Jim McLaughlin's Blog

Several years ago, I was talking with one of my colleagues about a project he was thinking about taking on. We were both solidly in the middle of our careers, but his evaluation of the possible project surprised me. He said, “There are a limited number of things that I’ll be able to say I’ve… Read more

Requirements are the devil. No enterprise design initiative wastes more time, more effort, more money — while squandering goodwill — than the quest for requirements. I’ve lost track of the number of software development teams and innovation groups I’ve worked with who invested weeks eliciting, gathering, and prioritizing customer requirements — then carefully built and… Read more

Infographic: The Flipped Classroom By Knewton | Getting Smart. Read more

Stepping into a virtual learning environment can help struggling students interact with curricula in a new way, begin learning with a clean slate, and provide more flexibility to accommodate work or family obligations, say educators and experts working online with students who are at risk of academic failure. But none of those factors will make… Read more

Get parents involved in their children’s education, and good things are bound to happen. That’s a statement that most everyone invested in the public schools — including parents, teachers, administrators, and school board members – can support. But “parent involvement,” though widely praised, is a rather nebulous term encompassing a broad range of activities, from… Read more

This week, the Washington Post’s “Answer Sheet” blog features a commentary by Idette B. Groff, a member of the Conestoga Valley, Penn., school board and a member of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association’s Board of Directors. Groff wrote about ways her school board revamped and expanded its communications plans to ensure all parents were involved… Read more