2013-06-18T18:57:21-04:00 Tom Vander Ark http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/index.php?author=tom-vander-ark Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Tom Vander Ark Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3368770 2013-06-04T18:04:54-04:00 2013-06-04T18:05:04-04:00

Tom Vander Ark http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-ark/ Common Core State Standards and expanded STEM education.

Rex Tillerson is CEO of ExxonMobile, one of the world's most valuable company (rivaling Apple). You've probably seen their ubiquitous TV commercials in support of the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) and the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy.

Ursula Burns is CEO of Xerox, the document processing company. A mechanical engineer, Burns joined Xerox in 1981. She serves as Vice Chairman of The Business Council, a learning network of chief executive officers. Ursula is founding member of the National Academy Foundation and Change the Equation. Two organizations dedicated to raising student achievement in STEM, and especially among women and minorities.

Paul Jacobs is CEO of chip giant Qualcomm. He joined the company that his father co-founded as an engineer in 1990. With a Qualcomm grant, North Carolina schools demonstrated big gains with the use of mobile phones.

Talent Development. All three companies are demanding workplaces. They all use a comprehensive performance review system that combines data and judgement to make decisions about compensation and advancement.

Training and development has changed dramatically in all three environments over the last decade. There is less travel for training and more online and just-in-time learning. All three companies use a human resource information system to track individual learning records.

Xerox observed how younger workers interacted with mobile technology and social apps. About bring-your-own-device strategies, Burns said, "It was challenging for our IT systems." They modified policies to promote flexibility, communication, and collaboration.

ExxonMobile learned from its younger workers about collaborative environments. "Our new office campus is designed to promote greater collaboration and includes extensive open concept spaces," Tillerson said. The shift away from traditional offices was initially challenging for some veterans but "now most wouldn't go back to the old way of working."

Given energy employment cycles, ExxonMobil has a bifurcated workforce of younger and experienced employees. One particular challenge of the missing middle is the experience required to be an effective geoscientist. Tillerson said, "we've built knowledge maps for these key positions."

I mentioned Khan Academy as a good K-12 example of a knowledge maps and Burns said that Xerox employees frequently use Khan Academy resources.

School districts could learn a lot about talent development from these companies. If your district has a Fortune 500 company in town, make sure the school district HR team spends a day on site to experience productive workplaces.

STEM. All three CEOs are big advocates of improved access to quality STEM education. They all engage in higher education science and engineering education partnerships.

Tillerson recommended the spring edition of The Bridge from the National Academy of Engineering -- it is devoted to precollegiate STEM preparation and implementation of the new science standards.

The National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI), supported by a $125 million ExxonMobile investment, includes a comprehensive effort to boost Advanced Placement enrollment and success and UTeach, an accelerated math and science teacher preparation program. Sara Martinez Tucker, former Hispanic Scholarship Fund director (and AT&T exec) recently took over NMSI from founder Tom Luce.

Core is Key. The three chief executives appreciate the value of the Common Core's college- and career-ready expectations. All three CEOs are members of The Business Council which does an annual survey of chief executives. The recently released survey indicated that CEOs Want Hard-Working Decision-Making Team-Players.

Ursula urges business leaders to "include an education component into every meeting, let folks know you're paying attention, know your numbers, and use your power of convening with other companies and officials."

Disclosure: Tom Vander Ark is CEO of Getting Smart and a partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in educational technology.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3309994 2013-05-21T18:52:57-04:00 2013-05-21T18:53:04-04:00

Tom Vander Ark http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-ark/
The new Common Core State Standards give all students a shot at college and family wage jobs. They are a big improvement over the hodgepodge of expectations developed state by state.
Unlike other efforts, the Common Core goes to the heart of what educators do every day, and the theme of "fewer, deeper, clearer" expectations really strikes a chord with master teachers. This is why they got into the profession.

We are facing a real challenge, however. For a number of reasons, the profession of teaching isn't a very exciting one to enter into right now. The pay isn't great, there's a variety of new and unfamiliar accountability and evaluation policies coming on line, and with state budgets still wobbling, job security (for new teachers into particular) is no longer a guarantee. We want to raise the bar to entering teaching, but why would anyone talented go into the field?

Answer: impact, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Imagine if we empower teachers to truly be "design thinkers" who continually innovate in their instructional practice. We trust them with the freedom they crave to experiment and ideate around the best way to impart learning to the children in their care. And we offer the potential for translating success at scale.

The Common Core, in conjunction with digital resources, is the key to all of this. By creating clear expectations of what students should know, teachers know what they are aiming for -- and can design accordingly. The lessons, tools, resources they develop can -- for the first time -- be shared with other educators across 45 states. It is a satisfying experience to impart knowledge to 30 children in your direct care. Imagine the satisfaction from helping 30 million.

Does this sound far fetched? Does this sound far fetched? Check out the nonprofit NewSchools Venture Fund portfolio. Educreations aims to maximize the reach and impact of great teachers by enabling them to create online video lessons that students can access anytime, anywhere. Engrade is a free set of web-based tools for educators allowing them to manage their classes online while providing parents and students with 24/7 real-time online access. Schoolzilla is a cloud-based data management platform for education practitioners built by the Aspire school network.

Foundations, nonprofits, and companies big and small are investing billions in new digital learning materials and tools that -- for the first time -- can be easily shared across state lines. Many of the smart young people graduating from the nation's best universities want to work in education. Some join Teach for America, some start education technology companies, some get training from Education Pioneers and go to work in urban districts.

As a new paper illustrates, the new tools create the potential for schools that work better for teachers as well as students. Teachers are working in teams, personalizing student learning using data, and sharing resources and strategies with other teachers -- in their school and around the country.

This is what entrepreneurship in education looks like. Do conservatives really want to be the party that stifles improvement and innovation? Does the labor left really want to undermine confidence that Common Core State Standards are here to stay by calling for moratoriums already?

Five years after release there are 775,000 apps for the iPhone. Similarly, the Common Core is giant platform for innovation for American education. The Common Core and the digital learning revolution are breaking down boundaries and improving the teaching profession. Most importantly, the Common Core is the promise of better education to the children of this country.

