At this most recent Inkwell Working Group meeting we covered a lot of territory.  We learned from Governor Napolitano that we need to design solid instructional strategies, and provide ample professional support for educators, to underscore laptop learning programs in order to achieve positive outcomes.  It was pleasing to hear that, as a Governor of a State, Janet is on task with understanding the complexity of school transformation, and also sincere in her desire to see a solution articulated that can be implemented at scale --for her 1M AZ school children, and for our Nation as a whole.  Susan Patrick (NACOL), Giorgio Vanzini (Microsoft), and Adrian Hall (Steljes) described the the scope of investment in building online learning programs both domestically and worldwide.  In the United States online learning is growing at 30% CAGR.  England is investing $80B US in technology and infrastructure for existing schools, and development of new secondary schools.  Toni Morgan (MIND Institute) introduced us to Jiji the penguin and demonstrated how working with Jiji can yield significant learning gains for students. Michael Lindsay (X Prize Foundation) provided our group a unique insight into the development of the X Prize Foundation's new Education X Prize Competition and John Costello of Gateway debriefed our group on Gateway's new 1:1 learning program describing the various elements of their offering and campaign strategy.
 
Of course, throughout the session, we learned from the experts, including Darryl LaGace of Lemon Grove School District, Dr. Philip Brody of Clark County, Rajeev Bajaj of NYC Public Schools, Hilda Sugarman, Board Member of Fullerton Public Schools, and Rick Gaisford of the Utah DOE.  We applaud their innovative projects, and their passion to embark upon and lead a frontier of student centered learning.  Congratulations to Darryl LaGace and his team for taking 1:1 learning District wide, and to Rajeev Bajaj and his team for their courageous effort to craft the requirements for, and then in partnership with IBM, launch the $60M Accountability and Reporting Information System (ARIS).  Hilda Sugarman's district is leading a District-wide 1:1 program in partnership with Apple computer and asked me to reiterate her invitation to any of you to come and visit the Fullerton program -- Hilda can be reached at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   Dr. Brody has forwarded me several articles relating to his role as CIO of Clark County, NV (links posted on the Inkwell website) and we all marvel at the pace of growth of Clark County --our Nation's fastest growing County and school system.  Rick Gaisford of Utah -- we're all looking forward to seeing you again this Summer hosted by your State's Governor.
 
In our break outs we articulated a proposed offering for a 1:1 learning program for 1M students.  It wasn't easy, and will require considerable more work in the areas of Infrastructure, Server Side Capacity, and the Teaching & Learning Model (the 2nd and 3rd domains of Inkwell, respectively).  This type of activity will form the substance of our Summer Working Group session.  I'm confident that our effort to define a solution at scale will be rewarded with a call from States, led by Governors, for large scale 1:1 learning programs.  So, we'd better be prepared for this significant, positive shift in the demand curve (predicted by Inkwell a few years back) that suggests K12 education will become the single largest market for technology in the next 10-15 years.
 
So, we appreciate your feedback, and will be working diligently to engage the educational community in the Affiliates program.  For those of you joining us at the Future In Review Conference ( http://www.futureinreview.com ) we're hosting a panel at the conference which includes Member companies Advanced Micro Devices, VIA Technologies, Gateway, and Microsoft.  If you're attending FiRe, I'll see you there!
 
In the meantime, enjoy these last few months of the school year, and we'll be in touch soon.

The next Working Group Meeting is sheduled for July. If you would like to be part of Project Inkwell or just to learn more about the project, please This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .