New Study: Hybrid Innovations Bridge Gap in Blended Learning

Another item from Thursday’s inbox…

Click to view this email in a browser

Dear Michael, I’m pleased to announce that the Clayton Christensen Institute released a study today authored by Clayton Christensen, Heather Staker, and myself introducing a fundamentally new concept into the world of disruptive innovation: the theory of hybrids. Although there continues to be two basic types of innovations—those that sustain the status quo and those that disrupt it—the study outlines how “hybrids” often emerge as a prelude to pure disruption in the category of a sustaining innovation. Using a combination of both old and new technologies, hybrids are evident in a number of industries—cars that use both electric power and gasoline; banks that promote branch locations and online services; and retail stores that augment in-person transactions with robust websites. As our paper describes, hybrids are also apparent in K–12 blended learning. Expanding on our prior research, this new theory allows us to classify the models of blended learning as either disruptive or sustaining, and then outline the implications for education leaders. We hope and anticipate that this analysis will be a useful resource as it helps blended-learning practitioners: 1) decide which strategy is most appropriate given available resources; and 2) anticipate how specific programs will improve student learning outcomes in different ways. As we offer an exciting amendment to the vernacular of disruptive innovation, we hope you’ll take a moment to read the executive summary or download the full report. Best regards, Michael Michael B. Horn Co-founder and Executive Director, Education Clayton Christensen Institute www.christenseninstitute.org #hybridinnovation Join us in transforming public education through disruptive innovation. Donate online at www.christenseninstitute.org/donate.

---

---

Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation
2929 Campus Drive
Suite 410
San Mateo, California 94403-2537
US

DLN White Paper: How Blended Learning Can Improve the Teaching Profession

From this morning’s inbox – more neo-liberal propaganda.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 7, 2013CONTACT: Press Office (850) 391-4090 PressShop@ExcelinEd.org Digital Learning Now! Releases White Paper on How Blended Learning Can Improve the Teaching Profession WASHINGTON – In honor of National Teacher Day, Digital Learning Now! (DLN), a national campaign under the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd), today released the seventh DLN Smart Series interactive paper: “Improving Conditions & Careers: How Blended Learning Can Improve the Teaching Profession.” “It’s important to confront misconceptions about what blended learning means for teachers. With thoughtful policies and purposeful implementation, the shift to blended learning can be a powerful enabler for improving the teaching profession and the success of students,” said John Bailey, executive director of DLN. Technology does not replace educators, but rather empowers teachers and enhances their work. America’s K-12 education professionals could greatly benefit from well-designed blended learning models that provide unprecedented career advancement opportunities, time for collaboration and development, teacher-leadership roles, opportunities to earn higher pay, and job flexibility. The changes available through digital learning have great potential to improve teachers’ working conditions, effectiveness and reach. Authored by Bailey; Bryan Hassel and Emily Ayscue Hassel, Co-Directors at Public Impact; Carri Schneider, director of policy and research at Getting Smart; and Tom Vander Ark, CEO at Getting Smart, “Improving Conditions & Careers” provides policymakers with a vision of blended learning that improves teaching conditions and expands career opportunities for educators. “Personalized, blended learning is the solution to the problem of rising demands on teachers,” said Vander Ark. “Time saved from thoughtful implementation of technology can be reinvested in working with students, growing professionally, collaborating with peers and developing new strengths.” “If blended learning lets great teachers help more students, develop peers, and earn far more, they will show us the way to make digital learning outstanding,” said Bryan Hassel. “Even very small amounts of digital learning make job-embedded development, expanded impact, and much higher pay possible.” “Improving Conditions & Careers” discusses how schools can improve their teachers’ experiences as empowered professionals while extending the reach of great teachers to impact more learners. The paper specifically explores: The implementation of blended learning to “extend the reach” of in-person excellent teachers to more students and to teaching peers; The ability to teach remotely, allowing great teachers to reach students anywhere and to have more flexible careers; and, The opportunity for “boundless instruction” and expanded impact through online sharing of teacher-created content. “This paper and accompanying infographic lay to rest the myth that blended learning is about replacing teachers with technology,” added Schneider. “Blended learning empowers great teachers and creates new opportunities for them to help students succeed.” Released in partnership with Getting Smart, the DLN Smart Series is a collection of interactive white papers aimed at equipping policymakers and education leaders with the necessary tools for transforming education for the digital age. Each paper offers specific guidance regarding the adoption of Common Core State Standards and the shift to personalized digital learning. The first six papers in the series are also available for download: Funding the Shift to Digital Learning: Three Strategies for Funding Sustainable High-Access Environments Data Backpacks: Portable Records & Learner Profiles Getting Ready for Online Assessments The Shift From Cohorts to Competency Blended Learning Implementation Guide Funding Students, Options, and Achievement Use #SmartSeries and #DigLN to join the conversation, or copy and paste the sample tweets below to spread the word. Find DLN on Facebook at facebook.com/DigitalLearningNow or on Twitter at @DigLearningNow. 7th paper in @DigLearningNow #SmartSeries released today: How blended learning can improve the teaching profession http://bit.ly/UT5ozO Catch the 7th #SmartSeries paper from @DigLearningNow discussing how #tech doesn’t replace teachers but empowers them http://bit.ly/UT5ozO * * * * * Digital Learning Now! is a national campaign under ExcelinEd with the goal of advancing state policies that will create a high-quality digital learning environment to better equip all students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in this 21st-century economy. The policy framework stems from the belief that access to high-quality, customized learning experiences should be available to all students, unbounded by geography or artificial policy constraints. Getting Smart™ is an advocacy firm passionate about innovations in learning. We help education organizations construct cohesive and forward-thinking strategies for branding, awareness, advancement and communication, and public and media relations. We are advocates for better K-12 education as well as early, post-secondary and informal learning opportunities for all students. We attempt to accelerate and improve the shift to digital learning. On GettingSmart.com we cover important events, trends, products, books, and reports.

