We ask teachers to do an impossible job: take 25 or 30 kids with learning levels that varies by five years or more, boost every student's learning by more than one year's worth in about 170 days, and make sure the lowest achieving kids pass an end of year test so that they can progress to the next grade.
Now, most states are raising standards by adopting Common Core Standards with the goal of preparing all students for college and careers. And we're asking teachers to personalize instruction' to meet the needs of every student. Impossible just got more difficult.
A few thousand district and charter schools serving low income students help most of them achieve state standards through a longer day and year and heroic effort by teachers. Regular testing and some basic reporting tools give teachers some periodic information to gauge progress and tailor efforts, but it's still a brute force effort.
We have to make it easier for teachers and schools to be successful.
Teachers are starting to get some help from a new generation of learning games with instant performance feedback and smart curriculum that customizes the experience for every learner.
Schools are expanding their offerings with online learning -- instruction and content delivered primarily over the Internet. Learning online is bigger than charter schools and growing by more than 30 percent annually. Kids learning online at traditional schools is the biggest category. Where state policy allows it, any student can gain access to any advanced course, any foreign language, or just a different way to learn algebra.
The International Association of K-12 Online Learning (I'm a director) held their annual conference this week and released an updated introduction to online learning this week. They also released a state-by-state update of progress.
Online learning is providing quality options for students and promoting the development of new tools for schools and teachers. Online learning platforms are making traditional schools better by making good teachers great teachers -- they identify and meet the needs of individual students allowing each to move at his/her own pace.
The Digital Learning Council, chaired by Governors Jeb Bush and Bob Wise, is a group of 80 education and policy leaders that met online for the last three months talking about the tools and schools that will make good teachers great teachers. The Digital Learning Now recommendations for state policy makers will be released December 1.
Digital learning will make it easier for teachers and schools to be successful.
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I think that reading with kids and reading to kids could have a greater beneficial effect. (Parents not excluded)
But that's just me.
Read Aloud Dad
www.ReadAloudDad.com
Nice. But as someone with a masters in educational technology I beg to differ with you. Yes, learning games are nice and they do give the appearance of technology being integrated into the curriculum, but in the long run it's like eating empty calories. After a while the students memorize the sequences, rules, etc... and there is no real effective learning.
However, I will love to have a debate with you on the subject. Please contact me. I would love to have you as a guest on my radio show.
People aren't perfect, and we don't have USB ports in our heads. Yet. But, the day will come when scientists figure out the 'baud rate' to talk directly to your nervous system. Of course, by the time they do that, it won't be called education anymore. It'll be called programming.