Disrupting Class co-author Michael Horn gave the final keynote address at Smart Ed-Tech Strategies for Tough Times, sending the audience on their way home with new ideas for disruptive innovations for K-12 schools. One of the potentially most powerful forms of such innovation is the use of online learning, which he said is growing at a rate of 30 percent a year in K-12. Online courses for students to recover credits and online advanced placement courses are especially popular.
The conference also featured a panel of students from Bloomfield, N.J. They addressed questions from the audience about how technology is working well and not working well in their schools. One interesting point they made is that they do not want schools using social-networking sites such as Facebook for official educational purposes because such sites are their personal domain that should not be invaded by educators.
Boston Public Schools CIO Kim Rice gave a very engaging and interactive presentation on balancing innovation and reality. She talked about having students drive innovation in schools but learning to deal with the consequences of empowering students.
Lots of great questions from the audience for all the panelists and speakers here today.