Last month, a story from New York’s PS 116 went viral: the school sent a note home to parents, explaining that it had stopped giving homework so that kids could do something else with their time after school – play, for starters. According to news reports, parents rebelled – some threatening to remove their children […]
Parents as Modern Learners Read More »
One of my oft repeated lines in my presentations to teachers and leaders goes something like this: “This modern world of technology is not what you signed up for when you went into education.” By that I mean that most people who go into the profession have a very clear picture of what they’re getting themselves into.
Leading Through the Transition Read More »
In light of the seemingly endless discussions around innovation and change, it can be difficult for leaders who are looking to invest in a transformation agenda in their schools to find a clear path forward. What is realistic and where should be their focus? How do they align what they know about good learning and
The Eight Principles of Modern School Transformation Read More »
Ben Grey is the Assistant Superintendent for Innovative Learning and Communications for Community Consolidated School District 59 in Arlington Heights, IL, and he’s making change happen in some compelling ways at his school. Over the past year-and-a-half, Ben has led a conversation around change that started with a most interesting question: “How can technology be used
The EML Podcast with Ben Grey: Courage and Commitment Read More »
Guest post by Harold Jarche We are in the midst of a ‘nano-bio-info-techno-cogno’ revolution. We are entering the network era, and change is coming fast. That may sound like a cliché, but not when you consider the last major shifts we went through and the time our institutions had to adapt. When markets came about,
How Can Educators Prepare for the Networked Era? Read More »
“Fundamental change, or incremental improvement; the question is not so much which is right, but rather why has there been so little discussion about the question?” ~Seymour Papert ABC radio interview Having used Papert’s quote to provoke discussions with literally thousands of school leaders in workshops across more than 45 countries, I can say with
The Nature of Change: Exploration vs Exploitation Read More »
The anniversary of the first one-to-one laptop program. 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
What You Should Know This Week Read More »
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.” ~Ambrose Redmoon The other day, a school leader I was talking to said that she “encourages” her teachers to use technology in the classroom. Now while I’ve heard that word tens of thousands of times in
As a school leader and classroom teacher at Sandvika School outside of Oslo, I am writing this from a Norwegian perspective. Norway has the resources to do well in the field of technology. Many school districts have invested heavily in hardware and software, and for some years now all high school students have had computers,
Moving Schools Forward: A European Perspective Read More »
Happy New Year to all of our readers here in the EML community. We’re looking forward to an awesome 2015, one filled with provocation and, hopefully, action to move schools and classrooms to different, more modern learning environments for all of our kids. To start that work, we’ve assembled 15 questions from 15 different EML
15 for 2015: Questions for the New Year Read More »
As 2014 draws to a close, it’s become increasingly apparent that the current system of schooling isn’t really working for our kids, especially when taking into account the changes that we’re experiencing in the way we learn, the way we get educated, and the way we work. Harvard professor and author Richard Ellmore recently described
Rethinking “Success” in 2015 Read More »
I am a college professor, but I was raised in a family of teachers. My father taught English for many years at my DC Public High School. My mother is a nursery school teacher. My wife has taught English for speakers of other languages and social studies to children of all ages. While my primary
Beyond Academic Freedom and Dignity Read More »
As the end of the year approaches, it seems worthwhile to look back on some of the achievements of the past twelve months and reflect on what we have learnt. It would be somewhat of an understatement to say that the edtech sector has seen unprecedented levels of investment over the past 12 to 18
Lazy Thinking and Commercial Opportunism Read More »
Inspired by the title of Lee Skallerup Bessette’s article last week, Listening and Hearing I’m a faculty developer, so my role often entails conducting assessments of other people’s teaching. This comes sometimes in the form of entering a class and having a confidential discussion with students to get their feedback on a course, and reporting
Are We Really Listening to Our Students Read More »
Originally I’d intended to write about the dehumanizing impact of data, particularly as it acts on our students and educators. Maybe I still will make that argument down the line. But I think this time of the year is a better one to think about how all of this data is collected. That is, often
Listening and Hearing Read More »
