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Today's hyper-connected students live in a world of instant interpersonal communications and virtually infinite access to information and educational resources. But this networked world, and the powerful learning tools it offers, has yet to penetrate the typical classroom. In many ways educational institutions are spinning their curricular wheels, falling behind the evolving needs of students, communities and future employers. In general, schools are not taking full advantage of 21st century learning technologies, and they are failing to reach out to the public- and private-sector organizations that can provide them with support and fresh approaches. In this article, the author advocates for an educational transformation that aligns the "how" and "what" of learning with the learners themselves and the world of work that awaits them after they leave school. That means: (1) Instruction must be synchronized more closely with the ways students live and interact outside the classroom; (2) Curricula must address the soft skills required in today's global, information-driven workforce; (3) Technology and pedagogy must be better integrated; and (4) Educational institutions must look for partners that can add to their pedagogical strengths and help shore up their weaknesses. Networking in all its forms is key to bringing about such a transformation. The author describes the Cisco Networking Academy, an educational program that has partnered with a broad range of organizations worldwide to create an e-learning environment aimed specifically at 21st century students and their instructional needs.

Descriptors: Educational Technology, Partnerships in Education, School Business Relationship, Program Descriptions, Secondary Education, Postsecondary Education, Job Training, Technical Education, Education Work Relationship, Relevance (Education), Educational Improvement, Alignment (Education), Computer Networks, Computer System Design, Computer Science Education, Technical Occupations, Technology Education, Curriculum Development

Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE). 1410 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. Tel: 800-826-9972; Tel: 703-683-3111; Fax: 703-683-7424; Web site: http://www.acteonline.org

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ERIC - EJ829507 - Transforming the Classroom for Collaborative Learning in the 21st Century, Techniques: Connecting Education and Careers (J1), 2009-Jan

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Today's hyper-connected students live in a world of instant interpersonal communications and virtually infinite access to information and educational resources. But this networked world, and the powerful learning tools it offers, has yet to penetrate the typical classroom. In many ways educational institutions are spinning their curricular wheels, falling behind the evolving needs of students, communities and future employers.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Potential of Using iPad as a Supplement to Teach Math to Students with Learning Disabilities

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Technology hindering teacher-student relationship building in a face-to-face manner

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Technology hindering teacher-student relationship building in a face-to-face manner

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Technology has become part of the educational process, but too often it is separate and not integrated into the learning experience.Today, Education World offers easy and painless ways to integrate technology into your daily routine. Included: Nineteen activities and nearly 50 Web sites.
Integrating technology into the curriculum is a priority -- if not a mandate -- in most schools today. Most educational technology experts agree, however, that technology should be integrated, not as a separate subject or as a once-in-a-while project, but as a tool to promote and extend student learning on a daily basis. The challenge, of course, is in finding ways to use technology -- and to help students use it -- that don't take time away from core subjects.

For many teachers, a lack of personal experience with technology presents an additional challenge. In order to incorporate technology-based activities and projects into their curriculum, those teachers first must find the time to learn to use the tools and understand the terminology necessary for participation in those projects or activities.

Used properly, however, technology can be a tool for teachers as well as for students. To help teachers new to technology gain experience in using it, and to help tech savvy teachers incorporate technology more fully into their daily routines, Education World offers the following easy ways in which you can seamlessly integrate technology into your daily and weekly classroom routines.

1. Include URLs in your monthly calendar.
Each month, Education World provides a printable and editable coloring calendar for classroom use. Before distributing copies of the calendar to your students, add the URLs of a few sites that will add to their understanding of the months events -- and encourage them to visit those sites. TheSeptember calendar, for example, might offer links to sites about Labor Day, Grandparents' Day, and Hispanic Heritage Month. (A kid-friendly search engine such as Yahoo Kids will help you locate appropriate sites.)

2. Challenge students with online mathematics problems.
Add a daily or weekly mathematics challenge to your seatwork assignments, math lessons, or extra credit activities. The Math ForumsMath Problem of the Week offers word problems in five categories -- math fundamentals, pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, and pre-calculus. The AIMS Puzzle Corner provides more than 100 math-related puzzles appropriate for students in upper elementary grades and middle school. Most include printable worksheets. Aunty Math's Math Challenges for K-5 Learners offers biweekly word problems for younger students, while high school students will enjoy the news-related math problems at Math Counts. Dont like todays problem? Not to worry! Most of the sites listed also include extensive archives. If you teach grades 3-8, extend your students online math experience and encourage them to match wits with students around the world by participating in the Abacus International Math Challenge.

