June+18,+2013

=Worthy of Note: July 18, 2013=



In this issue ...
SREB News Webinar Metadata Google Info and Updates The Cloud Your Changing Library EDUCAUSE Library State Authorization Update Technology Trends and Issues ConnectED Common Core Data Virtual Learning $10,000 Degree National Education Policy Center MOOCs <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Bandwidth vs. MOOCs <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Faculty Development <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Badging <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Higher Ed 2018 <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Who is the K-12 Learner? <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Technology Investments <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Name Change <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Resources <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Just Interesting

SREB News
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">65 Years; Helping State Improve Education
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Story of a National Pioneer: SREB **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Founded in 1948 as America’s first interstate compact for education, the Southern Regional Education Board was created by Southern governors and legislators who recognized that — working together — states could improve public education and increase the social and economic vitality of the region.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Over the decades, SREB has grown to provide services to improve public education at every level. Key SREB efforts have influenced national reform, and SREB states now lead the nation in many measures of education progress. From an early program to expand training in mental health professions to new work with states on systems of feedback and evaluation for teachers, SREB has stood by states to address the complex education issues of the times.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">This year, as SREB celebrates 65 years of partnering with states, this timeline recounts milestones from the 1940s through the 2010s.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Common Core State Standards Networking Conference //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">SREB and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Common Core State Standards Networking Conference (July 15-17,2013, Charlotte, NC) is a first-of-its-kind event that will feature proven tools and strategies for implementing the Common Core State Standards and other rigorous standards through the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and the Mathematics Design Collaborative (MDC).

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Lessons From the States on Teacher Evaluation Systems //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">SREB // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">This first report in SREB’s educator effectiveness series details policies by state and offers lessons learned though experiences in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. Above all, communication and stakeholder involvement are imperative. Read the report (PDF).

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Changing How Teachers Learn and Teach //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">SREB // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">“I know that I will always use this way of learning. It has already helped me in other classes. It will help me get through college. It will help me in life.” Students and teachers share how much they are learning with powerful new classroom tools to teach the Common Core standards. SREB has trained educators in 19 states in how to transform their classrooms with the Literacy Design Collaborative and Mathematics Design Collaborative frameworks. As data begin to emerge, SREB shares this early evidence that, with LDC and MDC, students are learning more and performing better on classroom and state exams.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">These tools, Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and Mathematics Design Collaborative (MDC), help students reach the deep learning necessary to master the Common Core and other rigorous statewide standards for college-and career-readiness.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">SREB Legislative Report, May 2013 <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Webinar **
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Future of Personalized Learning //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Julie Evans, Project Tomorrow, Speak Up National Research Project Education Week //
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Webinar Date: <span class="aqj" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Thursday, June 20, 2 to 3 p.m. ET **

Metadata
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Metadata: Organizing and Discovering Information //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Jeffrey Pomerantz, Coursera, University of North Carolina, Course on Metadata // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">MOOC begins September 2013 (8 weeks long)

//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">June Weis note: This is intended simply to provide a good definition of metadata that has received lots of press in the last couple of weeks due to the NSA investigation. Perhaps the pundits could profit by this course. //// J //

//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">A sh ////<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">ort definitio ////<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">n: m ////<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">etadata is data about the data. //

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Metadata is an unsung hero of the modern world, the plumbing that makes the information age possible. This course describes how Metadata is used as an information tool for the Web, for databases, and for the software and computing applications around us.

Google Info and Updates
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">6 Alternatives to iGoogle For Personalized Homepages <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">iGoogle has less than a year to go before it’s shut down for good on November 1, 2013. While Google seems to think that iGoogle isn’t necessary anymore, there are other services waiting to take its place.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Google says, “With modern apps that run on platforms like Chrome and Android, the need for iGoogle has eroded over time.” If you disagree, try one of the services described here.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">5 Timesaving Google Tips You Should Know About //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Jeff Dunn, Edudemic, June 8, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Whether you’re a tech-savvy teacher or a beginner just looking to get better at “the internet” then this is for you. It’s a beginner’s guide to Google meant to help you brush up on some of the timesaving things Google offers right in its search box. All you have to do is know what to type. These Google tips range from the more obvious to the lesser-known ways Google can help you get back at least a part of your day.

