Wi Fi School Buses

One school district has extended the school day by equipping a school bus with wi fi access and laptops. So far, the project is working well for this Arizona school district, where students have bus rides of over an hour each way. This same school system, which is outside of Tuscon, AZ, has also replaced textbooks with e-books. One spokesperson for the federal Dept. of Education has indicated the experiment is part of a wider effort to extend the school day. The company that manufactures the routers to equip school buses with the laptops already has contracts out with school systems in Florida, Missouri, and DC. Wonder how long it will be before the idea catches on in other places. To read more about this method for extending the school day, check this New York Times Article: Wi-Fi Turns Rowdy Bus Into Rolling Study Hall.

Photo credit & information : http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/education/12bus.html?hp Joshua Lott for The New York Times
Jerod Reyes, left, and Dylan Powell use their bus's Wi-Fi to do homework on their way to school.

What Will Teaching Look Like in 2030?

What might public school education look like in two decades from now? In an online discussion sponsored by Teacher Magazine, Barnett Berry, president of Center for Teaching Quality, and three TeacherSolutions members (veteran science teacher, Chicago teacher-mentor, and middle school NYC English teacher) discuss the issue. They point to:

A mix of face-to-face and virtual learning
Online courses in which students apply their learning to solve real-world problems
Increased teacher engagement and seamless connections with online tools
New leadership roles for teachers including collaborating with policymakers
Increased emphasis on individualization based on the differentiated instruction model

If interested, read Berry’s full report: "The Teachers of 2030: Creating a Student-Centered Profession for the 21st Century.” As you think ahead, what's your vision of public school education in 2030?

Image from: www.manchesterumc.info/may9.html