For many of our attendees, it’s their favorite part of our digital transition discussion events. The local panel of educators features the region’s (and often the nation’s) brightest and best education minds. In this Colorado edition, we feature John Ahrens, Director of the Board of Education at St. Vrain Valley Schools and Dan Morris the Executive Director at Colorado Digital Learning Solutions.

According to Ahrens, “I had the opportunity to talk with one of our high schools, and I'd been hearing from some of the parents that students are all struggling. And so I asked that question explicitly of our administration and they said, no, the numbers haven't shifted entirely, but the people that are struggling are different. And I caught that as a sign of saying, okay, we need to get back to the classroom, but the online has really given us opportunity to personalize an educational pathway that we've never had. And I heard that over and over again. How do we personalize our teacher's ability to teach content? How do we personalize the student's ability to pick that content and choose a book of their own interests?

I've been a true proponent of technology. To bring online classes to our schools will do several things. One, it's going to allow our students to take a class from anywhere, but I want to record those classes, so the students can now review content, bring it up to their speed and their timeframes. Because I think that's where we're going to get the most bang for our buck. And we're going to learn from our students what we're doing correctly.”

You’ll want to tune in to this lively, no-holds barred discussion. In typical ‘Local Panel of Administrators style,’ you’ll hear the smartest minds in education tackle some of the toughest issues. It’s good clean fun, and you’ll hear many great ideas you can use to make your learners’ world brighter.