EDITOR’S LETTER rational thought and human improvement reigned. Today’s schools STATE OF EDTECH ON THE CUSP OF A of thought and practice—have an 2019-2020:THE MINDS BEHIND NEW AGE IN LEARNING opportunity to draw deeply from such an age of reason, and even more Something magical is afoot in the WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT deeply from the sort of science seen ‘a realm of learning and education. It long time ago in a galaxy far, far away’ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Victor Rivero relates to the idea, famously posed by and increasingly appearing in our LEAD AUTHOR Mark Gura Arthur C. Clarke, “Any sufficiently midst. But with one exception: now, advanced technology is indistinguishable we have an opportunity to do it better from magic.” It coincides with a greater than before. On the cusp of a new awareness of what it means to be age, let’s make our learning come human in a machine age. And it has alive to serve us all better, and in so everything to do with the realization of doing, may we draw most deeply not LEAD AUTHOR our own humanity in the face of forces from our devices, apps, and Mark Gura that might attempt to subvert that platforms, but from the inexorable Mark taught at New York City public schools in East Harlem for through nefarious means. There was two decades. He spent five years as a curriculum developer for power of each other. —VR once a great enlightenment where the central office and was eventually tapped to be the New York City Department of Education’s director of the Office of Instructional Technology, assisting over 1,700 schools + TOP 100 INFLUENCERS in edtech FIND OUT WHY page 39 serving 1.1 million students in America’s largest school system.
SARAH OSSA STAN O’ROURKE SAL STACY PER ANJLI PAUL SAKI PATRICK FISHER BUCHESKY KING KHAN CHILDRESS EMANUELSSON JAIN TURNBULL DODELSON BROTHERS
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ROBERT REBECCA MATT JENNIFER SIEVA AMY MICAH NEERU ANDERSON NICOLE Victor Rivero MARTELLACCI KANTAR RENWICK FRITSCHI KOSINSKY DELCORVO SHIPPEE KHOSLA MORAIS TUCKER-SMITH Victor tells the story of 21st-century education transformation. He has toured the country with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; contributed to various education and technology pubs, and provided editorial support to the Consortium for JOHANNA SUSAN AMIT KARTILA- BURCK VIVI LANE KATY ROBERT JULIE MAX School Networking. He oversees The EdTech Awards, the annual BEARDEN PATEL MALMIVAARA SMITH FRIEDGUT MERRIEFIELD FRYATT AVOSSA EVANS VENTILLA recognition program featuring edtech’s best and brightest.
DANIEL JENNIFER CHARLES MARIA VIKAS SARAH MATT JESS ALBERTO CHERYL SMITH WOMBLE BEST SPIES POTA SCHAPIRO HARRIS GARTNER CARVALHO LEMKE
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Victor Rivero MILA CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Mark Gura, Judy Faust Hartnett, MIRIAM JON SUNNY JONATHAN JESSICA DAVID IDIT ESTEBAN MICHAEL THOMAS Susan Dias Karnovsky, Mark Weston ALTMAN CORIPPO WASHINGTON HARBER LINDL BLAKE HAREL SOSNIK FULLER CROW ADVISORY BOARD Keith Krueger, Mark Weston, Eliot Levinson, Ted Fujimoto, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach CONTRIBUTORS Mark Gura, Eliot Levinson, Adam Blum, David Siminoff, Gideon Stein, John Harrington, Gil Rogers, Andrew Grauer, Matt Harris, Farimah Schuerman, KARTHIK JENNIFER EMILIE ANKUR JOE LESLIE HARDEEP MAIA GUIDO SVENIA Jennifer Corriero, Emily Gover, Becky Splitt, Jessie Woolley Wilson, Jeremy Friedman, KRISHAN GU CUSHMAN NAGPAL MAZZA WILSON GULATI SHIPLEY KOVALSKYS BUSSON Michael Spencer, Emily Gover, Caity Selleck, Christina Yu, Shawn Bay, Sieva Kozinsky, Ariel Diaz, Sean Brown, Joe Mazza, Monica Burns, Angela Maiers, Ferdi Serim, Deb Everhart, Deborah A. Gist, David Saltmarsh, Bruce Tolley, Nigel Nisbet, Jeremy Friedman, Jay King, Scott Kinney, Andrew Cohen, Paul Freedman, Todd Whitlock, Betsy Peters, Farb Nivi, Steven Alter, Richard Lakin, Eric Burns, Diane W. Doersch, Randy Swearer, Sean Graham, MITCH GARY SUZANNE CASEY JULIA RANDY ASHLEY JASON EILEEN STEVEN W. RESNICK STAGER XIE GREEN FISHER ZEIGENFUSS BECKNER COLEMAN RUDDEN ANDERSON Michal ‘Borek’ Borkowski, Charles Duarte, Kellie Ady, Erik Harrell, Mary Lirette, Christina Oliver, Elena Cox, Randy Ziegenfuss, Ricky Ye, Dennis Pierce, Todd Richmond, Barbara Freeman, Reginald Berry, Nancy Conrad, Mark Wu, Tracey Roden, Stacey Ryan, Marie Merouze, Jamie Riepe, Stephanie Mathews, Monica Haldiman, Michele Israel, Phil Chatterton, Dominique Baroco, Susan R. Steele, Dylan Rodgers, Joe Parlier, Rachel Tustin, SANDRA LIU JACOB CHRIS BECKY AHMED EL- JILL PATRICK RON VIKAS TODD Sheldon Soper, Lisa Litherland, Matt Renwick, Simon Nelson, Emir Plicanic, Cliff King, Hilary HUANG HANSON JAGERS NAVARRE SHARKASY BUBAN AWUAH, JR. REED GUPTA BREKHUS Scharton, Ryan Eash, Christopher Godshall HOW TO REACH US 323-823-4192 JENNIFER SYLVIA TRACYE CHARLES KARLA ABBY TODD MICHAEL DON KEVIN [email protected] BELL- LIBOW STORMER MCINTYRE BURKHOLDER STERENSIS THIBODEAUX STATON ELLWANGER WETTRICK MARTINEZ CUSTER Wesley Chapel FL 33544 U.S.A. www.edtechdigest.com @edtechdigest
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2 EDTECH DIGEST - 2019 STATE OF EDTECH: THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT EDITORIAL TEAM TOP 100 INFLUENCERS IN EDTECH | 2019-2020
STATE OF EDTECH 2019-2020:THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT | EDTECH DIGEST www.edtechdigest.com “Knowledge is the eye of desire and can become the pilot of the soul.” IN THIS REPORT: —Will Durant
an > important You are part of a digital shift in learning
The numbers and the highlights are all looking very bright for the field of edtech, a nascent sector with a long and lively future ahead, with all indicators pointing to steady growth and continued expansion. And not to mention increasingly great people.
NUMBERS HIGHLIGHTS BREAD CRUMBS, CONNECTED DOTS, EDITOR’S LETTER AND ‘AH-HA’ MOMENTS TOP 100 INFLUENCERS IN EDTECH EDITORIAL TEAM 20 2 CONTEXT CLUES TECHNOLOGY’S NUMBERS TELLING THE STORY RETURN TO FAVOR OF WHAT’S NOW AND WHATS 29 5 NEXT IN EDTECH PERSPECTIVE A TALE OF TWO SCHOOL REALITIES Weighing in with his thoughts on the current state of education, technology’s 34 role in improving it, and what’s ahead. Sunil Singh, Mathematics Specialist // Her professional learning network PAGE 15 includes educators from around the world. “These connections encourage me to grow, ultimately impacting the learning of students” she says: There are plenty of numbers in Nikole Blanchard, Member of the Board of Directors, ISTE // PAGE 38 edtech, but what do they all add up to? Here are a few that help tell the story. Which numbers get your attention? We’re shining a spotlight on the people behind the tools, schools, leaders, and all things edtech—people STATE OF EDTECH: FROM NICHE TO who lift others up and push education forward. MAINSTREAM 7 Spend some time with these innovative leaders: 11 IMPORTANT TRENDS IN EDTECH IN CLOSE WITH | Don Wettrick (10), Rose Reissman (28), Gary Israel (32), Jon Drescher (33), Robert Avossa 9 (37), and Nikole Blanchard (38), Mitch Weisburgh (55). page 39 THE MINDS BEHIND what’s now and what’s next are all around us, and this year we highlight 100 more FUTURE innovative leaders shaping the future of learning. FUTURE FUN BRINGING THE BLURRY, 51 PROBING EDGE OF EDTECH INTO FOCUS EDTECH1000 10 COMPANIES TO WATCH 56 THE EDTECH AWARDS
4 EDTECH DIGEST - 2019 STATE OF EDTECH: THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT CONTENTS NUMBERS
NUMBERS TELLING THE STORY OF 21ST-CENTURY EDUCATION TRANSFORMATION
STATE OF EDTECH: FROM NICHE TO MAINSTREAM
11 IMPORTANT TRENDS
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TRILLION. Education is a $6T industry growing to $8T by 2025 globally. Expenditure on education and training from governments, parents, 6 individuals and corporates (worldwide) continues to grow to historic levels and is expected to reach USD$10T by 2030.
PERCENT. Education is grossly under digitized, with less than 3% of global education expenditure on technology. As a sector, education is a digital laggard 3 with less than 3% of overall expenditure allocated to digital, presenting a serious challenge given the scale of what’s to come.