Parents, teachers, and particularly the education innovation community needs to speak up against the extreme right and left that would happily kill what is the most transformative education policy we've undertaken in past 30 years.

The rest of the high performing nations in the world have raised their standards, but -- at least for now -- the U.S. still remains the most innovative country in the world. The Common Core connects innovation to the classroom, to educators, to students and parents.

Disclosure: Tom Vander Ark is CEO of Getting Smart and a partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in educational technology.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3279704 2013-05-15T18:16:48-04:00 2013-05-16T13:37:35-04:00

Tom Vander Ark http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-ark/
However, those tests represent an important commitment to equity -- and that starts with measurement and transparency. New shared learning expectations call the Common Core State Standards have been voluntarily adopted by 45 states. New tests are being developed that these college- and career-ready expectations. Both are a big step forward.

But let's back up and recall why we do all this testing.

How we got here. Thirty years ago, a report called "A Nation At Risk" rang an achievement alarm bell. Its recommendations, coming out of the Reagan Administration, included, "Standardized tests of achievement should be administered at major transition points from one level of schooling to another and particularly from high school to college or work," the report stated, adding that they should be "part of a nationwide (but not Federal) system."

Under President Clinton, federal policy required states to set standards and conduct assessments, but states were granted waivers to allow time to for thoughtful implementation. By 2000, only 11 states had fully approved standards and assessment plans in place. Only 18 states required students to take a basic competency or skills test or exit exam -- just seven more than in 1983. Some states took steps to improve teaching by raising preparation requirements. A few states had strong accountability systems that identified failing schools and supported their improvement -- most did not.

The bottom line is that it was clear at the turn of the century that two-thirds of American kids were not getting what they deserved from our schools -- and that had to change.

Good school promise. In 2001, President Bush proposed a reauthorization of federal education policy called No Child Left Behind (NCLB). It was coauthored by Representatives John Boehner (R-Ohio), George Miller (D-Calif.), and Senators Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.). NCLB required every state to adopt college-ready expectations. It also included a framework for school accountability -- an effort to enact a 'good school promise.' The progressive framework took steps to improve schools, tutor students needing assistance, and facilitate other options.

I supported NCLB's bipartisan high expectations and efforts to address chronic failure -- a major victory for equitable education in the U.S. A decision was made to focus on grade level (criterion-referenced) tests rather than measures of growth. In retrospect that was a mistake -- it's now important that we quickly improve the ability to measure academic growth of individual students.

It turns out there were other problems with the NCLB framework and if adjustments had been made every two years, we'd be in pretty good shape now. Instead congress has kicked the can down the road for a decade and the law is badly in need of repair and is out of favor with both sides of the aisle.

Common Core. For more than 20 years, state leaders like Governor Jim Hunt have advocated for common college and career ready standards. One reason was an unintended incentives in NCLB to lower expectations -- states made tests easier so more kids would pass. (A 2009 study showed that two thirds of states had lower standards). There was also an opportunity to improve standards by making them better -- fewer, clearer learning targets that better reflected expectations of colleges and employers. Hunt and the state education chiefs commissioned an effort to write new expectations in reading, writing, and mathematics. By 2012, 46 states had adopted the Common Core State Standards.

Another important benefit for states holding common learning expectations is the ability to create and share learning materials, tools and tests (more on that tomorrow).

Better tests. Without much else to go on, we spent the last 15 years using old fashion end-of-year multiple choice tests (called summative assessment) to do many jobs -- improve learning, teacher evaluation, student matriculation, and school accountability.

These end of year state assessments identified some schools, for federal purposes, as 'needing improvement.' They are often referred to as "high stakes tests" by critics but how states use their tests is up to them -- they are important but seldom "high stakes" for students.

As part of the stimulus plan of 2009, the federal government invested $360 million in four consortia that proposed to build a new generation of tests. The two main groups -- Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). Forty-six states have joined these consortia and plan to implement their online tests at the end of the 2014-15 school year.

These tests, being piloted now in thousands of schools, mark a step function improvement. They include more writing, are better measures of critical thinking, will provide rapid results, and (for most states) will be cheaper. Large scale testing always lags the most innovative assessment practices, but we know these tests will be better than the ones we have and it's likely that they'll improve substantially in future iterations.

In the near future. We're in the early stages of the historic shift from a time- and print-based system to student-centered digital-learning. Powerful adaptive learning systems have been developed that quickly diagnose learning levels and target instruction. Learning games, simulations, and most digital curriculum includes embedded assessments. Schools are beginning to ask students to demonstrate their learning before moving to the next level rather than shuffling along without meeting expectation. Millions of students already benefit from smart schools with lots of data to guide improvements in teaching and learning and to mark their progress from level to level.

In the mean time. A couple states have left the testing consortia over a variety of concerns about the new tests but that's not a bad thing. If a handful of states work directly with vendors on new tests, it will only improve the assessment marketplace. It could result in more innovative policies and tests.

In some states there is talk about leaving Common Core. States already have some opportunity to tailor and add to the Core. By leaving the Core, they will lose comparability with other states and they'll go back to requiring customized curriculum, tests and tools. They will lose the ability to share information and resources with other states--in other words, they will be making a big mistake.

Last week there was a call for a moratorium on consequences. The experience of the 1990s suggests this isn't a good plan. Rather than this blanket delay, states should build a thoughtful plan to 1) phasing in Common Core expectations, 2) supporting teacher professional development, 3) improve access to digital learning and consider, and 4) using current and future test information.

Common Core -- now more than ever. The Common Core is a state-based initiative that has produced better, higher, and clearer expectations for students. The new standards have unleashed new investment and innovation. The first round new tests associated with these standards--starting in 2015--are better and cheaper and produce rapid feedback. A couple years after that, the whole system will be better informed by data that is built right into student learning experiences.

It's easy to criticize tests but they represent this country's commitment to improving education for all students -- particularly the least well served. The Common Core is a big step forward and so are the tests that come with it.