P.O. Box 10691 Tallahassee, FL 32302-2691 T: 850-391-4090 E: info@exelined.org Copyright © 2013 Foundation for Excellence in Education

Next in DLN Smart Series: Funding Students, Options, and Achievement

Another report from the neo-liberals on how best to use K-12 online and blended learning to fund the privatization of public education was released yesterday.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 16, 2013 CONTACT: Press Office (850) 391-4090 PressShop@ExcelinEd.org Next in DLN Smart Series: Funding Students, Options, and Achievement   WASHINGTON – Today, Digital Learning Now! (DLN) released the sixth DLN Smart Series interactive paper with co-authors from Getting Smart. “Funding Students, Options, and Achievement” recognizes the economic realities of “the new normal” faced by states and districts in funding learning and proposes ways to redesign current school finance systems to center on students rather than institutions. “Student-centered systems recognize diverse student needs, allow dollars to follow students to the best learning options, create mechanisms to ensure quality, and foster innovation,” said John Bailey, executive director of DLN. Today’s public education finance systems were created for a bygone era. Consequently, these broken systems are locked in outdated delivery models, stifling innovation in our nation’s public education systems and ignoring the relationship between spending and student learning. We have the technology to connect each student with the schools, courses and instructors best suited to meet his or her individual needs, yet in many states, district lines and funding formulas thwart this progress. “Today’s finance system lacks the flexibility needed to support the flood of educational innovation,” said Tom Vander Ark, founder and chief executive officer of Getting Smart. “Reorienting the system around students will extend equitable student access to high-quality options that have the potential to personalize and customize learning.” Carri Schneider, director of policy and research at Getting Smart, stated, “The implementation of college- and career-ready standards and the shift to personal digital learning have created an unprecedented opportunity to redesign the school finance system to set students free to explore a growing slate of learning options.” “Funding Students, Options, and Achievement” offers practical design principles of a student-centered funding system – tested in policy and in practice on both the state and district level. According to these principles, funding should be weighted (reflecting a student’s individual needs), flexible (keeping funds free from restrictions and program designations), portable (ensuring dollars follow students), and performance-based (rewarding performance and completion). “The extent to which each student will be able to access innovations like digital learning will depend largely on the manner in which public resources are allocated to schools and students,” said Marguerite Roza, school funding expert and technical advisor on the paper. “As state leaders re-examine their finance systems, the current moment provides a key opportunity to look forward and design a system that’s suitable for our students over the next two decades.” The paper concludes that evolution in the nature of teaching and learning precipitates corresponding advancements in the way education is funded. Today’s education policymakers have a unique opportunity. Powered by the growth of digital learning and with the implementation of Common Core State Standards on the horizon, these leaders can redesign current school finance systems and free students to choose the schools, educators and courses that match their needs. Authored by Carri Schneider and Tom Vander Ark of Getting Smart and John Bailey of Digital Learning Now!, the principles within “Funding Students, Options, and Achievement” are designed to assist policymakers as they create student-centered finance systems to represent the changing needs of K-12 students. Education leaders and practitioners in the field are encouraged to submit comments on the draft and engage with the authors through their websites, blogs and social media. Released in partnership with Getting Smart and the Foundation for Excellence in Education, the DLN Smart Series is a collection of interactive white papers aimed at equipping policymakers and education leaders with the necessary tools for transforming education for the digital age. Each paper offers specific guidance regarding the adoption of Common Core State Standards and the shift to personalized digital learning. The first five papers in the series are also available for download: Funding the Shift to Digital Learning: Three Strategies for Funding Sustainable High-Access Environments Data Backpacks: Portable Records & Learner Profiles Getting Ready for Online Assessments The Shift From Cohorts to Competency Blended Learning Implementation Guide Use #SmartSeries and #DigLN to join the conversation, or copy and paste the sample tweets below to spread the word. DLN is also active on Facebook at facebook.com/DigitalLearningNow and Twitter at @DigLearningNow. . @DigLearningNow released 6th paper in #SmartSeries paper for schools & districts http://bit.ly/UT5ozO #DigLN #SchoolFinance Today’s school finance system has a chilling effect on educational innovation. Read more here: http://bit.ly/UT5ozO #SchoolFinance 6th paper in #SmartSeries from @DigLearningNow released today. Find summary, infographic, & full report here: http://bit.ly/UT5ozO #DigLn * * * * * Digital Learning Now! is a national campaign under the Foundation for Excellence in Education with the goal of advancing state policies that will create a high-quality digital learning environment to better equip all students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in this 21st-century economy. The policy framework stems from the belief that access to high-quality, customized learning experiences should be available to all students, unbounded by geography or artificial policy constraints. Getting Smart™ is an advocacy firm passionate about innovations in learning. We help education organizations construct cohesive and forward-thinking strategies for branding, awareness, advancement and communication, and public and media relations. We are advocates for better K-12 education as well as early, post-secondary and informal learning opportunities for all students. We attempt to accelerate and improve the shift to digital learning. On GettingSmart.com we cover important events, trends, products, books, and reports.  # # #

