online learning

On September 22^nd, the New York Times will be holding the inaugural “Schools for Tomorrow” conference, bringing together preeminent leaders in education, business, politics, and philanthropy to discuss how schools can better harness technology to prepare children for life in the 21^st century.

Influential thought leaders from around the world will be attending the conference, including K¹² founder and CEO Ron Packard. In addition to attending, Ron will be participating in various panel discussions alongside other distinguished professionals and leaders who are helping shape and transform the way we learn.

In a series of thinktanK¹² blog posts, I’ll be taking a look at some trends we can expect to see in education in the near future, as well as introducing you to some of the influential people scheduled to speak at the conference, and how they are helping revolutionize education.

While K¹² students have long embraced the “learning happens everywhere” philosophy, students in traditional schools increasingly want to be able to learn anywhere and anytime. And with mobile devices becoming more affordable and powerful, they can.

There is much debate about how  the overall school community should implement social networking methods to enhance learning and make it more relevant and meaningful to students.  As social media use becomes more common,  schools are growing more aware of its benefits and are looking for ways to incorporate it into their current learning experience to engage and teach today's students. 

This year, the National Education Technology plan was released and one of its recommendations was to look for ways to use social networking platforms as a learning tool. The plan suggested using "the learning sciences and modern technology to create engaging, relevant, and personalized learning experiences for all learners that mirror students’ daily lives and the reality of their futures.”

15 year old diver and Hoosier Academies student Dashiell E., along with his partner, finished in first-place in the USA Diving Junior National Championships at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center. They won the inaugural boys 14-18 synchronized platform diving competition. 

According to the article, "he started diving when he was 8 years old. His god-sister was a diver and invited him for his 8th birthday to stop by where she dove and try it. He did, and he has hardly stopped since."

Yesterday I read about Youtube video star Rebecca Black being taken out of school by her parents because of constant harrassment and bullying and homeschooled to allow her to focus on her studies. 

We have many K¹² families who have chosen online education due to bullying. It's alarming that across the country, bullying reports have been increasing in high schools and recent studies show that "bully-ridden schools have lower test scores". With reports like these, it's clearly a serious issue that all parents and schools need to be aware of and address.

Have you found bullying to be an issue at your schools?