I took an early plane to Bergen on the 11th of April to attend the It’s learning’s pre-conference with Michael B. Horn. Since I have read his book and seen him at the Microsoft conference in Seattle 2008 I was excited to hear if he had added to his repertoire! I quote from the program,
In his pre-conference talk, Michael Horn will explore in-depth his latest research on the evolution of online learning, as it continues to improve to better serve more and more students. In particular, he will discuss Innosight Institute’s recent research on the emerging blended-learning models in schools, as well as likely technological innovations in online learning that will continue to drive more personalized learning for each student and how schools can better facilitate both.
The conference has this Twitter hash tag #itsbk11 and you can follow what people are saying there. Some of the ideas I have find interesting are the following:
- You need to make success a part of the school day for each students and make it challenging but not too challenging
- When students feel like failures they turn off school and turn to areas that make them feel successful like sports and friends
- What jobs are students trying to get done? Be successful and make progress and have fun with friends
- Assessment in today’s monolithic system is this way; the teacher delivers, makes a test, the class moves on and progress to the next grade, results come afterwards
- Michael B. Horn introduced 6 different learning models; online-driver, self-blend, online lab, flex mode, ratation and face to face.
See more on the models and about blended learning here. Seems to me many of his ideas are very similar to the RISC model ” a learner-centered, standards- and performance-based system rather than a teacher-driven or time-driven system”. Where the students advance according to mastery of skills and not time. See more here.
Look forward to the next seesion with Michael B. Horn later today!
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