Inspiration from Ohio

Originally posted on "Future of Ed Blog", March 30th, 2010
by Jillian Darwish

Even for an optimist, its hard not to be daunted by the challenges in the world today. However, in the midst of the crises, such as dramatic state budget cuts for education,  I see real gems of inspiration - people courageously moving forward in innovative ways and creating new kinds of outcomes. There is one such gem in Ohio I am particularly excited about right now.

It’s Ohio’s Flexible Credit Policy. Beginning Fall 2010, all Ohio high school students will be able to earn credit in three different ways.  They will be able to:

• complete traditional coursework,
• test out of the coursework or demonstrate mastery is some alternative manner,

 or (here’s where it gets really exciting)

• pursue one or more educational options, such as distance learning, educational travel, independent study, an internship, music, arts, after-school program, community service or engagement project and sports.

Thanks to this ONE policy, countless personalized, self directed, and creative learning opportunities are now available to Ohio high school students. A student might go to China,  provide occupational therapy for special needs students, take advanced economics courses, or use hospital databases for research on self-selected topics. Ohio students now have the freedom and the opportunity to be powerful creators and participants in the learning economy. 

What an terrific expression of the themes that are central in our study of emerging trends including:

• Unbundled education  - open content and curriculum, social media and communities redefine the role of schools, 
• Participatory pedagogy -  students take an active role in their own learning
• Deep personalization  -  people reject mass product and service offerings look for customized experiences

(For more on these ideas, see the recent article by  Monica Martinez that brings these ideas together with a nice articulation of the Learning Economy)

Great work, Ohio!