Disclosure: Tom Vander Ark is CEO of Getting Smart and a partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in educational technology.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3074089 2013-04-17T16:05:29-04:00 2013-06-17T05:12:01-04:00

Tom Vander Ark http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-ark/ Lawrence Technological University provost Maria Vaz. Six years ago, when Dr. Vaz took over as provost of the Detroit engineering school, she observed the need to infuse leadership and an entrepreneurial mindset across the curriculum.

Vaz launched an effort that "changed 75 percent of our courses" and was supported with workshops for faculty that helped them to "start thinking differently." Vaz also held workshops for the senior leaders and the board to ensure they understood the change process.

The infusion of entrepreneurship was supported by a grant from the Kern Family Foundation. According to Jim Rahn, president of the foundation, said Lawrence Tech "really embraced the program making it mission central." Their goal is to prepare students "not only to compete within an industry but to lead it."

Helping engineering students learn how they can make a difference is a big idea. Historically there has been little about the plug and crank of engineering programs that fostered an entrepreneurial mindset. That's changing at 19 universities as a result of an initiative of the Kern Family Foundation.

The Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN) a network of U.S. universities that "strive to instill an entrepreneurial mindset in undergraduate engineering and technology students." KEEN aims to graduate engineers who will contribute to business success.

A new study from Deloitte Growth Enterprise Services supports the idea that entrepreneurially minded individuals and companies are essential to economic growth. A Deloitte exec observed, "entrepreneurial behavior matters to performance, and any company, regardless of its size, can adopt the kind of entrepreneurial approaches that can help them outperform across a variety of metrics."

Rahn said there were two keys to success, "You need campus leadership to make important and you need faculty to make it happen." The best performing of the 19 sites seem to have entrepreneurial mindset baked into their DNA--KEEN just grants permission, creates access, or reinforces best practices.

In addition to Lawrence Tech, University of Dayton, Gonzaga, and St Louis University take entrepreneurship seriously include Progress can be difficult at bigger schools.

Kern takes a hands on approach to grantmaking. When I was at the foundation last month, a team from Bucknell University was on site for a two day planning retreat.

Rahn looks for several forms of evidence of programmatic success. First, on a campus visit, Jim hopes to see visual cues and hear examples of entrepreneurial mindset in student conversations. Next, he looks for programmatic changes:

• Curriculum: entrepreneurship integrated into all programs and perhaps a major and minor in entrepreneurship;


• Co-curricular: internships and work experiences; and


• Extra-curricular: clubs and activities.

The foundation has also been pleased with the level of sharing across network. When I talked to Dr. Vaz last week, she was hosting a curriculum innovation workshop for nine KEEN schools focused on fluid mechanics and thermodynamics.

KEEN is high on the list of philanthropic programs quietly making a big difference on college campuses. Dr. Vaz said KEEN has "completely changed the way we educate our students."


Kern Family Foundation is a former client of Getting Smart.

Tom Vander Ark is CEO of Open Education Solutions and a partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in educational technology.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2885848 2013-03-18T15:22:14-04:00 2013-05-18T05:12:01-04:00

Tom Vander Ark http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-ark/
1. Leverage informal (organic, interest-based) learning and find grantees that use it -- we're in the early innings of anywhere-anytime learning (and most institutions of formal education haven't figured that out).

2. Leadership matters. What you do and say matters. Find grantees willing to lead. Make grants that give people the excuse they need to lead.

3. Have a theory, update it often. You need a robust theory of change -- a cause-effect model of your sector and a sense of how your grants will contribute to a positive chain of events that will yield better outcomes. You should pressure-test and improve this model every week in serious dialog with smart people.

4. Be strategic but leave room for responsiveness. You're not the only smart person in the sector. Someone will have a better idea that you -- leave room in your budget for the good ideas that come over the transom.

5. Be entrepreneurial -- if you aren't who will be? Take some risk. Observe/measure everything you can. Listen hard. Cut your loses. Double down where it seems to be working -- you'll know five years before your program evaluation tell you.

6. Advocacy offers the most leverage (and the most risk). In addition to funding advocacy efforts directly, use expanded communication efforts around your grantmaking as advocacy (i.e., the 10,000 people that read your RPF will have a bigger impact than the 100 that win grants).

7. Consider unintended consequences -- there will be some. Ask for a succession plan from grantees (and put in place a pause in in funding contingency in your agreements). Build in sustainability in the way you structure grants.

8. Lean forward. New technology often reframes old problems.

9. Saying no is your job, do it well. You'll do it 100 times more often than saying yes -- you may as well be good at it and learn what you can from it.

10. Don't be an ass, arrogance is an occupational hazard.

The foundation head I was visiting added an important number 11, one that really summarizes all 10 -- stewardship. Remember, it's not your money. Donor intent is paramount. And behind each donor are thousands of lives that contributed to the endowment. Do your work in a way that honors their contributions.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2260992 2012-12-07T23:27:34-05:00 2013-02-06T05:12:01-05:00

Tom Vander Ark http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-ark/
"One day my parents bought my two sisters and me a computer and Internet access for a few months." He didn't know then that it would change his life, "But once I started using the Internet, I knew I had found a new way to learn."

Bali found math forums that prepared him for the Math Olympiads. "Even though these forums were clunky and disorganized, they had a huge impact on my life." Bali won a gold medal in the National Math Olympiads in Turkey and a silver medal in the International Math Olympiads.

Yesterday Eren Bali announced that his company, Udemy, had raised another $12 million from Insight Venture Partners, with additional support from existing investors Lightbank, MHS Capital and Learn Capital (where I'm a partner).

The path from the village in Turkey to running the leading online education marketplace was not a straight line. In college Bali said he could imagine "a world where anyone could learn anything -- from any expert in the world." Bali and a co-founder created a product with Udemy's vision six years ago in Turkey. They failed.

Bali packed up and moved to San Francisco to give it another shot. It took him a while to raise money. "We learned from the challenges we faced and eventually our hard work paid off."

Udemy has compiled over 5,000 courses and has attracted about 400,000 learners. As TechCrunch noted, a quarter of its approved instructors have made at least $10,000 from selling their courses on the site -- with some even seeing six-figure earnings.

Most courses on Udemy are free; about 30 percent charge a fee with prices ranging from $20 and $200. Popular courses routinely see 500 students, a handful have more than 5,000.

With free content abounding, Udemy is thriving because learners can take the high quality courses on demand from effective instructors. Bali learned the hard way; he's making it easy for the rest of us.

Disclosure: Tom Vander Ark is CEO of Open Education Solutions and a partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in educational technology.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2211926 2012-11-29T17:42:28-05:00 2013-01-29T05:12:02-05:00

Tom Vander Ark http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-ark/
Learning should be anti-lame but all too often we've succeeded in making it boring. Like U.S. schools, learning businesses like Sylvan are making the transition to digital to improve their ability to personalize learning.

At a recent Baltimore convening, Sylvan Learning CEO Jeff Cohen said, "Learning should be personal." Cohen noted two drivers of personalized learning: consumer technology and open resources. People accessing Massively Open Online Courses (MOOC) on mobile devices is an example of both. Cheap devices and powerful app development platforms are attracting entrepreneurs and capital to the learning sector at an unprecedented rate.

At the same gathering, I told the learning professionals about six important advances underway:

1.Personalization: adaptive tools that quickly diagnose needs and online systems that power anywhere anytime learning.

2.Profiles: comprehensive records of learner progress that help teachers and algorithms better meet student needs.

3.Playlists: a sequence of tailored learning experiences that customizes learning for every student (like iTunes Genius does for music).

4.iPad: cheap mobile devices are powering an explosion of learning apps

5.Progress: it's becoming more common for students to progress to the next unit or grade after they show what they know (see CompetencyWorks.org for more)

6.Platforms: there are lots of efforts to build powerful next generation platforms that combine content, social learning, profiles, assessments, and services.

Together, these six trends are making it easier for individuals to learn and easier for teachers to create great schools.

"There is an art to teaching that can never be replaced, said Cohen. He continued, "The best learning programs blend the two allowing teacher to do more engaging, teaching, and motivating and less time planning, grading, and reporting.

Like many schools, Sylvan is rolling out new technology that integrates computer adaptive assessment with face to face instruction, maximizes time on task, extends the learning day.

Like Jeff, "I can't imagine a more exciting or more opportune time to be living."

Tom Vander Ark is CEO of Open Education Solutions and a partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in educational technology.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2035880 2012-10-28T18:50:35-04:00 2012-12-28T05:12:01-05:00

Tom Vander Ark http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-ark/
Take Doug Levin of the State Education Technology Directors Association (SETDA) for example, he has been the leading champion for broadband access (it's becoming a big edequality issue), is an advocate for open education resources, and just launched a State Education Policy Center -- a great resource for his members. Doug is advancing the sector while serving his members. He anticipates issues and opportunities and calls them to our attention. He is humble, thoughtful, and all about impact.

Susan Patrick, International Association for K-12 Online Learning is another great example. Patrick anticipated the rise of blended learning and is the leading advocate for competency-based learning.

Gene Wilhoit, Council of Chief State School Officers, played a pivotal role in the development and adoption of Common Core State Standards. "Gene Wilhoit is an educational hero," said David Coleman.

Sector leadership is a big complicated job. It requires understanding and corralling lots of different views, building and maintaining a Rolodex of connections, and developing and executing multi-faceted change strategy. These folks travel constantly and don't make as much as they could in the private sector. Their commitment to advancing the field and improving outcomes for kids is inspiring.

Good association leaders recruit great board members -- people equally committed to long term impact. The folks I serve with on the iNACOL board are a joy to be around, they are bright, committed, knowledgeable, and all about impact.

I appreciate chamber of commerce executives that are champions for their community. I appreciate the state school administrator execs that push for equity and excellence.

Thank your favorite association exec this week.

Disclosure: Tom Vander Ark is CEO of Open Education Solutions and a partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in educational technology.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1938862 2012-10-09T18:04:07-04:00 2012-12-09T05:12:02-05:00

Tom Vander Ark http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-ark/
The first phase of the Automated Student Assessment Prize addressed essay scoring. The second phase of ASAP, awarded today, took on the more difficult challenge of scoring short answers.

Hundreds of data scientists from around the world took on the challenge. The first place winner, Luis Tandalla is from Ecuador and is a student at the University of New Orleans. Other winners are from Singapore and Solvenia -- you couldn't make this stuff up.

The Hewlett Foundation sponsored the first two phases of ASAP in an effort to improve the quality of state tests. "Giving school systems the tools to challenge students to develop critical reasoning skills is crucial to making those students competitive in the new century," said Barbara Chow, Education Program Director at the Hewlett Foundation. "And critical reasoning is one of the capabilities, along with communicating clearly, working cooperatively, and learning independently, that we call Deeper Learning would like to see broadly embraced throughout the country."

Jaison Mogan and I direct ASAP. Lynn Van Deventer managed the competition. ASAP was hosted on Kaggle (www.kaggle.com), the leading platform for predictive modeling competitions. Dr. Mark Shermis is the academic advisor.

Highlights from the release follow:

Participants in the competition had access to more than 27,000 hand-scored short-answer responses that varied in length, type and grading protocols. They were challenged to develop software designed to faithfully replicate the assessments of trained expert educators using multiple rubrics. The systems do not independently assess the merits of a response; instead, they predict how a person would have scored the response under optimal conditions.

187 participants across 150 teams tackled the incredibly difficult challenge of developing new software that can score short-answer responses to questions on state standardized tests. Competing teams developed their systems over three months and shared their technical approaches through an active discussion board. Documentation of the winning submissions will be released, under an open license, to enable others to build on this competition's success and advance the field of automated assessment.

The competition drew more than 1,800 entries, including those from two commercial vendors. Since the advent of ASAP nearly a year ago, it has inspired participants to develop innovative and accurate ways to improve on currently available scoring technologies. For this competition, Measurement, Inc., a company that provides achievement tests and scoring services, partnered with the third place team from the first competition, allowing them to outperform all other teams.

