Essential Conditions for Digital Learning
The Wisconsin Digital Learning Plan, based on elements of the Future Ready Framework, create the essential conditions for digital learning to guide planning and budgeting. Wisconsin school districts are encouraged to implement a vision for student learning aligned to the Plan's goal for equitable, personalized, applied, and engaged digital learning for all students. District collaborative leadership and ITL implementation teams are encouraged to start with reviewing the Plan Gears and resources to understand the collaborative leadership responsibilities to ensure equitable access for all students.
Linda Hammond Darling. 2014. Using Technology to Support At-Risk Learners. (Accessed July 15, 2017) This paper supports the vision of equitable access by all students to engage students with digital learning opportunities to help close achievement gaps. This research supports the student learning goals of the Wisconsin Digital Learning Plan (2016). Project Tomorrow, Speak Up Report. Beyond Engagement: Using Technology to Enable New Learning Experiences and Empower Educator Effectiveness. (Briefing Paper: The Educational Equity Imperative). (Accessed December 10, 2019) Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Every Child a Graduate. (Accessed August 1, 2017). CAST. Universal Design for Learning. (Accessed June 10, 2017). To ensure equitable access for learning, Wisconsin has promoted the use of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Educators who consider the core UDL principles of engagement, representation, as well as action and expression in the design of learning experiences can meet the needs of all students. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Universal Design for Learning (UDL) website contains additional information on connecting initiatives and instructional design resources. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Wisconsin's Framework for Equitable Multi-Level Systems of Support. (Accessed July 20, 2017). These implementation tools are meant to be used as part of high-quality instruction within an equitable, multi-level system of support. International Society for Technology Education (ISTE), 2016. Redefining Learning in a Technology-Driven World (Accessed June 29, 2017). This report from ISTE provides a foundational overview of the creation of the ISTE 2016 Student Standards including the urgency to prepare students for the digital world they will live and work. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2016. Policy Brief on the Future of Work: Skills for a Digital World. (Accessed June 25, 2017). This report discusses the need to keep up with the training demands for digital economy skills including support for problem solving, critical thinking, design thinking, coding literacies and collaborative teaming skills. Chamber of Commerce, 2017. Bridging the Soft Skill Gap. (Accessed November 12, 2017). While technical skills are often industry-specific, soft skills such as professional communication, critical thinking, collaboration, and time management are valued by employers across sectors. Closing the gap between the soft skills employers require in their workforce and those that students leave school with is essential. This can and should be achieved through collaboration between business and education at the local level. International Society for Technology Education. Preparing Students for the Digital Age. (Accessed June 15, 2017). Educator Interviews about the necessary skills and new role of educators to support students to be empowered learners in the digital age. Future Ready Schools. Create a Future Ready Collaborative Leadership Team. (Accessed July 15, 2017) As your district creates a Future Ready Leadership Team, it’s important that a variety of viewpoints are represented and that everyone is able to speak freely. Be sure to include elementary, middle, high school representatives, as well as various positions (teacher, principal, district level) to ensure your action plan adequately represents the entire district. Future Ready Schools has created specific resources and downloadable one pagers to explain leadership competencies for the following roles: Institute for Personalized Learning, a division of CESA 1, Interactive Honeycomb. (Accessed July 15, 2017) The Institute defines personalized learning as an approach to learning and instruction that is designed around individual learner readiness, strengths, needs and interests. Learners are active participants in setting goals, planning learning paths, tracking progress and determining how learning will be demonstrated. Project Tomorrow. Trends in Digital Learning: The New Learning Leader - the emerging role of the agile school principal as digital evangelist and instructional leader. Eric C. Scheninger and Tom C. Murray. (2016). Learning Transformed: 8 Keys to Designing Tomorrow's Schools, Today. (Accessed June 30, 2017). A great resource for leadership teams to understand the essential components to move learning to be personalized and engaging to meet the needs of all students. The Return on Instruction (RoI) concept is essential for leadership teams to review their planning and budgeting goals. ASCD has created a free Learning Transformed Study Guide for district leadership teams. For a preview of the book review the Alliance for Excellent Education (September 21, 2017), Learning Transformed Video Interview by Bob Wise with co-authors Eric C. Scheninger and Tom C. Murray. Data Quality Campaign. You Need Data to Personalize Learning. (Accessed June 25, 2017). For all children to be ready for college and careers, they need a learning experience tailored to their unique needs, skills, and interests. These resources show how data makes this personalized learning possible. When students, parents, teachers, and leaders are empowered with the data they need when they need it, there are so many ways to personalize learning. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Internet Safety. (Accessed September 1, 2017) The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), in partnership with the Department of Justice (DOJ), are working to create awareness about Internet Safety. This site provides a compilation of resources, tools, and information to empower all stakeholders (students, teachers, parents, and administrators) to make safe, smart and ethical decisions about technology use David Jakes. Learning Space Resources. (Accessed July 1, 2017). A collective resources to help re-imagine learning spaces to support the teaching and learning goals of the new WI ITL standards. International Society for Technology Education. 2017 ISTE Educator Standards. (Accessed July 15, 2017). A framework for educators to help unwrap the meaning of the new Wisconsin ITL standards to empower students in the digital age. Check out this poster to support the new ISTE Educator Standards. Future Ready Schools. Create a Future Ready Collaborative Leadership Team. (Accessed July 15, 2017) As your district creates a Future Ready Leadership Team, it’s important that a variety of viewpoints are represented and that everyone is able to speak freely. Be sure to include elementary, middle, high school representatives, as well as various positions (teacher, principal, district level) to ensure your action plan adequately represents the entire district. Future Ready Schools has created specific resources and downloadable one-pagers to explain leadership competencies for the following roles for educator roles: American Association of School Libraries. (2017) National School Library Standards: Integrated Framework for Learners, School Library Standards, and School Librarian Standards. (Accessed November 11, 2017) The AASL Standards framework reflects a comprehensive approach to teaching and learning by demonstrating the connection between learner, school librarian, and school library standards. Three sets of standards (Learner, School Librarian, and School Library) make up the AASL Standards Integrated Framework featured within the National School Library Standards. Explore the website for supporting resources, videos and stakeholder materials. AASL release of crosswalk of Future Ready, ISTE, AASL standards are now available. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Internet Safety. (Accessed September 1, 2017) The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), in partnership with the Department of Justice (DOJ), are working to create awareness about Internet Safety. This site provides a compilation of resources, tools, and information to empower all stakeholders (students, teachers, parents, and administrators) to make safe, smart and ethical decisions about technology use Digital Promise. Computational Thinking for a Computational World. (Accessed December 8, 2017). This guidebook discusses the intersection of coding, computer science and computational thinking to address the necessary skills and instructional practices to help prepare students for their digital futures. International Society for Technology Education. Computational Thinking for All. (Accessed June 30, 2017). The most comprehensive collection of resources for K-12 educators including handouts, video, teacher lessons. This project was completed in collaboration with the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA). Google. Computational Thinking for Educators - Free Course. (Accessed June 15, 2017). A free online course for educators to explore the leading K-12 Computational Thinking Resources for students. Additional resources and integration ideas are found at the Google Computational Thinking overview page. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Wisconsin Standards for Computer Science. (Accessed June 20, 2017). AJ Juliani. The Beginner’s Guide to Design Thinking in the Classroom. (Accessed July 15, 2017). A guide for educators to break down the core principles of design thinking. IDEO. Design Thinking for Educators. (Accessed July 5, 2017). The best handbook for educators to explore the basic principles of design thinking. Stanford D-School. 5 Ways to Integrate Design Thinking in K-12 Classrooms. (Accessed June 21, 2017) A resource to consider how to put design thinking processes into your instructional cycle and the core frameworks. New Media Consortium/CoSN (2017) Horizon Report. 2017 K-12 Edition. (Accessed July 24, 2017). This annual report provides a research base of emerging trends in K-12 learning that includes the new topics for schools to integrate into learning including making, coding, design thinking and robotics. Numerous existing sets of standards and standards-related documents have been used in developing the refreshed Wisconsin Standards for Information and Technology Literacy. These include: There are many professional learning organizations and events to district collaborative leadership teams in learning about information and technology literacy programming. Here is the top recommended learning organizations that also have social media connections, conferences and professional literature available.
Educators
Instructional Coaches, Technology Integrators, Library Media Specialists
Internet Safety
Computational Thinking
Design Thinking
Emerging Digital Learning for Empowered Learners
Professional Learning Resources