The nation’s second Digital Learning Day is fast approaching on Feb. 6, and with digital learning ideas, a keynote speech from the White House Chief Technology Officer, and more participants, this year’s event promises to be even better than last year’s, organizers say.
As of press time, 20,000 educators have signed up for Digital Learning Day activities, and partnerships have doubled since last year: 44 states are participating this year, compared to 28 in 2012, and 50 partner companies and organizations are participating this year, up from 25 last year.
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will be joining Digital Learning Day organizers for a morning demonstration of five digital learning lesson plans. Special guest speaker Todd Park, Chief Technology Officer for the White House, will be at Digital Learning Day’s annual Town Hall meeting as well.
“The success of last year is certainly one of the reasons why the event has grown, since a lot of partners and schools said they found out about the new event too late and they knew to participate this year,” said Sara Hall, director of Digital Learning & Policy for the Alliance for Excellent Education, “but also because we led with instruction and good instructional practice last year, and this is a keystone for DLD.”
Hall said that Digital Learning Day makes sure to focus on teachers and what they need—specifically, not adding technology as yet another layer to instruction, but learning how to integrate technology in order to transform classroom practice. Because of this, many teachers have led grassroots movements this year, letting peers and school leaders know about Digital Learning Day.
(Next page: What’s new about this year’s Digital Learning Day—and a schedule of events)
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