What if...a teacher "flipped" students' learning experience so the lecture/mini-lesson happened at home or outside of school time, and homework --applied learning -- happened in the classroom? How could a parent participate in this process? We may not be there yet (especially due to internet access issues), but we're on our way!

Nice video resources on authentic assessment and UbD (backwards planning)

Check out the "Alternatives to Homework" and "Homework Advice from Students" at the end of the doc. [Ch.8 from Fires in the Mind]

An interesting variety of answers from some education and ed tech leaders.

I still see many uses of technology that are not "inspirational," but I'm more hopeful about personalized and intrinsically motivating learning than I've been for many, many years!

Check out the Booker T. Washington video. He shares his approach to blended learning, but he also discusses challenges for those who are not "connected."

Interesting blog, especially his theory that 4:1 is the idea configuration for students:computers (75% cost savings and a focus on kids learning from one another). Years ago, there were in-depth workshops on teaching and learning in collaborative groups. In recent years, I've noticed that many teachers seem clueless as to how to facilitate successful groups, and fearful about loss of control. My hope is that "classroom management" will become a concern of the past in a successful blended learning environment.

A different perspective than the previous article, this one reminds me of some of the issues raised in the movie, "Race to Nowhere."

I'd like to share several different perspectives on homework that may inform the work we do with our schools. "Meaningful homework should be purposeful, efficient, personalized, doable, and inviting. Most important, students must be able to freely communicate with teachers when they struggle with homework, knowing they can admit that they don't understand a task-and can do so without penalty." As recently as last year, I found myself comforting special ed students who simply could not handle the volume of homework, some crying out of fear of disappointing their ELA teacher (who would immediately send a "missing homework" email to the parent). I worked hard on homework accommodations for these students, but their feelings of inadequacy were fueled by a lack of teacher understanding of their needs -- a focus on deficits as opposed to strengths, and an unwillingness to offer differentiated assignments.

Hi all. I'm diving in here and notice that my highlighted text showed up as annotations. Sorry. I'm working on it! What I found most interesting was one commenter who noted: "in reality, being fully human is necessarily collaborative. . .Schools would benefit tremendously from honoring and supporting collaboration among faculty but more importantly among students. . .teaching, learning, and assessment are artificially forced into acts in isolation in traditional schooling. . .That is dehumanizing and countereducational. . ." My thoughts: So how can we humanize the PD process? Seems choice and autonomy are huge factors towards ownership of technology integration. Comes back to the question, for adults as well as students, "Who owns the learning?"

My friend and former colleague, Ann Martin (Apple Distinguished Educator), currently an ed tech curriculum specialist in Nanjing, China, is supporting this conference. She says, "Looks to be really innovative - totally online, 5 days, all global, various languages. We're pushing for as much involvement as possible world wide."