e-Learning Leadership: 10 Strategies

The 17th annual Educational Technology Leadership Conference will take place this week in Roanoke, Virginia.  The conference is sponsored by Virginia Tech’s Center for Instructional Technology Solutions in Industry and Education.  Given the theme of e-learning leadership, I’ll be leading a conversation about these ten practices:
1.Conversation: lead lots of conversations about the shift to personal digital learning

• Ask your school community what they’re excited about and what they’re concerned about
• Take field trips
• Discuss the Innosight Institute report on Blended Learning

2.Plan the shift

• Pick a date for a shift to predominantly digital instructional materials—the 2014-15 school year is a good choice
• Use adaptive tools to target instructional (e.g, Dreambox, i-Ready)
• Think in phases and leverage teacher leadership
• Consider platform options

3.Encourage BYOD

• Encourage student to bring the devices they have
• Update your Acceptable Use Policy

4.Build Equitable Access

• Read Funding the Shift to Digital Learning
• Allocate $200/student/per to an access device; phase in or lease

5.Phase in Blended Learning

• Read about the rotation model at Rocketship Elementary
• To learn about extending the reach of effective teachers, see Opportunity Culture

6.Expand Online Options

• Pick a capable partner with quality standards-aligned content and the ability to provide teachers in hard to staff subjects
• As the 10 Elements of High Quality Digital Learning suggests, power personalization with weighted, portable funding.

7.Open Flex Options

• Dropout prevention: read how AdvancePath helped Hillary graduate
• Accelerated options: read When Glee Meets FIRST for Coffee and Leaves With an AA

8.Advance Competency-Based Learning

• Build a big gradebook of standards-based evidence of student learning with a mix of computer scored items and teacher observations
• Ask students to show what they know on a periodic basis
• Join the CompetencyWorks community, an iNACOL project

9.Support Teacher Learning

• Help every teacher build a personalized learning plan using Bloomboard
• Provide access to a library of online learning options

10.Modeling

• Get ready for Big Data by reading Data Backpack: Portable Records & Learner Profiles
• Become a social media leader
• Model Common Core learning by reading complex text and writing with evidence