The Cloud
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">What Adobe’s Move to the Creative Cloud Means for Schools //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Corey Murray, EdTech Magazine, May 16, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Popular software maker shifts from box sets of its popular Creative Suite in favor of subscription-based cloud service.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">How Cloud Backup Can Save IT Big Bucks //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">David LaMartina, Campus Technology, June 05, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Moving your data storage, backup, and disaster recovery to the cloud can cut costs and improve functionality for both end users and tech personnel.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Changing the World: Big Data and the Cloud //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Raul F. Chong, The Atlantic, n.d. // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The focus is on business; can it apply to education? See the infographics here.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">We are in an age when jobs like "data scientist" are not far from reality. The convergences of two key technological areas — cloud computing and big data — are having far reaching implications that are indeed changing the world.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">As a quick review, big data is a collection of data sets that are so big that it is hard to collect, analyze, visualize, and process using regular software such are relational database management systems. Moreover, this data is typically unstructured. A recent study indicates that unstructured data account for at least 80% of the world's data. This means that many companies today are making mission critical decisions with only 20% of the data they have, the 20% of data that is structured and stored in relational databases.

Your Changing Library
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">In the Digital Age, What Becomes of the Library? //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Holly Korbey, Mind/Shift, // //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">May 31, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">This is an excellent in-depth article about the changing library.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">A recent Pew Internet study on parents, reading and libraries supports Kent Oliver’s (Nashville’s Main Public Library director) sentiment, showing the library’s traditional purpose – providing free reading material – is also its most popular: the main reason most parents (87 percent) go to libraries is to get books for their kids.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">In a related Pew study on libraries and the Internet, one librarian told researchers, “I believe public libraries should move away from being ‘houses of knowledge’ and move more towards being ‘houses of access.’ This is what the public is asking for and we are here to serve them.” Beyond the use of technology, many librarians think in terms of access and information being closely linked, and believe that libraries still have a responsibility to both.

EDUCAUSE Library
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Do you know about EDUCAUSE Library?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The EDUCAUSE Library is an international repository for information concerning use and management of information technology (IT) in higher education. It aggregates over 24,000 resources submitted by EDUCAUSE, EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis Research (ECAR), EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), Higher Education Information Security Council (HEISC), Grant programs and our members.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">General resources include articles, books, conference sessions, effective practices, multimedia, plans, policies, webinars and blog content.

State Authorization Update
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">WCET Testimony on Proposed Distance Ed. Federal Regulations //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Jarret Cummings, EDUCAUSE, June 11, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">As previously reported, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) recently revived the regulatory process it began last summer to address financial aid fraud concerns related to distance education and expanded it to resurrect the department’s previously overturned distance education state authorization regulation. Our colleagues at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) and the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) testified at a May 30th public hearing about the process, with Russ Poulin, WCET’s deputy director for research and analysis, specifically addressing the regulatory areas the pending rule-making process will cover. The testimony Poulin provided on behalf of WCET addresses a number of key points, including the following:

Technology Trends and Issues
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Six Big Tech Trends in Education to Follow //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Katrina Schwartz. Mind/Shift, // //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">June 5, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Big data, open content, mobile learning, and digital printing are the big themes represented in this year’s NMC Horizon Report: 2013 K-12 Edition. The report is collaboration between the New Media Consortium, the Consortium for School Networking, and the International Society for Technology in Education, pulling together an international group of experts to discuss trends and measure how mainstream emerging ed-tech approaches have become. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">As with all of its reports, the group makes near, middle, and long-term projections for technology trends, as well as broader observations about the direction of the field and its challenges. What’s striking in this year’s report is that many of the projections for the K-12 space match those made in February in the NMC Horizons Report on Higher Education.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Top-Ten IT Issues, 2013: Welcome to the Connected Age //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Susan Grajek, // //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">EDUCAUSE <span class="byline" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> Review, June 3, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">EDUCAUSE presents the top-ten IT-related issues facing higher education institutions. In this article, members of the 2012-2013 EDUCAUSE IT Issues Panel frame each issue with discussion and a set of strategic questions.

ConnectED
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">President Obama Unveils ConnectED Initiative to Bring America’s Students into Digital Age //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The White House, June 6, 2013 //

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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">WASHINGTON, DC — President Obama today unveiled a bold, new initiative called ConnectED to connect 99 percent of America’s students to the internet through high-speed broadband and high-speed wireless within 5 years, calling on the FCC to modernize and leverage its existing E-Rate program to meet that goal. The President also directed the federal government to make better use of existing funds to get Internet connectivity and educational technology into classrooms, and into the hands of teachers trained on its advantages. And he called on businesses, states, districts, schools and communities to support this vision. This ambitious initiative does not require Congressional action. ======

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Read more about this on the White House blog: Bringing America’s Students into the Digital Age

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Obama ConnectED Initiative Aims To Get Classrooms Online //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Joy Resmovits, Huffington Post, June 6, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">On Thursday, June 6, Obama will speak at a school in Mooresville, N.C., to unveil aninitiative that aims to give 99 percent of America's public schools high-speed connectivity over the next five years.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The project, called ConnectED, also seeks to get devices into the hands of teachers and students so they can experience digital lessons and software designed for the classroom. Districts will be in control of their own purchasing. The plan would also use existing money within the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to fund professional development to "help teachers keep pace with changing ... demands," according to a background memo provided by the White House.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Read Richard Culatta’s (US DOE, OET Acting Director) comments about the initiative <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[|here] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">.