3. Introduce a word of the day.
Extend students vocabulary by including an online word of the day in opening activities, seatwork assignments, or language arts lessons. The Daily Buzzword atWord Central provides a word of the day and related activity appropriate for upper elementary students. Vocabulary Builder offers words and definitions for students in grades 4-6 and grades 6-9. The words and definitions at A Word a Day and Word of the Day are best for students in middle and high school.

4. Keep them spelling.
Spelling is not a subject that should die in elementary school. Prove it to your middle and high school students by adding spelling to language arts lessons or extra credit assignments. Spelling lists can be found atSpellingcity.com.

5. Make history real.
For many kids, history is only a subject in a book; one that's unrelated to real people, real events, or todays news. Personalize history lessons for those students by beginning each history lesson with a quick visit toToday in History or This Day in History.

6. Make the news a learning tool.
Help students better understand current events and connect todays news to their own lives by encouraging them to further explore the issues of the day.How Stuff Works also is an extensive site with information on a vast number of topics. Today's students, for example, might want to learn How Stinger Missiles Work, How Stem Cells Work, or How Hybrid Cars Work.

7. Keep 'em guessing!
It's Friday afternoon and most students have their eyes on the clock and their minds on a weekend of freedom. If you have access to enough computers that students can work individually or in small groups, try to keep the learning going with some stimulating online games. Solving the problems atMystery Net generally demands more logic than Math. That sites features include Get-a-Clue, a daily mystery appropriate for younger students; See-n-Solve, a weekly mystery featuring USA TV's Detective Monk; and Solve-it!, a monthly mystery in which students read a mystery and then solve the crime. The latter two activities are best for older students. Or, simply reward students for a week of hard work by allowing them a few minutes to play some of the online Logic Games at SuperKids. Games include Battleship, checkers, tic-tac-toe, BreakOut, and more.

Article by Linda Starr
Education World®
Copyright © Education World

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Integrating Tech: More Than Just Having Computers | Education World

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Technology has become part of the educational process, but too often it is separate and not integrated into the learning experience.Today, Education World offers easy and painless ways to integrate technology into your daily routine. Included: Nineteen activities and nearly 50 Web sites.

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Teacher willingness
Teacher attitude and knowledge
21st Century skills needed
Flipped Classroom benefit
Curriculum is easily differentiated.

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Today's students need educators to re-envision the role of technology in the classroom. by Nancye Blair Principal, January/February 2012 Web Resources A dramatic shift is sweeping through our schools. The signs are all around us. Third graders texting on their cell phones. Kindergarteners who can navigate an iPod Touch better than we can.

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Technology has the power to transform how people learn - but walk into some classrooms and you could be forgiven for thinking you were entering a time warp.

There will probably be a whiteboard instead of the traditional blackboard, and the children may be using laptops or tablets, but plenty of textbooks, pens and photocopied sheets are still likely.

And perhaps most strikingly, all desks will face forwards, with the teacher at the front.

The curriculum and theory have changed little since Victorian times, according to the educationalist and author Marc Prensky.

"The world needs a new curriculum," he said at the recent Bett show, a conference dedicated to technology in education. "We have to rethink the 19th Century curriculum."

Most of the education products on the market are just aids to teach the existing curriculum, he says, based on the false assumption "we need to teach better what we teach today".

He feels a whole new core of subjects is needed, focusing on the skills that will equip today's learners for tomorrow's world of work. These include problem-solving, creative thinking and collaboration.

'Flipped' classrooms

One of the biggest problems with radically changing centuries-old pedagogical methods is that no generation of parents wants their children to be the guinea pigs.

Mr Prensky he thinks we have little choice, however: "We are living in an age of accelerating change. We have to experiment and figure out what works."

"We are at the ground floor of a new world full of imagination, creativity, innovation and digital wisdom. We are going to have to create the education of the future because it doesn't exist anywhere today."

He might be wrong there. Change is already afoot to disrupt the traditional classroom.

The "flipped" classroom - the idea of inverting traditional teaching methods by delivering instructions online outside of the classroom and using the time in school as the place to do homework - has gained in popularity in US schools.

The teacher's role becomes one of a guide, while students watch lectures at home at their own pace, communicating with classmates and teachers online.

Salman Khan is one of the leading advocates of "flipped" classrooms, having first posted tutorials in maths for his young cousins on YouTube in 2004.

Their huge popularity led to the creation of the not-for-profit Khan Academy, offering educational videos with complete curricula in maths and other subjects.