P.O. Box 10691 Tallahassee, FL 32302-2691 T: 850-391-4090 E: info@exelined.org Copyright © 2013 Foundation for Excellence in Education

DLN Releases Comprehensive Guide to Blended Learning

A third item from Tuesday, this time from the neo-liberals…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 6, 2013CONTACT: Jaryn Emhof (850) 391-4090 jaryn@excelined.org Digital Learning Now! Releases Blended Learning Implementation Guide for Schools and Districts WASHINGTON, D.C. – Just in time for Digital Learning Day, Digital Learning Now! (DLN) today released the fifth DLN Smart Series interactive paper with co-authors from Getting Smart and the Learning Accelerator. “Blended Learning Implementation Guide” provides education leaders recommendations for developing and implementing an effective plan to adopt a blended learning model that focuses on accelerating student learning for college and career readiness. “Blended learning has the potential to transform the factory-like structure of our current education system into a new model that is student-centric, highly personalized for each learner, more supportive of teachers, and delivers better results,” said John Bailey, executive director of Digital Learning Now! By harnessing the best of online learning and face-to-face instruction, blended programs can diagnose a student’s strengths and weaknesses, and support differentiated instruction where students can work at a customized level and pace. Teachers are also able to spend less time on routine tasks, like lesson planning and grading daily assignments, and more time working with students either one-on-one or in small groups. The implementation of a blended learning model is not another district initiative, but rather a systematic, phase change in the way that education is delivered. This process requires rethinking the way classes are scheduled, teachers are supported, and instruction is delivered. The paper guides school and district leaders through the process of successfully shifting to a blended learning model with a strategic and comprehensive plan. The newest addition to the Smart Series addresses everything from changes in roles and structures to staffing patterns, budgets and policy matters. The guide is also helpful to those wanting to gain an understanding of the transition that schools will go through in the years ahead. The authors intend to capture and update “Blended Learning Implementation Guide” with best practices as schools make the shift to blended learning. Education leaders and practitioners in the field are encouraged to submit comments on the draft and engage with the authors through their websites, blogs and social media. Upcoming papers will delve into staffing, school finance and online learning. The DLN Smart Series, released in partnership with Getting Smart and the Foundation for Excellence in Education, is a collection of interactive white papers aimed at equipping policymakers and education leaders with the necessary tools for transforming education for the digital age. Each paper offers specific guidance regarding the adoption of Common Core State Standards and the shift to personalized digital learning. The first four papers in the series are available for download: Funding the Shift to Digital Learning: Three Strategies for Funding Sustainable High-Access Environments Data Backpacks: Portable Records & Learner Profiles Getting Ready for Online Assessments The Shift From Cohorts to Competency Join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtags #SmartSeries and #DigLN or use the sample tweets below to spread the word. DLN is also active on Facebook at facebook.com/DigitalLearningNow and Twitter at @DigLearningNow. Check out the 5th @DigLearningNow #SmartSeries released today: http://bit.ly/UT5ozO #SmartSeries 5th paper from @DigLearningNow has been released today! BlendedLearning Implementation Guide: http://bit.ly/UT5ozO @DigLearningNow releases Blended Learning Implementation Guide for Schools and Districts http://bit.ly/UT5ozO #SmartSeries * * * * * Digital Learning Now! is a national campaign under the Foundation for Excellence in Education with the goal of advancing state policies that will create a high-quality digital learning environment to better equip all students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in this 21st-century economy. The policy framework stems from the belief that access to high-quality, customized learning experiences should be available to all students, unbounded by geography or artificial policy constraints. Getting Smart™ is an advocacy firm passionate about innovations in learning. We help education organizations construct cohesive and forward-thinking strategies for branding, awareness, advancement and communication, and public and media relations. We are advocates for better K-12 education as well as early, post-secondary and informal learning opportunities for all students. We attempt to accelerate and improve the shift to digital learning. On GettingSmart.com we cover important events, trends, products, books, and reports.  # # #

