Personalized Learning, Backpacks Full of Cash, Rockstar Teachers, and MOOC Madness http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2013/05/reich * The Intersection of Technology, Free-Market Ideology, and Media Hype in U.S. Education Reform with Justin Reich, Berkman Center Fellow* Today, 6.30 pm Webcast live: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/webcast http://nexa.polito.it/berkman-webcast-live For decades, policymakers and futurists have heralded digital tools as essential to the the future of learning. Has the moment of disruptive transformational revolution finally arrived? If we are at a watershed moment, what futures are available to us? Researchers are developing new methods to leverage big data for personalized learning systems. Free-market advocates are envisioning how online learning could let students use vouchers not only to buy whole school experiences, but to buy individual courses from multiple vendors. Most radical of all, technologists and policymakers are exploring ways of using technology to "unbundle teaching", to create a suite of new roles in schools from rockstar teachers to full-time remote classroom observers, much as health care has shifted from the general practitioner to teams comprised of a few surgeons and many orderlies. In this luncheon presentation we'll explore the different futures made possible by these digital tools, and examine the political and civic implications of transforming schools and learning with networked technologies. About Justin Justin Reich is an educational researcher interested in the future of learning in a networked world. Currently, he is a Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, a visiting lecturer at MIT, and the director of online community, research, and practice at Facing History and Ourselves. Justin is the co-founder of EdTechTeacher, a professional learning consultancy devoted to helping teachers leverage technology to create student-centered, inquiry-based learning environments. He earned his doctorate from Harvard University, where he led the Distributed Collaborative Learning Communities project, a Hewlett Foundation funded initiative to examine how social media are used in K-12 classrooms. He writes the EdTechResearcher blog for Education Week, and his writings have appeared in Educational Researcher, the Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, and other publications. Links * The Yoking of Virtual Schools and Market-Based Reforms <http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/edtechresearcher/2012/09/the_yoking_of_virtua...> * Battling over the Meaning of Personalization <http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/edtechresearcher/2012/06/battling_over_the_me...>