BILLION. Digital spending is changing fast, though—forecast to grow to $342b by 2025. In 2018, education spent $142b on digital. While this is forecast to 342 grow to $342b by 2025, it is still less than 5% of overall expenditure. For above numbers 6, 3, 342, SOURCE:www.holoniq.com
MILLION. According to the 2018 State of the States report from EducationSuperhighway, 40.7 million more students have high-speed 40.7 internet access than did in 2013. This means that 98 percent of U.S. school districts can now take advantage of digital learning: 2.3 million students to go. SOURCE: www.educationsuperhighway.org
BILLION. That’s how many U.S. dollars were invested in educational technology companies between 1997 and 2017—a full 62% of that funding 37.8 was in just the last three years between 2015 and 2017. For two decades the edtech sector moved along like so, and then, boom!—a whole new phase. SOURCE: www.metaari.com
MILLION. The number of educational apps has swollen to 2.1 million available for download in leading app stores as of 2018. This is just a rough estimate, 2.1 but the idea is that keeping track of the app explosion is now nearly incalculable. SOURCE: www.statista.com
MILLION. Among the very biggest edtech investments of 2018, the company that raised the most money was BYJU’s (tutoring), weighing in at a whopping 540 $540 million. DreamBox Learning (adaptive learning) comes in at number 7, having raised a cool $130 million. SOURCE: www.hackeducation.com
MILLION. Number of K-12 stakeholders that have shared their ideas with Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up survey over the past 15 years. Speak Up has 5.5 collected and reported on the authentic views of more than 5.5 million K-12 students, their parents, teachers, librarians, media specialists, technology coordinators, technology administrators, principals, district administrators, and community members. The largest survey of its kind in the U.S. asks and shares your views and what you value about digital learning. SOURCE: www.tomorrow.org
6 EDTECH DIGEST - 2019 STATE OF EDTECH: THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT NUMBERS STATE OF EDTECH From niche to MAINSTREAM
Guiding education further along in its journey, edtech has morphed from special niche to simply, mainstream education—fully realizing its potential through the application of technology.
By MARK GURA
Moving into 2019, the symbiotic relationship between education and technology continues to deepen and reveal its richness in inspiring ways. The field has fully reached that point in which Best Practices across the curriculum involve technology.
In other words, edtech is education, the lines between the two continue to blur and become faint memories of the way people used to teach and learn.
And while it’s easy to see all the winning associated with this veritable force of FUTURE FORWARD. Nearly 10,000 attendees stream into nature, it’s difficult to see much lost that the Future of Education Technology Conference at the will be missed. Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Just ahead, the nation’s largest independent edtech event focused Thinking deeply about all of this at the on leveraging technology to drive preK-12 student start of 2019, EdTech Digest offers this success heats things up with a move to the Miami Beach report to share reflections and ‘ah-ha’s Convention Center for a January 14-17, 2020 show. that it feels need to be posted.
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What’s happening in education now is the in touch with our city's daily newspaper to realization of long-term goals as well as share what we wrote. Editors were the emergence of new, more relevant, and impressed…” There’s so much best important ones; both coming practice in that single about through the application short statement: of digital resources that are Traditional Student increasingly varied, powerful, Technology Writing Skills elevated to and effective. It follows that: 21st Century Learning, continues to Student Collaboration Technology is now doubly and Peer to Peer mission critical for education. make new and Learning, Authentic Activities, Real World Current education, when best practices in Learning, Applied implemented in ways that Technology Skills, and informed educators core curriculum more, all of it guided understand to be best, is instruction and contextualized by technology supported, even digital technology that technology defined. possible and now defines the world these young people live This is a development that’s practical; the field been long in maturing. and learn in and are is revisiting and preparing to enter at In fact, EdTech Digest has been graduation. describing this in articles like reinvesting And, at the same time the 2017 ISTE Conference follow-up piece “Unpacking emphasis in that technology continues to make new EdTech … All grown up, edtech best practices in core is ready to show ‘vanilla ed’ how teaching curriculum instruction to get the job done!” technology itself as possible and practical; the field is revisiting and How is this so? an important body reinvesting emphasis in In one very easy-to-see way of curriculum. teaching technology across the curriculum, best itself as an important practices involve technology. body of curriculum. Quick example: ASCD’s (Association of Supervisors Classes in Computer and Curriculum Developers) recent Science, Computational Thinking, and newsletter “Our 10 Best Articles of 2018” Coding have become standards based, features Engaging Student Journalists to commonly offered, and even required in Tell Their Own Stories which states “…First, our schools. (See page 29 of this report for we published our stories on a website that an article about the return of technology we created for teens by teens. We even (itself) to favor in the curriculum and the rise enlisted peers at other high schools in our of coding and Computer Science in the city to write for our website. Then, we got overall course of study.)
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How will these two, long divorced focus These tools have not only brought the areas: technology to drive improved subject classroom into the modern age, but they area instruction and technology as a focus, in have also enhanced learning and teaching, and of itself, cross and blend to according to 82% of the produce something still more teachers surveyed.” potent and fresh in 2019 and We expect to see beyond? We’ll be observing, 73% of teachers continued development reflecting, and reporting. and evolution of agreed that important trends, 2019 will see “education” (the among them: field, the institution, the technology had organizations through which it shows up in the world) moving dramatically 1. Teaching Technology - in giant steps toward realization changed the Deepening the curricular of important shifts. focus and fit of Technology, Yes, The Digital Shift, the classroom in the Itself inevitable drift toward across- 2. Student Robotics (and the-board digital solutions to last five years ... handle the vast majority of its related Hands-on Applied needs; but also smaller, These tools have STEM Activities) are more constituent changes that will not only brought often finding their way contribute to the full further into the regular transformation—the increasing the classroom daytime instructional availability of affordable devices program of school and services will contribute, but into the modern also greater acceptance of the age, but they 3. Addressing the Need to inevitable establishment of a Nourish Student Creativity fully digital platform as have also evidenced by surveys 4. Technology as Catalyst for conducted throughout 2018. enhanced the Evolving Nature of Literacy and Continued For instance, a broad-based learning and Establishment of a Set of a survey (School of Professional & Graduate Studies/Mid America teaching... Reinvigorated Power Tools Nazarene University) of for Literacy Instruction experienced teachers showed 5. The New Student (well, a new understanding that “73% of teachers agreed that technology had dramatically changed the classroom in of the student and how to best serve learners). the last five years…56% of their tools have 6. The New Professional Learning, online become tech based—such as smart boards, student portals, laptops, tablets, learning connections and communities and a broader software, and learning apps (a far cry from range of learning opportunities for educators to the worksheets and pencils of yesteryear). grow and improve their practice
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7. Preparing Students for Careers and Learning Beyond School
8. Renewed View of EdTech Leadership
9. New Resources and Practices for Next Level Teaching and Learning
10. Technology Armed and Freshly Empowered Teachers
11. Trends to Watch for 2019 and BEYOND… Blockchain in Education, Data Visualization, etc.
Continue to the HIGHLIGHTS section of this report for more in-depth discussion of the above. “While I think that many educational thought leaders are important, I wanted FYI: EdTech Digest intends to offer SPECIAL REPORTS to feature people that were passionate/ opinionated about education, but on on many of these themes throughout 2019! the other side.” —Don Wettrick, Founder, StartEdUp Foundation
One particularly exciting report: “The State of Student Robotics: An Educator’s Guide.” IN CLOSE WITH | Don Wettrick Contact our editors for details. THE VOICE AND mind behind the increasingly successful StartEdUp podast, Don Wettrick created the podcast to introduce educators to entrepreneurs, authors, and thought leaders who are not in education. Entrepreneurs are the embodiment of "life long learners," and they learn by doing; they embrace failure. They also fail early and often, collaborate, communicate, and "have grit. You know—all the buzzwords/concepts we celebrate in education.” By having these conversations with these leaders, STARTedUP is driving a conversation about what it means to be successful- beyond the school walls. Guests have included entrepreneurs and authors such as Gary Vaynerchuk, Seth Godin, Amy Wilkinson, and Daniel Pink. Don is the Innovation Coordinator at Noblesville (IN) High School, and author of "Pure Genius: Building a Culture of Innovation." He has worked as a middle and high school teacher; educational and innovation consultant; CEO, and host of the StartEdUp podcast. He is also the President of the StartEdUp Foundation, an organization that empowers student entrepreneurs and innovators with collaborative immersive experiences, accelerator programs and is the first seed fund for students under 20. //
HOT LINKS ■(YouTube video) Innovation Specialist on Unlearning - Don Wettrick | Inside Quest #35 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRoGNqKGnUw ■ FORBES Articles “Endorsed By Entrepreneurs: How This High School Teacher Is Making The Classroom A Safe Place To Fail” and ■ “Teacher And Students Visit New York To Pitch And Learn From Leading Entrepreneurs”
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BREAD CRUMBS, CONNECTED DOTS, AND ‘AH-HA’ MOMENTS
TECHNOLOGY’S RETURN TO FAVOR
A TALE OF TWO SCHOOL REALITIES: HOW FAR ALONG ARE OUR SCHOOLS IN FULLY SHIFTING TO DIGITAL?
EDUCATOR’S DOING GREAT STUFF W/ TECH
TOP 100 INFLUENCERS IN EDTECH
11 EDTECH DIGEST - 2019 STATE OF EDTECH: THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT HIGHLIGHTS STATE OF EDTECH LEADING VOICES What is the state of education and technology’s role—and what’s ahead?
By VICTOR RIVERO
Again this year, we asked technologists, For better or for worse, we are advancing into CEOs, founders, investors, students, parents, an age of an ever-increasing prevalence of policy makers, and edtech leaders to chime technology, and rapid acceleration of new and in with their thoughts on these questions: emerging technologies impacting learning.
• What is the state of education these days? The people behind the technology will • What is technology’s role in education? decide which it will be—better, or worse— • What’s just ahead? and if you are reading this, you are those people. We are those people. Their insights in response to these questions provide a good look into the realities we are May this sampling of what’s on the mind of facing and the current state of edtech. some of your colleagues inspire you to have a look at your own thoughts about these Those realities extend through the full questions, and to continue your work in this spectrum of education: from pre-K most important area. through 12th grade, vocational and technical education, community college, Your work in education technology lays down traditional 4-year colleges and universities, the foundation for generations to come. It is to corporate learning, workforce training, challenging work, it is sometimes daunting bootcamps, and lifelong learning. work. But in the end, the work is worthwhile.
Common Themes As you peruse these viewpoints, consider your own purposes and mission in Themes include the continuing expansion of education and technology and how these AR/VR, STEM, and coding, to the role ideas might inform, enhance, or improve technology plays in assisting students and your own “leading voice.” teachers through personalization of their learning pathways. Happy reading!
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“What is the large amounts of connected and mitigate the growing gap between the state of education, integrated data that is easily accessible ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’.” of technology in to campus leaders. It will provide a more —Susan McLester // President, education, and comprehensive view and empower McLester PR, Content and what’s ahead? institutions with the ability to extend the Communications “Expansive, life cycles of their data so they can focus transformative— efforts on how to improve both student “I feel the main and amazing possibilities!” learning and institutional outcomes.” challenge is still —Darryl Loy // Director of Technology, —Kevin Michielsen // Chief Executive not different; that Good Shepherd Episcopal School Officer, Watermark is, how to get maximum kids “Technology is “Technology is a engage in the playing a larger role great tool in the platform. This is in than ever in education. hands of an reference to school children. Technology Education institutions innovative has to play the role of a friend- are playing catch-up in entrepreneur.” philosopher guide to the children. Here terms of utilizing technology in the most —Kyra Pahlen // we are talking about the UX of the efficient way in order to adapt to the CEO, LingoZING! platform that should be interactive, current climate.” engaging, and entertaining—along with —Juan Yanez // Regional Marketing “Education is moving providing the right guidance to students Manager, Squiz inexorably toward on how they can get the most out of it in personalization/ the easiest way to get ahead. Keeping “We individualization. Gone this in view, I feel the UX design, product know are the days of the ‘one mix, as well as Artificial Intelligence that size fits all’ and bell curve approaches to enabling adaptive learning to a newer teaching instruction where it was just expected level where machine engagement / and and accepted that a percentage of learning is at its best—is the future.” learning learners would fail. Today's technology is —Manish Wahie // Co-Founder & CEO, take what makes such personalization Budbeed Learning LLC place possible. Diagnostic screening and and are individual learning pathway prescription “Education is not just measured in many different ways, areas, used to be solely the province of Special about pushing out and systems across campuses. Education. Now, it should apply to every content, but to help Measuring only distinct pieces of that student. Of course teachers do not have learners think creatively, picture is insufficient. Key to improving the bandwidth to do this manually for collaboratively and education is embracing the concept of every student, and schools continue to critically. Technology should support educational intelligence. This means face budget restrictions—so thinking, not just rote learning, and being able to leverage data at multiple personalization/individualization will provide ways for teams of students to points across the student lifecycle to continue to remain an uneven element work together, whilst still being able to make intelligent decisions to positively from district to district. Applying for see how individuals contributed. impact student outcomes. It’s a holistic grants and forming inter-district Teachers are starting to become more approach to data that is informed by consortiums are ways districts can facilitators of learning rather than sage-
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on-the-stage, and so, edtech tools need location, broadening the classroom ”I’m not sure. It to move to ways that allow them to experience and further developing our seems like technology better do so without adding on empathy. Although mostly positive, it is helping improve additional workload. We’re also seeing has also shortened our attention spans content in the greater privacy controls as well as and become a replacement for real classroom, but I am integration of applications into human interaction—and allowed people concerned that it is taking a toll on some platforms.” to become increasingly more politically, of the critical-thinking skills that —Jeremy Lu // CEO, GroupMap demographically and ideologically traditional education methods promote. divided. We need ensure our students What's ahead? More technology; ”Today’s classrooms learn how to use technology ethically hopefully more tactile technology are in a major state of and effectively. Tools like Artificial inventions—with real-world flux. There are so many Intelligence (AI) will change how we applications.” new ideas and gadgets teach, learn and interact with each —Angela Ortquist // PM, Tech being offered that it is other. AI and robotics are the future of Defenders extremely difficult to know what to use education and will lead how we engage and when to use it. If we look at students with hands-on exposure to ”The power shift is underway! technology having a role in education, I real-world experiences and application Students are taking back control of their think we are very nearsighted to the real to real-life situations.” learning. The sage-on-the-stage is a focus of what should be happening in —Jeffrey Piontek // Head of Education, dying breed. 1-to-1 devices, equitable the classrooms. Instead, we should be UBTECH Robotics internet access, and the emerging suite looking at the role of technology in of free learning applications is allowing pedagogy to find the real answer to ”The state of students to further their ownership in solving some of the issues facing today’s edtech in their education space.” teachers.” 2018-19? —CEO, QwertyTown —Jeff Bradbury // Tech Coach, Ephemeral TeacherCast Educational Network enigma. Current “There is a shift technology can in education simultaneously today toward obscure and reveal human connection. increased It both magnifies and dampens collaboration messages about who we are, what we and heightened need, and how we know. As the interactivity. technology continually changes, the only Technology can change the way we constant in dealing with technology is assess student performance and the self. Educators must be prepared to productivity in the classroom by help students maintain authentic selves pinpointing how and when learning ”Edtech’s role is to assist in changing by carefully navigating through the happens, and maximizing physical outcomes for students using technology continual stream of content.” classroom flow. New education tools as a tool. It has become an incredible —Rebekah S. Davis // Digital Learning and testing platforms based on AI and resource for educators globally and has Graduate Assistant/PhD student, NC machine learning are allowing educators increased our ability to connect with State University to adjust learning based on individual people from any background, area or student needs. By creating a more
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expansive picture of how students learn, “As we enter 2019, proactively we can also change how we measure the world's wealthiest manage how to best serve their learning needs. countries now have the needs In the coming years, we’ll see how incomes 100 times of students technology will allow educators to better higher than the poorest at risk of assess students’ knowledge, and further countries. Globalization is making it dropping evolve a more effective and efficient untenable for such dramatic inequalities out or curriculum.” between high and low living standards failing. And —Jon Roepke // Director of Product to continue. Education is the disruptor to their full feedback loops and data Management, Belkin International poverty. We now have the compelling insights will elevate the entire opportunity and ability through new educational community—from students educational technologies to effectively and educators, to administrators—by build bridges of literacy, empathy, delivering learning that gets smarter and opportunity and support throughout the more effective with each student most under-resourced areas of the interaction.” world to achieve transformative, self- —Patrick Weir // CEO, Fulcrum Labs sustaining development. We have the edtech tools to find creative solutions to “As districts society's greatest challenges. There are nationwide continue many opportunities to make a to struggle with teacher difference. It's time for commitment and shortages, it’s more “Education is going through some engagement to achieve edtech’s important than ever much needed turbulence in this age of greatest potential.” that they support and ultimately retain disruption. Ideas of content, —Dayton Johnson // President & educators. Providing more personalized, assessment, and general purpose for Managing Partner, Dayton Johnson job-embedded professional learning will education—are all being filtered through Executive Search and Consultancy help. Using technology like video more horizontal and democratized reflection eliminates the need for ideas of learning in the 21st century. “AI is poised to dramatically disrupt teachers to leave the classroom for What is consistently coming out is that education in 2019. I’m not talking about professional development, which can be education needs to be re-imagined and replacing teachers with robots, but costly for students. Sharing video of their re-engineered to be more equitable, rather empowering educators and instruction with coaches and colleagues relevant, and human for the future. institutions with the same automation, allows teachers to collaborate and Technology must greatly assist in this prediction, and data-science capabilities receive direct feedback based on their endeavor, and not contribute to any that AI has brought to almost every actual teaching practices. This approach chasms of opportunity and success. But, other industry—from retail and to PD offers an individualized learning beyond that, as our world gets more manufacturing, to IoT. In 2019, we experience for educators, much in the digitized and entrenched in the cult of expect AI will become more mainstream same way we expect today’s classroom speed and efficiency, edtech has to in education. AI-enabled learning tools to be for students.” create resources and platforms that and technologies will help educators —Adam Geller // Founder & CEO, Edthena support the humanized goals of deliver on the promise of one-on-one education.” instruction at scale. Their predictive —Sunil Singh // Mathematics Learning capabilities will help institutions Specialist, Scolab
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“Education is “In 2019, AR/VR will going through a continue to be reformation and explored in the K-12 lots of things classroom and as need to change. such, there will be a Technology is demand for content just an enabler to create genuine learning experiences. and we must be careful to put the Although the potential to create a deep, student at the center of our immersive, collaborative environment interventions, not the technology. In a exists today, the structures and delivery time of robotics and AI, we need more mechanisms that come with packaged human-to-human connection (and content have yet to develop into a social learning), or what I like to call powerful enough technology for ‘human sense’.” widespread adoption. As early adopters “The state of edtech in 2018-19 is still —Ameet Mehta // CEO, Inspiral continue to explore AR/VR technology, we transforming and emerging despite an Education will see a viable market emerge to attract absence of leadership from Washington, more content developers. Meanwhile, D.C. It appears that the desire to “Coding is a we’re likely to see more students dip their educate all and eliminate the digital and valuable 21st- toe into what could become a more technological divide is being ignored by century skill that integral part of the learning experience some in D.C., and in most states, the is heavily used through singular instances of exploration.” situation is not much better! With and sought after —Matt Dascoli // Education Strategist, technology's role in our world in today’s Dell EMC increasing, it is imperative that we workforce. As educate students for the changing world such, coding and STEM education in “Universities nationwhide are facing of work. Our work environments will general continues to receive significant the same challenge: how to make increasingly continue to rely heavily on policy and funding support at the federal textbooks more relevant, meaningful, automation, robotics, and artificial level. Schools and districts will and engaging for students. This problem intelligence. Despite these changes, increasingly incorporate coding into has grown as the lack of student there’s a lack of graduates in the their science curricula to help students, engagement—especially among general computer sciences because STEM/ even those in early grades, develop this education classes—continues to be a STEAM programs aren’t readily available skill and engage in practical applications contributing factor to today’s rapidly to all. With new leadership and a new that build math and science skills. Real- declining RPG (retention, progression, resolve at the federal, state and local world problem solving activities—ones and graduation) rates. To ignite change level, we can level the playing field for all in which students use hands-on among college classrooms, educators and provide a holistic and vibrant technology to build, test, and refine a need to move away from old-fashioned education that truly prepares students program—will further inspire students teaching models and focus on interactive, for college, career and citizenship.” to follow studies and career paths in this self-guided approaches that equip —Dr. Darryl Adams // former growing industry.” students with emerging technologies.” Superintendent; Founder & CEO, The —John Wheeler // CEO, Vernier —Brian Rowe // CEO & Founder, Center for Democracy and Education Software & Technology Perceivant (www.vernier.com)
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access to information, and give secondary students a taste of college and a future career. For elementary school students, hands-on interactivity will continue to be a priority.” —Jason Meyer // Group Product Manager - Projectors, Epson America, Inc.
“Students will become more “Sustainability is about creating emphasis on ‘classic’ hands-on vocal about how systems that work now and in the engineering activities. These lessons— they want to future. While we often think about it in such as building a bridge or folding a learn. They’ve terms of agriculture or energy or cities, paper airplane—require students to been creating, we should also think about sustainability learn a concept, design and build a publishing and in education—for learners and teachers. prototype, and test its effectiveness. learning using social and digital tools for To be sustainable is to be economically Then, using what they know about the years, and will simply expect education viable, environmentally sound, and scientific concept they learned and the to change to meet their needs. socially just. Technology can make scientific method, they improve their Educators have an opportunity to use education more economically viable as it designs for the best results. To help this momentum to embrace change and makes new ways of education possible. facilitate this shift, I also see educators reimagine how we’re preparing Economic viability is whether we can more frequently using STEM toys as tomorrow's leaders. Technology is one afford to do something now. tools for introducing science concepts.” tool of many—combined with passion, Environmental soundness is whether —Shai Goitein // CEO, POWERUP Toys focus and commitment by humans— we can keep doing something in the how we learn will become more geared future. Is education making good use of “Technology in for our digital age.” resources, natural resources, and the classroom is —Jodie Buenning // VP, Marketing & human resources? ‘Socially just’ means no longer about Communications, bulb Digital Portfolios bringing into the educational ecosystem any particular those who have been left out. piece of Technology can help reach the equipment; disenfranchised, but is it?” instead, it has —Julie Willcott // Adjunct Faculty (and become more like an ecosystem. It’s consultant to private companies), about finding solutions—such as Kennebec Valley Community College student devices, large-format projection, interactive software, and wireless “In recent years, coding became the networks—working seamlessly to create skill everyone wanted children to learn. an immersive, engaging learning “Project-based Learning is gaining With many free online resources environment for students and teachers. momentum as a way to engage available for coding, it enjoyed heavy This tech-rich environment with wireless students more deeply in content and focus in the classroom and at home. collaboration capability has the ability to build 21st-century skills. High-quality PBL 2019, however, will bring a greater improve students’ productivity and has students working individually and in
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teams to research and find solutions to adopt policies, edtech companies, have a major role to real-world, complex problems and programs, and play in supporting districts with not only creating products or presentations to curriculum that will accessing, but utilizing all of the data that share with an audience. Today’s support these goals. we have available.” movement toward tech integration, Technology plays an —Stuart Udell // CEO, Achieve3000 such as 1-to-1, provides the opportunity important role in this shift. Schools are for schools to seek out tech tools to increasingly adding technology for “Three words that manage and facilitate PBL projects and students to use in the classroom describe the state of their culminating products. In 2019, including adopting 1-to-1 programs, so education today are: companies will develop new systems to they must be provided tools for challenged, meet this growing need.” analyzing technology’s use with groundbreaking, and —Bob Lenz // Executive Director, Buck students; tools that look at productivity exciting. Education is challenged to Institute for Education and safety will be in high demand.” prepare students for jobs that don’t exist —Richard Fuller // CEO, Impero Software today. It is groundbreaking because “A new age of we’re introducing technology and edtech tools are teaching methodologies that are emerging— changing the way we engage students. amazing niche- It’s exciting because we have an focused, light, incredible opportunity to transform and purposeful education and improve learning applications outcomes. incredible at meeting the unique needs Students learn by doing, researching, of students and adults. They set up and receiving feedback. The interactivity learning to be personalized and put the of technology supports this, while learner in the driver’s seat. The days of allowing students to learn anywhere, st large-scale administrative solutions “Fifteen years ago, ‘21 -century anytime. It also enhances teaching mostly irrelevant to students, teachers, learning’ was an emerging concept in methodologies such as blended and parents are numbered. Students the education system—today, it’s reality. learning, flipped classrooms and and educators want and need The push for schools to leverage collaborative learning. The explosion of comprehensive edtech applications technology to serve more students with products utilizing VR/AR, robotics, focused on teaching and learning—apps an equitable and effective education has gaming, and voice recognition is having providing clarity, that ease the only been gaining momentum as costs an immediate, positive impact on information/application overload, and go down, methodologies improve, and engagement and how students learn. serve the teacher and learner over a support for school systems and teachers We expect this trend to continue.” lifetime.” grows at the federal and state levels. —Erez Pikar // CEO, CDI Technologies —Erik Petrik // Co-Founder & Chief With states’ ESSA plans coming into Creative Officer, bulb Digital Portfolio effect, and accountability systems “Districts are focusing on areas for seeking to measure school and student continued improvement with support “Schools’ responsibilities have performance beyond test scores, there from new technology, including expanded to include student safety and is also an increased demand for streamlining testing and addressing the wellness as core areas of focus along educators at all levels to use data to equity gap. In an effort to test smarter, with academics. Schools must therefore inform their instruction and assess their schools are looking to tech-enabled results. This is where technology, and
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formative assessments With data-driven decision-making “Adoption of hybrid and multi-cloud to provide robust data affecting how schools and districts are environments is quickly growing within on students’ strengths managed, A.I. will become more the education industry. Use of various and challenges. These prevalent in these practices and have devices in the classroom is up amongst tools make data an an increasingly disruptive effect on how both students and teachers, from accessible, integral part of the we teach our students. It should be an computing devices to AR/VR, and IoT classroom’s DNA, informing instruction exciting year!” devices and beyond. K-12 and higher ed and supporting growth. As these robust —Devin Young // President, Classcraft institutions are faced with significantly offerings often do the job of multiple more data; as a result there’s a need for existing assessments, implementing a flexible and budget-friendly method to them reduces testing volume and gives securely store and access it. Education back precious instructional time. institutions will double multi-cloud Technology-driven instructional datacenter usage by 2025 as it becomes materials will focus on providing the new norm.” equitable support to all students, —Breck DeWitt // Education Strategist, including those living in poverty and Dell EMC learning English. English learners will benefit from culturally-responsive What are your thoughts on lessons and those providing strategic “Education is a must, lifelong learning • the state of education, scaffolds that make on-grade level is nowadays a reality—but immediacy • technology’s role in it, and content accessible by integrating has permeated education with a • what’s just ahead? language-based activities.” preference for short courses, with a Write to us: —Rob Waldron // CEO, Curriculum ‘prize’ at the end—like a degree or a [email protected] Associates diploma—that makes you enter directly into a sector, a job, or a bidding. “Technology Technology is still seen with caution by has those who’ve tried tech-based courses The goal of education tremendous with the expectation of simply having cannot be the student’s power if used in fun or being surprised. The ‘wow’ effect internalization of a fixed a thoughtful, is not what matters, what you learn is “ innovative the important fact. Tech is one of the curriculum. Rather, it must be manner to biggest facilitators of a learning future the student’s discovery of empower students and teachers. In that I can hardly imagine—but one in himself as a learner, 2019, it’s essential that edtech move which methodology, good content, beyond novelty and marry itself to superb specialists, and people—will be exploration of the sound pedagogical practice in order to the differential factor.” phenomenon of learning have meaningful, positive impact in the —Claudia Alcelay // CEO (I+D), itself, and his evolution as a classroom. Fostering soft skills and certificacionpm® self-directed, motivated, collaboration will continue to be an important trend as we look beyond masterful learner.” grades and develop more sophisticated —Mark Gura (from State ways of teaching to the whole child. of EdTech 2017-2018)
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Bread Crumbs, Connected Dots, and ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments Observing events, noting developments, reflecting on signals that emerge from the hum; hard work, but someone’s got to do it and well, it’s what we do. We kinda love it.
HIGHLIGHTS | by Mark Gura
Taking the measure of something, the state of education, for instance, involves drawing on a range of sources, especially if what one’s after is an authentic take on it all, the big picture in 4D: where we’re coming from, are right now, going to, and what it all means. IMAGE CREDIT: EIDY BAMBANG SUNARYO There are patterns one sees and trends one The ABC’s of this article: identifies after reflecting on them. The Shape of Things: Reading the Tea A Leaves of Education News Sometimes these confirm conclusions that have been long in solidifying and sometimes Not the Teaching and Learning We Remember! The Tools and Resources one is gifted with fresh insight through the B Behind the Change serendipity of what shows up in the old In Box. 21st Century Learning Going on Right C Now, in Schools Nearby! And then there are moments, thankfully, when one simply has to stop to regain one’s
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equilibrium, having just stumbled over If so, we need to walk this next step wisely, something full of information and significance. as pointed out in this infographic published by Education Week. There are instances in which the weight of something that one finds provides the ■ “The data shows that STEM fields are in final bit of pressure needed to produce a demand—but, depending on the job, pay and gem of understanding from under a educational requirements vary.” mountain of data. Invest our future in STEM by preparing Tracking the progress and current state of students to master STEM concepts and edtech involves the picking up important skills? Sure, but as always, the devil’s in breadcrumbs and the focused connecting the as-yet-to-be-envisioned-and-planned- of dots. But one is rewarded with ‘ah-ha’ for details! moments; here are some from 2018’s journey. ■ “Most teachers say tech tools improve teaching and learning—tech tools can increase student engagement and intellectual A stimulation,” teachers say… Eighty-two percent of teachers in a recent survey say they believe tech The Shape of Things: tools have enhanced teaching and learning, and most say they have access to the tools they Reading the Tea Leaves want… On average, teachers say 56 percent of their tools have become tech based, and 80 of Education News percent of teachers say they have access to most of the tech tools they want in their classrooms. Those tech tools include interactive whiteboards, 1. The Fortunes & Future of STEM student portals, laptops, tablets, learning Are we at that moment where what we’ve software, and learning apps…” SOURCE: eSchool been pushing for has been heard and News embraced? ■ “The Changing Face of STEM Why are we ■ “White House Outlines Five-Year STEM losing so many young women from the STEM pipeline when they clearly have the aptitude to Push - The administration is issuing what it learn math and science (and compete with describes as an 'urgent call to action' to bolster skills aplomb) in the early teen years?.. In the United that will be necessary in the years ahead… a "North States, we have been unable thus far to plug the Star" that "charts a course for the Nation's success… hole in the pipeline that leaks out some of our an urgent call to action for a nationwide most talented and gifted young scientists before collaboration with learners, families, educators, they can make their own contributions in the communities, and employers... The administration's workforce…Let’s plug the hole in the STEM goal is threefold: for every American to master basic pipeline, if need be, one woman at a time.” STEM concepts, like computational thinking, in order SOURCE: National Board for Professional Teaching to respond to technological change; to increase access to STEM among historically underserved Standards students; and to encourage students to pursue STEM careers. SOURCE: U.S. News
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Works,® where they learned about five advanced 2. Big Players Offer Up Some technology developments being pioneered by Real Value-Add Learning Lockheed Martin engineers and scientists, or “skunks,” who work there. The immersive Experiences experience was designed to introduce students Large providers of devices, resources, and to the exciting work a career in science, support services continue to offer up technology, engineering and math (STEM) can broad scale, high quality learning activities offer. SOURCE: Discovery Education that far outstrip those local districts might be able to create on their own. 3. Computer Science Has Arrived! Computer Science has emerged from an ■ “Solve for Tomorrow - Designed to boost ‘interest area’ subject to being a contender interest and proficiency in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), as required, basic body of knowledge for this nationwide contest challenges public all to demonstrate some mastery in by school teachers and students in grades 6-12 to graduation. Two announcements in 2018 show how STEM can be applied to help illustrate the momentum behind this: improve their local community. The contest challenges students in grades 6-12 to show how STEM can be applied to help improve their local ■ ISTE Releases Draft Computer Science communities. 250 state finalists will be selected Standards For Educators “The new ISTE to submit an activity plan…” SOURCE: SAMSUNG Standards for Computer Science Educators, exclusively sponsored by LEGO Education, will establish a vision for the knowledge and skills Another such impactful challenge-based educators need to effectively teach CS to all program is Microsoft’s Imagine Cup. students across curriculum and will guide professional learning for all educators. Updating ■ “Amazon’s new goal: Teach 10 million the ISTE Standards for Computer Science kids a year to code - Amazon wants to get Educators is a critical step to reaching the goal of more kids thinking about becoming computer providing computer science opportunities to all engineers. The company launched a program students,” said ISTE CEO Richard Culatta.“ Thursday that aims to teach more than 10 million SOURCE: ISTE.org students a year how to code. Amazon said it will ■ ISTE Announces New Computational pay for summer camps, teacher training and other initiatives to benefit kids and young adults Thinking Standards for All Educators from low-income families who might not have “The ISTE Computational Thinking Competencies are learned to code otherwise. It hopes the programs designed to prepare students with the skills needed spur more black, Hispanic and female students to to solve problems of the future … The CT Competencies provide a framework to help teachers study computer science…” SOURCE: AP News leverage computational thinking across all areas of the curriculum, not just in CS classes.” Source: ■ “High-School Students around the U.S. ISTE.org Take Virtual STEM Field Trip to Lockheed Martin’s Famous Skunk Traction for Computer Science in the real Works®… Lockheed Martin and Discovery Education, the leading provider of digital content world of real schools? One example: and professional development for K-12 ■ “Middle School Rolls Out New classrooms, today took high school students on a Computer Science Course…The school’s virtual field trip to Lockheed Martin Skunk new computer science class is required for all
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students in fifth and eighth grade and is being offered as an elective for students in sixth and 5. The Coding Rules! seventh grade. In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan Making Coding part of the instructional has made computer science a priority for program enables schools to offer a schools.” SOURCE: The Dispatch highly visible and practical variety of 4. Virtual Schooling Helps technology integration, often without great additional expense beyond Make it Work providing basics. Highly engaging and Virtual Schooling continues to find its fit easy to see results from, and with as it solves difficult organizational and plentiful resources and curriculum budgetary problems for schools and available. Coding has become a veritable districts. This phenomenon showed up in snowball rolling downhill, picking up 2018 in a variety of ways: mass and momentum.
■ “High school teacher shortage forcing ■ “Kindergarten coders: When is too early schools to go digital… Teacher shortages to put kids in front of screens? across the country are getting so dire that they’re ... Twenty-five percent of all U.S. students now forcing some school districts to live stream have Code.org accounts and 800,000 teachers lessons, replacing educators in many use the site for class lessons… two-thirds of all classrooms… tens of thousands of high school students nationwide are now getting lessons fifth graders in the country have an account.” taught by a remote teacher…) SOURCE: YAHOO! SOURCE: The Inquirer Daily News/phily.com FINANCE ■ “Press Start: BISD brings coding to all ■ “Nashua floats idea of eliminating middle schools… The Brownsville high school substitute teachers… Independent School District… BISD’s Struggling to find enough substitute teachers, Career and Technical Education school officials are exploring a concept that department is making the GameSalad would eliminate the need… The Board of software available to all middle school Education is studying the benefits and drawbacks students this year as part of an effort to of creating an independent digital learning center make coding part of the curriculum from at each school where students could go when elementary school to high school.” SOURCE: their usual teacher is unavailable…).” SOURCE: New Hampshire Union Leader The Brownsville Herald ■ “The Beginning of the End of Snow ■ “K12 students code beyond computers Days… Districts around the U.S. are working out - Computational thinking gives students policies and procedures for having kids work at home when inclement weather closes schools… a learning edge in all subjects… As In districts across the country, snow days…for coding becomes ubiquitous for students of example, the schools around Camden, Maine, will all ages, educators are looking for ways to replace two snow days per year with so-called use computational thinking in other Remote School Days, when students will content areas. Advocates say this complete coursework at home using internet- integration should start in elementary connected devices.” SOURCE: edutopia schools….” SOURCE: District Administration
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6. Leadership 8. Turning Tide – ■ “Using teacher-leaders to improve Celebrating Teachers schools…’Opening the door for (Finally) innovation’ by extending the impact of the best teachers to more students… ■ “Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul Each school that embarks on creating an have announced a headline tour that Opportunity Culture does so in a unique will introduce TeachRock, a free, multi- way, based on its needs. One of media, K-12 interdisciplinary Edgecombe’s elementary schools created curriculum from Steven Van Zandt’s Rock three teacher-leader positions to focus on and Roll Forever Foundation. The Soulfire improving literacy among students in third Teacher Solidarity Tour 2018 concerts are grade and younger. A middle school free for all types of educators… The recognized its area of need was in high- initiative is in recognition of the work that quality math instruction, so it hired a educators do across North America, and teacher-leader to work in that subject. will highlight the TeachRock curriculum, Another elementary school has a teacher- which meets prevailing standards in leader supporting English language arts English Language Arts, Social Studies/ teachers.” SOURCE: The Hechinger Report History, the Fine and Performing Arts and includes STEAM and advisory material…” 7. Career Preparedness – Getting Kids Ready to 9. Let’s Get Ready to… Boldly Go… Compete Digitally! How young is too young to start ■ “Gamers Are the New High School introducing students to future careers? Athletes: Rise of Esports… Trend gains traction in K-12 and college… Esports, a movement that features competitive video game ■ One California district’s “World of play that grew out of the commercial gaming Work” program starts in kindergarten In industry, is popular at the college and Southern California’s Cajon Valley Union School professional levels. Now, it is gaining a greater District, career exploration starts in kindergarten. foothold in K-12… Some teachers and Five-year-olds learn about police officers, doctors, administrators have found that esports engages artists, teachers, bakers and farmers. Over the students who might not otherwise participate in next eight years, until they leave the district for school activities, teaching teamwork and high school, they will cycle through learning about potentially opening new college and career 54 different careers, including real estate agent, opportunities…” SOURCE: Education Week paralegal, dietitian, reporter, graphic designer, sociologist, urban and regional planner and ■ financial analyst…” SOURCE: The Hechinger Report New York Institute of Technology “NYIT Launches eSports Facility… Just two days after the CyBears dominated Molloy College to win the East Coast Conference (ECC) Overwatch eSports Invitational at Nassau Coliseum, NYIT unveiled its eSports arena at a ribbon-cutting
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ceremony on December 4 at NYIT-Long Island (Old Westbury, N.Y.). The event, held in Wisser Library, B welcomed students, faculty, staff, and eSports partners and included opening remarks by Not the Teaching and community members who exemplified NYIT’s multi-dimensional commitment to the rapidly Learning We Remember! growing field of eSports…” SOURCE: NYIT BOX The Tools and Resources ■ “K-12 educational escape rooms on the rise… Students take clues back to a laptop Behind the Change computer where they must read and answer questions. Correct answers lead them to a 11. Tools and Resources "golden ticket" and eventually a way to escape… the escape room creates unique learning “How Using Slack Can Improve Socratic experiences for students and allows them to find a deeper connection to the underlying subject at Seminars… In our search for an appropriate hand, which is part of a larger lesson aligned to space where we could promote and monitor our the state's English language arts standards. ‘We student’s digital discourse, we landed on Slack, an have to make learning high-end and tap into their online messaging app used primarily in interest, learn to tie it to those things we are businesses. While not explicitly designed for the trying to teach. This is invigorating for teachers classroom, we have found Slack to be a powerful and offers a 21st-century approach to learning platform for stimulating high-level online discourse centered around key concepts and for students.." SOURCE The Detroit News core habits of discussion…” SOURCE: EdSurge
10. Tech Redefines Literacy “Has video killed the red grading pen? The act of communication, the very core Teachers are experimenting with video feedback as of Literacy, is being transformed through a replacement for traditional written mark-ups… In the application of technologies that the past few years, a handful of educators, working support those whose communication in different disciplines and various education levels.. have been experimenting with video needs and preferences lie beyond feedback... They’ve created a website with traditional text alone… recommendations for teachers who want to try it out themselves. To date, Phillips and Henderson ■ “Facebook’s VideoStory dataset trains have helped instructors use video feedback for classes from 20 to 700 students, across high AI to ‘automatically tell stories. Video schools and universities, in subjects as far ranging content on social media platforms constitutes as philosophy and engineering…” a major part of the communication between SOURCE: Hechinger Report people, as it allows everyone to share their stories,” the researchers wrote. “…if someone is unable to consume video … this severely limits their communication. Automatically 12. New Tech for the telling the stories using multi-sentence descriptions of videos would allow bridging Classroom this gap.” SOURCE: Venture Beat ■ “Why our district is investing in AI, AR, VR, and MR… the world today is changing at a faster and more immediate pace than at any time in our history… New technologies like Amazon’s
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Alexa and Google’s Expeditions and Pioneer programs will be the next generation’s Facebook, C Twitter, and Instagram. Voice technology allows st for screen-free interactions and gives students 21 Century Learning much-needed life-skills practice in the areas of forming questions and focused listening. Going on Right Now, in Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) enables students to learn by doing, which Schools Nearby increases student engagement, helps with retention, and enhances learning outcomes…” SOURCE: eSchool News 14. The Upside of Social Media for Students 13. Digital Tutors and Assistants (“Alexa, how do I ■ Study of Teen Facebook Use Provides Insights “We asked teens to give us access to do square roots?”) their list of Facebook friends. This allowed us to see whether teens who are information brokers ■ “Alexa Hits the Classroom… For better or use their social brain networks differently than worse, a new technology is making its way from teens whose friends all know one another. … We consumers' homes into America's classrooms: voice- found that information brokers use their social controlled "smart speaker" systems from companies brain networks more when making choices about such as Amazon and Google. The internet-enabled what to recommend to others than people whose devices listen to what users say, send audio friends all know one another…information brokers recordings to the cloud, translate that information have more opportunities to practice using their into commands, and respond accordingly— social brain when translating ideas between providing users with a personal digital voice assistant different groups of people. More broadly, people such as Amazon's Alexa, which teachers are now who are better at selling their ideas, literally and using to help with everything from setting a figuratively, also tend to engage ... more than classroom timer to leading a group of 3rd graders people who are less successful… (e.g., what will the through a spelling test…” SOURCE: Education Week person I’m going to share with think about this idea?) helps the sharer tune her message to resonate ■ Amazon Echo Dot vs. Echo Dot Kids more clearly with the mental state of the Edition “The Echo Dot Kids Edition, which listener…” SOURCE: Scientific American comes in red, blue, and green, looks almost ■ identical to the regular…The device is really just a “A Look At Social Media Finds Some kid-friendlier version of the Echo Dot, with many Possible Benefits For Kids… 9 and 10 year- of the same features, but toned down for old children taking part in a study... greater younger audiences. Right out of the box, you can social media use, such as scrolling through tell the device is for a child because of the bright Instagram and texting, was associated with colors and comic book-style user guide that some positive effects, including increased comes with it. ..” SOURCE: Digital Trends physical activity, less family conflict and fewer sleep problems…” "There's a lot of pre-existing biases that if we expose kids to media, something terrible is going to happen. What we show is that's not the case," said the study’s director. SOURCE: National Public Radio
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15. MAKING Learning 17. Applied Learning Engaging and Rich With digital tools and information, students can to apply their learned skills to needs and problems that interest and ■ “…New research shows that makerspaces move them. Young learners, at long last can be highly effective at helping can participate in and impact their world elementary students develop skills such as critical positivity. Project Based Learning aligns thinking, design thinking, and problem solving…Using the makerspaces led to higher student engagement, with Social Activism in inspiring ways with confidence, and determination to try new approaches remarkable results. Some noteworthy to tough challenges, according to the report. Struggling examples from this past year: students in particular seemed to to benefit from maker activities…” SOURCE: eSchool News ■ “Cupertino High student’s app helps visually impaired ‘read’… senior Sanket Dange is developing an app to help the visually impaired 16. Authentic Participation recognize objects and read text. When you point a (Learning Through Student smartphone or tablet camera at an object, the Pigen app can speak the object’s name or read aloud the Real World Action) text in a sign…” SOURCE: The Mercury News From the “Be Careful What You Teach Them!” Category… ■ “Changemaker: Enumclaw teacher motivates students to help solve ■ “After two fifth-graders started a petition homeless crisis –‘Really, we’re going to build a to ban homework, the district is considering house? No, we’re going to design a house first. options to lighten their load. At the behest of two Then we’re going to build it…Adults sometimes fifth-grade students, a New York school district is underestimate the power of teenagers, Interlake considering doing away with homework High student Youri Babakoff said. And it’s nice to assignments…The petition gained traction in their show, when we come together we can make a district…In arguing their case to officials with the difference in the world.” SOURCE: Q13FOX school district, DeLeon and Keelie said many of their ■ classmates agreed with the proposed homework ban “Passion Projects and Community – and the school district did as well...” SOURCE: U.S. Partners Create Relevant Learning for News & World Report Teens in School… BIG classes are focused around big projects that students care about…As students work on their projects they get support from teachers, ■ “Scaffolding Social Action for Your who also ensure that students are meeting the state Students - A framework for guiding middle standards required for the course. Teachers meet in a daily “scrum” where they talk about projects, individual schoolers to plan and engage in social action that’s relevant in their coursework and their lives. Students students, who needs more support…” SOURCE: KQED Taking Action Together is currently in place in seven urban middle schools in New Jersey, and it is making a ■ “Robot a high-tech way to serve biscuits difference. Social action can be encouraged with regard to current events such as gun violence in and gravy - Standing in Southmont High School’s automation lab, senior Ross Lippencott fired up a schools…” SOURCE: Edutopia online robotic arm, using a controller to guide a ladle into an empty bucket. As the utensil reached the bottom, it began spinning like the beaters of a kitchen mixer. The process was one of the new tricks for the school’s
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Fanuc training robot, which gives hands-on lessons to up-and-coming engineers…” SOURCE: Journal Review
■ “Oak Park teen saving local law enforcement hundreds of dollars with robotics projectThe self proclaimed "Tom Boy" has a passion for sports and robotics. In fact, her efforts on a project will save her local law enforcement office hundreds of thousands of dollars…Jaeza and her Oak Park High School's robotics team are building a robot that will be a part of the department's crisis negotiations team… it will be used in hostage situations to get necessary items to those requesting them...” SOURCE: fox4kc.com
"Technology exponentially deepens student engagement. For learners who are not engaged well by print-alone content, it transforms that content in ways that make a great difference to visual, multilingual, auditory, kinesthetic, and musical learners." —Rose Reissman, Ed.D., Literacy and Technology Education Writer IN CLOSE WITH | Rose Reissman A GOOD PART of Rose’s work involves addressing the great untapped potential represented by classroom teachers who still haven’t crossed the great divide, joining colleagues in using technology to align their practice with 21st Century Learning. She is a prolific writer of articles that explain how the use of technology will take classic Literacy Instruction to the next level, adding the richness, meaning, and relevance for today’s students. Many of her articles can be found at the Literacy Special Interest Blog of the ISTE Literacy Professional Learning Network. Her article there, Tapping Multi-platform Reading for Social Justice - A Review of Khaled Hosseni‘s latest work, Sea Prayer (scroll down for links to many others). Dr. Reissman is the founder of the The largest and most competitive Writing Institute, now replicated in 200 schools including PS 205 in Awards Recognition Program in edtech. The Bronx, New York City. She is a featured author in New York State Union Teachers Educators Voice 2016 and was filmed K-12 + Higher Education + Workforce discussing ESL student leadership literary strategies developed at Ditmas IS 62, a Brooklyn public intermediate school. Contact Rose LEARN MORE AT www.EdTechDigest.com through her email: [email protected] //
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Technology’s Return to Favor The return of tech to favor in the curriculum—and rise of coding and computer science overall.
