Digital Promise - Changing Education
By Laura Mercure
Founded in 2011, Digital Promise is an independent nonprofit organization funded by the Department of Education and the Gates Foundation, among others. Their mission is to shape the future of learning and advance equitable education systems.
Digital Promise students are given individualized lesson plans, encouraged to pursue their interests, and taught in the style that has shown success for them.
The style, known as Powerful Learning is described on www.digitalpromise.org as the, “set of principles guiding educators to design learning experiences that engage the hearts and minds of learners.” It is defined by a series of attributes including personal and accessible, authentic and challenging, collaborative and connected and inquisitive and reflective.
Personal and accessible delves into the ways students are different, and how successful programs need to ensure students are responsible for their learning and supported to do so.
Authentic and challenging means that if the work is challenging but not frustrating, they will persist when faced with difficulties.
Collaborative and connected means that deeper learning can only happen when genuine conversations allows for diverse viewpoints to address misconceptions.
Inquisitive and reflective means that new insights can only be found through reflecting on teachings and processing the information.
The world of education is evolving and nonprofit organizations like Digital Promise look at how digital tools can assist educators with the challenge of personalizing educational opportunities for all students, particularly those from under-represented communities.
Unfortunately, while Digital Promise does work to ensure equal access to Wifi for students, they cannot ensure access to the physical devices needed. To help fill that gap, please consider donating your outdated laptops and devices to the Hendricks Foundation. The future looks so exciting for students, please help us make sure they can all achieve it!
