Forum COMMENTARY

10 Reasons Why the Ed Tech Bubble will Continue to Float

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:16

Fueled in part by socially-conscious investors and tech entrepreneurs,�investment in the educational applications market�has exploded to an extent not seen since the dot-com boom�more than a decade ago. While some analysts are predicting�this is an era of irrational exuberance that could collapse like the bubble burst in 2000, there are at least 10 reasons why this time is different:

Lower Development Costs: Hardware and software tools have improved and costs lowered, and the savings in�application�development and delivery means reduced prices and higher�marginal revenues.�Improvements include�simpler and more powerful authoring tools, many of them open source, as well as cloud and other hosted models that enable schools and companies to�more easily�outsource and scale.��
Apps Market Dynamics:�The proliferation of Apps on various mobile devices provides�a more�welcoming market environment for�educational technology companies. Among these factors�is the reduced cost of development and distribution on the various mobile operating systems such as Android and iOS and their app stores (though�some revenue sharing models do challenge the equation).
Increased Hardware Access & Connectivity: While a digital divide still exists and too many classrooms still rely on a single�computer station,�student and teacher access (at home and school) has grown many fold over the last decade.�Reasons for this include the reduced cost of hardware (driven by Moore’s law), growing�support for BYOD (student’s�Bringing their�Own Device), and�recent investments in tablets, electronic whiteboards and other devices.
Touch Tablet Ease of Use: Many educators view the touch interface as a game changer for student learning through technology. School (and home) spending bears that out. The platforms provide a simplified user�interface for students, a simplified operating system that eases school technical�support costs, and a tactile functionality that is both beneficial to younger learners and provides a key pedagogical differentiator from other print and digital mediums.�
Educators Asking How, Not If: Educators have�crossed the tipping point from asking “if?” technology to asking “how, how much and what?” While luddites still exist and we are a long way from robust integration and effective use, teachers, administrators and policy makers recognize the upside of technology and digital learning and are focused on how to realize the power and promise.
The New Normal: Our education system is charged with doing more with less in light of the recent recession and enhanced common, college and career readiness standards. Technology has increased productivity in other sectors, and K12 education is finally looking at technology to supplant and transform, rather than simply to supplement. At the same time, many are leveraging technology for data analytics, customized interventions, and blended learning that shift us from�mass-production teaching to�the more efficient, mass-customization personalized learning model.
Educators as Digital Natives: Interestingly, in the past, it has been more veteran teachers that have gravitated to technology than younger teachers who grew up with technology. This is likely starting to change as the technology use by the young teachers and administrators in their personal (and learning) lives is much more prolific in today’s world of mobile apps, virtual communities�and online everything. The education workforce is shifting over rapidly post baby-boom generation, and their technology use�will follow.
Digital Native Students: Not much need be said. Students are too often disengaged not by the lack of technology but instead by rote lectures and static text. They understand they must be engaged and challenged, and allowed to explore and personalize their learning. They see how technology supports them outside of school. Educators are responding to their demand to bring that robust learning environment into their curriculum or risk losing too many more students to boredom.
Expanded Distribution: While the proliferation of channels — technology platforms as well as consumer forums — can be a challenge for developers, these will be outweighed by the benefits. Mobile devices and app stores are increasing access and reducing consumer risk. Formal and informal learning are blending as parents and non-school learning providers gain access to new tools. Teachers are no longer reliant on slow, one-size school or district-wide purchasing decisions, but instead can use a debit account to download a product for just one or a few students. And a number of repositories and social networks are providing single points of information�(if not yet a point of sales) for all products�(and marketing).
Parental Advocacy:�Increased parental exposure to learning technologies at home is driving their demand for use at school. While parents were sometimes the road block to school board investments, they are more often now leading the charge.

These differences do not imply that every new product and company will succeed. For better or worse, there are probably too many products on the market relative to the number of average users required for product success. Whether investment is all flowing to the right solutions and the right entrepreneurs is still an open question, but it�is�undeniable that there is growing�demand and opportunity for technology in education.