OR From learning about technology to learning with technology; now, and back again. They made a big splash. Personal computers (PCs) were a major novelty back in the early CONTEXT CLUES | by Mark Gura 1980s and anyone involved with them was sort of instantly considered something of an innovator celebrity—this was certainly true of Over the past few years the role of teachers. technology in the curriculum has taken a significant change in direction. A reversal in Close on the heels of bringing a few personal fact, has happened. I’m speaking about the computers into the classroom, teachers trend to make learning about technology an began to wrestle with the “what can I do with important part of the curriculum. them?” issue, which was thoroughly related to the “how do I justify using a computer in my To fully understand this development, a bit of teaching?” issue. After all, this was cutting edtech history is needed. edge new and not all administrators, parents, and colleagues were so impressed with the Back It Up ‘Wow! What’s that in the corner?” factor that a plausible justification wasn’t ever called In its very first phase, edtech was established for. by a very small group of restless innovators; teachers who became aware of the emergence Bear in mind there was no software that was of personal computers, their availability to the specifically intended for use in teaching and general public and to schools, and who learning in the very beginning; that would decided to experiment with using them in the take a few years to emerge. context of their classroom teaching.
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But clearly, there were instructional I remember how once, on a learning junket to applications for computers. San Diego, as the head of Instructional Technology for the NYC schools, I was taken For instance, students could transcribe their to see an exceptional handwritten work to a word Computer Class at one of the processed document, making it very best schools in that city. infinitely clearer, astoundingly easier to edit and revise than I was shocked I was shocked when the the handwritten version, and teacher handed me a copy of they could print out as many when the teacher the syllabus that was posted copies as they wanted of on the wall and taped to the something that looked vaguely handed me a copy desktop next to every professional—eureka! Student computer in his lab. It was a publishing! of the syllabus sequence of lessons on such topics as: In math, too, common business applications like the that was posted - How computers work / what are the parts of a spreadsheet had immediate computer? application to traditional on the wall and classwork. - Basic file management, taped to the - Keyboarding, After a short while, computer- - Word Processing, using teachers had identified desktop next to - Spread Sheets, and shared among themselves - eMail, a body of such solid - PowerPoint, applications and what every computer in and on and on. resulted was an understanding among those his lab. It was a There was no attempt, who cared about it, that whatsoever, to integrate students could learn with sequence of those skills into the technology. curriculum that the rest of lessons on such the school was teaching and However, there was also a learning, though! competing strand of thought topics as... during this period: that students Split in Orientation should learn about the technology itself. For a good, while this split in orientation of what to do with school “Hey, computers are important in the world computers and what would be right? So we should be teaching kids about worthwhile to have students learn and do computers: how they work, how to program with them continued. them, how people use them in the real world, etc!” Eventually, the field agreed that the overarching true value of technology in our This went on for a good while. schools was technology’s power to support
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WOMEN IN STEAM. Author Jacie Maslyk and friends in Orlando at the Future of Education Technology Conference. Her book: STEAM Makers: Fostering Creativity and Innovation in the Elementary Classroom (Corwin). From left to right: Johanna Mukai, 1st-grade teacher; Marlene Motsch, pre-K teacher; the author; Katy McGillan, middle school teacher social studies and math teacher; Katya Echenique, Media Specialist. All of these educators teach at St. Joseph Catholic School in Winter Haven, FL. CREDIT: Victor Rivero
students in learning across the traditional curriculum (Language Arts, Math, Science, Among these are: Social Studies, etc.). - Coding - Computer Science In other words, Learning with Technology, not - Student Robotics Learning about Technology. - Maker-based Learning And, of course, classes and programs to learn about the technology itself did persist (in “CODING for ALL” (Harvard Magazine) A small measure), although they were worthwhile overview article on the conceived to be part of Career and Technical movement that bears that name shares “…as Education or as an enriching, broadening technological innovations drive virtually every ‘minor’ or ‘interest’ subject, like Art and Music. industry and shape social spaces online, advocates like Margolis (Jane Margolis, Ed.D. By consensus, it was conceded that ’90, senior researcher at UCLA’s Graduate Technology Across the Curriculum would be School of Education and Information Studies) the field’s principal thrust. view computational participation as central to the health of democracy. “Computer science Fast Forward can help interrupt the cycle of inequality that has determined who has access to this type Fast forward three decades and onward: the of high-status knowledge in our schools… trend described above has begun to reverse (and with co-author Yasmin Kafai, Ed.D.) somewhat with the emergence of several Students who have this knowledge have a strands of instructional thrust in which jump-start in access to these careers, and learning about technology is the focus. they have insight into the nature of
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innovation that is changing how we communicate, learn, recreate, and conduct democracy.”
Computer Science. Many now consider Computer Science a must learn element to be added to the curriculum for all. The recent report “Pre-College Computer Science Education: A Survey of the Field 2018” (commissioned by Google). The Connected Learning Alliance’s description of the states “Computer science is important for a few reasons. First, almost all professions need some sort of CS knowledge in one way or another: artists, scientists, journalists…”
"Over the 20 years I’ve been involved in robotics I’ve seen students A Gallup report on the state of Computer who have had no background in science use robotics as a vehicle to Science in our schools Trends in the State of gain an appreciation of science and technology. Whether or not they Computer Science in U.S. K-12 Schools states, became scientists or engineers, they learned how to work with others, “Although crucial to U.S. students' future how to set goals and achieve them." —Gary Israel, Student success, access to a computer science (CS) Robotics Advocate and Team Coordinator (pictured above, far left) education is still not universal. Education leaders must better understand the IN CLOSE WITH | Gary Israel perceptions of CS and access to CS learning opportunities to maximize students' potential TWENTY YEARS AGO, Gary Israel, a teacher at Morris High School for growth in an ever-changing technological in the Bronx (New York City) was asked to start a student robotics world. The findings in this report present team for the school. Morris, a failing high school in a run down, positive growth in the area of CS… inner city area was an unlikely place to establish a robotics team; at that time a gutsy, visionary, out-of-the box thing to do. Since “More than 90% of parents feel that then, the team, 2TrainRobotics, has become one of the most opportunities to learn CS are a good use of successful and celebrated teams anywhere. The team has school resources.-40% of K-12 principals say consistently traveled the country, winning important FIRST their school offers at least one CS course competitions and over the years the team has had many including coding or programming.-84% of landmark highlights. It has been sponsored by the New York parents, 71% of teachers, 66% of principals Yankees who invite the team out on the field before games begin 65% of superintendents say that offering CS and is supported by Columbia University, which has made its engineering lab available to the team. Many student members of is more important than or just as important the team have gone on to higher education and successful as required courses like math, science, careers. Importantly, the team has been sharing its unflagging history and English.” spirit to succeed through STEM Education with schools around the NYC area. The story Morris HS’s 2TrainRobotics celebrates Student Robotics. Student Robotics has 20th anniversary recently appeared in the Bronx Times. More been around for decades. However, it has, in information about the team is available on the CLASSROOM recent years, made its way into the general, ROBOTICS blog. Their team site is 2train395.com and Gary’s daytime instructional program in subject email, he’d love your feedback, is: [email protected] // classes. I reported on a number of good
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examples of this half a dozen years back in the book Getting Started with LEGO Robotics and recently in a post on my Classroom Robotics blog http://classroomrobotics.blogspot.com/ 2018/09/great-advice-from-lego-education-master.html
By the way, Robotics, as a subject is a broad based STEM theme that includes the mechanical and electronic dimensions of machines along with digital technology, which is involved in programming (coding or its alternative, object (icon) based programming) computers to direct ”The primary purpose of U*PAL is to develop robots in their behaviors. a practical and creative leadership state of Maker-Based Learning. Not strictly speaking an mind that involves: Trust, Collaboration, area of technology education, Making address Sharing of Perspectives, Coherence, students’ needs to explore, create, build, etc. and Community and Balance.” the cognitive impact of these as well as their connections to the standard curriculum. —Jon Drescher, Director of U*PAL (Urban Nevertheless, some of the very most popular Principals Academy at Lehigh University) resources and materials employed in this area are technology items, including:
- 3D Printers (and other computerized fabricator devices) (e.g. https://www.makerbot.com/ ) IN CLOSE WITH | Jon Drescher - Student Robotics, like LEGO Robotics (e.g.
