Several weeks ago I wrote a column about the change, specifically about the accelerating rate of change we are seeing in the world around us. It continues to both puzzle and bother me. What puzzles me is how so many people seem oblivious to it, and what bothers me is the insignificant role the education
Changing How We Talk About Change Read More »
Recently, five students along with three teachers filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Compton Unified School District (a district that serves the Los Angeles County neighborhoods of West and East Compton). The students, who have all experienced severe childhood trauma, allege that the district failed to help them with their issues, let alone
Trauma and Learning Read More »
Mary Meeker’s Internet Report. Each week, Educating Modern Learners picks one interesting current event – whether it’s news about education, technology, politics, business, science, or culture – and helps put it in context for school leaders, explaining why the news matters and how it might affect teaching and learning (in the short or in the
What Educators Need to Know About Today’s Internet Read More »
Of all of the changes that are taking place in the world right now, the one that I find most fascinating and daunting at the same time is the powerful shift that new technologies are bringing to the way we think about jobs and work, not just in the future but in the present as well. To
“The Rise of the Robots” Read More »
As the insignificance of much of the ‘21st Century-mania’ becomes more and more evident, many educational leaders are now looking beyond the superficial appeal of the cliché’s and asking what their real focus should be. While there has been obvious value in the broader conversations that have been generated around collaboration, critical thinking and however
Testing Assumptions About Self-Directedness Read More »
Testing in Texas. Each week, Educating Modern Learners picks one interesting current event – whether it’s news about education, technology, politics, business, science, or culture – and helps put it in context for school leaders, explaining why the news matters and how it might affect teaching and learning (in the short or in the long
What You Should Know This Week Read More »
Despite appearances to the contrary, technology and education have always gone hand-in-hand. After all, books, pencils, and paper are technological inventions. Before home computers were ubiquitous, schools housed rows of DOS computers that printed—quite loudly—to dot matrix printers. Before touch technology exploded in the consumer market with the smartphone, many schools were using interactive whiteboards.
What Qualifies as Transformative Technology in Education? Read More »
Ed-Tech and Accessibility. Each week, Educating Modern Learners picks one interesting current event – whether it’s news about education, technology, politics, business, science, or culture – and helps put it in context for school leaders, explaining why the news matters and how it might affect teaching and learning (in the short or in the long
What You Should Know This Week Read More »
Given all the rhetoric that has surrounded Finland’s education system in recent times, it comes as no wonder that many thousands of school leaders and educators have made the journey to the Nordics and observed their practices at close quarters. What is surprising however is how little seems to have been learnt from such excursions;
What Really Makes a Difference? Finland Knows Read More »
The debate about standardized testing has hit the mainstream. Or at least, it hit HBO last weekend, when John Oliver offered a segment on the topic on his comedy news show Last Week Tonight. Oliver talked about the policies that mandate increasingly pervasive standardized testing in the US, along with the companies that profit from
Testing: Moving Beyond the Public Relations Battle Read More »
Given the large sums of money being thrown at the latest iteration of “progressive education” mediated by technology, it’s as good a time as any to take a quick look at just what a “progressive education” really is. As Audrey wrote last year here in her first overview of AltSchool, Progressive education plus progressive technology
“Loving Learning” in Progressive Schools Read More »
AltSchool’s $100 million. Each week, Educating Modern Learners picks one interesting current event – whether it’s news about education, technology, politics, business, science, or culture – and helps put it in context for school leaders, explaining why the news matters and how it might affect teaching and learning (in the short or in the long
What You Should Know This Week Read More »
One of my favorite thinker-writer-authors observing and reporting on the larger shifts around learning in the world right now is John Seely Brown. Without question, A New Culture of Learning is a must read for anyone interested in building a modern context for thinking about and discussing change in schools at the systems level. Where
The Changing Nature of Knowledge Read More »
Corinthian Closure. Each week, Educating Modern Learners picks one interesting current event – whether it’s news about education, technology, politics, business, science, or culture – and helps put it in context for school leaders, explaining why the news matters and how it might affect teaching and learning (in the short or in the long run).
What You Should Know This Week Read More »
Some interesting news on the credentialing front of late. As more and more employers (and others) move beyond the traditional degree as the sole marker of expertise or ability, and as the potential for informal, self-organized, powerful learning continues to explode, the ways in which people are beginning to accrue and communicate various skills and
Four For the Future: Credentialing Read More »