Common Core
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Of That (blog) //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Brandt Redd, May 29, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">CTO for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">I’m way overdue writing this message. About a month ago I started my new job as Chief Technology Officer for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. I expected to write about it that very week. After all, I had been composing this announcement in my head for a while by then.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Smarter Balanced is one of the Common Core Assessment Consortia. It’s a partnership of 25 states and 1 territory most of which have also adopted the Common Core State Standards. The concept is that with common standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics we can collaborate to develop better quality assessments of student skills than individual states could do working independently. Funding is through grants from the federal government and multiple foundations.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Common Core opponent goes too far with claim about data collection //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Angela Bean, PolitiFact Georgia, June 1, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Common Core State Standards have become a hot-button issue in some areas of metro Atlanta. Opponents run the gamut: state lawmakers, conservative groups, tea party members, parents and some school board members.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Does Common Core allow for this amount of extensive data collection (as described in this article)? And, if so, what data is being collected? We checked with the Council of Chief State School Officers, a national organization of public officials who head state education departments, and one of the founders of the Common Core standards, about Bean’s data collection claim. Organization officials said there are no data collection requirements with Common Core, and they address the issue on its website.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">"States are still responsible as they were previously to report their accountability (on tests and other student assessments), but Common Core doesn’t add any new data reporting, said Margaret Millar, the CCSSO’s director of membership services.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Shifting Education, Technology Market Challenges Publishers //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Sean Cavanagh Ed Week, Digital Education, // //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> June 3, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Education publishers face opportunities, challenges, and a huge amount of uncertainty in the K-12 market over the next few years. That was one of the clear themes that emerged on the opening day of a conference of school publishers, an event that kicked off here on Sunday.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Several factors are contributing to the state of flux: the coming demands of the Common Core State Standards; the emergence of free, or "open-education" resources that challenge commercial publishers; and the question about whether education content, or the technological platforms that deliver that content, will matter more in the time to come.

Data
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Transforming Data to Information in Service of Learning //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">SEDTA, May 31, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">SETDA developed this new report, "Transforming Data to Information in Service of Learning," to raise awareness about the major K-12 data standards and interoperability initiatives underway to address this gap and to offer recommendations for how K-12 education can become more responsive to educators and better targeted toward individual student success. The report will help education leaders understand the context for these interoperability initiatives and their relationship to teaching and learning. The widespread implementation of new and emerging interoperability initiatives will be instrumental to realizing the full potential of technology in education.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Data Standards in Service of Learning //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Brandt Redd, Of That, June 11, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">My friends at SETDA have published a new paper, "Transforming Data to Information in Service of Learning". It represents a movement that I favor. Historically, educational data has been used primarily for accountability purposes. But, properly reported, data can guide instruction and learning and personalize the experience. The result is significant improvement to student achievement.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The SETDA paper incorporates two models that I've used to categorize standards. The Four-Layer Framework for Data Standards divides data standards into four layers of work that build upon each other. The more recent Taxonomy of Education Standards looks at categories of data within the education sector. Shortly before I changed jobs, one of my Gates Foundation colleagues asked if I could make a chart placing existing standards efforts against these two models. I decided to do it all at once by merging the models into a matrix.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">2013 Q2 Special Report: Big Data, Big Expectations //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Center for Digital Education, May 31, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Learn how to transform big data into powerful and actionable educational insights to improve student outcomes on your campus in this Special Report.

Virtual Learning
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Texas Poised to Expand Virtual Education Through Online Network //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Sean Cavanagh Ed Week, Digital Education, // //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> June 4, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Texas students' access to online courses from a variety of providers is poised to expand under legislation that has reached the desk of Gov. Rick Perry.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Currently, the list of entities that can provide courses through the Texas Virtual School Network, a statewide entity that offers a catalogue of online classes, includes school districts, open-enrollment charter schools, and Texas higher education institutions.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The legislation would broaden the list to include private companies, nonprofits, and out-of-state postsecondary institutions.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The legislation also clarifies the circumstances under which school districts can deny students the chance to take part in the network. Its language would appear to make it more difficult to reject students from taking online courses. Districts or schools could do so if the students were seeking to take a "substantially similar course," as is offered in the district.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">At the same time, the legislation set a limit on the online courses that districts are required to pay for per student through the network, capping that number at three yearlong classes. Read more….

