By Dr. Mina Johnson-Glenberg, Chief Learning Officer, SMALLab Learning LLC The phrase “embodied learning” is coming into vogue, but it has different meanings for different stakeholders. For learning scientists, it has a very specific meaning, that is – comprehension and retention are affected by sensory motoric input. At SMALLab Learning we create educational content that taps into embodied learning using the latest advances in motion capture technology. A long research history supports the efficacy of students “doing something” in order to learn it. In experimental psychology such tasks have been called Self Performing Tasks (SPT). For example, one study used three groups. One group merely heard a list of unrelated action phrases (“lift the hat”), one group performed the actions without the object, and one group performed the actions with the object. The participants who performed the action consistently recalled more of the phrases. An accepted theoretical explanation involves the use of motoric codes. A memory trace or ‘‘code’’ is established for the content and adding the motoric component enriches the memory code beyond just... more

Dr. Kenneth Goldberg., the author of The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers, shares with Getting Smart the value of competency-based learning, technology and the flipped classroom model in helping students overcome discouragement and fear of homework to build confidence and learning success in the classroom. Q: Can you explain what you mean by homework-trapped students? A child is homework-trapped when homework becomes an ongoing and unrelenting issue that dominates his home life and his relationships with his parents, in the absence of evidence that progress is being made. The parents are similarly trapped because they fear serious consequences for their child, yet have limited authority to use their own judgment. Being homework trapped can be distinguished from having short lived homework problems. For homework trapped children, standard consequences, such as punishments and low grades, have the undesired effect of increasing, rather than diminishing the child’s resistance. Q: You mentioned that we can alleviate homework trapping with “time bound homework.” Do you think this theory would be consistent with competency-based... more

“We want to harness all the benefits of bricks to really propel student learning … but at the same time we find the lack of really good information about results and accountability really troubling,” said Dr. W.V. Lernen, a co-author of the report and the director of the Center for Study of The Apocryphal Cannon. About one third of all students in brick and mortar schools leave unprepared for college and work. Dr. Lernen finds that disturbing.  “It’s hard to imagine that sitting in brick classrooms for 180 days works well for students, but that appears to be the primary approach,” said Dr. Lernen. Enrollment in U.S. schools using bricks remains steady at more than 50 million students. However, the research on how successful those schools are is mixed, with the majority of research finding higher dropout rates and lower test scores for full-time students than their counterparts in schools where students spend at least a portion of the day online. The study also looked at the confusing way that brick schools are funded. “The... more

The prevailing problem with American high schools is boredom.  Actually, that’s just a symptom of alienation, irrelevance, and infantilization.  A disconnected string of classes—some too hard, some too easy—appears to most teens to have little to do with life.  And, they are right. But there is a solution, or at least some inspiration at “Maker Faire” running this weekend in San Mateo.  It’s a “festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement.” What if, instead of going to class, students planted a garden, started a business, conducted an experiment, produced a video, or wrote a book? “What about stuff they need to learn to produce high quality products?” you might ask?  That’s where playlists come in.   School of One introduced us to the idea of a customized playlist for every student.  Advances in predictive algorithms and adaptive curriculum (some cool adaptive math products were featured yesterday) makes it possible to imagine a learning day that is a mixture of playlists and production. That’s how blended learning should work—a combination of personal... more

Clayton Christensen’s Disrupting Class was the most recent pick for the Knewton book club. In this groundbreaking book, Christensen, a Harvard Business School professor and expert on innovation, describes a world in which continuous assessment unleashes a range of productive possibilities for education: “When students learn through student-centric online technology, testing doesn’t have to be postponed until the end of an instructional module and then administered in a batch mode. Rather, we can verify mastery continually to create tight, closed feedback loops. Misunderstandings do not have to persist for weeks until the exam has been administered and the instructor has had time to grade every student’s test.” Having worked to create Knewton Math Readiness, an adaptive course which is built on the Knewton Adaptive Learning platform and which evaluates students continuously in order to deliver personalized learning paths, I have some firsthand experience with the power and potential of continuous assessment. As computerized systems enable us to deliver continuous assessments to students, I envision a world in which we will be able to provide the... more