It is also�important to note one related potential market challenge — vendor�lock-in of content and data.�A dynamic market requires�minimized barriers to entry such that�(school and individual) users are empowered to seamlessly move among existing and new products with minimal risk. SIIA therefore encourages education decision makers and application developers to invest in interoperability.�By creating and demanding applications built on common data,�content�and API�standards, information and resources can be more easily shared and exported among any number of proprietary or open applications, thus reducing the risk to educators of a failed product or company. Such standardization is critical for the maturity, and therefore the�growth,�of the digital learning market, and will ultimately best serve both education and education providers.

These 10 important developments should encourage�today’s developers and investors. While the ed tech bubble may not float ever higher, a burst is not likely this time around.

Mark Schneiderman is Senior Director of Education Policy at SIIA. Follow the Education Division on Twitter at @SIIAEducation.

SIIA Announces Innovation Incubator Award Winners

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 20:04

SIIA’s Education Division showcased some of the leading growth companies in the education technology market and recognized the best among them as part of the Innovation Incubator program at the 12th annual Ed Tech Business Forum, held Nov. 26 and 27 at the McGraw Hill Conference Center in New York.

The award winners are:

Clever received top-votes as Most Innovative and Most Likely to Succeed
Mathalicious received first runner-up for Most Innovative and Most Likely to Succeed
Classroom, Inc. has the distinction of receiving the first-ever Educator�s Choice Award

More than 75 applicants were assessed for the Innovation Incubator program on a broad range of criteria, including the education focus, end-user impact, market need for the innovation, representation of K-12/postsecondary market levels, and the level of originality and innovation. Twelve participants and one alternate were selected for the program, and six were elected as finalists in the program.

Other finalists include:

SIIA�s Innovation Incubator program identifies and supports entrepreneurs in their development and distribution of innovative learning technologies. The program began in 2006 and has provided incubation for dozens of successful products and companies in their efforts to improve education through the use of software, digital content and related technologies.

Tracy Carlin is a Communications and Public Policy Intern at SIIA. She is also a first year graduate student at Georgetown University’s Communication, Culture and Technology program where she focuses on intersections in education, video games and gender.

Big Data and Educational Technology

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 14:50

Guest post by Owen Lawlor, Hadoop/MPP Data Science, Social and Strategic Technology Advisor, Victory Productions.

When we look back at 2013 and the seismic shifts in education taking place we identify that there will be not one but 3 major trend confluences taking place transforming EdTech: (1) big data (2) the consumerization of IT and (3) the democratization of data.

Seemingly in the past 12 months, you could not visit an airport newsstand, tech news site or blog that has been untouched by the headlines, hype and hyperbole surrounding Big data and its seemingly magical powers to transform all our lives.
Now there is: Big data in Healthcare, big data in Social Systems, big data in Science, big data in Traffic Systems and big data in City Planning Management. In fact, there IS a lot of hype surrounding big data, but is this just where we are the technology adoption cycle or is it really something more?

Gartner Group recently estimated big data spending over the next 5 years to equal nearly a quarter TRILLION dollars. Clearly some very serious commercial and industrial applications are seeing immediate and rewarding returns on investment within big data. Data also is growing exponentially driven by all the new unstructured social, video, logging and sensor data. We now create more data in 2 DAYS than was created from the dawn of civilization up until 2003! Entire industries are now converging with that data like never before and by 2020 most consumers will expect and even demand that big data inform nearly everything they consume and do.

The opportunities to capitalize on this data are also growing. But what about education? Does big data have any application in EdTech? Having personally led and participated in multiple big data projects for close to five years now, ranging from creating solutions like intelligent multi-dimensional search systems, social system analytics, dynamic big data visualization, corporate virtual systems integration and various government programs, the answer resoundingly is �YES�!

The next generation of apps will have big data embedded within them as consumers increasingly expect and demand customization for their specific usage and individualized needs. Think beyond �Siri� here. There not only is a place for big data in education, it may actually be one of the most interesting and socially valuable big data applications of all, and possibly even an essential step to make it feasible to meet the new Common Core requirements.

