Education Innovations

Last year saw a series of activity In support of personalized learning fresh school designs, and fresh approaches to K-12 instruction policy. Looking ahead, schooling innovators have their job cut out for them in 2018. A number of the work necessitates asking hard questions. Some require admitting that there’s an elephant in the room. And a few requires looking beyond our current talk to where the next waves of invention stand to emerge. 

Here are five ways I’m expecting the K-12 schooling invention agenda to move forward in 2018: Unpack just-in time supports. Among the core components of a top quality competency based model is pupils receiving just-in time supports. These same supports appear to be implied when supporters of personalized learning involve tailored learning pathways and experiences which resemble those of high-end tutoring models. However we often lack a clear, systematic means to speak about what these supports are and aren’t. 

What does learning science tell us about the best approaches? Wherein cases should these supports result from students looking for help themselves? And once should teachers scaffold them? Put simply, how can we infuse the idea of just-in time affirms having an understanding of exactly what works, for which pupils, wherein the situation? I fear that without getting deep into these educational innovations and starting to categorize them in clean ways, structural inventions to rethink unlock and time customized, competency based progressions will risk falling level. This year I will keep an eye on efforts like TLAs Practices portfolio and Digital Promises Learner Positioning Systems for clearer answers. 

Stop debating technology, begin debating constructivism and behaviorism. The simmering edtech debate is beginning to boil over. Commentators are stuck arguing whether technology is bad or good, whether customized learning is synonymous with having robot teachers or high touch teaching, whether technology is under research or offers a high payoff. They risk entrenching different camps in their emotions about the form a tool takes as opposed to its function. This year Ill keep following leaders such as Larry Cuban who’ve become more vocal about it distinction. Revisit accountability. And after that revisit it again. Unpacking those pedagogical tensions will unavoidably require a hard look at current liability regimes and the sorts of educational versions which high stakes testing tends to encourage. 

Where does the accountability conversation stand today? State ESSA plans are turned in, which theoretically makes 2018 the time to concentrate on implementation. But if the system stands to become more student centered, finalized ESSA plans mark the beginning, not the end, of R&D efforts in accountability and assessment. Where can we look to move which talk forward? This year, the federal Innovative Assessment Pilot provides one obvious starting point for this talk to evolve. These new approaches might just offer the opportunity to truly reinvent governance and accountability from the ground up. Start speaking about student networks. Well probably be hearing a lot about networks the coming year.