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"The biggest problem in American secondary schools may be boredom. What American youth need more then anything is opportunity to discover their passions and unleash them into the world. The Future Project, a NYC-based startup, is addressing this challenge by mobilizing an army-the Future Corps-to help American high school students find and begin working toward their dream."

Could be the next step for ELOs?! Starting to think about how I could present a proposal to collaborate with Castleton and/or Middlebury on developing similar project.

"MIT will make the MITx open learning software available free of cost, so that others ... such as K-12 school systems - can leverage the same software for their online education offerings.

I've used pieces of MIT's open courseware in the past for student ELOs. This could make that work very simple. The platform will be free. Plus, for what they say will be a "modest fee" they will grant a "certificate of completion" to students who demonstrate mastery of the subject.

FAQ's about MITx - http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/mitx-faq-1219

"Like diplomas, credentialing is a market signalling activity -- credentials tell the world what you know and can do. With all of the new learning options, it is becoming more important to have widely recognized means to show what you know and can do."

This is the evolution of education. Certificates of Focus, online learning, competency-based learning, internships, ELOs...the signs are everywhere. It is just going to take a school with the guts to blow up the system and make real and deep changes.

That's how blended learning should work-a combination of personal digital learning and community connected, team-based, production-focused, authentic, engaging, and relevant activities.  At Maker High, students would publish rather than 'turn it in'.  They would demonstrate mastery rather than finishing a class.

Service-Learning can… 1. Improve character values and responsible behavior. 2. Improve academic outcomes for students. 3. Promote a sense of connectedness to the school and the community 4. Promote social-emotional skills. 5. Promote civic participation.

"…service-learning inherently teaches the kind of thinking skills and knowledge application necessary for success outside academia. Student products of service-learning, including comprehensive projects and analytic journals, require demonstration of critical thinking and problem solving skills in multiple contexts. In addition, service-learning often provides the right balance of challenge and support to foster intellectual growth and development (Eyler & Giles, 1999)."

Improved Academic Achievement Improved Student Engagement Enhanced Civic Engagement and Citizenship Enhanced Personal and Social Skills

"Service-learning can help students improve their standardized test scores because it makes learning interesting and real - in a word - exciting. Research has shown that involvement in quality service-learning projects makes students more engaged in the classroom, less likely to skip class, more apt to discuss school outside of the classroom, and understand the importance of hard work (Morgan and Streb, 1999; Melchior, 1998)."

"Beyond the young people the organizations directly involve, community-based service-learning benefits the people served, their communities, and, ultimately, society..."

"...research indicates that service learning can: *increase students' personal, interpersonal and social development (Billig 2000) *increase motivation, student engagement, and school attendance (Billig 2000) *and, lead to new perspectives and more "positive lifestyle choices and behavior." (Civic Literacy Project 2005)"

"...research demonstrates service-learning's success as a youth engagement tool. It enhances students' sense of self-efficacy, improves self-esteem, and decreases their likelihood to engage in at-risk behavior. Service-learning has the potential to improve attendance. -percent of students at low-performing schools said their feelings would be more positive if they were engaged in service-learning at school."

"Principals report that service-learning has a positive impact on teacher satisfaction, school climate, academic achievement, and school engagement."

"The perceived 'soft' service component actually raises the learning challenge in a course. Service-learning students must not only master academic material as in traditional courses, but also learn how to learn from unstructured and ill-structured community experiences..."