New Fla. Law Enables Direct Full-Time Online Enrollment
Ian Quillen, Digital Education, Education Week, July 13, 2011
The 97,000-student Florida Virtual School announced Tuesday that in-state students in kindergarten, 1st grade, and grades 6-12 will be able to directly enroll in its Florida Virtual School Full Time , FLVS FT, regardless of those students' residential school district assignment. Changes in Florida Law Make It Easier to Take Classes Online Mary Kelli Palka, The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville (MCT), July 14, 2011
Florida House of Representatives; CS/CS/HB 7197 - Digital Learning
Digital Learning: Creates Digital Learning Now Act; requires school districts to establish virtual instruction options; authorizes establishment of virtual charter schools & provides requirements; authorizes blended learning courses; provides additional requirements for Florida Virtual School; requires full-time & part-time school district virtual instruction program options; provides funding & accountability requirements; requires online learning course for high school graduation; redefines FTE student for purposes of virtual instruction. Effective Date:July 1, 2011
A Closer Look at Virtual Learning Models
Julie Young, THE Journal, July 26, 2011
Julie Young, President & CEO of Florida Virtual School, is reflecting on the recent passage of the Digital Learning Now Act that expands online learning options in Florida. The three models she focuses on here are online learning, blended learning and the hybrid classroom.
KIPP Blend Promising
edReformer Staff, July 14, 2011
KIPP Empower Academy in Los Angeles presented some amazing results from their blended learning pilot at the New School Summit. Almost none of the students were reading on grade level at the beginning of the year and 96% were proficient were at or above grade level in reading by the end of the year. Read the comments offered by Innosight Institute:
Year 1 results for the KIPP Empower Academy
Heather Clayton Staker, Innosight Institute, July 14, 2011
In The Rise of K-12 blended learning, Innosight profiled the Empower Academy as one of 40 emerging blended-learning operators. KIPP opened the school in the fall of 2010, so at the time of publication of the report, the program was still too new to offer substantial results. Now having completed year one, the Empower Academy reports that 96 percent of its students are proficient at or above grade level in reading, compared to only 9 percent at the beginning of the year. How did they do it? Read the description of the Empower Academy program that we published in our report.
Ranking the Online Colleges
Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed, June 30, 2011
U.S. News & World Report, which in the last three decades has become one of the most successful and controversial kingmakers in higher education, is taking preliminary steps to apply its rankings to the increasingly important realm of online colleges. See what you think.
Traditional Higher Ed Opens Doors for Tuition-Free Online University
Sarah Kessler, Mashable, June 29, 2011
Online universities have earned a reputation among traditional higher education institutions as businesses that offer low-quality degrees in exchange for hefty debt. But online University of the People challenges the stereotype.
The University (Mashable description) is completely tuition free. Its mission is not to turn a profit, but rather to create a truly global opportunity for education. Members of the university’s core of 2,000 volunteers teach a thousand students who live in 115 different countries. Traditional universities are starting to open their doors to People’s free, nontraditional counterpart.
1,900 Apply for 600-Student Online Charter School
New Orleans City Business,Monday, July 11, 2011
Louisiana Connections Academy says it has 1,900 applications for 600 spots.
Blended Learning’s Impact on Teacher Development
Alex Hernandez, Innosight Institute, July 11, 2011
How do we train teachers for blended learning instruction? The author, a former math teacher, has a few suggestions.
Top Ten Trends in E-Learning
WorldWideLearn
Based on research from the Gartner Group, the University of Pennsylvania, and other prestigious think tanks, we can identify ten vital trends that will influence the growth of e-learning over the next ten years. (Research posted in 2009 — Is this still true?)
Online and Incomplete
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, July 19, 2011 A new study (Online and Hybrid Course Enrollment and Performance in Washington State Community and Technical Colleges (CCRC Working Paper No. 31)) urges caution to those who believe that online education is a panacea for educating more community college students. The study finds that students who enrolled in online courses -- controlling for various factors that tend to predict success -- were more likely to fail or drop out of the courses than were those who took the same courses in person. Notably, there was not a gap in completion between those enrolled in hybrid and in-person courses.