When we do look back on 2012 and the seismic shifts taking place in EdTech the single most exciting capability in our estimation is that integrating big data analytics and capabilities to create a more efficient, more focused and more meaningful learning space for all education system stakeholders.

On its own, big data is certainly an exciting opportunity to be seized upon. When it is combined with the advent of the consumerization of technology via mobile and tablet computing growth exploding and bringing with it interesting evidentiary improvements in student outcomes through increasingly numerous studies, the opportunities to leverage what that data can do for us expand geometrically. The opportunity to have portable technology that ties in with big data back-ends provides a dramatically synergistic potential combination.

Now with the consolidation of textbooks into iPad iBooks, tablet and portable devices and the commensurate cost savings drivers associated to help push district and state spending downwards, vast new opportunities in this new digital form factor to provide rich media, interactivity and embedded assessment that the digital natives expect. All served up to them in with specificity and relevance. A customized learning experience is now available.

Content can now interact with the learner, providing both a more interesting, meaningful and targeted experience as well as providing useful automated and scaffolded intervention. Sequence and timing data can provide useful logging trails that can provide recommendation engines with the data logs that can be analyzed to provide more targeted and real-time intervention to engage and improve student outcomes.

As good as some of these systems might become, the �final mile� is the critical democratization of that data to the teachers and students themselves. Being able to provide platforms that enable teachers inside the classroom to focus their intervention efforts and to be able to visualize and respond in intuitive, clear and actionable ways where their teaching could be most actionable and effective. To provide important views and response paths to this performance data to teachers on students who may be requiring intervention, in specific areas in real-time, aligned with learning standards can help them dramatically save them time and provide help to those who need it most, at the optimal time they need it. It can help identify when students are bored, and help provide adaptive paths to engage and challenge them. It can potentially identify when a teacher may want to look at how they are teaching and relate that methodology for their given desired outcome, all framed within the new national standards.

Pushing actionable relevant data down to the end users in a form that is understandable, actionable and pedagogically sound when they need it is truly revolutionary. At the end of the day the confluence of the three very powerful technology drivers in our lifetimes that, while on their own are quite impressive, but when converged provide the singular opportunity to dramatically improve learning outcomes in very clear and distinct ways.

We see the potential of these technologies applied to the very real problems of improving STEM learning, learning customization and national competitiveness on the very near term horizon. Being able to use data to predict and improve student outcomes may indeed even be one of the most powerful opportunities for the education system to help regain global competitiveness, drive job growth and help balance the skills deficit.

Feel free to email me with your thoughts!

Seismic Shifts in Education: How and Why

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:24

Guest Post By Susan Littlewood, Director of Marketing & Sales, Victory Productions

What is the primary cause of the seismic shifts in education? All indicators point to the increased capabilities and availability of digital technology. Technology is performing the role of the great disruptor. It is an unsettling force in tradition-bound classrooms and schools.

It was only a decade ago that college publishers began using electronic tagging to speed up the production of printer-ready files. They began making their texts available electronically as PDFs and now are offering texts as interactive EPUB3.

Now the trend toward electronic books has reached high school and elementary schools. Heavy backpacks and book bags are being replaced by mobile devices, which are lightweight, increasingly inexpensive, and cool. Digital tablets and phones have entered the classroom opening new avenues for students to interact with the content they are learning and collaborate with fellow students and teachers, inside and outside the classroom.

Technology has enabled Open Source content, which is available to students and teaching professionals at all levels for all study areas from kindergarten through grad-school. Lab and classroom activities, engaging games and simulations, professional development materials, test prep and assessment programs can all be downloaded free from the Web. Khan Academy has burst upon the education landscape offering individualized instruction to students wherever they are in the world. To date, Khan Academy has delivered more than 200 million lessons.

The New York Times� Sunday, November 11, edition of Education Life published an article, The Year of the MOOC. MOOC translates to Massive Open Online Courses. These take traditional online college courses to a new level. They are free to students and may offer certificates of completion. Information is online for everyone.

