“Digital learning has the potential to leverage technology to transform our educational system by providing students, parents, and educators more flexibility over the time, place, path, and pace of learning. In other words, it individualizes each student’s educational experience and shifts the teacher’s role from being the source of information to being a guide alongside students.”
Final Recommendations from Governor Nathan Deal’s Digital Learning Task Force
Capitalizing on the promise of digital learning is never a one-step process for any forward-thinking state. Much like the work that must be done to implement blended learning and navigate the digital shift at the school level, state leaders must also be able to create conditions for digital learning, carefully plan and implement strategies for success, and continually improve as they grow.
Gov. Nathan Deal understands this reality. After signing an executive order creating a task force to implement digital learning in Georgia’s K-12 schools on April 30, 2012, Deal worked to support the task force as it developed the next steps for Georgia schools. Today, the Digital Task Force released its final recommendations, built off more than a year of engagement with a wide variety of innovators, experts, and educators. The report develops a framework for using digital learning efforts to improve academic achievement by empowering teachers and providing a personalized experience to students. As the Task Force writes, “to maximize the impact of digital learning, Georgia needs a cohesive, aligned strategy for implementation across the state. As we have learned through experience, simply integrating technology into classrooms is not likely to increase student outcomes.”
This thoughtful plan challenges the state to fully embrace competency-based education and blended learning models. It has three main areas of focus: infrastructure needs, digital content and courses, and an increased emphasis on blended and competency-based learning. While deserving of national attention for the breadth of its vision in providing a roadmap to improve education in Georgia, the execution of this plan must avoid timidity and take bold steps to truly see the desired gains.
The foundation for improvement in Georgia schools is built around three areas and 12 recommendations. The recommendations in infrastructure are designed to ensure that all students have access to the promise of digital learning. Touching many of the issues raised in the E-rate discussion, the Task Force’s recommendations show a commitment to shrinking the digital divide for all students and ensuring that every school is able to leverage the best of the 21st century. Careful emphasis on the need for public-private partnerships and a recognition of the delicate balance of working in this space. The recommendations are a good example of what we’ve argued in our E-rate comments – that incentivizing state partnerships to work with the private sector to expand broadband capacity to schools and communities has high value for education. Chairman Tom Wheeler and the FCC would do well to look into the issues raised by the Task Force as they near the end of the rule making process for the E-rate program.
We love that Forsyth County Schools and its Free WiFi zone partnership with local businesses was highlighted. Digital Learning Now! has championed the work of Westwood Middle School in Manchester, TN for a similar program, and we think that other states and schools would do well to take advantage of this inexpensive and collaborative way of extending access to students.
The Task Force goes on to emphasize the need for digital content and courses to be uninhibited and easy to acquire from the state to the classroom. This ties back to the introduction of the report where they say that, “many students and parents still lack sufficient course choices.” In the recommendations, this reality is only partially addressed with a nod to course access funding. We would like to see Georgia truly tackle this critical issue and boldly build upon existing course access legislation and ensure that education is truly a student-centric approach to learning that prepares each student for college and career.
Finally, the report finishes by focusing on blended and competency-based learning. We hope this particular area will receive careful attention by Georgia legislators and that they will take the recommendation of the task Force seriously to “consider how existing parameters and requirements in state policy and procedure may adversely impact blended and competency-based learning as well as course access in Georgia. Revisit and refine the related laws or policies in the state to maximize opportunities for dual credit, blended, and competency-based learning.”
We are excited to see Georgia continuing to make real progress in planning and implementing digital learning statewide. As Governor Deal, the Task Force, and the Georgia legislature determine next steps, this set of recommendations can serve as an excellent roadmap to thoughtfully capitalize on a stronger course access program and encourage the adoption of blended and competency-based learning models. But this promise can only be achieved with bold action, and Georgia must not look for timid compromises. The recommendations must be the foundation and spark rather than the minimal limits of digital learning growth in Georgia.
We stand ready, alongside such partners as the Christensen Institute, iNACOL and the Learning Accelerator to help enact this sort of bold plan necessary to help this important work advance and enable all Georgia students to benefit — from course access to WiFi access — from the power and promise of digital learning.
Overview of Recommendations from Governor Nathan Deal’s Digital Learning Task Force
Infrastructure
- Increase statewide broadband capacity to schools, ensuring that Georgia’s schools are able to utilize 21st century technology in classrooms.
- Increase districts’ ability to expand wireless connectivity and device availability within schools, allowing them to fully leverage increased broadband capacity.
- Increase availability of wireless connectivity in communities, allowing students to access learning resources outside of school.
Digital content and courses
- Support the transition to and acquisition of digital resources at the state, system, school and classroom level.
- Remove barriers to online learning.
- Develop a broad-based communication strategy around the importance and effective use of digital learning.
Blended and competency-based learning
- Provide blended and competency-based learning opportunities, so that PK-12 and postsecondary students are able to broaden, accelerate, or otherwise pace their learning appropriately and ensure mastery before progressing.
- Invest in assessments that drive higher expectations for demonstrated proficiency in academic content, application, analysis, and evaluation on summative and formative assessments at both the state and local levels. Plan to provide adequate funding to support the development and subsequent administration of these assessments.
- Review and align into a single document, policy, or law all dual enrollment and competency-based options already available in Georgia, so the options are more easily understood by students and parents.
- Design a funding mechanism that provides flexibility to foster blended and competency-based learning while balancing the operational needs of districts.
- Find ways to incentivize the blended learning and competency-based courses, programs, and opportunities that expand and extend learning opportunities for students. Use the Innovation Fund, housed at the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA), to support pilots and identify scalable models.
- To promote 21st century learning, schools and districts must consider how traditional classroom structures and furniture inhibit teachers from the differentiation needed for effective blended learning. Everything in a learning space should have purposeful thought that promotes learning.