It's Not a Matter of Time: Highlights from the 2011 Competency-Based Summit
Sturgis, Patrick and Pittenger, iNACOL,July 2011
The It's Not a Matter of Time paper highlights the key issues from the proceedings at the March 2011 Competency-Based Learning Summit for advancing competency-based learning. The paper addresses the three main goals of the Summit:
- Sharing expertise across innovators and policy leaders
- Building a common working definition of competency-based learning
- Enhancing strategies for advancing competency-based options
A complementary paper (below), Cracking the Code: Synchronizing Policy and Practice for Performance-Based Learning, provides a more in-depth look at state policy issues discussed at the Summit.
The Competency-based Learning Summit, organized jointly by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and iNACOL, discussed how the nation could make a major transformation in dramatically increasing opportunities for student learning through competency-based approaches. It was held in March 2011.
New video: YouTube - Online Teaching and Learning: National Online Teacher of the Year
Interview, June 8, 2011
The SREB/iNACOL 2011 National Online Teacher of the Year, Kristin Kipp discusses the most effective ways to engage and connect with online students. (You need Adobe Flash Player to watch this video.)
Electronic Textbooks — West Virginia
West Virginia Asks Counties to Plan for Electronic Textbooks
eClassroom News, July 13, 2011
The West Virginia Board of Education has suggested that all schools in the state start taking steps toward electronic textbooks and dependable ed-tech infrastructure for the future, state education department spokeswoman Liza Cordeiro said.
The state board of education recently implemented a two-year hiatus on the purchase of social studies textbooks, Cordeiro said. The money allocated for the books, roughly $36 million, instead will be spent on ed-tech infrastructure upgrades.
Common Core — Assessment
Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC or Partnership)
New Website: www.parcconline.org.
Twenty-four states have joined together to create the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC or Partnership). The goal is to create an assessment system and supporting tools that will help states dramatically increase the number of students who graduate high school ready for college and careers and provide students, parents, teachers and policymakers with the tools they need to help students - from grade three through high school - stay on track to graduate prepared. The Partnership will also develop formative tools for grades K-2. For more information, go to www.parcconline.org.
Check out the PARCC Assessment
June 28, 2011
PARCC’s next-generation assessment system will provide students, educators, policymakers and the public with the tools needed to identify whether students — from grade 3 through high school — are on track for postsecondary success and, critically, where gaps may exist and how they can be addressed well before students enter college or the workforce. A search on the PARCC site for assessment provides a number of useful recent links not included above.
Center for K-12 Assessment and Performance Management at ETS
The K–12 Center will analyze the assessment system models proposed within Race to the Top Assessment Program applications and develop short, concise summaries to aid discussions among educators, policymakers and the public. Coming Together to Raise Achievement, New Assessment for Common Core Standards was published in February 2011 but an update is expected in late July 2011. The assessment Consortia described in this publication will be building comprehensive assessment systems for the primary purpose of measuring student progress against these new CCSS.
Linking Assessments to Common Core Standards
Katie Ash, Digital Education, Ed Week, July 11, 2011
The State Educational Technology Directors Association, or SETDA, launched a new website and published a whitepaper to help navigate the new technology-based assessments coming out in 2014-15 that will be aligned with the common core state standards. The website, Assess4ed.net, will provide a platform for state and district education leaders to discuss and tackle the challenges of preparing for this assessment transition.
The SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC)
This is a national consortium of states that have been working collaboratively since December 2009 to develop a student assessment system aligned to a common core of academic content standards to apply for a Race-to-the-Top Assessment grant. They received a grant by the US Department of Education (USED) to develop a student assessment system aligned to a common core of academic standards.
Technology Integration — Common Core
LiveBinders, July 7, 2011
A resource: This binder is the work of the Woodstock Technology Integration Team. They have assembled all of the links in their Framework--whether technology tools or learning resources--in this binder. Resources will be added on a continuing basis...so please check back for new ideas!
Assessment - Frequently Asked Questions
Illinois State Board of Education
Online assessment is getting much attention these days. You may refer to the last July 11 Worthy of Note that included links to Pearson’s Next Generation Assessments: A Roadmap to 2014.
Charter Schools
Eliminating the Achievement Gap: A White Paper on How Charter Schools Can Help District Leaders
Robin Lake and Alex Hernandez, Center on Reinventing Public Education, June 2011
The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) was founded in 1993 at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington. In 2008, CRPE changed its affiliation to the University of Washington Bothell. The Center's offices are located off campus, in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood.
