Will This Be How Our Schools Look in the Future?

The not-profit conservative education policy think-tank, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute today released a new book, containing a selection of articles on how the US education system must change in order to realize the potential of digital learning.

“Education Reform for the Digital Era” provides estimates of the costs for online learning modules and ideas on how to change a system that “has been leapfrogged by advances in technology”.  The chapters are as follows:

• “Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction,” by Bryan C. and Emily Ayscue Hassel;
• "Quality Control in K-12 Digital Learning: Three (Imperfect) Solutions," by Frederick M. Hess;
• "The Costs of Online Learning," Tamara Butler Battaglino, Matt Haldeman, and Eleanor Laurans;
• "School Finance in the Digital-Learning Era," by Paul T. Hill; and
• "Overcoming the Governance Challenge in K-12 Online Learning," by John E. Chubb.

I can’t pretend that I have read the book in its entirety, but I will.  What I have gleaned from the chapters, blog posts and from watching the video from their panel discussion, is that, although an extremely complex system, at the core lies the recognition that digital learning has inherent advantages over whole-class learning. 

Some of the blended digital/in-class modules discussed in this book can help our K-12 children learn in a more individualized way and at their own pace.  This is certainly something we recognize at K5 Learning, granted in an environment that is much, much less complex – where parents recognize their child’s learning needs and find the solution in online learning to enrich or bolster their learning in a more personalized way. 

Comparing the two is like comparing an apple, or even a wedge of an apple, to the entire fruit market.  However, at the core sits the individual child with his and her needs to learn based on their current knowledge, their aptitudes for learning different subjects and to learn at their own pace.  Digital learning can certainly play a bigger role in delivering individualized learning – even at school.

If you are interested in reading the book, you can download it for free from this page.

The video of the panel discussion is also interesting.