I had a delightful chat yesterday with Tim Magner, Deputy Director of Educational Technology in the US Department of Education. Like his predecessor we are aligned in our thinking that when dealing with educational technology (eLearningi [0]) transformationi [0] of K-12 education into a 21st century model. Systems thinking, school/district implementation and planning leading to design is the only way to go. To this end, the US Department of Education has created a conversation initiative to move the school and school district administrators into a visioning process with their communityi [0]: School 2.0. The foundation of this creative systems process is the learning ecosystem. Arizona policy makers first addressed K-12 learning ecology systems in 2005 in the Governor’s Council on Innovation and Technology education sub committee. More on that later.
Information on is available on www.school2-0.org/ [1] .Schools, districts and communities are asked to use this brainstorming tool within a “big picture” perspective.
The technology model leads with Applications, Interoperable Date, Network and then Devices. The comprehensive Applications definition is comprehensive. The main difference is emphasis. The nexus of the eSATSi [1] design is digital curriculum and teacher professional development that directly enhances the student minute-by-minute learning. School2-0 spreads digital curriculum within 10 definitions under Applications and teacher professional development is barely addressed. The school as the transformation unit of is right on target. The need for state level intellectual and broadbandi [1] infrastructure is implied.
All in all an excellent conversation resource for a school and district focused initiative for classroom eLearning adoption.