The chancellor who introduced a video-game-based school and a zone where technological innovations dominate classes in 80 schools isn’t finished yet.
After Joel Klein officially leaves the city’s Department of Education today he’ll jump into the educational-technology arena with both feet — this time in the private sector for News Corp., which owns The Post.
“I’m going to design strategies for using technology to support teachers and to support student learning,” he said. “I really am so excited about what I want to do here and how we’re going to do it [and] I think people are going to be surprised.”
Klein was hesitant to delve into details about his new endeavors, but he said one project would likely attempt to address teacher shortages in high-poverty countries by using cellphone technology.
Picture students learning how to add through animated math video games delivered onto their cellphones, for example.
“Part of my theory on Africa is to think about how you design a system for a continent where there’s a lot of communication mechanisms and no teachers,” he said.
Klein’s highest-profile work in educational technology to date, The School of One, was named among Time magazine’s 50 best inventions of 2009.
That program centers around software that tailors lessons to a student’s individual pace and learning style — along with small group instruction and online one-on-one tutoring.
The Department of Education was recently awarded $5 million by the federal government to expand the program.