CONTEST WINNERS

The 187 participants in the competition reside in countries from around the world and work in diverse occupations. Competitors scored more than 22,000 responses to ten prompts from three different states. On average, each answer was approximately 50 words in length. Some responses were more dependent upon source materials than others, and the answers cover a broad range of disciplines (from English Language Arts to Science). The range of answer types was provided to develop a better understand of the strengths of specific solutions. Technical methods papers, outlining the winners' specific approach along with any known limitations were created and will be released to the public.

• Luis Tandalla, 1st place - Originally, from Quito, Ecuador, Luis is currently a college student at the University of New Orleans, Louisiana, majoring in mechanical engineering. A newcomer to data science, Luis's first experience was one year ago when he took a Machine Learning Course from Dr. Andrew Ng. Luis also participated as part of a team in phase 1 of ASAP, placing 13th.

•Jure Zbontar, 2nd place - Jure lives and works in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where he is a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Computer and Information Science. He's pursuing a PhD in computer science in the field of machine learning. Besides spending time behind his computer, he also enjoys rock climbing and curling.

•Xavier Conort, 3rd place - A French-born actuary, Xavier runs a consultancy in Singapore. Before becoming a data scientist enthusiast, Xavier held different roles (actuary, CFO, risk manager) in the life and non-life insurance industry in France, Brazil and China. Xavier holds two masters' degrees and is a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst.

•James Jesensky, 4th place - With more than 20 years' experience as a software developer, James current works in the field of financial services near Pittsburgh, PA. He enjoys these competitions because they allow him to combine his computer science expertise with his life-long love of recreational mathematics.

The 5th place team is an international duo of data experts. Members include:

•Jonathan Peters, 5th place - Based in the United Kingdom, Jonathan works for the National Health Service as a public health analyst. He spends most of his time modeling death and disease; Kaggle competitions offer some light relief.
•Paweł Jankiewicz, 5th place - Paweł lives in Poland and works as a banking reporting specialist. His machine learning experience began when he attended Dr. Andrew Ng's online Machine Learning class in 2011. Apart from Kaggle, he enjoys English audiobooks, especially the "Wheel of Time" series.

Disclosure: Tom Vander Ark is CEO of Open Education Solutions and a partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in educational technology.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1912059 2012-09-25T07:46:54-04:00 2012-11-25T05:12:01-05:00

Tom Vander Ark http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-ark/
Because MOOCs primarily serve non-consumption (in the parlance of Innovator's Dilemma) at this point -- they will complementary not competitive to traditional higher for the next few years.

Companies are joining the MOOC party, especially those that promote open resources. In June, Google ran a power search MOOC. Today the developer of MongoDB, the leading open source database company, announced today that they will offer two courses on the edX platform.

MongoDB is a leading unstructured database with more than 150,000 downloads per month. Mongo is a hot skill set, usually #2 after generic HTML 5 jobs on recruiting boards.

The free open source database was launched in 2007 by former DoubleClick Founder and CTO Dwight Merriman. Under the new 10gen education program founder Merriman will be teaching a MongoDB DBA course. The MOOC will allow thousands of interested coders to learn directly from the guy who wrote the code.

The two classes, MongoDB for Developers and Mongo DB for Administrators, will begin in Octorber and will hosted on edX, the Harvard and MIT online content partnership. The courses will last about six weeks and will include interactive projects and frequent assessments.

This is the first EdX partnership with a non-university. Anant Agarwal, president and first professor at edX, said, "We are pleased to team with MongoDB on its new 10gen Education program worldwide. EdX utilizes MongoDB and our new collaboration is the natural evolution of our relationship with 10gen."

Andrew Erlichson, VP Education at 10gen, anticipated building the courses on the EdX stack and "contributing code improvements to the university partnership." Erlichson wasn't sure massive open online courses (MOOC) would change the higher ed landscape, but he was certain that they would reshape professional development. He noted that a soft launch of the courses quickly resulted in 5000 sign ups, about three times the normal annual training quotient for 10gen.

Another reason to pay attention to this deal -- 10gen has raised more than $75 million and is backed by leading venture funds including Sequoia, NEA, Flybridge, Union Square, and In-Q-Tel.

MOOCs won't have much impact on first tier higher education, but as Andrew pointed out, they are expanding professional learning opportunities. As certification and market signaling options expand (as noted here), MOOCs and other anywhere, anytime learning options will devastate expensive weak-brand third tier colleges and put tremendous cost pressure on state universities.

MOOCs and other learning resources are reshaping how people prepare for employment. With clarity around job requirements, lots of learning options, assessments that let learners show what they know, and portfolio and recommendation systems we will see less consumption of traditional higher ed and more consumption of free or cheap just-in-time, highly relevant skills training.

Tom Vander Ark is CEO of Open Education Solutions and a partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in educational technology.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1868571 2012-09-10T17:53:52-04:00 2012-11-10T05:12:01-05:00

Tom Vander Ark http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-ark/ Dave Matthews was on NPR last night pitching his new album. He's played with the same guys for more than 20 years. "It's interesting that our love for each other really revolves around the music we make together," Matthews said. "We're not in the same age group, we didn't come up in the same places, but we really do have a unique sort of love affair when we're playing music together."

"There's something about those moments of bliss," he explained to Guy Raz. "My dad always said to find your bliss ... and then pursue it." Matthews never thought he'd still be touring at 45, "but the moments of bliss sort of make it hard to walk away ... it's akin to an addiction ... when the joy is so big its like being a kid, that laughter, that spontaneity is hunger-inducing."

I love watching musicians, whether Dave Matthews or a street musician -- it's clear they can do no other. But the bliss or the choice may not be that clear for you.

There may be a few minutes of bliss in a teacher's day, but I think most educators respond to a sense of calling -- the pull of interests combined with work that can be deeply rewarding.

In "The Summer Day" Mary Oliver asked, "What is it you plan to do/with your one wild and precious life?" As outlined last year, the people that seem to find clarity on this big question seem to fall into three prototypes:

• Inhabited by a gift: The pull of an art or an idea that simply must be expressed. In The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell said, "My general formula for my students is 'Follow your bliss.' Find where it is, and don't be afraid to follow it."



