Coursera's "Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application" crashed in its first week. Beyond the obvious irony, there are some interesting lessons to learn here.

Microsoft recognized three U.S. schools at its Global Forum Educator awards last week. I didn't find two of them terribly intriguing, but the third, LYNCing Distance Learning Math Classes to Blind and Visually Impaired Students, was a great example of how technology can be used to link educators with special skills and students with special needs how may not otherwise have access to a qualified instructor.

"A new, federally funded project will test students' ability to learn fractions on mobile apps through the theory of "embodied cognition"-or, to put it in non-science speak, manipulating and moving images and information on screens with their fingers."

Related to the Sherry Turkle article we read this week on the impacts of digital addiction on social interactions.

An interesting, critical appraisal of MOOCs' transformative potential by education historian Larry Cuban. Includes some hilarious graphics, in addition to good insights...

DARPA is funding "hackerspaces"--high-tech workshops to give high school students opportunities to explore engineering and learning through creation--at 1,000 U.S. high schools. 

Seems like a cool and useful product for teachers: aggregating the data gathered by the many apps and ed tech tools teachers use in the classroom in a single platform, with data visualization support

The Federal Trade Commission is working on updates to COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) with implications for how children's data can be collected online. Is this an opportunity for a new generation of ed tech to use student data in more comprehensive and smarter ways, or a threat to children's privacy?

An all-too-familiar tale of school districts hailing software as a "silver bullet" and then getting frustrated when student achievement gains didn't live up to expectations--even though teachers implemented it for a tiny fraction of the recommended use time...

Voters in Idaho voted 2:1 to repeal a RTTT-inspired state law that would have brought 1:1 laptop programs to all high schools and required all students to take 2 online or blended courses in order to graduate from high school. The public felt that the law would have "diverted taxpayer dollars to technology corporations and marginalized teachers."

Even with state budget crises, schools are funding the money to purchase tablets through a variety of sources: grant funding, voter-approved ballot measures, reallocation of money that used to go to computer purchases, and reallocating textbook funds. Interestingly, unlike for computers, Apple offers no education discount on the iPad...

"KnowledgeWorks Foundation has just released the third edition of its education forecast, called Forecast 3.0, Recombinant Education: Regenerating the Learning Ecosystem, that outlines the deconstruction of the current education model, a change in educators' roles based on their strengths, changing career pathways, and the role of technology in this realm."

The International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) just released a new report arguing for changes in the metrics used to measure the quality of online learning. Like the Innosight Institute piece we read a few weeks ago advocates, they're advocating a shift from measuring inputs to tracking outcomes and making sure those outcomes are objective.

Related to our design exercise from section this week--check out what new blended learning models caught the eye of the Gates Foundation. "Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC), an initiative dedicated to improving college readiness and completion, today announced grants totaling $5.4 million for 13 new models of personalized, blended learning at the secondary and postsecondary levels."