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">3 Reasons to Decree Mobile Learning by 2015 //<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed, June 3, 2013 // //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Dear Presidents, Provosts, CIOs, and Directors: //

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Are you giving your learning and technology teams goals that are big and audacious enough for 2015?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Have you committed to lead rather than follow?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">A good place to start with a big goal might be <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">mobile learning.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">What would happen if you decreed (//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">or maybe strongly suggested - we don't really decree in higher ed //), that by 2015 that mobile would be the primary platform that our students will interact with digital curriculum and learning platforms?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">That every student will have a tablet or smart phone, and that not everyone will own (or be expected to have access) to a laptop. And there is more….

$10,000 Degree
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Should an English major pay more for a degree than a science major? //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Maureen Downey (blog), Atlanta Journal Constitution, May 30, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">In Florida, the governor has urged public colleges to offer $10,000 degrees in areas where jobs abound, including STEM fields.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Last year, Gov. Rick Scott famously asked, “Do you want to use your tax dollars to educate more people who can’t get jobs in anthropology? I don’t.”

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Florida is moving forward on lower-cost degree programs in high demand areas. Read more….

National Education Policy Center
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Research-Based Options for Education Policymaking //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">William J. Mathis, National Education Policy Center, June 13, 2013 // //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Research-Based Options for Education Policymaking //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> is a 10-part brief that takes up important policy issues and identifies policies supported by research. Each section focuses on a different issue, and its recommendations for policymakers are based on the latest scholarship.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">At a time of growing national recognition of the need for a policy shift to more successful approaches to school reform, this multi-part brief identifies affirmative, research-based approaches to reform in areas including teacher evaluation, early childhood education, and school choice.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">In doing so, the briefs help to describe a forward-looking alternative to the current over-reliance on test-based accountability, privatization and school choice. The sections can be found individually here, with the series in its entirety at the end.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">First thoughts on the NEPC report about online schools //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">John Watson, Keeping Pace, June 5, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">It is a busy time for reports about online and blended learning, with the Christensen Institute’s new report on blended learning, and prior to that, the release of //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Virtual Schools in the U.S. 2013 // by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) at the University of Colorado.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Previous reports from NEPC have garnered quite a bit of media attention, and we expect this report to be cited and used in policy debates in state legislatures around the country as well. With that in mind we have been reading it closely, and plan to post several times on it instead of attempting to cover it all in one post. We believe that there is some valuable information in the report, and some of its recommendations are on target, but that the useful points are outweighed by the biases of the research and writing. That point is ironic, given how many words the authors devote to explaining the biases of other organizations in the field. Read more of John Watson’s comments….

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">MOOCs **
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Infographic: Rise of the MOOCs //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Getting Smart via //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Nerd Wallet <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">2012 was the “The Year of the MOOC” as dubbed by //The New York Times// (and noted by edtechmagazine.com). Yet we saw some of the first MOOCS back in 2008 but the recent trend in growth and adoption of these open courses has a lot to do with the nontraditional education route that students are choosing to take.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">With MOOCs’ disrupting the higher education system, as we know it, there will continue to be a mass increase of online learning in the coming years. See EdTech Magazine’s short introduction to the infographic below that originally appeared on NerdWallet.com.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Bandwidth vs. MOOCs **
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Forget MOOCs--Your Biggest Problem is Bandwidth! //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology, June 6, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">New applications, devices, and modes of learning are responsible for an ever-escalating bandwidth demand that colleges and universities can't afford to ignore.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Faculty Development **
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">5 Keys to Engaging Faculty With IT //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Linda L. Briggs, Campus Technology, June 06, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Faculty development remains one of the biggest impediments to the wider use of technology in education. CT looks at five strategies that schools have implemented successfully to increase faculty engagement.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Badging **
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Badging in the Classroom: Our Definitive Guide //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">John K. Waters, THE Journal, June 4, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">March was a big month in the world of digital badging. The MacArthur Foundation showcased winners of its Badges for Lifelong Learning competition at the Digital Media and Learning Conference in Chicago--one year after awarding those winners $2 million worth of development grants. The city of Chicago itself announced that badging would be a key component of its Summer of Learning program, which is being called the largest citywide learning campaign in the country. And after 18 months of development and testing, the Mozilla Foundation, maker of the Firefox web browser, unveiled version 1.0 of its Open Badges Infrastructure (OBI) specification.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">These developments signal the fast approach of a tipping point for digital badging in K-12 education.