P.O. Box 10691 Tallahassee, FL 32302-2691 T: 850-391-4090 E: info@exelined.org Copyright © 2013 Foundation for Excellence in Education

Fourth DLN Smart Series Paper Explores the Move to Competency Education

Starting with the neo-liberal news…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 30, 2013CONTACT: Jaryn Emhof (850) 391-4090 jaryn@excelined.org “The Shift from Cohorts to Competency” An In-Depth Look at Competency-Based Education WASHINGTON, D.C. – Digital Learning Now! (DLN), in partnership with Getting Smart and the Foundation for Excellence in Education, today released the fourth DLN Smart Series interactive paper. “The Shift From Cohorts to Competency” takes a comprehensive look at the overall shift to competency education and the role of technology to help schools meet the college- and career-readiness goals established by the Common Core State Standards. “By leveraging the technology available today and moving toward competency-based education, states have the opportunity to build a new system – one that is customized to each student, focused on student learning and designed to meet Common Core State Standards,” said John Bailey, executive director of Digital Learning Now! This paper discusses the ways in which the shift from cohorts (students grouped by age and grade level) to competency (students moving individually according to demonstrations of proficiency or mastery) can improve student achievement and school performance. The authors discuss 10 new capabilities of a competency-based system, 10 design choices and a number of state policies that support competency education. Moving to a personalized, competency-based system is the logical evolution from the outdated factory model, and is vital to serving the needs of individual students. The current system holds back students who could be excelling while advancing to the next grade students who haven’t yet mastered the fundamental knowledge and skills necessary to succeed at the next level. Together, technology and competency education can open the door to endless possibilities for students. Through an ever-expanding set of tools for customized learning, students can experience different ways to learn and benefit from ongoing opportunities to show what they know, regardless of their individual pace and level of proficiency. Furthermore, competency education has the potential to connect learning to students’ interests, drawing them to a higher order of thinking and a deeper learning – ultimately paving the way to college and career readiness for all. The DLN Smart Series is a collection of interactive white papers aimed at equipping policymakers and education leaders with the necessary tools for transforming education for the digital age. Each paper offers specific guidance regarding the adoption of Common Core State Standards and the shift to personalized digital learning. In 2012, the first three papers in the series were released: Funding the Shift to Digital Learning: Three Strategies for Funding Sustainable High-Access Environments Data Backpacks: Portable Records & Learner Profiles Getting Ready for Online Assessments The next paper, scheduled to be released in early February, will explore blended learning models and implementation. Tell others about the shift to competency: Check out the newest paper in the @DigLearningNow #SmartSeries titled “The Shift from Cohorts to Competency” http://bit.ly/WwBTre 4th paper in #SmartSeries from @DigLearningNow just released! http://bit.ly/WwBTre “We have the opportunity to build a new system!” Check out @DigLearningNow #SmartSeries paper released today http://bit.ly/WwBTre * * * * * Digital Learning Now! is a national campaign under the Foundation for Excellence in Education with the goal of advancing state policies that will create a high-quality digital learning environment to better equip all students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in this 21st-century economy. The policy framework stems from the belief that access to high-quality, customized learning experiences should be available to all students, unbounded by geography or artificial policy constraints. Getting Smart™ is an advocacy firm passionate about innovations in learning. We help education organizations construct cohesive and forward-thinking strategies for branding, awareness, advancement and communication, and public and media relations. We are advocates for better K-12 education as well as early, post-secondary and informal learning opportunities for all students. We attempt to accelerate and improve the shift to digital learning. On GettingSmart.com we cover important events, trends, products, books, and reports.  # # #

P.O. Box 10691 Tallahassee, FL 32302-2691 T: 850-391-4090 E: info@exelined.org Copyright © 2013 Foundation for Excellence in Education