Bandwidth controls the availability of online information in schools. E-readers and tablets proliferate propelling the need for expanded access to technology as it is used now and will be used in the future. Paying for necessary upgrades concerns technology directors who are confronted by property tax caps and the difficult economic landscape. Planning for the online administration of the PARCC and Smarter Balanced Assessment tests, which are being written now, has begun. Practice tests may be scheduled in 2014 with the actual tests being given in 2015. http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2012/10/29/560584inexchangeschoolsbandwidth_ap.html

Technology has made the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) possible. The 45 states that have accepted the CCSS will test students on their knowledge of content and their ability to apply that knowledge through higher-order thinking skills. http://www.corestandards.org/frequently-asked-questions

Assessment tests now include technology enhanced items. These are the preferred performance-based items that require far fewer of the traditional multiple-choice questions. The increased capabilities of scoring and scaling have enabled the assessment industry to become more efficient for teachers and their students.

Technology is changing the way teachers teach and students learn. Flipped classrooms is one change. It refers to an instructional structure that requires students to read or research a topic after school as homework. When in school they work with their teachers to apply what they learned the evening before. The teacher is now available to demonstrate concepts and uncover student misunderstandings until all students have a workable understanding of the content.

Technology has given us collaboration tools that can be used to teach teamwork as a skill. Students work together to solve problems and work on research and other kinds of projects. The mindset driving students to study alone to gain a competitive edge is being replaced by a culture of collaborative problem solving.

Individual instruction on a scale never possible before technology is becoming a reality.
Adaptive learning is made possible by the ability to collect and analyze a student�s work in real-time. In adaptive learning situations, technology takes on the role of the teacher. Lesson Management Systems (LMS) collect data, notify students as soon as an incorrect answer is entered, and sends prompts or remedial instruction. These highly individualized interventions provide instant feedback that students can act on immediately. The teacher�s role is transitioning from sage-on-the-stage to a facilitator.

Advances in Big Data and data visualization systems are now being applied to education. The systems assemble data into visual patterns and reassemble it into other unexpected patterns. The patterns can reveal creative ways to improve educational outcomes of students. Now a student�s cognitive growth can be tracked from birth through graduation and into the workplace. With complete and detailed records, kids will no longer have the ability to reinvent themselves as they progress from elementary, middle, high school, through college and the workplace. Their statistics precede them.

Big Data can also lay bare the effectiveness of teachers, schools, districts, and the educational systems of states. Their performance can be tracked, gauged, and judged. Salaries and ratings can be assigned on the basis of this data.

The power of technology is shaking up the quiet world of academia from kindergarten to university. This world has been traveling the same track since medieval times. Change opens the way to new business opportunities. This change is overdue.

Education Technology Pioneers Announced as Participants for SIIA Innovation Incubator Program

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 19:08

The SIIA Education Division is excited to announce the latest participants in the Innovation Incubator Program. The program will be held during the 12th annual Ed Tech Business Forum, Nov. 26-27, at its new location, the McGraw Hill Conference Center in New York. Twelve products and services will be featured during the event, and awards will be presented to the Most Innovative and Most Likely to Succeed based on votes of conference attendees. New this year, one innovator will be presented with the Educator�s Choice Awardbased on votes from educators in New York and around the country.

SIIA�s Innovation Incubator Program identifies and supports entrepreneurs in their development and distribution of innovative learning technologies. The program began in 2006 and has provided incubation for dozens of successful products and companies in their efforts to improve education through the use of software, digital content and related technologies. The program is open to applicants from academic and non-profit institutions, pre-revenue and early-stage companies, as well as established companies with newly developed technologies.

Innovation Incubator Program participants were selected from the applicant pool based on key selection criteria, including:

The extent to which their innovation represents a �sea change� in thinking
Potential to positively impact education by way of enhanced student achievement, teacher effectiveness, cost reduction and efficiency
Education focus and end-user impact/market need for the innovation
Representation of K-12/postsecondary market levels
Level of originality and innovation

All Innovation Incubator participants will present during the Business Profiles Presentations on Nov. 26, which is immediately followed by the Innovation Showcase & Networking Reception where they will be available for in-depth discussion. After a first round of voting, supported by Turning Technologies, finalists will present during the morning general session on Nov. 27 to a review panel of representatives from SxSWedu, University of Pennsylvania, GSV Advisors, and NewSchools Venture Fund, and approximately 200 attendees.

