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States are starting to question whether online teachers should be required to obtain additional certification or training for virtual instruction. Some folks think a solid foundation in classroom teaching is enough and that it would present an additional obstacle to the existing challenge of recruiting high-quality teachers. But can teachers be as effective online as in the classroom without some specialized training?

What about providing students iPads so that they purchase textbooks on these devices to save resources for both the students and the school? Can we assume that all students will be comfortable using an iPad, or might there be implications for students with learning differences? What about the socioeconomic gap for students who cannot afford a computer to LOAD the books onto their iPads (even if the iPads themselves were provided)?

Free webinar on Sept 23 to discuss skills for on-line faciltators

I wonder how many medical students and physicians are learning through online information, such as these nutrition modules, to make up for the gaps in current medical education curriculum? These nutrition modules are interactive and let students take electronic notes while reviewing the material.

I would be for this. I could not believe a place so big on recycling (Harvard) murdered so many trees with the printing of course packs. I like this idea if you could get the material from other sources than just the school (say the author or publisher directly or something like Amazon). Otherwise, there is no opportunity for competition or bargaining.

an interesting writeup on on the basics of Khan Academy- including a couple of example teachers & classrooms. Also includes interview excerpts with Salman Khan.

It seems that the gamification of Khan Academy is undermining the "dropping out/back" of the technology after a certain amount of time, but students are learning, so is this good or bad?

This article seems pretty consistent with what we heard today. I think the most interesting aspect of the whole Khan Academy phenomenon is not what he does (make direct instruction videos- People learn to cook that way from Emeril), or how he does it (very few production values), or even that the internet makes him so distributable. The most incredible thing to me is that this one guy who did an end run around the entire establishment of EDUCATION is having this much impact on kids, teachers, and policy makers around the world. He isn't doing anything all that innovative and yet he is having the impact on education that one would think would come from an extraordinary innovator. Why isn't that innovator coming from EDUCATION. I think the big generative questions KA offers us in Education are: Why is this such a big deal? (And I do believe it is), Why didn't we think of it?; and Given all we know about education, shouldn't we be able have a much more substantial effect with much more substantial outcomes with as few resources as KA? If not? What are we doing?

Saw this over the summer and thought it raised some good questions about IEP initiatives, a child's ability to learn technical frameworks without explicit instruction, community engagement, technological innovation in impoverished areas, etc.

Speaking at LIFT 2007, Sugata Mitra talks about his Hole in the Wall project. Young kids in this project figured out how to use a PC on their own -- and then taught other kids. He asks, what else can children teach themselves? Sugata Mitra's "Hole in the Wall" experiments have shown that, in the absence of supervision or formal teaching, children can teach themselves and each other, if they're motivated by curiosity and peer interest.

I thought this was a great video when I watched it. Very interesting experiment. It reminded me of how I know people who learned other languages through their love of music--they just memorized song lyrics and practiced until they figured out the language!

What is the impact of this trend on instructional materials development?

Descriptions and salaries for "new" jobs that involve social media, software/curriculum development, and web-based technologies

I have viewed these webinars before and I would advise you to give it a go.

Interesting.

Also, I can't imagine that education will make the fear of failure extinct. It may make failing a bit more tolerable with individualized instruction, but I can't image that the pressure on students to succeed will decrease; it seems more likely that it will increase.

I appreciated that they mentioned learning HTML. I wish I learned that in school -- I think basic web design should be a 21st century skill.

"It should not surprise us that countries that provide equitable funding to their students, use high-quality instructional systems, and invest heavily in their teachers outperform those that do not."

Using Podcast and Youtube as a method for instructing students has picked up a lot of attention among teachers. But, as our conversation with the School of One shows, the methods for demonstrating the effectiveness of this teaching tool needs a lot of work. This article discuss some of the potential issues with using technology resources to create lessons for students as oppose to traditional teacher lecture.

I applaud this article and its poignant way of explaining how this model defeats the best practices of interactive classrooms and takes us BACKWARDS in our thinking rather than forward.

Published Online: October 25, 2011 Published in Print: October 26, 2011, as 'Blended Learning' for the Little Ones By Jill Barshay, The Hechinger Report Los Angeles 1st grader Lena Barrett clicks through a series of icons and logs on to a laptop under the fluorescent lights of her classroom.