Next Wednesday, February 1, is the first-ever Digital Learning Day. This national effort is designed to celebrate educational practices that make learning more personalized and engaging for students and to explore educational policies to support innovative models of teaching and learning. There are three events in Columbus designed to build Buckeye momentum for a wave of innovation that changes policies, shifts attitudes, and supports wide-scale adoption of promising instructional practices.
Getting Smart Book Talk with Tom VanderArk (The Ohio State University, Thompson Library, Campus Reading Room, 2 PM)
Engage in dialogue with Digital Learning Now! luminary Tom Vander Ark about his recently-released book Getting Smart: How Digital Learning is Changing the World. Executive Director of Innosight Institute Michael B. Horn lauds: "Provocative and bold, Tom Vander Ark's Getting Smart challenges long-held assumptions about education, points to why innovation will be so critical to enabling the education system of the future, and paints a vision of what learning could look like throughout society—and how we so desperately need it.” The book talk will conclude with reflection from President Debe Terhar of the State Board of Education of Ohio.
Education Committee Testimony on Digital Learning (Ohio Statehouse, Room 17, 5 PM)
The Education Committee of the Ohio House of Representatives of the 129th General Assembly will begin its February 1st hearing with testimony on digital learning from Tom Vander Ark and a cadre of digital learning stakeholders. This opportunity to engage with the committee is especially important as the recommendations of the Ohio Digital Learning Task Force will be released on March 1.
Ohio Digital Learning Day Reception (Ohio Statehouse, Atrium, 6 PM)
Join this reception to celebrate National Digital Learning Day in Ohio. Remarks by: Senator Peggy Lehner, Chair of the Senate Education Committee and member of the Ohio Digital Learning Task Force; Representative Gerald Stebelton, Chair of the Ohio House of Representatives Education Committee; Brian Ross, President and CEO of KnowledgeWorks; digital learning luminary Tom Vander Ark of Getting Smart, and more. The event (including light fare and refreshments) is an opportunity to recognize the work of the Ohio Digital Learning Task Force and celebrate the potential of digital learning in Ohio.
Register online now for any or all of these events. The day’s hosts and sponsors include KnowledgeWorks, Ohio Education Matters, Getting Smart, and the Alliance for Excellent Education in partnership with Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Ohio Grantmakers Forum and eTech Ohio.