In a recent op ed piece, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times discusses a new tool that will be launched this fall. This web site will allow high schools to login and see how they compare to similar institutions in other parts of the world. The product of a joint venture between two organizations, America Achieves and the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (O.E.C.D), the project will release…
A Bill of Rights and Principles for Learning in the Digital Age
January 24, 2013EdSurge discusses a Bill of Rights and Principles, newly developed by a group of people passionate about learning, serving today’s students, and using every available tool to respond better to the needs of students in a global, interactive, digitally connected world....
Digital Content: What Does the Future Hold for Education Systems?
January 23, 2013GETideas.org hosted this GooglePlus hangout on the future of digital content. The online discussion featured a panel of education experts, including Nicole Allen, affordable-textbooks advocate, Student PIRGS; Una Daly, communication college outreach director, OpenCourseWare Consortium; and Cable Green, director of global...
Explaining Inequalities in School Achievement: A Realist Analysis
January 22, 2013In Explaining Inequalities in School Achievement, author Roy Nash argues that a realist framework for the sociological explanation of educational group differences can, and must be, constructed. A move to such an explanatory framework will allow society to take into account the...
Education 3.0: Seven Steps to Better Schools
January 14, 2013In Education 3.0: Seven Steps to Better Schools, renowned educator and technology expert Jim Lengel provides a refreshing and hopeful picture of what schools should look like, including a groundbreaking seven-step process for envisioning and building them that draws on the...
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April 2, 2013Concordia University professor Bernard Bull recently blogged about multiple perspectives driving educational change, noting that “educational experimentation is becoming mainstream.” Bull believes the cited perspectives will give those interested in education reform several critical lens for understanding and evaluating educational innovations. These include the historical perspective, the global perspective, the ethnographic perspective, the autobiographical perspective, the scientific perspective, and the philosophical perspective. If educators analyze an innovation from these angles, perhaps they…
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April 2, 2013Here’s a new video capturing the thoughts of noted edublogger and school leadership expert, Dr. Scott McLeod. Produced by Iowa Area Education Agency 267, this is a compilation of Scott’s thoughts on teaching and learning in new ways. Scott has been instrumental in pushing for educational state internationally and also in his home state of Iowa. Make sure to check out his blog Dangerously Irrelevant.
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March 25, 2013Digital Learning Now! is a group run by a council industry expert, policymakers, and educators dedicated to improving digital opportunities for American students. In March 2012, Digital Learning Now! released its second annual report which grades individual states on their progress towards implementing technological innovations. Criteria for these report cards are based on 10 elements of high quality digital learning, and only 6 states received an A or B for…
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March 11, 2013A new paper entitled Launching Successful Readers: the Role of ICT in Early-Grade Literacy Success has been published by the Joan Ganz Cooney Foundation. The intended audience is policy makers and educational technology developers. This intentionally brief report calls for interested parties to consider applying literacy research to addressing barriers to literacy growth and to the design of comprehensive literacy programs with the goal of avoiding the creation of more…
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March 4, 2013A new paper has been published by CompetencyWorks and the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) which outlines the technological requirements for a competency-based learning model. Competency-based learning means that students learn at their own pace with enough time and appropriate supports in place to ensure mastery. This model calls for explicit learning goals, meaningful assessments, and opportunities for real life applications of skills learned. More detailed descriptions and…
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March 4, 2013Here’s a plate of interesting food for thought from the PBS Newhour blog. In his interview with Nobel prize-winning economist James Heckman, Paul Solman provides insight into the impact of early education and parenting on kids’ IQ scores and ultimately, on helping people develop their potential and impact the United States’ economic prospects. Solman refers to this interview from a few years ago in light of President Obama’s state of…
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March 3, 2013Check out this playlist of talks from the 2012 Big Ideas Fest and among these videos, you will find one from Karen Cator, former head of the US Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology. Have we reached “education’s Internet moment”? Cator elaborates on four themes that are driving education right now: Mobility, Social Interactions for Learning, Digital Content and Big Data. These trends will help us make many more…