Innovation Incubator Program participants are:

C8Kids
C8Kids, based on proprietary IP developed in 15 years of research at Yale, is a cloud-based, web-delivered neuroscience-based cognition improvement program that has the potential to solve some of the most significant problems in education and mental health.

Classroom, Inc.
Classroom, Inc., a nonprofit with 20 years experience closing the achievement gap for students, has developed a new blended-learning product that is a promising, research-based use of technology to help high-need students learn ELA and math Common Core State Standards and 21st century skills.

Clever
Clever provides a modern set of APIs that allow ISVs to for the first time plug directly into a schools existing data infrastructure.

iCAN
iCAN is a web-based, student and teacher tool for learning, engagement, evaluation and measurement of achievements to standards.

iPrompts
iPrompts is a suite of interactive tools for iOS and Android devices, designed to help students with autism understand tasks, remain attentive, learn socially appropriate behaviors, and transition to new activities.

KLEOplatform
Whether it�s a school, teacher, student or PTA raising money for a project, or an individual giving money, or a foundation, corporation, school district, PTA, government agency or nonprofit distributing money, Kleo simplifies all matters relating to managing funds for educational needs.

LearnSprout
The LearnSprout API is a universal data connector that plugs into multiple SISs.

Mathalicious
Mathalicious is rewriting middle- and high-school math around real-world topics that students care about.

mSchool
mSchool provides a combination of distance training, hardware, and software to existing community after school programs allowing them to open a “microSchool,” which replaces core instructional time in a traditional classroom.

Reading Kingdom
Reading Kingdom is a patented, adaptive, common-core aligned English language arts program that teaches children to read and write to the third-grade level.

RecoVend Collaborative Purchasing Platform
RecoVend makes it easy for school administrators to work together to discover, research and buy the products and services they need.

STEMscopes
STEMscopes is a K-12 comprehensive online science curriculum program that provides hands-on inquiry activities, assessments, problem-based-learning, intervention tools, acceleration materials, and teacher support resources.

PlatinuMath (alternate)
This suite of Web-based games strengthens the procedural and conceptual mathematics understanding of pre-service elementary teachers.

SIIA is partnering with Innovation Incubator Program sponsors BLEgroup and Texthelp to host these developers of new technologies at this hallmark conference. For more information about the Ed Tech Business Forum, visit www.siia.net/etbf.

Liderby Portorreal is Program Manager for the SIIA Education Division. Follow the SIIA Education Team on Twitter at @SIIAEducation

Leaders or Laggards: The State Role in the Shift to Digital Content

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 18:55

The focus at the recent annual meeting of the State Instructional Materials Review Association (SIMRA) was the shift from print to digital. While paper weight and book binding standards remain on their agenda, the shift is symbolized in part by this group’s recent name change that replaced “textbooks” with “instructional materials.” I had the opportunity to present at the meeting, and had some timely discussions about the evolving state role in the digital world. Texas (see SIIA webinar), Florida (see SIIA summary) and West Virginia are among the states most proactive in helping lead their schools into the digital content future, while many states (with leadership from their SIMRA-member adoption director) are trying to catch up with their districts and understand their evolving roles and rules. A parallel but accelerated shift to digital is underway in state assessments with the leadership of PARCC and SBAC.

As background, SIMRA members administer the process used in 20+ states for instructional materials adoption, including identifying curriculum and technical requirements, soliciting publisher submissions, managing the peer review criteria and process, and coordinating the school procurement of approved materials (including with state funds to buy materials in states such as Texas, California and Florida). SIIA has advocated for years the need to update legacy rules that often create barriers to adoption of digital and online resources, and therefore limit local choice. While often this is simply about correcting for unintended consequences of legacy print rules, the issues are often far more complicated and reflect the still evolving views of instructional materials in the digital age. A leading example is dynamic content: State policies have traditionally required that content remain unchanged over the course of the six year adoption cycle, while digital resources can be seamlessly updated to remain current, accurate and meet evolving curriculum and pedagogical needs. Not surprisingly, SIIA has long advocated the flexibility for content to be updated and improved during the period of adoption.