The project has caught the eye of the US Department of Education, which is currently running a $3m (£1.9m) trial to gauge the effectiveness of the method. Now the idea has reached the UK.

Teachers 'surprised'

Mohammed Telbany heads the IT department at Sudbury Primary School in Suffolk. He has been experimenting with the "flipped" classroom and recently expanded it to other lessons.

"The teachers facilitate, rather than standing in front of the children telling them what to do, and the children just come in and get on with what they are doing," he says.

"It has surprised the teachers that the kids can excel on their own, with minimal teaching intervention."

In the developing world where, according to some estimates, up to 57 million children are unable to attend primary school, the idea of children learning without much adult intervention is a necessity not a luxury.

Prof Sugata Mitra, from Newcastle University, has been experimenting with self-learning since his famous hole-in-the-wall computer experiments in the slums of Delhi in 1999.

He was amazed at how quickly the children learned how to use the machines with no adult supervision or advice.

From that was born the idea of " cloud grannies" - retired professionals from the UK, mentoring groups of children in India via Skype.

He won the $1m Ted prize in 2013 to build a series of self-organising learning environments in both the UK and India.

In January he completed the last of seven such units - a striking solar-powered glass building amid the lush vegetation of the village of Gocharan in West Bengal.

There will be no teachers and up to 40 children can participate when it suits them. They will have the internet at their disposal and will work in small groups. E-mediators will mentor the children via Skype.

Dr Suneeta Kulkarni, research director of the School in the Cloud project, said children would "engage in a variety of activities that are driven by their interest and curiosity", with games typically tried first.

The children will also be asked "big questions" that they can answer online.

"At yet other times these questions emerge from what the children 'wonder' about. It is also where the grannies or e-mediators are expected to play a significant role," she said.

Classroom games

When Canadian teacher and computer programmer Shawn Young wanted to spruce up his lessons, his first thought was gaming.

It was a platform many of his students were familiar with and something that was proven to engage children.

But it also had a bad reputation in teaching circles - thought to be too violent, addictive and without educational merit.

Some early attempts to integrate educational content within games failed. But what makes Classcraft different is that it is not about content - it is more a behaviour-management and motivation tool.

"The teacher teaches as normal. Teachers can offer pupils points for good behaviour, asking questions, or working well in their teams and it gives them access to real life powers," Mr Young says.

Those powers are decided by the teachers and may include handing in homework a day late.

There are also penalties for those not concentrating in class, turning up late or being disruptive.

Children play the game in teams, which means a lost point affects the entire group, and encourages them to work together.

"It is being used in a school in Texas which has a mix of white, Mexican and Afro-Americans. They would never normally speak to each other," said Mr Young.

Teachers using the system - some 100,000 have signed up since it launched in August - have noted not just better interaction between pupils, but better classroom engagement and motivation.

"As in other games there are sometimes random events, which could be something like everyone having to speak like a pirate for the day or the teacher having to sing a song in class. The kids love it."

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Technology has the power to transform how people learn - but walk into some classrooms and you could be forgiven for thinking you were entering a time warp. There will probably be a whiteboard instead of the traditional blackboard, and the children may be using laptops or tablets, but plenty of textbooks, pens and photocopied sheets are still likely.

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Studies show that students succeed with digital learning, but making the transition from text book to tablet has its challenges.

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Teachers’ attitudes and experience with technology (O’Hanlon, 2009), teachers’ technical skills (Ertmer, 1999) and teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs about technology use

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What Is Successful Technology Integration?

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Well-integrated use of technology resources by thoroughly trained teachers makes twenty-first-century learning possible. From our Technology Integration Professional Development Guide.

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Opinion of technology interfering with education. 

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Opinion of technology interfering with education. 

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Does Technology Belong in Classroom Instruction?

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Lisa Nielsen of the New York City Department of Education says teachers can use technology in the classroom to expand students' horizons. José Antonio Bowen of Goucher Colleges says it often interferes with teaching children how to think.

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"Studentsregularly noted the significance of technologyin contributing to more diversified and engaginglearning."

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"Studentsregularly noted the significance of technologyin contributing to more diversified and engaginglearning."

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"Teachers and students in our study made it clear
that technology-rich curriculum can be active and
purposeful, challenging and relevant, and creative
and individualized. Students consistently regarded
technology as engaging and beneficial to their
learning."

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Implementing technology in the classroom to improve student engagement.