CRPE engages in independent research and policy analysis on a range of K-12 public education reform issues, including choice & charters, finance & productivity, teachers, urban district reform, leadership, and state & federal reform.
Authors Lake and Hernandez discuss how these successful charters focus on school culture and parent involvement, use an extended school day, employ ongoing diagnostics and interventions, and provide intensive professional development.
Professional Development
Tightened Professional-Development Standards Released
Stephen Sawchuk Teacher Beat, Education Week, July 19, 2011
Learning Forward, a.k.a. the nonprofit formerly known as the National Staff Development Council has unveiled an updated set of standards for guiding choices about quality teacher professional development.
The Standards for Professional Learning describe the "context, process, and content" of effective professional development across seven key areas.
Read the standards here.
Blended Learning’s Impact on Teacher Development
Alex Hernandez, Innosight Institute, July 11, 2011
How do we train teachers for blended learning instruction? The author, a former math teacher, has a few suggestions.
Student Data
Dell Foundation Launches Tool to Connect Student Data
Sarah D. Sparks, Spotlight, Education Week, July 19, 2011
The Austin, Texas-based Michael and Susan Dell Foundation is hoping its new Ed-Fi data standard will allow educators and researchers to access information on kindergarten through 12th grade from state and local systems even before the systems have been aligned.
Common Data Initiative Proposes New Postsecondary Standards
Sarah D. Sparks, Spotlight, Education Week, July 19, 2011
The first version of the initiative focused primarily on the types of data needed for kindergarten through 12th grade accountability reporting, according to Gary West, the strategic initiatives director for information systems at the Council of Chief State School Officers, one of the partner groups of the initiative.
The newly proposed second version, West says, is "a much broader set of data elements with a broader set of relationships. We're very interested in expanding the common language for states to be able to talk to each other and do research together on how to improve student performance, program effectiveness and things like that."
Predictive Data Tools Find Uses in Schools
Sarah D. Sparks, Ed Week, July 12, 2011
The use of analytic tools to predict student performance is exploding in higher education, and experts say the tools show even more promise for K-12 schools, in everything from teacher placement to dropout prevention. This is a follow-up to Sarah Sparks’ earlier article, Schools Find Uses for Predictive Data Techniques, mentioned in the July 11 WON.
Webinars
Sloan Consortium
Quality Standards for Using Mobile Apps for Teaching, Learning and Workforce Development, PreK-20
Event Date: August 10, 2011 - 2:00pm - 3:30pm
This webinar will outline the standards of quality measures for mobile apps in education including how to search for appropriate apps and how to submit apps for peer reviews. It will also include the system wide approach for identifying, purchasing, piloting, and evaluating mobile devices and apps. In addition, mobile app resources will be presented of apps by discipline areas including PreK though Ph.D., subject areas including various specialized disciplines in higher education, education level from preschool to professional development, and workforce development and clusters; providing app resources and accessories for specialized areas such as student services, special needs, assistive technology (partnering with Griffin Technologies) educational games, and productivity apps for office and businesses.
The webinar will conclude with participants providing feedback of the quality standards and in sharing mobile apps that they have found to impact teaching and learning.
Tennessee Board of Regents is the featured presenter.
Non-member and Guest ($99/participant)
Educational Technology Cooperative (SREB)
Here’s a repeat listing of the first two Webinars noted earlier (there are five more). For a complete listing see the July 11 Worthy of Note on our wiki page:
Registration and instruction for the series of webinars can be found here.
Case Study of the Florida Virtual School Blended Learning Models
Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 10:00 AM (ET)
Dianna Miller (Florida Virtual School)
Elementary Students: Back and Forth between Online and Face-to-Face Instruction
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 4:00 PM (ET)
Michelle Lee (Fayette County Public Schools)
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)
Wolf Creek Public Schools Embraces BYOD, Puts Pedagogy First
Tanya Roscoria, Converge, July 5, 2011
Alberta, Canada: Over the past two years, students and staff in Wolf Creek Public Schools have brought their own mobile devices to class. But this district isn't mesmerized by the shiny technology. Instead, it places pedagogy before technology. "It's about enhancing and building excellent learning environments,"
BYOD and Security
Ellen Ullman, Tech & Learning, March 1, 2011
How do you protect students from themselves? The author looks at several school districts, including two in Texas, that are setting policy for students to use their own technology at school.