• Captured by a calling: A broader cross-section of the population finds, at some point in their life, the pull of a profession when interests, aptitudes, and a reward profile line up with a job cluster. This category includes a religious response and/or social justice response to inequity and is most common in education and health professions. If you interviewed your favorite teacher, you would inevitably uncover a predilection to serve and an attraction early in life to the rewards and challenges of teaching.



• Inspired by a vision: There are a few that have become clear about their gifts, feel compelled by a calling, and become inspired by a vision of things could work better at scale. Three examples come to mind: Geoff Canada, Harlem Children's Zone; John Danner, Rocketship Education; and Jay Kimmelman, Bridge International Academies.

It may be hard to find that one thing that brings flow, experience, deep satisfaction, and the stuff you'd want to do if you didn't need to work. You won't find your bliss if you're not looking for it. You won't find your calling if you're not calling the question on a regular basis. Reflecting on a few basic questions can help:

• What are you particularly good at?


• What do you like to do? How do you most like to spend your time?


• What do you find most rewarding?


• What cause are you passionate about?

What may be worse than not knowing what to do is having a sense of how you are supposed to be spending your "wild and precious life" but feeling trapped by current obligations. What if bliss doesn't pay the bills?

"If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you," Joseph Campbell says. "You begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be."

As we get older we often accumulate responsibilities that put bliss and the budget at odds. It's important to balance obligations and aspirations. After gaining some clarity and a calling to work in education, it took a few years to find the right entry point -- 700 days of looking and listening to be precise.

While you're trying to figure out financially how to follow your calling, keep your passion fresh by volunteering or serving on a board in your area of interest. Keep pressing, keep listening and, as Campbell suggests, try to meet people who are in your field of interest.

I've been fortunate to combine the things I enjoy doing to advance a cause I care about. It took about 30 years to get that right. Be patient. Pay the bills. But tend your "wild and precious life."

Tom Vander Ark is CEO of Open Education Solutions and a partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in educational technology.

For more by Tom Vander Ark, click here.

For more on emotional wellness, click here. ]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1867305 2012-09-10T14:56:17-04:00 2012-11-10T05:12:01-05:00

Tom Vander Ark http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-ark/ second hit piece in a week attempts to "expose the flow of money and influence" in Maine education.

Over the last 36 months, the editorial voice of The Portland Press Herald has careened from one political extreme to the other--from left to far right and back again. It is obvious that this was an attention grab for writer Colin Woodward and a politically motivated hit piece for his paper.

His first hit piece protected parochial interests and trashed learning online based on the results of a union-backed "study." The rest of the world -- companies, families, and the military -- have shifted to learning online while education lags behind. In a recent blog I noted a dozen examples of How Digital Learning is Boosting Achievement.

Maine has been a leader in access to technology, but most Maine students have only had access to the courses offered by their local school. Why, when every student should be able to access every Advanced Placement course and any foreign language, would it make sense to limit learning opportunities to the school down the street?

In Better Learning Online, I acknowledged that some full time virtual schools have done no better than state academic averages because of some of the unique challenges they face:

• Most students enroll late -- 65 percent says one national provider -- and late enrollers perform significantly worse and withdraw at much higher rates than students that enroll on time.

• Providers receive little or no information about a student, particularly trend data (i.e., a learning trajectory).

• Online schools are often much larger and very diverse (i.e., it can be harder to make Adequate Yearly Progress with 5,000 students than 500).

• Students not successful in a traditional setting enroll in online schools seeking an alternative. Districts complain about students returning from charters, but the same happens to online charters-11th graders with two credits show up and leave the enrollment records of the local school district.

• New online students often perform very poorly (which may reflect prior achievement as well as new modality) and, as a result, the percentage of new students predicts performance.

Full time online learning is a great education solution for thousands of families but it isn't for everyone. Most students will benefit from a structured environment, integrated supports, and a blend of online and onsite learning.

Back to Colin's crazy attack. Maine has a great education chief, Stephen Bowen. He's a frequent speaker at national events. Colin criticizes Bowen for an expense paid trip to a conference where he was a presenter. It is customary for a conference to cover travel expenses for speakers.

Colin criticizes Bowen for seeking policy advice from The Foundation for Excellence in Education, a group I've worked with for two years. In a process chaired by two governors -- one Democrat, one Republican -- about 100 bipartisan experts drafted a ten-point policy framework for the future. Digital Learning Now! provides thoughtful guidance for what I believe is the most important transition in the history of education -- the shift to personal digital learning.

Colin criticizes the Foundation sponsored Digital Learning Now! report card, "that had given online schools the widest leeway." The policy platform does advocate for more full and part time options for students and families, but demands rigorous authorization and strong accountability. Again, when it's possible to give every Maine student access to interesting courses and great teachers, why would anyone want to limit options?

Colin criticizes the recommendation that high school students take at least one online course -- a guideline based on the fact that nearly every student will be learning online after high school whether they are in the military, on the job, or in college.

The hit piece is complete with a distorted infographic that attempts to indict the governor and chief. The Foundation for Excellence in Education holds an annual conference that, like most, is supported by a combination of registration fees, sponsors and donations. The infographic conflates conference sponsorship with the foundation's policy and advocacy work that is primarily supported by national foundations.

State education agencies decimated by budget cuts are expected to lead the shift to digital learning with little policy support and limited program management capacity. Third sector support is critical in, what I believe is, the most important transition in history.

Let me back up and paint the picture that Portland paper missed:

• We need to dramatically and quickly increase the percentage of America young people prepared for college and careers.

• We are in the midst of inventing much more productive learning sequences for students and far better workplaces for teachers with better support and more attractive career options.

• Most schools will blend online and onsite learning well before the end of the decade. Productive uses of technology will leverage teacher talent-this is about better teaching not less teaching-and improve working conditions and earning potential for teachers.

• There is a role in education for private enterprise in producing and scaling innovation. Most big advances in education will result from public private partnerships-the right capital doing the right job.

• Most relationships are local, most learning opportunities are global. We need new governance models that build communities but don't limit learning.

• Performance matters. Public delivery systems should create incentives for participants and providers aligned with desired outcomes. Academic growth trajectories should be measured for every student. Schools and providers should perform at high levels or lose the right to public support.

