Michael is CEO and co-founder of ASSIST, LLC and managing partner at Global Expansion Strategies. He is former senior direcctor of International Business at K12 and, prior to that, he was senior vice president of The American Education Corporation. An edtech industry veteran, he is former president and founder of One2OneMate, vice president and co-founder of QuickPAD Technology Corporation as well as H45 Technology, and several other Silicon Valley startups—all of which have received multiple awards for innovation and product development. His expertise spans from advocating for one-to-one, mobile, and blended learning environments where tailored tools providing individualized education are key to student performance and achievement, to the international front where he has worked with European, Latin American, African, and Asian governments and school systems to bring about 21st-century educational reforms. Michael is fluent in Spanish, he has traveled extensively and enjoys the entrepreneurial side of business. He is a regular columnist for EdTech Digest where he writes the Smarter Schools column. Write to: mspencer52163@gmail.com
Navigating the B2B to B2C international solutions sales marketplace.
SMARTER SCHOOLS | by Michael Spencer
Selling in the international school market can be difficult enough; selling to schools that generally have little understanding of blended learning leads to some especially challenging territory.
Local Strength: The Power of In-Country Presence
Establishing international strategic channel partners in the edtech market.
SMARTER SCHOOLS | by Michael Spencer
Establishing a presence internationally is best accomplished via in-country strategic partners and resellers. Attempting to conduct international business from U.S.-based offices is not the way to go…
Issues and challenges to consider when implementing blended learning internationally.
SMARTER SCHOOLS | by Michael Spencer
While in the United States it may (or may not) sometimes feel like business as usual in education, there are many different issues that one needs to take into consideration when implementing blended learning in schools internationally…
SMARTER SCHOOLS | by Michael Spencer
How hardware is an essential component of blended learning and individualized instruction.
Blended learning is a mix of not just online and offline instruction, but of several different necessary items including the right hardware…
SMARTER SCHOOLS | by Michael Spencer
How hardware, curriculum and instruction are essential components of blended learning — and individualized instruction.
Like the name implies, blended learning is a mix, not just of online and offline instruction, but of…
SMARTER SCHOOLS | by Michael Spencer
Examining the drivers of the explosive growth in online learning here and to the South.
It is a well-known fact that over 6 million students in the U.S. are…
A Turnkey 1-to-1 Student-centric Mobile Instructional Device
SMARTER SCHOOLS | by Michael Spencer
Despite the challenges, educators are rather clear on what technology solutions will truly move them forward.
From getting funding, raising test scores, and closing the achievement gap to student behavior and attendance issues — school administrators are tackling some pretty hefty challenges these days. …
SMARTER SCHOOLS | by Michael Spencer
As textbooks fade, a new technology moves to the head of the class. But will it make the grade?
Austin, Texas-based New Media Consortium recently released their annual Horizon Report: 2011 K-12 Edition and interestingly, cloud computing and mobiles were named …
7 Reasons Why Blended Learning Makes Sense
SMARTER SCHOOLS | by Michael Spencer
Education no longer comes in rows and textbooks, but from a combination of sources.
Let’s start with a definition. What exactly is blended learning? Here’s a great, generally useful definition found on the City …
6 Reasons Why Students Need 21st-Century Skills
SMARTER SCHOOLS | by Michael Spencer
Thereʼs plenty of talk about what to include on a 21st-century skills list, but why students need such skills is a different question.
Ever since the late 1990s, “21st-century skills” has been a catch-phrase racketing around the education and business worlds. It continues to do so.
Part of its persistence may be due to the excitement in defining a new age: we’re leaving behind an entire thousand-year set and advancing into a new one. But have things really changed that much? They certainly have. …
Why Education Has Never Seen Better Days
SMARTER SCHOOLS | by Michael Spencer
There’s a very good reason that our schools have never been in a better position to capitalize on the current state of affairs.
Technology is opening the door to great opportunities for education. This is happening with a strong thrust in three main areas: …