Higher Ed in 2018
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Our Discussion of "Higher Ed in 2018" //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed, May 29, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Last week, Jeb Bush and Randy Best published a Views column titled "Higher Ed in 2018". In this piece they made the case for "transformational" change in higher ed, arguing that the next 5 years will see a fundamental shift from a "provider-driven" model to a "consumer-driven" one.

//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Is higher ed a community of "providers"? //

Who is the K-12 Learner? (Project Tomorrow)
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">From Chalkboards to Tablets: The Emergence of the K-12 Learner //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">New Report from Project Tomorrow // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Read comments about the report: THE Journal, Joshua Bolkan, June 6, 2013. Students prioritize the use of "a variety of digital learning tools such as mobile devices" over Internet access, according to From Chalkboards to Tablets: The Emergence of the K-12 Learner, a new report from Project Tomorrow.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The report also found that students increasingly see benefits to online learning, with 57 percent of respondents in high school saying that it would put them in control of their learning, up from 40 percent in 2009, and 56 percent saying that it would allow them to work at their own pace, a five percent increase over the same period. Students also said that it would provide other benefits, such as improved ability to review materials, a greater sense of independence, and an improved opportunity to succeed in class, in greater numbers than they did in 2009, though they are still not in the majority.

===**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Technology Investments **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">— **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> Questions **===

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Are Schools Getting a Big Enough Bang for Their Education Technology Buck? //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Ulrich Boser, Center for American Progress, June 14, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Because of a growing debate concerning spending on education technology, CAP decided to look closely at the issue of how students used technology and the return that educators were getting on their technology investment. In conducting this examination, we relied on one of the richest sources of national student survey data—the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP—and conducted an analysis of the 2009 and 2011 background surveys. Known as the Nation’s Report Card, the NAEP assessments are administered every two years by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, and the exams serve as a way to benchmark student performance. In addition, we conducted a state-by-state survey of the websites of state departments of education during the first two weeks of February 2013 to see if states had conducted any evaluation of the return on their school-technology investment.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Fact Sheet: Redesigning America's High Schools //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Ed.Gov, Press Release, June 7, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The fact sheet below highlights how the High School Redesign initiative will challenge high schools and their partners to rethink teaching and learning and put in place learning models that are rigorous, relevant, and better focused on real-world experiences.

Name Change
//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Innosight Institute is now the //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[|Clayton Christensen Institute] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Education Program at the Christensen Institute examines K-12 and higher education issues through the lens of disruptive innovation. Its research aims to transform monolithic, factory-model systems into student-centric designs that educate every student successfully and enable each to realize his or her fullest potential. See more at: @http://www.christenseninstitute.org/education/

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Also, you will find these blogs interesting:

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Udacity and Georgia Tech cross the Rubicon //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Michael B. Horn and Gunnar Counselman, June 13, 2013 //

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Online education is no bubble //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Michelle Rhee-Weise, June 12, 2013 //

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Avoid the hype: Online learning’s transformational potential //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Michael Horn, June 6, 2013 //

Resources
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Five Ways Teachers Can Use Technology to Help Students //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Darrell West (Brookings Institute) and Joshua Bleiberg (blog) as reported in Huffington Post, May 7, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Thomas Edison once said, "Books will soon be obsolete in the public schools... our school system will be completely changed inside of ten years." We argue that there are five strategies for successful teacher adoption of education technology and that these principles will help fulfill the potential that Edison saw a century ago.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">12 Excellent New Web Tools for Teachers //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Med Kharbach, Educational Technology and Mobile Learning // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The websites below, besides being new here in //Educational Technology and Mobile Learning//, they also have some educational potential that you, teachers and educators, might capitalize on.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Just Interesting **
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Teacher explains why she is leaving the profession //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Maureen Downey (blog), Atlanta Journal Constitution, May 29, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Here is a video (In Pursuit of Happiness) that is being talked about worldwide. On this video, teacher Ellie Rubenstein explains why she is leaving the field.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">This 16-Year-Old Created A $15 Cell-Phone-Sized Device That Can Detect Cancer, Explosives //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Aerial Schwartz, Coexist.com // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">At this year’s Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Jack Andraka won the competition last year), he presented another project: a handheld device (known as a raman spectrometer) that can be used to detect explosives, environmental contaminants, and cancer in the human body. Today, raman spectrometers are extremely delicate, can be as large as a small car, and cost up to $100,000. Andraka’s model costs $15 and is the size of a cell phone.