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ERIC - The Intersection between 1:1 Laptop Implementation and the Characteristics of Effective Middle Level Schools, RMLE Online: Research in Middle Level Education, 2015

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The number of middle level schools adopting 1:1 laptop programs has increased considerably during the past decade (e.g., Lowther, Strahl, Inan, & Bates, 2007; Storz & Hoffman, 2013; Texas Center for Educational Research, 2009). The cornerstone practices of the middle school concept (National Middle School Association, 2010), therefore, often serve as the backdrop for 1:1 implementation.

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Technology is everywhere in education: Public schools in the United States now provide at least one computer for every five students. They spend more than $3 billion per year on digital content. Led by the federal government, the country is in the midst of a massive effort to make affordable high-speed Internet and free online teaching resources available to even the most rural and remote schools. And in 2015-16, for the first time, more state standardized tests for the elementary and middle grades will be administered via technology than by paper and pencil.

To keep up with what's changing (and what isn't), observers must know where to look.

There's the booming ed-tech industry, with corporate titans and small startups alike vying for a slice of an $8 billion-plus yearly market for hardware and software. Much attention is also paid to the "early adopters"-those districts, schools, and teachers who are making the most ingenious and effective uses of the new tools at their disposal.

But a significant body of research has also made clear that most teachers have been slow to transform the ways they teach, despite the influx of new technology into their classrooms. There remains limited evidence to show that technology and online learning are improving learning outcomes for most students. And academics and parents alike have expressed concerns about digital distractions, ways in which unequal access to and use of technology might widen achievement gaps, and more.

State and federal lawmakers, meanwhile, have wrestled in recent years with the reality that new technologies also present new challenges. The rise of "big data," for example, has led to new concerns about how schools can keep sensitive student information private and secure.

What follows is an overview of the big trends, opportunities, and concerns associated with classroom technology. Links to additional resources are included in each section for those who would like to dig deeper.

What Is Personalized Learning?

Many in the ed-tech field see new technologies as powerful tools to help schools meet the needs of ever-more-diverse student populations. The idea is that digital devices, software, and learning platforms offer a once-unimaginable array of options for tailoring education to each individual student's academic strengths and weaknesses, interests and motivations, personal preferences, and optimal pace of learning.

In recent years, a group of organizations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, and EDUCAUSE have crafted a definition of "personalized learning" that rests on four pillars:

Each student should have a "learner profile" that documents his or her strengths, weaknesses, preferences, and goals;

Each student should pursue an individualized learning path that encourages him or her to set and manage personal academic goals;

Students should follow a "competency-based progression" that focuses on their ability to demonstrate mastery of a topic, rather than seat time; and,

Students' learning environments should be flexible and structured in ways that support their individual goals.

How does technology support that vision?

In many schools, students are given district-owned computing devices or allowed to bring their own devices from home. The idea is that this allows for "24-7" learning at the time and location of the student's choosing.

Learning management systems, student information systems, and other software are also used to distribute assignments, manage schedules and communications, and track student progress.

And educational software and applications have grown more "adaptive," relying on technology and algorithms to determine not only what a student knows, but what his or her learning process is, and even his or her emotional state.

For all the technological progress, though, implementation remains a major challenge. Schools and educators across the country continue to wrestle with the changing role of teachers, how to balance flexible and "personalized" models with the state and federal accountability requirements they still must meet, and the deeper cultural challenge of changing educators' long-standing habits and routines.

Despite the massive investments that many school systems are making, the evidence that digital personalized learning can improve student outcomes or narrow achievement gaps at scale remains scattered, at best.

What Is 1-to-1 Computing?

Increasingly, schools are moving to provide students with their own laptop computer, netbook, or digital tablet. Schools purchased more than 23 million devices for classroom use in 2013 and 2014 alone. In recent years, iPads and then Chromebooks (inexpensive Web-based laptops) have emerged as the devices of choice for many schools.

The two biggest factors spurring the rise in 1-to-1 student computing have been new mandates that state standardized tests be delivered online and the widespread adoption of the Common Core State Standards.

Generally, the hope is that putting devices in the hands of students will help with some or all of the following goals:

Allowing teachers and software to deliver more personalized content and lessons to students, while allowing students to learn at their own pace and ability level;

Helping students to become technologically skilled and literate and thus better prepared for modern workplaces;

Empowering students to do more complex and creative work by allowing them to use digital and online applications and tools;

Improving the administration and management of schools and classrooms by making it easier to gather information on what students know and have done;

Improving communications among students, teachers, and parents.

