Technology & Learning - January 2008 - (Page 16)

We l ike learning atlei sure. New statistics from Keeping Pace with Online Learning, an annual study conducted by virtual schools and consulting firms nationwide, show that 42 states currently have “significant” supplemental or full-time online learning programs and that they’re growing at a rapid 25 percent annually. America’s Digital Schools 2006 predicted that the 3.8 percent of students taking core curriculum topics online would grow to 15.6 percent (or 8 million students) by 2011. Among the major challenges faced by districts with online learning programs are ensuring that their infrastructures can handle the increased demands, and providing instructors with new kinds of training for this new environment. Florida Virtual School’s multifaceted professional development program—which includes face-to-face training, shadowing, peer coaching, on- and offline materials, phone calls, chat videoconferencing, and more— represents the innovation that has come to characterize this new breed of school. Online learning programs have enjoyed a freedom of expression not shared by their traditional counterparts, and providers want to keep it that way. Currently at the top of their list is pre-empting a host of national government policy mandates, which could bring the experimental opportunities to a halt. We applaud their initiative. Personal responders are sweeping the K 20 market. They may look like garage door openers/TV remotes, but these lowtech, unglamorous tools are performing services that schools are swiftly coming to find essential. “Clickers” are handheld transmitters that collect learner input real time and pair with a host software system that tabulates the data for instant display on a computer monitor or large projection space. Among their uses are: keeping large classes engaged via question-and-answer activities peppered throughout a lesson; providing instant feedback to presenters who can use the information to change the course of instruction on the spot; mid-lesson evaluation of how well learners are understanding material presented so far; and the ability to give each student a chance to be heard in privacy. Score a big one for differentiated instruction. way. Following handhelds are laptops, which paved the way as the first fullfeatured computing devices that empowered students to truly extend learning beyond the classroom. Laptops have been the primary force behind the one-to-one movement, now increasingly pervasive nationally, with the ADS2006 survey reporting 24 percent of all districts of 2,500 or more students have begun or are planning to begin one-to-one programs. Closing in quickly behind laptops are tablets, which educators love for the sketching and handwriting recognition options and which ADS2006 sees growing 78 percent in the next five years. And, of course, student personal tools are growing faster than ever. The iPod, the most ubiquitous student tool, is enabling college students to tap into lectures on their own time, and in the K–12 space, podcasting is opening up the classroom to parents and to the community. Up next look for the cell phone to play a transforming role. Mobi too s le l are dr iving the path of educat ion reform. Handheld science devices that freed students from their desks and allowed them to conduct real-time experiments in the field may have been the first truly mobile solutions that impacted instruction in a systemic Bandwidth i sudden y s l an i ssue. Karen Henke sums up the core concern in her October 2007 T&L article, “How Fast Is Fast Enough?” “As capacity gets divided among more students using increasingly demanding data, voice, and multimedia applications, every student’s service degrades.” Experts such as Maryland-based researcher Peter Grunwald and Tom Greaves, whose 16 | www.techlearning.com http://www.techlearning.com

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Technology & Learning - January 2008 Contents Editor's Desk News & Trends Product Guide Reviews Cover Story: Ten Top Tech Trends ERP Makes a Comeback Tossing Out Textbooks LOY Profile Series Higher Ed How To Bottom Line What's New Emerging Tech

Technology & Learning - January 2008

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