The story we should be talking about is creating quality learning options at scale. Investigative journalism is important to our democracy but this was an example of something different and dangerous -- a slanted political and personal agenda.

Disclosure: Tom Vander Ark is CEO of Open Education Solutions and a partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in educational technology.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1704441 2012-07-26T00:57:31-04:00 2012-09-24T05:12:25-04:00

Tom Vander Ark http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-ark/
When I visited the massive slums surrounding Nairobi Kenya a few years ago, I was surprised to learn that most of the children attended private schools. As professor James Tooley shared in his book The Beautiful Tree, edupreneurs in the slums of Africa and Asia are addressing the problem of access to educational quality by developing low cost private schools. In Hyderabad India, the majority of students attend private schools that cost the equivalent of a few dollars a month in tuition.

In a new volume (in which I also contributed a chapter), editor James Stanfield explores the solution of affordable private schools where fees are often less expensive than "free" government schools and that allow poor families in urban and rural communities to provide their children with a high-quality education.

Stanfield points to Bridge International Academies as the best example of a high quality
affordable school network. Opening in Kenya in 2009 with a vision to revolutionize accessibility to primary education for poor families, Bridge operates more than 22 low-cost private schools in Kenya. By 2015, they plan to open 1,800 schools, serving over one million families.

After Jay Kimmelman sold the EduSoft assessment system to HMH in 2003 he began investigating developing world education. In 2007 he launched Bridge and began to engineer out cost and design in quality. The Bridge "School in a Box" model includes step-by-step instructions for local school managers to set up their school in as little as five months and manage their school to ensure success. Bridge schools are built for less than $2,000 per classroom. Tuition is about $4 per month. With planned enrollment of 1,000 students, the schools break even within one year of opening. Bridge utilizes an automated, cell phone based payment system which is used for almost all student payments and school financial transactions.

In Johannesburg, South Africa, the EAdvance is extending access to quality education by importing the Rocketship Education blended learning model from San Jose. A recent MBA graduate, Stacey Brewer plans to open their first school in January 2013, and another 64 schools in the next ten years. She hopes to implement Rocketship learning lab components including Dreambox and ST Math, positioning EAdvance as the thought leaders in blended learning in South Africa.

India has the largest and longest standing involvement with low-income private schools. Low cost private school expert Molly McMahon of the IQ Collective says India currently has more than 200,000 low cost schools, educating 95 million students. These schools serve families living on five dollars a day and who choose to pay $2 to $15 a month for high-quality education.

In addition to individual edupreneurs, corporations are bridging the quality education gap. SKS Microfinance runs 60 SKS Bodhi Academies in Andhra Pradesh, offering quality schooling for 160-220 rupees a month. With more than 60 million microfinance clients around the world, SKS reveal the great potential for an approach that encourages parents to invest in their children's schooling. Based on the success of Bridge International, Pearson recently announced intentions to invest in the expansion of low cost private schools in Africa and Asia.

Bridge has demonstrated the potential for low cost private schools to deliver quality academic results at scale. EAdvance will push the model further by adding personalized digital learning. Just around the corner is the potential for edupreneurs to put a quality high school experience within reach of every young person on earth.

Jaclyn Norton co-authored this post.

Disclosure: Tom Vander Ark is CEO of Open Education Solutions and a partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in educational technology. Bridge International is a portfolio company of Learn Capital. Pearson is also a limited partner in Learn Capital.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1609266 2012-06-19T12:38:30-04:00 2012-08-19T05:12:08-04:00

Tom Vander Ark http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-ark/
As a reviewer for the NGLC, I had the opportunity to read about half of these applications and was pleased with the quality of the applications. We wondered if we'd be able to come up with 20 applications that would be good enough, said program director Andy Calkins but now he says, "We no longer have that doubt; the pioneers are out there."

It was evident that blended learning has arrived -- common concepts and language was used across most of the applications. (We like to think it has something to do with fact that we quote Innosight's blended learning reports weekly on GettingSmart.com.) There was more innovative thinking about teaching and learning than there was about scaling and that's at least partially a function of the lack of robust learning platforms -- applicants were still trying to figure out how to glue stuff together. Calkins plans to work with the winners to "Develop viral expansion models that can scale geometrically, not arithmetically."

High school grantees get a $150k planning grant and are eligible for up to $300k in one-to-one matching funds. They include:

• Academy 21 at Franklin Central Supervisory Union (VT). Academy 21, which will serve a high need, predominantly rural community with a large percentage of first generation college students, is an early college high school model, focusing on creating customized, flexible pathways that prepare all students for success in college and career.
• Cornerstone Charter Schools(MI). Cornerstone, a Detroit-based charter management organization, is opening Cornerstone Health High School in fall 2012 to prepare Detroit students for college and health-focused careers. The high school, which incorporates a complete redesign of teacher and student roles, will have strong community ties and a deeply embedded partnership with Detroit Medical Center.
• Da Vinci Schools (CA). For its new, next generation learning school, Los Angeles-based Da Vinci Schools is integrating blended learning, early college, and real world experiences with the project-based approach of its three existing charter schools.
• Education Achievement Authority (MI). EAA, Michigan's statewide turnaround school authority, will create a student-centered system of education where students are organized by instructional level rather than grade level and progress via mastery rather than seat time. EAA's approach, which will be supported by a custom-designed learning management system, will be introduced in a K-8 school in Detroit this fall and will be rapidly scaled up to other EAA-managed schools in subsequent years.
• Match Education (MA). Match Education operates charter schools for low-income students in Boston and trains teachers. Its schools are among the highest-performing in Massachusetts. Match Education will seek to open a new charter school in the fall of 2013. The school will be designed on Match's model of one-on-one tutoring and will use technology to customize teaching and learning.
• Schools for the Future (MI). Schools for the Future is a transformative recuperative college prep model for youth performing significantly below grade level in reading and math proficiency. SFF combines cutting-edge youth development practices in five domains: competency-based progression to graduation, a unique blended curriculum, a program to build cognitive confidence and self-efficacy, real-time student performance analytics, and online and community-based learning opportunities through mobile technology.
• Summit Public Schools (CA) Summit Public Schools, a California-based charter management organization, is designing a next generation competency-based school model for grades 6-12. Summit's new learning model will build on the successful practices of its current network of schools.
• Venture Academies (MN). Venture Academies, a new Minneapolis-based charter management organization, plans to open a school serving grades 6-12 in fall 2013 that focuses on personalized and mastery-based learning, accelerated college credit attainment, and cultivation of entrepreneurial leadership.

