ALEC Digital Learning Now!

Digital Learning Now!
BY DAVE MYSLINSKI
As technology becomes similarly integrated into education, we
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will have a flood of data and will be able to track a student's progress, and more importantly, be able to anticipate problems and correct them before a student is stuck with a knowledge gap. The technology becomes a tool for the teacher to more efficiently and effectively help the student. Another key benefit to customizing instruction for each student is the ability [0 push each one at an appropriate pace while keeping them constantly engaged. Lack of student engagement and the subsequent boredom in a traditional classroom is a large driver of students dropping out of school. While we don't know what the future classroom will look like, we do know the classroom of the 20th century is unsustainable for the 21st century economy. The 10 Elements of High Quality Digital Lea17ling will free educators to match the right education style with each student, and will help ensure all students can reach their full potential.
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e have before us a question. And it's not a question of if more technology will move into our country's classrooms, but of when and how. As the vast majority of states move toward implementing online assessments by the 2014-2015 school year, state . legislators are in the middle of a brief window to ensure the right policies are in place that allow access to high-quality digital learning for. every student. Broadly, "access" means ensuring all students are able to utilize high-quality online content, have access to a high-speed lnternet connection and are able to use Internet-access devices, which include laptops, tablets, and even smart phones. Instead of our current practices of shutting out technology from education, we need to look at policies that allow students to seamlessly move from their personal lives to their school lives. In collaboration with education and business leaders and technology innovators, Digital Learning Now! developed the 10 Elements of High Quality Digital Lea17ling to provide a comprehensive framework of state-level policies designed to advance meaningful and thoughtful integration of technology into K-12 public education. These 10 Elements were recognized in ALEC's Resolution Supporting the 10 Elements of High Quality Digital Learning in 2011. The 10 Elements are a guide for state policyrnakers to frame how states can best integrate technology into classrooms. As we move forward, we need to remind ourselves why we need digital learning: Properly implemented digital learning will allow parents and teachers to customize a high-quality education experience for each and every student. After all, we oftentimes get caught up in the process of what we're doing and overlook the foundational purpose. The main goal of digital learning-and of all education reform-is to ensure every child in America has the opportunity to succeed. The future of education is the "blending" of the best of traditional face-to-face instruction with powerful new tools, content, and services provided by technology. These are classrooms where technology becomes a learning tool-not a distraction. And these are classrooms where teachers are empowered to provide more individualized instruction and better leverage their time-a scarce resource given the demands placed on todays teachers. In many ways-good and bad-education and health care are similar fields. They are both highly regulated and fragmented. They also received significant public subsidies and provide services difficult to measure in terms of specific outcomes. However, healthcare is far more advanced in its use of technology to improve patient care and electronic medical records to improve quality, lower costs, and increase coordination among providers. Doctors have embraced technology and their outcomes (patient health) are reaping the benefits. As teachers embrace technology, their outcomes (student learning) will see a similar improvement.
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10 Elements of High Quality Digital Learning

1. Student Access:All students are digital learners. 2. Barriers to Access:All students have accessto high quality digital learning. 3. Personalized Learning: All students can use digital learning to customize their education. 4. Advancement: All students progress based on demonstrated competency. 5. Quality Content: Digital content and courses are high quality. 6. Quality Instruction: Digital instruction is high quality. 7. Quality Choices: All students have accessto multiple high quality digital providers. 8. Assessment and Accountability: Student learning is the metric for evaluating the quality of content and instruction. 9. Funding: Funding creates incentives for performance, options and innovation. 10. Infrastructure: Infrastructure supports digital learning.
DAVE MYSLINSKI is the State Policy Director of Digital Learning Now! at the Foundation for Excellence in Education. He can be reached at [email protected].
Inside ALEC I January / February 2013 27

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Digital Learning Now!

As technology becomes similarly integrated into education, we

10 Elements of High Quality Digital Learning

Inside ALEC I January / February 2013 27

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