Social Media
Pinellas Teachers No Longer Allowed to use Social Media to Communicate with Students
Sylvia Lim, St. Petersburg Times, June 19, 2011
Pinellas County School Board (FL) members last week banned teachers from using social media tools to communicate with students. They signed off on a policy requiring teachers to use district-provided e-mails and electronic platforms to correspond with students.
Social Media Sparks Policy Debate
Tanya Roscorla, Converge, July 17, 2009
The explosion of social media has sparked discussions about how teachers can use blogs, wikis, Twitter and other tools while keeping students safe online. This article offers a discussion of various options for social media policies.
We would like to know about your policies on Social Media use.
If your school, district, state or higher ed entity have established a policy related to social media use, would you please send us a link or a file. This would be a useful resource to compile. Thanks for answering this request.
Web 2.0 (Social Media) Policies in Higher Education
Slideshare (Last updated 11.05.09)
Social media yools and the policies associated with them.
Social Media Governance
The Social Media Management Handbook was prepared for the business community, but there may ideas useful in education. There are 177 social media policies included.
Plus It All: Google Bets Its Brand on Pervasive Social Media (Google+)
ContentBlogger, July 5, 2011
Insights and headlines from Shore analysts on trends in enterprise and media content markets. The hows and whys of Google+.
Random News and Information
Liberal Activists: For-profit Colleges ‘Ripping off’ Students, taxpayers
Ralshay Lin, eCampus News, July 11, 2011
Campus Progress National Conference, headlined by former President Clinton, accuses corporations of abusing federal education aid. In a speech at the conference July 6, an official condemned for-profit colleges—many of which are the nation’s largest online education providers—as ineffective and financially crippling for students.
Survey Reveals Need for Tech Skills in College, Workforce
eSchool News, July 11, 2011
Students say that high schools are not imparting adequate technology education.
The second annual 21st Century Classroom Report from CDW-G reveals that 94 percent of students said learning and mastering technology skills would improve their educational and career opportunities, and 97 percent of school faculty agreed. But in spite of those results, only 39 percent of students said their high schools meet those technology expectations with technology in the classroom.
Texas Pulls Out of Chiefs Group
Sean Cavanagh, Ed Week, July 12, 2011
Texas has withdrawn from the Council of Chief State School Officers.
Creative Commons, AEP Team for K-12 Metadata Search Framework
Therese Mageau, THE Journal, July 18, 2011
Creative Commons and AEP team up to develop an education-specific tagging system for Internet searches.
Schools Struggle to Balance Digital Innovation, Academic Accountability
Michelle R. Davis, Ed Week, June 15, 2011
Educators struggle through trial and error to forge new approaches that work Read about how 1-to-1 laptop initiative in a North Carolina district didn’t turn out as expected.
Khan Academy: Great Idea- With One Glaring Hole
Daniel Rezac, EdReach, March 15, 2011
According to this math teacher, the Khan Academy is not teaching concepts and ideas. Khan Academy teaches answers. 1 + 1 = 2. Read how he and his colleagues have taken the concept a few steps further.
New Report Focuses on STEM Education
K-12 Computing Blueprint, July 12, 2011
The publication: Successful K-12 STEM Education: Identifying Effective Approaches in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. (New Academics Press)
Read the book online, free.
Quo Vadis, LMS? Trends, Predictions, Commentary
Campus Technology, July 01, 2011
A panel of leading technologists, educators, and vendors discusses the future of the LMS and the innovations needed to make it integral to 21st century learning.
Resources
Guide to Cloud Computing for Policy Makers
SIIA, 2011
The basic recommendation of this white paper is that there is no need for cloud-specific legislation to provide for the safe and rapid growth of cloud computing.
The Tech Commandments
Adam S. Bellow, Scribd.com
Ten ideas to help revitalize education using ed tech. Adam S. Bellow’s website.
20 Best Blogs in Instructional Technology
Have you checked out HippoCampus lately; and what about SAS Curriculum Pathways?
Open Educational Resources
OK CareerTech Testing Center
The Top 6 Emerging Technologies in K-12 Education
Tanya Roscoria, Converge, May 17, 2011
Comments on the NMC Horizon Report: 2011 K-12 Edition: Over the next five years, the publication suggests that the education community will embrace cloud computing, mobiles, game-based learning, open content, learning analytics and personal learning environments.
One Hundred Incredibly Useful YouTube Channels for Teachers
Online Courses, October 10, 2010
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