Welcome to the Digital Learning Collaborative!
by John Watson
Today we are pleased to announce that we are going live with the website of the Digital Learning Collaborative (DLC).
The DLC exists for two main reasons. First, we seek to fill a gap in available information about online, blended, and digital learning. We know that online, blended, and digital learning in U.S. K–12 schools are on the rise. Yet despite the growth, emerging practices, and examples of success, countless basic questions remain about policy and practice. The DLC exists to fill the information gap. Whether you are an educator, school board member, reporter, researcher, policymaker, or concerned citizen, the DLC can help you better understand the K–12 digital learning field and apply that knowledge to your work.
Second, over time we are aiming to build a community of educators, policymakers, providers, and others who are exploring these issues. Although online learning has been used in K-12 education for more than 20 years, and digital technology for several decades, practices and policies are constantly evolving. No school, state, or provider has all the answers; therefore we have countless opportunities to learn from one another.
The DLC’s strategies, resources, and values come from and are reflective of our members. At the time of this posting, we have 22 members, which includes nine districts or state agencies, eight companies, three non-profit organizations, one foundation, and one post-secondary institution. We are seeking additional members in all categories. If you are interested in joining, please contact us.
The resources currently on the website are just a start. In addition to the discussions of online, blended, and traditional school in the practice section, we explore perspectives of students and teachers, and the policies that support them. We will be adding new policy briefs, school case studies, news items, and blog posts. In addition, we plan to conduct webinars and conference presentations, in particular at the Digital Learning Annual Conference.
Want to join, author a blog post, include a news item, or become a member? Contact us! .Or, if for now you’d like to simply stay in touch with us, please sign up for our mailing list.
We look forward to creating a new, K-12, online/blended/digital learning community with you.