Despite the potential benefits, however, many districts have run into trouble when attempting to implement 1-to-1 computing initiatives. Paying for the devices can be a challenge, especially as the strategy of issuing long-term bonds for short-term technology purchases has come into question. Many districts have also run into problems with infrastructure (not enough bandwidth to support all students accessing the Internet at the same time) and deployment (poor planning in distributing and managing thousands of devices.)

The most significant problem for schools trying to go 1-to-1, though, has been a lack of educational vision. Without a clear picture of how teaching and learning is expected to change, experts say, going 1-to-1 often amounts to a "spray and pray" approach of distributing many devices and hoping for the best.

Some critics of educational technology also point to a recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which found that countries where 15-year old students use computers most in the classroom scored the worst on international reading and math tests.

What Is Blended Learning?

In its simplest terms, blended learning combines traditional, teacher-to-student lessons with technology-based instruction.

Many schools and districts use a "rotation" model, which is often viewed as an effective means of providing students with more personalized instruction and smaller group experiences. In some cases, saving money (through larger overall class sizes, for example) is also a goal. The basic premise involves students rotating between online and in-person stations for different parts of the day. There are many versions of this approach, however: Do students stay in the classroom or go to a computer lab?

Does online instruction cover core content, or is it primarily for remediation? Are all students doing the same thing online, or do different students have different software and learning experiences?

One big trend for schools involves trying to make sure that what happens online is connected with what happens during face-to-face interactions with teachers. That could involve giving teachers a say in selecting the software that students use, for example, or making a concerted effort to ensure online programs provide teachers with data that is useful in making timely instructional decisions.

Another trend involves boosting students' access to the Internet outside of school. Robust blended learning programs involve "anytime, anywhere" access to learning content for students-a major challenge in many communities.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle confronting educators interested in blended learning, though, is the lack of a solid research base. As of now, there is still no definitive evidence that blended learning works (or doesn't.) While some studies have found encouraging results with specific programs or under certain circumstances, the question of whether blended learning positively impacts student learning still has a mostly unsatisfactory answer: "It depends."

What Is the Status of Tech Infrastructure and the E-Rate?

The promise of technology in the classroom is almost entirely dependent on reliable infrastructure. But in many parts of the country, schools still struggle to get affordable access to high-speed Internet and/or robust wireless connectivity.

A typical school district network involves multiple components. In 2014, the Federal Communications Commission established connectivity targets for some of the pieces:

A connection to the broader Internet provided by an outside service provider to the district office (or another central district hub).
Target: 100 megabits per second per 1,000 students in the short-term, and 1 Gigabit per second per 1,000 students in the long-term.

A "Wide Area Network" that provides network connections between the district's central hub and all of its campuses, office buildings, and other facilities.
Target: Connections capable of delivering 10 Gigabits per second per 1,000 students.

"Local Area Networks" that provide connections within a school, including the equipment necessary to provide Wi-Fi service inside classrooms.
Target: The FCC recommended a survey to determine a suitable measure. Many school-technology advocates call for internal connections that support 1-to-1 computing.

To support schools (and libraries) in building and paying for these networks, the FCC in 1996 established a program known as the E-rate. Fees on consumers' phone bills fund the program, which has paid out more than $30 billion since its inception.

In 2014, the commission overhauled the E-rate, raising the program's annual spending cap from $2.4 billion to $3.9 billion and prioritizing support for broadband service and wireless networks. The changes were already being felt as of Fall 2015; after steadily declining for years, the number of schools and libraries applying for E-rate funds for wireless network equipment skyrocketed, with nearly all of the applicants expected to receive a portion of the $1.6 billion in overall wireless-related requests.

As part of the E-rate overhaul, the FCC also approved a series of regulatory changes aimed at leveling the playing field for rural and remote schools, which often face two big struggles: accessing the fiber-optic cables that experts say are essential to meeting the FCC's long-term goals, and finding affordable rates.

Infrastructure in some contexts can also be taken to include learning devices, digital content, and the policies and guidelines that govern how they are expected to be used in schools (such as "responsible use policies" and "digital citizenship" programs aimed to ensure that students and staff are using technology appropriately and in support of learning goals.)

Another big-and often overlooked-aspect of infrastructure is what's known as interoperability. Essentially, the term refers to common standards and protocols for formatting and handling data so that information can be shared between software programs. A number of frameworks outline data interoperability standards for different purposes. Many hope to see the field settle on common standards in the coming years.
Additional Resources:
How Is Online Testing Evolving?

