SXSWedu Blended Learning Sessions Not to Miss
Bill Rancic takes a selfie with national finalists of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest at SXSWedu on Monday March 3, 2014, in Austin. (Photo by Jack Dempsey/Invision for Samsung/AP Images)
RCEd Commentary
Significant changes in the classroom are coming as more teachers, schools and entire districts adopt blended learning models. SXSWedu, a festival and conference that hosts stakeholders from various backgrounds in education for sessions and workshops, has a full plate of panels and speakers that focus on these changes. Here are three not-to-be missed panels.
Blended learning models takes the stage Tuesday March 10. Anthony Kim, CEO of Education Elements, Heather Staker, a Senior Research Fellow at The Christensen Institute and Brian Greenberg , CEO of Silicon Schools Fund lead the session.
Since 2010, Kim, a successful education entrepreneur, has advised schools and districts across the country on moving from traditional to blended learning models. Staker, co-author of the recently published Blended: Using Dissruptive Innovation to Improve Schools, is widely recognized for her work identifying and defining different blended learning models. Her analysis of blended learning models is widely sought by policymakers and educators seeking to move to the new classroom ecosystems that support blended learning. The panel also includes Greenberg, co-creator of the Khan Academy MOOC on blended learning.
While blended learning has had its critics, these are three leaders in the movement to hear from, and to call this a powerhouse panel would be selling them short. They know first-hand the classrooms and schools where blended learning models are working and making a difference in student lives.
“Reframing the Student Privacy Debate” is the focus Wednesday March 11, where Chip Slaven, Senior Advocacy Advisor for the Alliance for Excellent Education will take part in a much-needed panel. Data privacy and security are front and center topics thanks to the high-profile breaches of both security and privacy in health care, commerce, entertainment, international affairs and just about every part of our lives.
Policymakers have heard warnings about this since the Social Security Inspector General’s Congressional tesimony in 2001. Aside from privacy and security issues that toppled inBloom, student data use is a central part of blended learning, but use is currently only a small piece of the discussion. President Barack Obama also introduced earlier this year the Student Data Privacy Act, which aims to prevent tech firms from profiting from information collected in schools. Since acceptable collection and use of student data to help teachers improve student outcomes is at the heart of blended learning, this panel is much needed. Multiple stakeholders in education and business involved in education data will join Slaven to discuss the next steps on this issue.
Sal Khan, Founder and Executive Director of Khan Academy, will close out the SXSWedu conference Thursday with a talk on “Education Re-imagined.” Who better to give this speech than a financial analyst-educator-entrepreneur whose vision has already changed the way students learn? While ongoing research seeks to better understand the impact that Khan Academy has on student outcomes, blended learning using Khan Academy is taking place every day in thousands of classrooms, libraries, coffee shop and homes across the world. While hand wringing and naysaying about replacing teachers with technology was dominating yesterday’s debate, Khan showed how technology in a blended learning environment could bring newfound power to the teacher-student relationship.
While significant barriers to implementing blended learning, such as the anachronistic seat-time, still exist, blended learning is already unlocking the potential for students. Today, Khan Academy is a significant part of blended classrooms in the United States and the world. What Khan has to say about tomorrow is certainly worth listening to. See you at SXSWedu this week.
