Dear Commons Community,

The NY Times is reporting that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the foundation associated with Pearson, the giant textbook and school technology company, announced a partnership yesterday to create online reading and math courses aligned with the new academic K-12 standards that some 40 states have adopted in recent months.  Twenty-four new courses will be developed that use video, interactive software, games, social media and other digital materials to present math lessons for kindergarten through 10th grade and English lessons for kindergarten through 12th grade, Pearson and Gates officials said.

The financial resources of these two foundations and the corporations that they represent have the potential to change significantly the delivery of online digital instruction for K-12 students.  We will hear a lot about this venture as the courses are developed.   As a major marketing strategy, four of the twenty-four courses will be offered free.

Tony