cyber learning

Amid the unveiled alongside the iPad Mini at an event on Tuesday, CEO Tim Cook also brought up Apple’s leading role in education, highlighting the fact that the older full-size iPad had already been adopted by 2,500 classrooms around the U.S. in the two and a half years since it was first introduced.

Recent estimates suggest that 1.5 million elementary and secondary students participated in some form of online learning in 2010 (Wicks 2010).

In spite of the fact that states and districts spend $5.5 billion a year in core instructional content, many students are still using textbooks made up of content that is 7 to 10 years old.

On Sept. 20, Jaime Casap, senior education evangelist at Google, Inc., gave the keynote presentation at the District Administration Leadership Institute Summit at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort in Phoenix, Ariz. Casap had the audience thinking about the meaning of true educational vision and where we need to be in the future with regard to creating a learning environment that brings out the best in every child. A summary of his keynote is below.

This is the third part of a four-part series about virtual schools and Open Education policy. The first post argued that if we are going to have virtual schools, states should give preference to virtual schools that make a commitment to Open Education policy and to sharing their curricula and other innovations with the world.

Fremont City Schools have been awarded an $850,000 21st Century grant for afterschool and summer educational activities, district superintendent Traci McCaudy said at Monday's school board meeting. The grant targets Fremont Middle School students and will focus on raising math and reading skills beginning this school year, McCaudy said.

Staying apace of rapidly evolving technologies and the innovative practices they enable remains a major challenge for school and district leaders concerned with keeping students on the upside of an expanding digital divide. As digital innovations emerge that require continuous upgrading of technological infrastructure, hardware and software, as well as training school personnel, district administrators are being called on to be more creative and strategic than ever.

The Huntsville City Schools board of education unanimously approved Superintendent Casey Wardynski's bold plan to move the entire school district to digital learning. The effort is set to launch for the 2012-2013 school year in partnership with Pearson and Edvation.