Here are a few other trends identified at the SIMRA meeting:

State budget shortages continue, causing many states to delay adoption cycles or reduce funding and leaving many teachers and students with increasingly outdated materials.
Common Core State Standards are central to the process, but many state cycles are not aligned and adjustments are often not possible given the overall budget shortages.
Fewer states are funding instructional materials. In the traditional model, states paid for instructional materials, providing them the leverage to determine which materials are to be used. That is often no longer the case.
States are increasingly providing local control such that school districts can buy state approved materials, but can also buy any other instructional resources as well.
Some states are asking whether they should continue to target only single, primary tools of instruction (i.e., textbooks or their digital equivalents), or whether they should also adopt, for example, digital learning objects and modules to support teachers in dynamically assembling resources to differentiate instruction and personalize learning.
Some states are allowing the use of instructional materials funds for the purchase of the technology hardware needed to access those materials, though priority in general still for content.

States are working with SIIA, publishers and other stakeholders to address new challenges in reviewing adaptive instructional software and other robust digital content. For example, how do they review the full resource in cases where each student may be provided a unique, dynamic pathway through the content (compared to the relative ease of reviewing a more linear (e)textbook).

Also, as digital content shifts from supplemental to primary, format and platform are also increasingly of concern. State agencies, on behalf of local educators, seek to ensure the content they purchase is accessible from multiple platforms, as well as increasingly from their students� personal/home devices. Some have floated the requirement that digital content must be accessible from every platform through a common format. While interoperability is�a key goal, SIIA recommends for industry evolution of common standards and against regulatory mandates that could block use of�many widely used technologies.�SIIA instead encourages that states focus on ensuring publishers disclose�system requirements to empower local decision makers with the information they need to determine what platforms and resources best meet their needs. This will enable technology innovation and competition, enhance education choice, and ultimately ensure the needs of teachers and students are best addressed.

SIIA encourages states to further lead the print to digital transition. In doing so, they must recognize that there is not yet any single best technology, curriculum or instructional practice solution for the use of digital content. Therefore, most importantly, SIIA encourages states to provide the investment, regulatory flexibility and technical assistance districts need to innovate as educators collectively and individually determine the best path forward.

Mark Schneiderman is Senior Director of Education Policy at SIIA.

Growing our Leadership Role in Education Technology

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:50

SIIA�s Education Division is looking forward to growing its leadership position within the education industry when we host the annual Ed Tech Business Forum on November 26-27 in New York City. We�ve seen increasing attendance at our Education Division conferences in recent years, which parallels the growing use of technology in K-20 institutions. This year�s Ed Tech Business Forum will support the dramatic increase in new, innovative companies, as well as the expansion of capital investment in the ed tech industry. And the most remarkable thing is that such impressive growth is happening during a period of severe budget cuts to education institutions, and other seismic shifts in the industry.

This Year�s Theme: Embracing the Seismic Shifts

The 2012 program will reflect the key business challenges facing ed tech companies today, given the seismic shifts in the K-20 education community. These shifts are occurring in our classrooms and administrative offices, online and face-to-face, and in both formal and informal learning environments.

One of the most popular program topics at SIIA�s Ed Tech Industry Summit held last May in San Francisco was about the seismic changes in education. Randy Wilhelm, the CEO of Knovation (formally netTrekker), and moderator of this great Q&A session, reminded everyone that the changes are about far more than the digital transformation going on in schools today. It�s also about the transformational changes in the culture of K-20 education � from teacher accountability to student expectations to school funding to academic standards.

But as these shifts are occurring, how do businesses adapt to stay successful? Here are a few questions related to that session that you�ll see woven into the program at the Ed Tech Business Forum.

What education trend will have the greatest impact on K-20 education in the next three years?
What�s the key to adapting to these trends and seismic changes?
What innovations � and investments � will be most responsible for the impact?

