Today the Florida State Board of Education held a four-hour working session called “Workshop on the Learning Environment of Tomorrow.” I joined Governor Bob Wise of the Alliance for Excellent Education and Patricia Levesque of Digital Learning Now!, and we focused our remarks on the roadmap to advance digital learning in Florida. Wise and Levesque offered their recommendations for moving forward with the 10 Elements of High Quality Digital Learning, and then I talked about the key elements of the Rise of K-12 Blended Learning white paper.
Other presenters included Julie Young, President and CEO of Florida Virtual School; David Greenberg, founder of the Denver School of Science & Technology; Rick Ogston, founder and executive director of Carpe Diem Collegiate High School; Gene Storz, chief learning officer of E2020; Sharon Oldham, director of new school development for New Tech Network; and Bill Kelly, founder and CEO of Learning.com.
At the end of the session, state board member Roberto Martinez asked the board to agree unanimously to move forward “aggressively” to support policy that will best facilitate high quality digital learning in the state. They agreed to have a plan in place by their next meeting in May, if not earlier.
The session was a win for the digital learning movement. If the state board advocates policies that will create a more student-centric, customizable education system, and if the Florida legislature turns those into law, Florida will build off of its success with the Florida Virtual School and continue to be in the vanguard with online learning.
