Digital Learning Day aims to promote digital learning in education. Over 25,000 educators participated in events on February 6th to mark the launch of a national digital learning campaign. The campaign includes Project 24, which provides school districts with customized digital learning plans, a Massive Open Online Course to educate teachers about educational technology, and encouraging the sharing of digital learning activities throughout February using #DLDay on social media. The overall goal is to help schools better integrate technology and digital resources into instruction to improve student learning.

1. Digital Learning Day aims to change
education’s direction
Program organizers launch 'Project 24,' which gives districts a customized
digital learning plan; a Massive Open Online Course for educators to learn
about ed tech; and more
Throughout the rest of February, educators are encouraged to capture digital learning
in action.
With an overwhelming 25,000 educators participating in Digital eLearning Day on
Feb. 6, ed-tech supporters used technology-based projects, lessons, and enthusiasm to
mark what they called a perfect time to launch a national digital learning campaign.
“Every day should be Digital Learning Day,” said Karen Cator, director of the U.S.
Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology. “Access to technology
has become as important to learning as access to a library, yet teachers remain the
critical link between students and the content.”
Cator said teachers are setting expectations for multiple “revision cycles” of student
productions, made possible with “professional tools for writing, composing music,
creating video documentaries, and design.”
“They are learning along with their students and modeling good questioning and
internet research strategies, assigning more complex and challenging projects, and
facilitating communication and collaboration even across borders,” she said.
“The president and I are convinced that with technology, we have an extraordinary
opportunity to expand educational excellence and equity, and personalize the
experience for students,” said Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who attended Digital
Learning Day in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Donovan’s class at Jamestown Elementary in Arlington, Va., presented their
favorite apps during Discovery Education’s webinar celebrating Digital Learning Day.
Along with teachers, students, and parents representing all 50 states, Digital Learning
Day garnered support from nearly 50 national partners and 25 corporate partners.
Efforts included:

2. • Facebook worked with a range of stakeholders to develop resources and tools to help
educators understand how to use social media inside and outside of the classroom.
• KnowledgeWorks’ World of Learning blog featured essays about the benefits and
opportunities of digital and blended learning. Throughout the year, Principal Erin
Frew of Cleveland’s West New Tech High School (who also works for
KnowledgeWork’s New Tech Network) will be an expert resource for Digital
Learning Day’s toolkit to help teachers in specific subject areas.
• The National Council of Teachers of English released a Framework for 21st-Century
Curriculum and Assessment that recognizes that to be 21st-century literate, students
must become proficient with the technology tools and use them to create and manage
information, build meaningful relationships with others so they can inquire and work
together, reflect on their own work processes and products, critically evaluate the
multimedia sources and tools they use, and use these sources and tools ethically.
• American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, a multi-year initiative of the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting, featured its Classroom Resources on the Digital Learning
Day website. Classroom Resources connects teachers, parents, and students with easy
navigation to the best of public media’s educational resources targeted to middle and
high school youth.
• The National School Boards Association will be hosting its annual series
of Technology Site Visits this spring to provide school leaders and educators with an
in-depth look at the policies and practices that support digital learning.
• Global Kids, an in-school and after-school New York City youth program, had high
school students learn about game design skills and global issues using the online
platform Gamestar Mechanic. These students became expert mentors and will lead
workshops across the city and enroll youth in the National STEM Video Game Design
Challenge.
• The Alliance for Excellent Education (AEE), which hosts Digital Learning Day, is
offering Digital Learning: Lessons in Action, which incorporates multiple strategies
with digital learning, such as collaboration, personalized learning, project-based
learning, flipped classrooms, virtual access to experts, and simulations.
Perhaps most noteworthy, AEE has more than 250 school districts, representing
approximately 2.5 million students across 42 states, participating in its
groundbreaking new initiative, called Project 24, which will help school districts plan

3. for, and effectively use, technology and digital learning.
The “24” in Project 24 represents the next 24 months, a time during which the
nation’s education landscape will change greatly as states and districts face numerous
challenges—including the need to implement college- and career-ready standards for
all students; use online assessments to gauge comprehension and learning; push for
greater system and classroom innovation; deal with shrinking budgets; and contend
with demands of states’ waivers from key provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act.
To participate, a school district must (1) sign up at www.all4ed.org/project24; (2)
assemble a team composed of the district superintendent or a representative, a district
curriculum leader, the district technology director, and a district professional
development leader; and (3) take the free self-assessment. Upon completion of the
self-assessment, a confidential, customized report will be generated for each district.
“With Project 24’s self-assessment tool, district leaders can frame their vision for
student learning, begin to recognize the various aspects of the system that need to be
addressed, and specify how technology can help align these efforts to achieve higher
college- and career-ready standards,” said Bob Wise, AEE president and former
governor of West Virginia. “It will help district leaders move beyond counting
computers and internet connections to analyzing how they can integrate technology
into their instructional plans.”
Partnering with other national membership organizations, the Alliance has identified
a framework with seven major components that will provide education leaders in
states and school districts with tools to make good decisions about how technology
aligns with the goals and visions for their students. The framework will provide
assistance to districts on (1) academic supports, (2) budget and resources, (3)
curriculum and instruction, (4) data and assessments, (5) professional learning, (6)
technology and infrastructure, and (7) use of time.
In conjunction with the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina
State University, AEE has developed a Massive Online Open Course for Educators
(MOOC-E), called “The Digital Learning Transition in K–12 Schools: A Planning
MOOC for Educators.” The six-week course is designed to provide a new type of
learning experience for education leaders, one that will help them identify the
potential of technology-enabled learning opportunities for the district, including its
leaders, teachers, and students. The course will kick off on April 8.
More information on Project 24 is available at www.all4ed.org/project24.
Want to get even more involved? Throughout the rest of February, educators are

4. encouraged to capture digital learning in action. Enhance and share your photo using
the Instagram photo app, and tag it using #DLDay and @digitallearningday.
Remember to review Instagram’s policies, and be sure that any students included in
your photo have necessary waivers. Digital Learning Day will post the best photos on
its website, and there might even be prizes for the best photos at the end of the month.
Learn more here.