Defining a changing landscape: Can our language keep up with our learning models?
Is it blended? Is it personalized? Is it customized?
Response to the NEPC Report
The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) recently released Virtual Schools in the U.S. 2019, the latest of NEPC’s series of annual reports looking at online and blended schools…
Academic cheating: The gaslight threatening digital learning
It’s not every day that celebrity culture and high-stakes testing collide with the law, but now that it has, people can’t seem to get enough!
The way people think about edtech misses the mark
Does adaptive learning software improve test scores? Does a 1:1 device initiative improve learning? Is screen time good for students? Questions like these are regulars in debates about edtech. But whether you’re an edtech advocate or a critic, if you’re asking questions like these, you’re missing the mark.
There's a reason why teachers don't use the software provided by their districts
Earlier this month, education news outlets buzzed with a frustrating, yet unsurprising, headline: Most educational software licenses go unused in K-12 districts. The source of the headline is a recent report by Ryan Baker, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Learning Analytics. Baker analyzed data from BrightBytes, a K-12 data management company, on students’ technology usage across 48 districts. That data revealed that a median of 70% of districts’ software licenses never get used, and a median of 97.6% of licenses are never used intensively.
“Everything's been said, but everyone hasn't said it."
“Everything's been said, but everyone hasn't said it."
“It’s not about the technology.”
“Teachers are more important than tech.”
“You can’t just put students in front of computers.”
Disrupting Class got the numbers wrong but the theory right
Eleven years ago, the book Disrupting Class predicted that in 2019 half of all high school courses would be online. It’s 2019, the disruption hasn’t happened, and I’m surprised that it’s taken a third of the year for me to see a reference to the failed prediction.
Lessons from the Summit Learning kerfuffle
There’s been quite the media backlash against Summit Learning, with articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, and smaller media outlets.
Screen time in school: Good, bad, or to be determined?
A large part of my job is working with school districts to build their capacity to support personalized and digital learning for all students. In discussing this transition with a parent group, one concerned mother brought up an intriguing question, “If the entire school is ‘going digital’, how much screen time is my child going to get every day? My pediatrician only recommends two hours a day.”