Eb81023 Application Simulation

This on Wednesday I participated in two highly engaging meetingsi. Greater Arizona eLearningi Assoc. (GAZeL) had a well attended luncheon meeting at one of world’s largest eLearning enterprises: Pearson in Chandler. Their presentation was on their Learning Management System roadmap and their K-12 simulation-formative assessmenti applications for math and reading. Whether used for credit recovery or core curriculum the students readily engaged until they mastered the subject.

Two hours later I as at the Arizona Department of Education in the Arizona Technology Assoc. (ATC) STEM Workforce – P20 Policy Subcommittee. We had a powerful presentation by Milt Ericson Deputy Assoc., Superintendent for Career and Technical Education. CET is a major operation in Arizona with about 45% of Arizona high school students enrolled in one or more subjects. CTE “Concentrators” who take two years of subject past AIMS at rate over 90% while the average student past rate is 50%. I believe the reason is that CTE is focused on applied education while still incorporating same curriculum elements as the academic track. We found in the 1970’s that programs like CET when applied to special groups (in our case gifted and talented) increased high school completion from 50% to close to 100% for the top 3%.

As we go round and round on our K-12 education discussion we must realized two things. With all the good ideas new programs since the late 1970’s our high school completion rates have remained flat. Students are less likely to graduate than parents. www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27336656/ . Contrary to this article, it is not the state level goals that are the issue. At issue is  two other critical areas.

Issue One: is student motivation. We cannot change demographis, lack of effective parenting or peer pressure but we can change what happens with content in the classroom. Applied curriculum instead of academic curriculum will go long way to attract long hours from students with interesting and effective tasks. Simulation and formative assessments will provide a second means to individualize learning, an absolute request for mastery learning.

 Issue Two: is the learning ecosystem. Physical, intellectual, regulatory and human infrastructure is stuck in the 1980’s. We need broadbandi pipes into each school and every home because they are the venues for K-12 learning. We need low cost portable computer-internet interfaces for all students. We need to spend $150 per year per student on digital curriculum as books fade into a narrow niche. We need to transform the teaching methods and equipment of teachers to capitalize on the efficiency and effectiveness of emerging digital classroom and virtual learning. The incrementally evolved patchwork of  school law in Arizona Title 15 must be transformed to a new system of policy to last 100 years. We need to increase our use of data ten fold, with most being applied in real time as formative assessment to the individual student. We need student teachers entering pre-service education from high school with 12 years of math, science, engineering and technology. These freshmen must be prepared to learn to teach STEM in the context of 21^st Century Skills to establish a virtuous cycle.  

 We really are desperate. Moving the deck chairs will not stop ship from sinking. We must start now with transformational policy and scrambling investments. In a few years as the economy picks up Arizona’s transformationi will be a tipping point, really for roll out 1:1 to our 1.1 million students.