So join us at the Ed Tech Business Forum for a major conversation about these seismic shifts in education. Hear about the success stories and challenges as K-20 institutions move to personalized learning, new delivery models, learning analytics, mobile platforms, and social learning.

The program focus this year will be on the shifts that education companies are seeing and the transitions they are making to be successful in this market. In the morning, we�ll focus on the �ignition points� and investments occurring in the K-20 space with topics such as:

Where’s the Venture Funding and Ignition Points for VC’s?
Who�s Buying Whom – and Why? What�s the Latest in the World of M&A?
What are the Disruptions Created – by the Start-ups to the Legacy Companies?

In the afternoon seminars, attendees will have a chance to focus on the details of making the shifts successfully, with topics such as:

Distribution in the Era of Consumerization
Public Private Partnerships That Produce Products and Customers
Forecasts for Education Funding Post- Election
Demystifying IP – Who Owns What at the End of the Day?
It’s All About Mobile Now
Exit Strategies Beyond the IPO
Changes in How Products are Being Developed, Marketed and Sold

We�re now in an era where every education company is becoming an ed tech company. There�s a growing �consumerization� of education given the availability of curriculum for learning outside the classroom and the prevalence of wireless devices that are shifting the delivery platforms.

We know that technology is changing, and will continue to change, the way we think about education � both in regards to the content and the delivery of information. However, in order to successfully adapt to these changes, we need to make it a priority to reflect on our current state of education and think about how what we�re doing now, both individually and collectively, will impact the future.

The Ed Tech Business Forum is one place of many where we will have these conversations!

Note: A Change in Venue

We�re expecting a record attendance again this year � but this time we�re prepared for it because we�re hosting it in the McGraw-Hill Conference Center. Their auditorium will hold everyone in one room for the morning general sessions and the break-out rooms will hold more people for the afternoon Innovation Incubator presentations and the topical seminars. So join us in New York right after Thanksgiving.

Karen Billings is Vice President for the Education Division at SIIA. Follow the SIIA Education Team on Twitter at @SIIAEducation

New Trends in Elementary Game Based Education

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 15:38

Screen time�or the amount of time a student spends in front of a computer or other device–is hitting new records across the educational spectrum. Preschoolers are in front of a screen an average of 120 minutes per day, elementary school aged children are even higher, and it�s projected to rise in coming years.

As these numbers continue to increase, the potential for education has not gone unnoticed by teachers, as well as parents. In the iTunes app store, three-fourths of top selling applications were targeted at pre and elementary aged school children. Most of these applications are used in the home, not in school settings.

At a recent talk put on by Future Tense (a collaboration between Slate, New America Foundation, and ASU) a panel of leaders in the study of elementary education and technology spoke about the changes occurring in early childhood learning. The panelists included Joel Levin-�The Minecraft Teacher�, Creator of �Super Why!� Alice Wilder, and Annie Murphy Paul �Schwartz Fellow with the New America Foundation and the Author of Brilliant: The Science of Smart. �Though educational technology is nothing new, it is less common in K-5 classrooms than in higher grade levels. Much of the educational technology in use for the K-5 age group is used in the home, and it�s mainly comprised of games. According to Paul, the problem with educational games is that many are simply �chocolate covered broccoli� with a fancy coating obscuring traditional �boring� learning models.

Levin discussed his time in the classroom working with Minecraft, a game many elementary school age children already know and love. What�s unique about Minecraft is that it is not inherently educational, nor was it designed to be. It was created to get kids to play and have fun, and it�s classroom adaptation has proved much more successful than Levin predicted.

Several examples of Minecraft being applied in the classroom were covered in the panel. In the game, players mine and create buildings, cities, and more. Multiple students can use it together, to build lifelike digital models of historical sites including the Acropolis and the Alamo. It sparks conversation about digital citizenship, related to how users interact in the game.� Discussing the game in a classroom setting helps students and teachers monitor and filter out inappropriate or intrusive online social behaviors.� New applications are being built, which add to the basic game and adapt it for classroom or educational use.

