February 2010 Archives

Innovations for Learning - "Tech Kids" from Innovations for Learning on Vimeo.

Administrators, funders, policy makers and educators often highlight the importance of "bridging the digital divide" and "making our students computer literate" to justify large technology expenditures in the schools.  Unquestionably, students need exposure to computers to prepare for the digital future, but how much technology needs to be purchased to accomplish this goal? 

And to what extent does focusing on this goal take away from the very real potential of integrating technology into the everyday curriculum of the classroom in service of basic literacy and math instruction?  

To highlight the concern that technology is underused in schools to improve basic education, I created this short video.  Please share with your friends and colleagues, and let me know what you think.

Apple Inc. is one of the most admired companies on the planet. Count me as one of its top admirers. What I admire most is the way Apple considers holistically the entire experience of owning and using a computer. Apple has painstakingly thought through the buying experience, the training experience, the support experience, the maintenance experience, and the user experience. By providing the hardware and the software, the services and the support, Apple can provide the consumer with a total experience that far surpasses the competition.

Somewhat ironically, given Apple's historical strength in the education market, Apple does not extend this holistic experience to the classroom. While Apple serves the adult consumer with Apple software (from the iLife and iWork suites), it does not serve the instructional needs of schools. Instead, Apple relies on third parties to develop applications that are used by students in schools.

It's too bad, because the same logic that extends to the adult consumer experience applies with even greater force to the young student experience. The appropriateness and effectiveness of the software is greatly influenced by the design of the hardware, as well as by the support and training.

Hence Innovations for Learning. We have one focus: early elementary classrooms. We have tailored our hardware, our software, our training, and our support to the unique needs of little hands and the short attention spans of students as well as to teachers' hectic schedules, their need for integrated curriculum, and their limited appetite for computer troubleshooting.

We are a service company, not a product company. Our service is designed to improve the entire teaching and learning experience through innovation that is intensively researched and developed and effectively implemented on a scalable basis.

When people remark that TeacherMates are the 'iPods of education', I consider them right in more ways than they know.

Open Learning Exchange (OLE) is committed to universal access to basic education by 2015.

Over one billion school-aged children in more than one hundred countries lack access to even the most essential learning opportunities. Enabling them to acquire at least a basic education is not charity - it is a universal right. Every child is entitled to an opportunity to develop an intellectually and economically strong life consistent with their abilities. This ultimately benefits all of us.

And it is now possible as never before. The global reach of the Internet, low-cost laptops and other information technologies, combined with a greater awareness of the importance of universal basic education, make it possible for this to be achieved by the UN Millennium Goal of 2015.