an open library of literacy lessons. Little did they know, this decision was one that would change the trajectory of their school.
School & District Management
Opinion
Soon Devices Will Matter Less, In the Meantime Prioritize
There's no doubt that we have more devices in schools these days, but the bad news is there are often many different types, on different operating systems, with no real "plan" on how to effectively use them in classrooms. In this post, Scott Ellis of The Learning Accelerator shares five observations about the journey of innovation and what EdLeaders can do when they discover an EdTech mess.
College & Workforce Readiness
Opinion
A User Guide to Me: How Individual Learning Plans Power Personalization
Some Google execs publish A User Guide To Me to aid collaboration. Some learners in San Francisco share letters with their teachers about their learning preferences. Tom shares these tips and seven more on how to personalize learning.
Education
Opinion
How Project-Based Learning Prepares Youth for Freelance Nation
Young people that decide against the freelance economy and land good jobs with organizations are likely to do most of their work in projects. Other than low skill/low wage tasks, it's quickly becoming a project-based world. What kinds of experiences will prepare young people for a project-based world?
College & Workforce Readiness
Opinion
Next Generation Career Pathways: A Manufacturing Case Study
In 'Next Generation Career Pathways: A Manufacturing Case Study' we assert that new career pathways that combine blended learning strategies with work-based experiences can close the manufacturing skills gap. A great next-gen example is GPS Education Partners which operates 15 eastern Wisconsin education centers.
Education
Opinion
Working Your way out of an EdTech Mess
We've reached the point where we are beyond the halfway point in the shift to digital. During this time there are three common problems that schools and districts are facing, a lack of narrative, a coherent change strategy, and a reflection on the mess that some find themselves in today.