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    Minnesota Bans Free Online Courses

    Almost as heartbreaking as burning books, a move by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education will rank among those incomprehensible moments in human history when we seem to be handicapping ourselves for no reason. Lifelong learners, students wanting supplemental courses, professionals, and Americans across the country interested in enrolling in … More

    Morning Bell: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of a New School Year

    As of today, the vast majority of American students have begun a new school year. As lunches are packed and carpool lines grow, Heritage reviews the good, bad, and ugly in education. The Good Support for school choice is at an all-time high. In a poll released in August, school … More

    Back to School: The Rise of Customized Education

    Customized learning has led the education news cycle over the past few weeks as back to school season gets in full swing. And for good reason. Every day there is growing evidence that a seismic shift in the delivery of instruction is underway, bringing with it a tidal wave of … More

    More Pressure on the Higher Ed Bubble

    Despite the fact that the “cost of basic knowledge is cheaper than ever before,” the cost of attending college continues to skyrocket. In large part, dramatic increases in college tuition are the result of ever-growing federal higher education subsidies, which have allowed universities to raise prices while incentivizing students to … More

    The NYT Online Learning Smear Campaign

    Last week The New York Times published what can only be described as a “hit piece” against online learning and leading virtual education provider K12 Inc. Light on evidence and heavy on word count, author Stephanie Saul levels allegations of bloated class sizes, underpaid teachers, and unsupervised learning environments. Online … More

    The Education Justice League Would Move Learning Online

    In an article entitled “Waiting for ‘Superman’, Spiderman, Batman and the Whole Education Justice League,” Sajan George outlines one of the major problems for one-size-fits-all public education: How exactly do we replicate the results of a few excellent teachers all over the nation? The real question is how do we … More

    Leaving Children Behind? It’s Time to Embrace Online Education

    It’s 2010, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at the American school system. Technological advances that we all take for granted in our homes, offices, and cars have yet to fully make their way into our children’s classrooms. But online education can open doors of opportunity to children around … More

    The Children Are Our Future: So Why Aren’t They Learning Online?

    One component of education reform that often gets overlooked is online or virtual learning. In the August-September 2010 issue of Reason Magazine, Katherine Mangu-Ward notes the following: During the last 30 years, the per-student cost of K-12 education has more than doubled in real dollars, with no academic improvement to … More

    Online Classes Lessen Damage of Snowmageddon

    With over a week of in-class instruction lost to two blizzards and many Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland schools forced to contemplate longer school years, a few Maryland teachers found an effective, online alternative to letting snow drifts reduce student achievement. Even as record snowfalls threatened most lesson plans, online … More

    Algebra iPhone Apps and the Online Learning Revolution

    Picture the world in 1960 and imagine how much has changed over the past half century.  Now picture the average classroom in 1960 and today.  In both, you’d probably see roughly the same thing—a teacher standing in front of a row of desks.  Today, there might be a computer or … More