The biggest development on this front has been states' adoption of online exams aligned with the Common Core State Standards. During the 2014-15 school year, 10 states (plus the District of Columbia) used exams from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), and 18 states used exams from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, all of which were delivered primarily online. Many of the other states also used online assessments.

The 2015-16 school year will be the first in which more state-required summative assessments in U.S. middle and elementary schools will be delivered via technology rather than paper and pencil, according to a recent analysis by EdTech Strategies, an educational technology consulting firm.

Beyond meeting legislative mandates, perceived benefits include cost savings, ease of administration and analysis, and the potential to employ complex performance tasks.

But some states-including Florida, Minnesota, Montana, and Wisconsin-have experienced big problems with online tests, ranging from cyber attacks to log-in problems to technical errors. And there is growing evidence that students who take the paper-and-pencil version of some important tests perform better than peers who take the same exams online, at least in the short term.

Nevertheless, it appears likely that online testing will continue to grow-and not just for state summative assessments. The U.S. Department of Education, for example, is among those pushing for a greater use of technologically enhanced formative assessments that can be used to diagnose students' abilities in close to real time. In the department's 2016 National Education Technology Plan, for example, it calls for states and districts to "design, develop, and implement learning dashboards, response systems, and communication pathways that give students, educators, families, and other stakeholders timely and actionable feedback about student learning to improve achievement and instructional practices."
Additional Resources:
How Are Digital Materials Used in Classrooms?

Digital instructional content is the largest slice of the (non-hardware) K-12 educational technology market, with annual sales of more then $3 billion. That includes digital lessons in math, English/language arts, and science, as well as "specialty" subjects such as business and fine arts. The market is still dominated by giant publishers such as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Pearson, who have been scrambling to transition from their print-centric legacy products to more digital offerings.

But newcomers with one-off products or specific areas of expertise have made inroads, and some apps and online services have also gained huge traction inside of schools.

As a result, many schools use a mix of digital resources, touting potential benefits such as greater ability to personalize, higher engagement among students, enhanced ability to keep content updated and current, and greater interactivity and adaptivity (or responsiveness to individual learners).

Still, though, the transition to digital instructional materials is happening slowly, for reasons that range from the financial (for districts that haven't been able to purchase devices for all students, for example) to the technical (districts that lack the infrastructure to support every student being online together.) Print still accounts for about 70 percent of pre-K-12 instructional materials sales in the United States.

What Are Open Educational Resources?

Rather than buying digital instructional content, some states and districts prefer using "open" digital education resources that are licensed in such a way that they can be freely used, revised, and shared. The trend appears likely to accelerate: The U.S. Department of Education, for example, is now formally encouraging districts to move away from textbooks and towards greater adoption of OER.

New York and Utah have led the way in developing open educational resources and encouraging their use by schools. The K-12 OER Collaborative, which includes 12 states and several nonprofit organizations, is working to develop OER materials as well.

Proponents argue that OER offer greater bang for the buck, while also giving students better access to a wider array of digital materials and teachers more flexibility to customize instructional content for individual classrooms and students. Some also believe OER use encourages collaboration among teachers. Concerns from industry and others generally focus on the quality of open materials, as well as the challenges that educators face in sifting through voluminous one-off resources to find the right material for every lesson.

How Are Virtual Education and Distance Learning Doing?

One technology trend that has come under increasing scrutiny involves full-time online schools, particularly cyber charters. About 200,000 students are enrolled in about 200 publicly funded, independently managed online charter schools across 26 states.

But such schools were found to have an "overwhelming negative impact" on student learning in a comprehensive set of studies released in 2015 by a group of research organizations, including Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University.

That research did not cover the more than two dozen full-time online schools that are state-run, however, nor did it cover the dozens more that are run by individual school districts. Thousands upon thousands of students who are enrolled in traditional brick-and-mortar schools also take individual courses online. Five states-Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, and Virginia-now require students to have some online learning to graduate. Other states, such as Utah, have passed laws encouraging such options for students.

For many students, especially those in rural and remote areas, online and distance learning can offer access to courses, subjects, and teachers they might otherwise never be able to find. Such opportunities can also benefit advanced and highly motivated students and those with unusual schedules and travel requirements, and be a useful tool to keep schools running during snow days.

But so far, achieving positive academic outcomes at scale via online learning has proven difficult, and many observers have expressed concerns about the lack of accountability in the sector, especially as relates to for-profit managers of online options.

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From blended learning to computerized testing, digital and online technologies are reshaping the classroom experience for students.