The mission of the SMILE Consortium is to cause a paradigm shift within education by enabling students to be active agents in their learning through an inquiry-based learning model.

ENGADGET: Marvell and Stanford create SMILE Plug cloud computer, SMILE Consortium to get companies and devs to build a better education system

At least one blended-learning school, Summit Public Schools, is partnering to build its own solution to the problem and use content from different sources to support the new competency-based learning model it is developing, which seems like a smart backward integration.

FORBES: Is the Technology 'Ready' for Blended Learning?

At the heart, they are an exercise in planning and as I have argued already, entrepreneurs need to switch from a planning based model to a learning based model.

FORBES: Business Plans Are a Death Trap ... and the $40,000 Alternative

However, particular emphasis is placed on action-based learning using the ADIDS model, whereby learners are encouraged to engage in simulated or real project activities that contribute to the overall development of the project.

UNESCO: Country Profile: Philippines

Unfortunately, for both students and the employers who would hire them, the increasing difficulty in securing the work experience necessary to demonstrate competency sans degree favors the less-rigorous test it and forget it model of competency-based learning.

FORBES: A BA In Burger Flipping: Is College Credit In Exchange For Life Experience A Fair Trade?

The natural model for learning, largely based on the power of mirror neurons, came from watching and imitating others, then repeating the action over and over.

FORBES: Why Apprenticeships Are the Fastest Way to Acquire Skills

The school is pushing the bounds of blended learning with a Flex model that is competency-based.

FORBES: What Are the Right Schools of Experience for Teachers in New Schools?

At the heart of this model is a reimagined educational experience grounded in mastery-based, personalized learning.

FORBES: How to Bring Quality Online Education to a Global Student Population