When teachers think outside of the traditional educational game space, there is huge potential to adapt games children are already interested in. Intrinsic learning, or learning for learning�s sake, is a key element of the intellectual growth of elementary and preschool children. As they grow older, this unique thirst for knowledge tends to diminish in classroom settings. If teachers can keep learning fun, as opposed to making it a chore, children will stay interested in technology. Adapting games they already like so they can have fun while learning is a key to keeping them engaged.

Lindsay Harman is Market and Policy Analyst for the SIIA Education Division.

Education Technology Innovators Sought for Incubation Program

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 20:37

SIIA’s Education Division is now accepting applicants for its Innovation Incubator Program. Selected developers of promising new technologies in the K-12 and postsecondary space will be invited to participate in the program at the 11th annual SIIA Ed Tech Business Forum in New York, Nov. 26-27, 2012. The deadline to apply for the Innovation Incubator program is Sept. 26, 2012.

For those of you that are unfamiliar, SIIA’s Innovation Incubator program identifies and supports entrepreneurs in their development and launch of innovative learning technologies. The program began in 2006 and has helped dozens of companies enrich their efforts to improve education through the use of software, digital content and related technologies. The Innovation Incubator program uniquely employs a peer-review process to identify the most innovative and most likely to succeed products. Successful industry leaders and peers also provide one-on-one mentorship to support the growth and success of identified innovators.

All education technology companies are encouraged to apply – from start-ups to established innovators. A panel of industry professional judges will then select finalists and alternates to present their products during the Ed Tech Business Forum. One winner and one runner-up will be for the �Most Innovative� and �Most Likely to Succeed� categories.

Past Innovation Incubator winners include:

Filament Games, developer of education games designed to increase students� interest in science
The Language Express, creator of interactive multimedia products that teach social and life skills

For more information about the Innovation Incubator Program or to apply, visit our website.

SIIA Vision K-20 Survey Finds Technology Progress in U.S. Schools and Universities

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 18:46

The SIIA Education Division today released the full report from the 2012 Vision K-20 Survey, its fifth annual national survey to measure U.S. educational institutions’ self-reported progress toward building a framework that embraces technology and e-learning. SIIA presented the results during the Campus Technology Conference in Boston. The comprehensive report surveyed over 1,600 educators and education administrators, and suggests that K-20 institutions are maintaining current levels of technology growth despite difficult budget conditions. The preliminary findings were presented at the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference in June.

Overall Results
� More than 75 percent of both K-12 and postsecondary participants rate the importance of technology integration and its ideal level very highly.
� This year the postsecondary response to the survey increased greatly. Twenty nine percent of postsecondary respondents were from two-year institutions and 71 percent were from four-year institutions.
� Overall, 24 percent of all participants reported their institution at high levels of technology integration.

The final 2012 report is available at: www.siia.net/visionk20/

The 2012 Vision K-20 Survey was developed to provide benchmarks against which educators and administrators can measure their institutional progress in using technology to provide 21st century tools, anytime/anywhere access, differentiated learning, assessment tools, and enterprise support.

As the voice of the educational technology industry, SIIA developed a vision for K-20 education that ensures all students have access to a technology-enabled teaching and learning environments capable of preparing them to compete globally and lead the world in innovation. A successful pilot survey was initiated in 2008, with follow-up surveys conducted in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 to support the initiative.

The Vision K-20 Survey request was distributed to educators and administrators with the help of many partner organizations, including: Tech & Learning, Campus Technology, eCampus News, eSchool News, University Business, Education Week, The Big Deal Book, CoSN, Curriki, edWeb, Education Talk Radio, iNACOL, EDUCAUSE, The League for Innovation, Today’s Catholic Teacher Magazine, Educause, SmartBrief Education, Naviance, APU, C. Blohm & Associates, Adobe, Collins Consults and Measured Progress. SIIA also recognizes the lead partner MMS Education, for their work on the Vision K-20 Survey analysis and report.

Karen Billings is Vice President for the Education Division at SIIA. Follow the SIIA Education Team on Twitter at @SIIAEducation