How proper ed-tech implementation can transform learning

When it comes to digital learning, high-quality programs embrace what the report identifies as the three Ts: teaching, technology, and time.

A new report outlines four critical challenges facing public education and identifies steps that school and district leaders must take in the next two years to ensure that digital learning has a lasting effect on students.

The Nation’s Schools Are Stepping Up to Higher Standards,” from the Alliance for Excellent Education, notes that the nation’s education system is begging for an overhaul, and the coming years are crucial as policy makers and educators strive to create an education system that addresses student needs and ensures that all students emerge ready to compete on a global level.

“The next two years will see unprecedented developments in K-12 public education as states set fundamentally higher-than-ever standards for students of all socioeconomic backgrounds,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. “Technology can play a vital role in supporting teachers and helping public schools and districts meet these challenges, but technology by itself is not the answer; simply slapping a netbook on top of a textbook is not enough. But when districts develop a plan to pair technology with effective teaching and more efficient use of time, technology can accelerate the pace of improvement and boost student outcomes.”…Read More

Education chief wants textbooks to go digital

“The world is changing,” Duncan said. “This has to be where we go as a country.”

Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Oct. 2 called for the nation to move as fast as possible away from printed textbooks and toward digital ones. “Over the next few years, textbooks should be obsolete,” he declared.

It’s not just a matter of keeping up with the times, Duncan said in remarks to the National Press Club. It’s about keeping up with other countries whose students are leaving their American counterparts in the dust.

South Korea, which consistently outperforms the U.S. when it comes to educational outcomes, is moving far faster than the U.S. in adopting digital learning environments. One of the most wired countries in the world, South Korea has set a goal to go fully digital with its textbooks by 2015.…Read More

District ‘Race to the Top’ rules spur mixed reaction

School groups criticized RTT-D for creating 'winners' and 'losers.'

Proposed guidelines for school districts to vie for $400 million in new federal grants have elicited mixed reaction from education groups—from concern among ed-tech groups over how “personalized learning” will be defined, to arguments that the grants will exclude smaller districts from competing.

With an eye toward expanding the Obama administration’s signature “Race to the Top” (RTT) competition to the district level, the federal Education Department (ED) recently issued a draft outlining competition guidelines and invited responses from stakeholders.

RTT, which previously targeted only states, has triggered a flurry of education reforms as states scrambled to win billions in funds. Now, the creation of the Race to the Top-District Program (RTT-D) gives individual school districts a shot at winning a slice of $400 million in grants.…Read More

Report calls for more broadband access in schools

SETDA recommends that schools provide 100 Mbps per 1,000 students/staff by the 2014-15 school year, and provide 1 Gbps per 1,000 students/staff by the 2017-18 school year.

School districts should provide a minimum of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) of bandwidth for every 1,000 students and staff members within the next two years, and federal lawmakers should provide more funding to help make this happen, according to a report released May 21 by the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA).

The report, “The Broadband Imperative: Recommendations to Address K-12 Education Infrastructure Needs,” explains how the ongoing shift to technology-rich learning has sparked rapid growth in the nation’s educational broadband needs.

Schools are undergoing a transformation from print-based to digital sources, and that shift “changes technology from being supplemental enrichment to something we rely on,” said Douglas Levin, executive director of SETDA at a report release and briefing in Washington, D.C.…Read More

National leaders brainstorm for digital learning

The meeting was a follow-up to a challenge issued by the FCC and ED last month to drive national adoption of digital textbooks in the next five years.

In a move that could be considered encouraging for advocates of digital learning, leaders from the Education Department (ED), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the textbook and broadband industry met March 29 on Capitol Hill to discuss how companies can better serve schools and districts with digital textbooks.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the meeting was a follow-up to a challenge issued by the two agencies last month to state and industry leaders to drive national adoption of digital textbooks in the next five years. (See “Feds’ challenge to schools: Embrace digital textbooks.”)

“That’s why we called this meeting, to bring together different parts of the digital text ecosystem and get some work done,” said Genachowski.…Read More

Companies aim to help schools create digital learning environments

A number of companies introduced new mobile learning products at recent ed-tech trade shows.

As more schools make the shift to a digital-based teaching and learning environment, a number of new products and services have emerged to help ease this transition.

From digital content collections intended to help educators personalize instruction for every student, to learning management systems that contain built-in analytics to help students succeed, here’s an overview of some of the latest offerings.

Personalizing instruction…Read More

New group aims to spur technology’s role in education

A new initiative aims to help policy makers better integrate technology in education.

Spurred by calls for change from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the U.S. Department of Education (ED), a group of educational technology stakeholders has formed a new ed-tech advocacy commission that will “develop a blueprint detailing the opportunity for using technology as a catalyst to transform and improve American education.”

The Leading Education by Advancing Digital (LEAD) Commission will seek input from teachers, parents, local government officials, students, and ed-tech industry leaders and experts. It expects to release findings and a blueprint for action in late 2012.

The LEAD Commission will be co-chaired by Columbia University President Lee Bollinger; James Coulter, co-founder of private investment firm TPG Capital; former Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings; and Common Sense Media Founder and CEO James Steyer.…Read More

Some see blended learning as future of education

Interactive and adaptive learning technologies can help advance U.S. education, experts say.

More and more school districts are embracing digital learning as the next step in improving education, and a number of stakeholder groups are hoping to guide policy makers in their efforts to implement state-level online learning policies.

A Jan. 11 International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) webinar focused on the continued work of the Digital Learning Council on the reform needed to provide all students with the opportunity to engage in high-quality online learning.

The Digital Learning Council was established in 2012 when former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and former Democratic Gov. Bob Wise of West Virginia came together to create implementation guidelines for states and schools.…Read More

As Digital Learning Day approaches, states pledge support

States are gearing up for the first Digital Learning Day on February 1.

A new report that comes in advance of the first-ever Digital Learning Day argues that digital learning can expand students’ learning opportunities and help schools overcome tough budget situations and boost achievement.

The Digital Learning Imperative: How Teaching and Technology Meet Today’s Educational Challenges, from the Alliance for Excellent Education (AEE), comes just one month before the first-ever Digital Learning Day on Feb. 1, 2012.

The report outlines three challenges that the U.S. education system faces:…Read More