A lack of PD for teachers and principals hinders schools from achieving the full benefits of personalized learning, according to an analysis by MAPLE, the Massachusetts Personalized Learning Edtech Consortium. Tech industry leaders Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates have invested millions of dollars in personalized learning and the requisite technology. However, traditional classroom practices still […]
Until recently, the quality of classroom instruction relied almost entirely on a teacher's resourcefulness, motivation and intelligence. Soon, it will also depend on artificial intelligence—with lessons based more on what students need to learn than on traditional methods of instruction. "Even with PCs, projectors and the internet, the way students are taught hasn't changed that […]
I believe in the validity of vocational programs. However, I do have concerns about the context of what is being taught to these students in a rapidly changing economy. Vocational education at the secondary level has a long and storied tradition in the history of the United States. It is an institutional framework that meets the needs […]
What should happen and what will happen in various areas of education over the next few years elicits different answers from educators and from other experts. For example, one expert on teaching believes districts should be supported with the funding to retain their best teachers. However, this expert believes state policymakers will continue to lower […]
David Liss was seeing a unique challenge when it came to implementing 1-to-1 technology for the 6,200 students in Nixa Public Schools, one of the top-performing districts in Missouri. "One of the things that kept coming up for us was there wasn't data to support the premise that 1-to-1 technology increased student performance" says Liss, […]
The past two decades have seen 1-to-1 computing grow in popularity, with school districts across the country deploying millions of laptops and tablets to students, excited by their potential to enhance learning. But unfortunately, with the trend came the reality that many school systems didn't adequately plan, prepare for or sustain their 1-to-1 initiatives, and […]
Six years ago, Waconia Public Schools, which is 35 miles west of Minneapolis, launched a 1-to-1 technology initiative. It purchased tablets as part of a pilot program for 10th-grade students. After determining that the pilot program was successful, the district expanded it to include students in fourth, eighth and 11th grades. At that point, the […]
Putting technology into classrooms has been a focus for Gwinnett County Public Schools, located in a suburb of Atlanta, for decades. First it was using overhead or slide projectors, and later televisions. Before the district made the decision to add projectors to all classrooms, schools would buy a few on their own, but there was […]
According to Bruce Gardner, North America Program Director for IBM's Education Industry Group, IBM is excited to now be helping schools deliver on the promise of personalized learning. When Bruce began working for IBM in education more than 30 years ago, IBM was introducing networking to schools, with servers delivering instructional courseware to workstations moved […]
Photo credit: Rockfon. Bellevue School District in Washington transformed its one-story Sammamish High School into a three-story educational facility. It's the last phase of the district's initiative to rebuild all four of its high schools. The 323,000-square-foot building currently serves 1,060 students, with room for 1,800. CHALLENGE: Bellevue originally performed minor renovations for all four […]
