Online learning is booming. U.S. students in traditional K-12 schools have enrolled in 750,000 online courses within a school year, and the numbers are growing. In community colleges, the number of online students has risen to more than 5 million. Some states have expanded policy to encourage more online courses. For instance, 9th graders were required to complete at least one online course before they graduate in Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, and New Mexico. How well do you know how a student uses or enjoys an online course? If you want to create the most effective online modules or courses,…
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7 Ways to Think Like a Designer and Enhance Online Learning
Driving Down Costs, Driving Up Quality in Higher Ed
What are colleges doing to cut costs, amid budget constraints and public concerns over skyrocketing student debt in America? For years, colleges have looked to a number of options to contain the costs, rather than bumping up tuition prices. In many cases, departments have put a freeze on hiring, which in turn increases general faculty workloads and without an increase in pay. The programs with the lowest performance get cut. College administrators have also squeezed IT budgets, outsourced apps and storage technologies, and pushed some of the costs onto students. To continue from our last post about the “iron triangle,”…
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4 Emerging Models Pushing Tech Adoption in the Classroom
Two-thirds of American students end up leaving school unprepared for college or a career, according to the 2016 Nation’s Report Card.[1] With the rising pressure to improve student outcomes, K-12 educators are turning to a number of new instructional technologies and models to personalize and enrich classroom learning. Read about four key trends that are accelerating the integration of new technologies in the classroom. Online Learning There are many reasons for high schools and colleges to create ad hoc online courses and programs. In some cases, educators have chosen to experiment with this format simply to gather better analytics with…
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A Student’s View: Why We Need to Change the Way We Teach
You’re all familiar with the typical high school students… We sit in class, usually half asleep, listening to our teacher ramble on about applied trigonometry. Though we’re in the classroom, we never seem to retain much of what’s taught. Why? Because the teacher, in most cases, is simply following the curriculum, and the curriculum doesn’t cater to student needs. Not All Students Learn in the Same Way According to KidSpot, “It is estimated that around 80% of all students learn visually”, making them suited to traditional teaching methods, but what about the other 20%? The 20% that won’t be able…
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5 Ways to Create a Learning Environment Without Limits
What do you think of when you hear the term ‘learning environment’? Most of us think of school, or the typical classroom, seeing learning as a scheduled activity restricted to buildings and rooms dedicated to the practice. But what if we saw it differently? Better yet, what if students saw it differently? Many are now beginning to see learning in a different light, creating learning environments without limits that inspire students to learn the way they want, using it as a means of discovery and self-education. Limitless learning environments make it possible to learn anywhere, at any time, and any…
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How to Motivate Students to Become Self-Educators
“I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” – Albert Einstein When Einstein first made this statement, many questioned his logic. With educators viewed simply as ‘teachers’, there to offload information and provide answers as they’re needed; teachers taught, students listened. But providing students with the answers and encouraging them to learn is no longer enough. With technology’s ever-growing influence, 21st century students now have every answer they need, when they need it. So what’s the role of the educator? Rather, as Einstein aptly points out, educators are not there to…
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How to Move the Conversation from Grades to Learning
“We need to shift the focus from grades to learning.” This is a big statement to make, full of complex notions and far-reaching ideals. We live in a world where test scores determine the end goal for most schools and universities, making it close to impossible for us to imagine an alternative, but despite our rigid system, the conversation is moving. There’s talk of skills, mastery, innovation, technology, collaboration, connectivity, personalization… So how do we stop talking and start doing? There are simple ways for educators and parents to teach students the real value of learning, away from the pressures…
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How is Blended Learning Revolutionizing K-12 Education?
Blended learning is widely considered one of the most significant instructional reforms ever to hit K-12 education. Learning in part through the use of digital and online media, students undertaking blended learning programs pursue a more diverse course of study, gaining an element of control over time, place, path, or pace. According to Michael B. Horn and Heather Staker in The Rise of K–12 Blended Learning, “In the year 2000, roughly 45,000 K–12 students took an online course. In 2009, more than 3 million K–12 students did.” The speed with which online learning is accelerating has made it virtually impossible…
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