What’s the single biggest indicator of lifetime outcomes and success, as early as age three? (I’ll give you a few hints. It’s not IQ. It’s not socioeconomic status. Give up yet?) It’s self control – and a whole slew of other behavioral management skills. “Self control is the single biggest predictor of lifetime outcomes beyond IQ. And yet, we don’t do much about building it,” says Sam Chaudhary, Co-founder of ClassDojo. “Our education system focuses intensively on measuring content and concepts. We leave it to exceptional teachers to go beyond those to building character and self-control – we don’t really provide many tools that help them build this, the single biggest predictor of lifetime success.” Palo Alto startup ClassDojo, led by co-founders Sam Chaudhary and Liam Don, set out last June to do just that – deliver an effective way to measure and improve behavioral management and emotional intelligence daily in the classroom with an easy-to-use tech platform. The duo kicked off with initial funding from ImagineK12, a startup incubator, and delivered their first version... more

At the Oklahoma Digital Learning Summit last week, an Oklahoma STEM specialist asked me what math products I liked and I mentioned the following: Elementary Math i-Ready.com from Curriculum Associates, is a great K-8 adaptive assessment with engaging content. Dreambox.com is a K-3 game-based adaptive math product. ST Math from MIND Research Institute is a visual game-based approach used with great results in over 1,200 schools; ST Math is now available on iPad. They are launching their Seattle Math Initiative this Wednesday. Middle Grade Math Mangahigh.com is a games-based online math resource that hosts some 70 million math questions answered per month.  Check out Tangled Web—a complementary angles game or watch a video. ReasoningMind.com, based on the Russian curriculum with a pretty good adaptive engine and a lot of support from the Hoglund Foundation. Open Secondary Math CK12.com, famous for dozens of free math and science textbooks, is now an OER object library.   FlexMath.org is becoming a very cool adaptive product—stay tuned for more. Hippocampus has solid high school math and science content.  NROCmath.org previews... more

While the Obama administration challenges schools to embrace digital textbooks, the University of Phoenix, which has been ahead of the curve for nearly a decade, models ways that institutions can license and provide affordable digital textbooks to its students. The university currently has about 1,800 textbooks licensed by its students from four of the world’s largest publishers, including Pearson, McGraw-Hill, John Wiley & Sons, and Cengage. David Bickford, the Vice President of Academic Affairs for University of Phoenix, joins us today to discuss the challenges, benefits, and method behind its digital textbook program. Q:  When did you first make the decision to switch to digital textbooks? What motivated this switch? We began discussing the transition in 2001, and completed the transition over the next few years. As our population of learners grew, we were looking for ways to solve the logistical problems inherent in shipping physical books and course materials to students and faculty around the world. Digital content allowed us to level the playing field, ensuring that all members of our academic community would enjoy... more

The Globe Gazette reported that Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad is expected to sign a watered down ham-handed education bill “even though he and Department of Education Director Jason Glass agree it falls short of what they wanted.” The Iowa legislative session ended with watered down education reform bill passing.  The bill lacked most of the Gov’s requested reforms including a mandatory college entrance exam, expansion of charter schools, alternative certification, and a prohibition against using seniority in layoffs. Two virtual schools are allowed to open with significant restrictions including: 900 student statewide enrollment cap Additional cap not allowing more than 1% of a districts’ total enrollment to enroll in a virtual school. Sunsetting both virtual schools after three years. After three years, not allowing students to open enroll in virtual schools. A taskforce to study and make recommendations for state board rules. These provisions obviously have nothing to do with what’s good for students and everything to do with protecting school district budgets.  It’s embarrassing that Branstad would even consider signing a ridiculous set of... more

My grandmother consistently lived her beliefs, you could hear it and see it, under any circumstance, in any setting.  She was kind to everyone she met, never spoke a cross word, didn’t exceed the speed limit, and would not go in a door marked “Exit.”  She dressed up for and was as kind to her hairdresser as she would be on a visit to the Queen of England.  Unpretentious and humble, she put her faith into practice – consistently.  She had integrity. What would that kind of integrity look like on the job?  I think there are three components: honesty, delivery, and consistency. Honesty: introspective honesty with self, courageous honesty with others, intellectual honesty with the world. Integrity puts honesty into practice.  Honesty is talking about it; integrity is doing the right things, and doing them consistently. Delivery: delivering as promised and promising what you can deliver.  I have sweat shirt that author Jim Kouses gave me says DWYSYWD, which stands for “do what you say you will do.”  I could use one for every... more