What do we need to do to prepare for the changed educational environment that we are going to face between now and at latest next fall? This is something that every educator – teacher, administrator, policy-maker – should be asking themselves now.
Sun Associates’ work with school districts around the subject of digital learning has suddenly moved from the realm of “someday it would be nice” to the immediate here and now. Let’s celebrate existing achievements and get ready to think about the future.
STEM interest and skills start well before Grade 3 and can be developed via non-traditional curricula and experiences. Learn about a project that Sun Associates is evaluating that uses school gardens to develop STEM interest in PreK - Grade 2 students.
If we understand that personalized learning is the pedagogical objective of digital and blended learning, then it follows that in an evaluation context our goal is to determine the extent to which a district has constructed and operationalized a student-centered, personalized learning environment.
Our recent experience evaluating the development and implementation of a powerful new digital resource from the Boston Public Library's Norman B. Leventhal Map Center brings to mind the need to balance the exciting potential of visionary resources with present day limits on teacher and student technology access. We encounter this issue in many of projects we evaluate and in the school districts as well as informal educational organizations where we work. The evaluation process can provide a way for striking a balance between visionary expectations and the realities of the here and now.