The college grantees represent efforts to "significantly improve student access, persistence, and completion, without compromising the quality of learning outcomes." Applicants were eligible for awards up to $1 million and include:

• New Charter University (300,000). New Charter University provides free access to online college courses, only charging students who want to apply those courses toward a degree. NGLC will fund research (conducted in conjunction with the Community College of the District of Columbia), rather than the development of New Charter's model, to assess its effectiveness in a comparative and mixed-method study of students enrolled entirely online versus others who additionally receive support on campus.
• Northern Arizona University (1,000,000). Northern Arizona University is developing a Personalized Learning Division, where students will pay tuition based on the length of time they take to complete courses and demonstrate competency, making it an incentive-driven, competency-based approach.
• Southern New Hampshire University (1,000,000). Southern New Hampshire University is pioneering the Pathways Project, which will offer an associate degree with content and assessment delivered online in a self-paced model. Learning will be organized by an individualized Knowledge Map that acknowledges what students already know, reflects what employers need, and aligns with student goals.
• Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (1,000,000). The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, South Texas College and Texas A&M University-Commerce, will offer a technology-enabled Bachelor of Applied Sciences with an emphasis on organizational leadership. Students will earn credits in a self-paced, year-round format that can reduce time-to-degree to 1.5-3 years, depending on prior education and work experience.

NGLC is hosted by EDUCAUSE, the IT in higher ed folks, and sponsored by Gates and Hewlett. The release notes that "NGLC has awarded nearly $23 million in grants to 65 organizations and institutions focused on piloting and scaling new school and degree models, compiling evidence of what works, and accelerating adoption by creating cohorts of change agents."

The grant winners are well deserving recipients that emerged from a well managed process. NGLC is a great program -- we need a similar innovative new school development effort in every urban area of the country.

Tom Vander Ark is CEO of Open Education Solutions and a partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in educational technology. ]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1607612 2012-06-18T22:42:00-04:00 2012-09-21T08:13:31-04:00

Tom Vander Ark http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-ark/
The Cisco Networking Academy is part social responsibility, part workforce development, and part demonstration product. With more than 1 million enrolled students and about 40,000 assessments weekly, it is also the biggest classroom in the world. Cisco partners with more than 11,000 high schools, technical schools, colleges, and training organizations worldwide to deliver advanced networking skills. Blending onsite and online learning, Cisco Academies model innovative simulation-based instruction and assessment.

In the last 15 years more than 4 million students have participated in a program that leverages public-private partnerships to help students from every socioeconomic background prepare for entry-level tech jobs, further education, and career development. That's a big impact, but what is less appreciated is that Cisco sponsored a picture of the future of education. There are at least 10 ways that U.S. K-12 education is moving toward the model represented by Cisco Networking Academy:

1. Learning in a high-access environment: Historically that was in a computer lab for most Cisco students, but it is increasingly mobile and anywhere. K-12 access will improve over the next two years in preparation for online assessments.



2. Blended learning: A mix of online and onsite groupings, hands-on learning activities, and network simulations develops practical skills.



3. Highly relevant curriculum back-mapped from key knowledge, skills, and abilities. The Common Core is helping to create a common backbone for college and career readiness in U.S. K-12.



4. Online assessments provide immediate, interactive, personal feedback to the learner. Most states will shift to online assessments in 2014-15.



5. Powerful visualization and simulation tools are used for teaching and testing. Adaptive assessment and instructional tools are now widely used in K-12.



6. Curriculum incorporating games and case studies and engaging virtual environments.



7. Competency-based learning: Students may participate in the classroom activities, but most have the opportunity to move at their own pace and to demonstrate mastery before moving to the next level of certification. Matriculation in K-12 is largely seat time, but the inevitable shift from chronology to competency is on.



8. Global classrooms connected through social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and proprietary sites that connect students and instructors around the world to one another so they can collaborate and continue learning outside the classroom.



9. Instructors stay abreast of curricula, education and technology news, and best practices through a comprehensive online professional development program.



10. Scalable network with delivery structured as public-private partnerships. Many K-12 school districts are partnering with regional and national online learning platforms and providers.

At the Cisco Networking Academy conference today I visited with 400 Cisco Networking Academy instructors in person and 1,300 attending virtually. I outlined five advances that will take place in the next five years (discussed here):

• Profiles based on keystroke data: The shift to digital will populate super-gradebooks of academic and motivational feedback.



• Playlists driven by comprehensive profiles and smart recommendation engines.



• Projects aligned with standards with products saved in portfolios of personal bests.



• Platforms with multi-modal content, social features, and learning apps, supported by aligned teachers, student, and school support services.



• Progress based on demonstrated mastery.

The last item, the shift from chronology to competency, is the most difficult because it affects everything from belief systems to information systems, policies, contracts, structures, schedules, and even architecture.

The demand for IT professionals continues to grow worldwide, and so will demand for
certification programs like Cisco Networking Academy. With the shift to digital learning, schools are also becoming bigger broadband consumers. The State Education Technology Directors Association (SETDA) recommends that schools have external Internet connections of 100 Mbps per 1,000 students and staff by 2014-­15, and of 1 Gbps per 1,000 students and staff by 2017.

Fifteen years of investment have produced a valuable talent-development network. The Cisco Networking Academy has improved 4 million lives, but it's also shown the rest of us what's possible. I encouraged the Cisco instructors to serve as ambassadors for the future by finding opportunities to tell colleagues about the engaging competency-based program and by encouraging folks to visit an Academy classroom to see how blended learning works for teachers and students.

Tom Vander Ark is CEO of Open Education Solutions and a partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in educational technology. ]]>