Leadership Blog

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 This blog is no longer being updated.

Education Opinion Barber on the Future of Education
The Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education commissioned the Brightlines team led by Sir Michael Barber to consider the future of education in Massachusetts. The New Opportunity to Lead is a comprehensive 120-page report that sets out an agenda for the next 20 years, beyond the Common Core and standards-based reform.
Tom Vander Ark, March 24, 2014
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6 min read
Classroom Technology Opinion Managed Instruction or Digital Learning?
A former governor and an ed school dean met in a bar...they discussed the seeming incompatibility of digital learning with differentiated instruction and the scripted curricula mandated by many school districts.
Tom Vander Ark, March 21, 2014
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4 min read
Classroom Technology Opinion Teaching Channel: An Online Community Improving Practice
Recognizing that "a video library probably won't change practice," Pat Wasley set out to make Teaching Channel (Tch) an interactive community. The former dean of the University of Washington College of Education turned edupreneur took over the Oakland nonprofit two years ago.
Tom Vander Ark, March 19, 2014
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2 min read
Education Opinion Mooresville Adopts Gateway Projects in Four Grades
The Mooresville Graded School District recently adopted requirements for four large scale multimedia projects in 3rd, 6th, 8th and 12th grade. Beginning next year, students would add products from these projects to their digital portfolio.
Tom Vander Ark, March 17, 2014
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3 min read
Classroom Technology Opinion Almost Half The States Improved Digital Learning Policies in 2013
The nation's digital learning health is improving. A new report card out today shows that 473 bills were introduced last year and 132 were enacted resulting in 22 states improving their grade on the 2013 Digital Learning Report Cards.
Tom Vander Ark, March 13, 2014
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1 min read
Education Opinion A Dozen Reasons Education Can't Innovate; A Dozens Ways That's Changing
Formal education (P-20) doesn't change much. Compared to other sectors, there is little innovation and weak innovation diffusion. There are at least a dozen reasons for the stasis.
Tom Vander Ark, March 10, 2014
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2 min read
Classroom Technology Opinion #SXSWedu
It's a big bustling conference stretching over four days with with lots of hangouts, receptions, and announcements. It's not mission-focused and coherent (e.g., better blended and online learning) like an iNACOL event; there's a stronger startup culture than at an ISTE event; there are more teachers than at ASU, but some of it (i.e., keynote choices) like Austin, were just weird. Oh, and it was cold, like freezing rain cold.
Tom Vander Ark, March 7, 2014
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2 min read
Education Opinion What Does The Google Investment in Renaissance Learning Mean?
Maybe like me, you asked yourself last week, what does the $40 million Google investment in Renaissance Learning mean? There are two implications of the big deal: personalized learning paths are rapidly becoming a reality and the big guys will play a key role in innovation.
Tom Vander Ark, March 3, 2014
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2 min read
School & District Management Opinion Prizes and Pull Mechanisms Can Boost Global Learning
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) recently requested information about "public and private actions that have the potential to accelerate the development, rigorous evaluation, and widespread adoption of high-impact learning technologies." Comments are due March 7.
Tom Vander Ark, February 28, 2014
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3 min read
School & District Management Opinion School: A Zone of Privacy and Innovation
Secretary Duncan is addressing the Common Sense Media School Privacy Zone Summit today in Washington. I hope he acknowledges that student privacy is paramount--and so is student learning. We can and must craft updates to public education policy that reflect new opportunities as well as new concerns.
Tom Vander Ark, February 24, 2014
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3 min read
Education Opinion Eight Principles of Productive Gamification
Using games to promote learning isn't a new idea. But the widespread use of game-based adaptive learning systems, the explosion of mobile-learning applications, and the growing use of game-based strategies makes gamification one of the most important education trends of this decade.
Tom Vander Ark, February 19, 2014
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4 min read
Education Opinion What Can We Learn From the Navy's Train to Qualification System?
To learn more about professional development in the military, we called Mike Mosley, head of Learning Standards Branch in the Naval Education and Training Command.
Tom Vander Ark, February 17, 2014
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2 min read
Education Opinion Leading with Teacher Innovation
The viral adoption of web and mobile learning tools, apps, and resources is probably the most important trend in education over the last three years—it's less discussed than the Common Core State Standards but has had a bigger impact on classroom practice. There are hundreds of thousands of teachers off and running, using the digital resources they can find and encouraging kids to do the same.
Tom Vander Ark, February 13, 2014
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4 min read
Classroom Technology Opinion Julie Young to Begin Next Chapter of Online Learning Leadership
After 17 years at the helm of Florida Virtual School and 30 years as a Florida educator, Julie Young told the board and staff last week that she was retiring.
Tom Vander Ark, February 10, 2014
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3 min read
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