Mindstorms, EV3, etc. https:// AS THE FOUNDING director of U*PAL, Jon Drescher leads a truly out of education.lego.com/en-us/shop/mindstorms the box educational leadership program that places a special emphasis %20ev3 ) on developing visionary, creative, urban school leaders. They do this - Little Bits and similar electronic device through team projects, special seminars at Jazz @ Lincoln Center, The components kits (electronics, circuitry, etc.)* Metropolitan Museum of Art and through workshops in Improvisational Theater Techniques which align with research regarding what successful The level of interest in the above varieties of schools look like. Running throughout the U*PAL experience is the belief technology as curricular focus and resultant that traditional schooling needs to be replaced with something different, actual efforts to bring them into school something more appropriate and relevant to the population receiving it. instructional programs was very significant in Through a series of improvisation workshops U*PAL participants are 2018 and promises to continue to increase. “opened up” to see their own creative potential. Students tackle problem solving through collaboration and design processes applied to formal — challenges that require working within set parameters. Importantly, all of *(suggested supplemental article) Resources for Maker Education this involves reflective exercises, too, in which students relate the An excellent, very comprehensive article on Maker creativity awareness and skills they acquire to the types of problems and Education for Edutopia https://www.edutopia.org/article/ situations they will face as school leaders, including a focus on issues of maker-education-resources inequity in education https://ed.lehigh.edu/cduel/upal //
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A Tale of A Significant Degree of Edtech Leadership I understand and agree that in these times of Two School uncertainty about careers; by choosing edtech they have selected an area of apparent, Realities continued growth and importance. How far along are our schools However, based on long term observation of the ways schools are evolving, it’s clear to me in fully shifting to digital? that to hold a School Technologist certificate and position at this period of time, and over PERSPECTIVE | by Mark Gura the next number of years in which the Digital Shift plays itself out in our schools, is to Teaching edtech leadership courses for assume a role that very likely will include a two universities, I receive, through significant degree of edtech leadership. interactions with my students, a stream of The Digital Shift, by the way, is the insights into the state of education and the predicted change in schools away from progress of the great movement to apply traditional, hard copy based practices to a technology to impact it positively. situation in which the vast majority of tasks and chores, both instructional and support My students tend to be early or mid-career, oriented, will be done digitally. practicing teachers. Importantly, my students, a group who And while their goal in studying with me is overwhelmingly teach in inner city areas, often to qualify themselves for state most often in New York City, seem to hold certification as School Technologists, I find to the view that the Digital Shift exists, still that their comprehension of the depth, as an idea only and that at best, there are breadth, and variety within the field of rare schools ‘out there, somewhere’ which edtech is far from complete. This partial have made important progress toward apprehension of the dimensions of edtech achieving that state. is something I attempt to address strongly in the courses I teach. Conversely, when I go to the annual ISTE conference, and to other gatherings like it Explaining their goals to me, many students that address edtech, I often find myself in verbalize a desire to simply know conversations with school-based individuals technology better so that they can apply it (teachers, coaches, curriculum specialists, in their own teaching. etc.) who share with me that their day-to-day work reality is quite the opposite. These folks are invariably core subject teachers in math, science or other areas; and There are, in fact, a great number of schools in their goal often is to move from such a the U.S. who do a very significant amount of teaching position to become a school’s their daily business on a platform that involves Computer or Technology Class teacher. small connected devices that access content,
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materials, and tools from a broad range of penetration and impact on our schools: 1) sources on the web. The level of technology available for use in the schools, and 2) The level of technology And when the conversation at these use in the schools – for gatherings turns to the current their core business, state of edtech in many of our Teaching and Learning, and urban schools, they accept my for the other things that descriptions, but don’t quite I was shocked schools do that can be seen comprehend how it could still as supporting Instruction. be possible that other schools when the could so far behind in the Considering available adoption and implementation resources, I have included a of technology. teacher handed section below that supports this personal conclusion; if The Greater Truth me a copy of the not beyond a doubt, then at least to the level sufficient to So what’s the greater truth here? Is edtech still a novelty, an syllabus that illustrate its soundness. extra, special add-on in our However, I want to point out schools? Or is it already, in a that the presence of very significant number of was posted on technology itself is not schools across the country, the indicative of a full and primary platform on which the the wall and successful Digital Shift. school’s business (especially, Instruction) is carried out? taped to the For a Full and Successful My personal conclusion is that Digital Shift there is a very significant sub- For that to happen, the set of American schools in desktop next to technology would have to which the level of technology saturation (technology available be actively used as the every computer prime (or one of the prime) for use in teaching and resource types for teaching learning), actual technology use, and learning. and acculturated body of in his lab. ... practice that is based on the Further, the school would frequent and favored use of have integrated technology technology, is high enough to not only into its current consider that the school has either already achieved or is close to achieving what could body of practice, but also into its culture of teaching and learning. best be described as a transformation from the traditional classroom to the 21st Century As a way to visualize how technology can Digital Learning Environment. transform schools from traditional to 21st Century Digital Learning Environments, the In understanding all of this we should focus table below lists defining indicators. on two dimensions of technology’s
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TABLE 1 Approaches to Instruction / Instructional Practices Indicative of 21st-Century Digital Learning Environments. The table above offers some common transformational practices indicative of the Digital Shift. This table might be used as something of a check list, too, to determine how far along the process of shifting to the new paradigm a school has moved.
That's 21,600 schools. Two-thirds of districts that Many of these approaches either can only hit the 100 kbps/student goal have continued practically be implemented or are to boost their bandwidth. overwhelmingly best implemented through the application of technology. The BlueRange report titled “The Prevalence of 1:1 Computing in 2017 and Beyond” Thus engagement in these may be used as a measure of the penetration of technology into • 3 out of 5 teachers and administrators said the professional culture of a school or district. their use of technology will increase in the 2016-2017 school year.
The following are some recent ‘bread crumb • 80 percent of educators said their students’ data points’ which may be cobbled together to individual access to technology is either “good” give an idea of the digital state of things in our or “great.” schools’ • 75 percent of teachers and administrators The nonprofit, Education Super Highway, in its said they implement technology into their “State of the States 2018” report stated “40.7 daily schedule with their students. million more students have high-speed Internet access than did in 2013 - 98% of • Over 50 percent of educators said they school districts can now take advantage of have implemented 1:1 computing, a 10 digital learning. percent increase over last year.
Since 2013, 94% of schools without scalable Freckle Education’s survey “2017 Technology infrastructure have upgraded to fiber-optic in the Classroom Survey Results” reported connections. the following:
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• 80 percent of teachers believe access to technology in their schools is already either good or great.
• 75 percent of teachers use technology daily with their students. The largest driver of the rise in technology use is the increased access to devices. Over 50 percent of teachers say they now have a 1:1 student-to-device ratio.
Far From Complete “As the world around us continues to become personalized or While far from complete, the perceived customizable educators must rapidly change the way they destination of the character of schools as approach their work. Parents and students want choice – moving from a traditional hard copy programs that specialize in unique areas of interest - when, environment to a digital one is well borne out where and how they learn, and connect learning to real world by the data shared above. The pace of problem solving.” —Robert M. Avossa, Ed.D, Senior VP at movement toward that destination has LRP Media Group increased, as well. Those who set policy for schools and those IN CLOSE WITH | Robert Avossa who administer their development would serve their constituents well by embracing this RECENTLY RETIRED FROM his position as superintendent of Palm Beach County Schools (11th largest district in the change and facilitating its progress. country with a student enrollment of more than 193,000 — students) has turned his attention to a wide variety of LRP Media’s efforts, including the shape and future of FETC Mark Gura is a Contributing Editor to EdTech (Future of Educational Technology Conference), an Digest. He is former director of the Office of important annual event. He intends to see FETC expand Instructional Technology for New York City and become richer in content, increasing its value to the field. Among other things, e sees important potential in department of education. Write to: including a deeper and more well defined body of offerings [email protected] at the conference for administrators and leaders; something that EdTech Digest agrees may resonate deeply for the field. Follow him on Twitter: @Robert_Avossa
The field of edtech has its issues and challenges. In 2019, here are its issues:
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NORMAN JUNG
YOU ARE DOING “Let’s involve students in the learning process by encouraging them to create and build. I will continue to develop curriculum that meets objectives, but in a AMAZING THINGS! hands-on, relevant way that fosters creativity.” —Nikole Blanchard is a new, recently elected, Member-at-Large of the Board of Directors of ISTE
But who knows? (International Society for Technology in Education).
Reach your audience through our IN CLOSE WITH | Nikole Blanchard SPECIAL REPORTS Ask us about our SHE ENTHUSIASTICALLY SHARES her passion for connecting educators, ADVERTISING PACKAGES pointing out that “together we are better” and maintaining a professional learning network that consist of educators from around the world. “These connections encourage me to grow, ultimately impacting the learning of GET MORE INFO—CLICK HERE: students,” says Nikole Blanchard, an ISTE Board Member. She’s keen on encouraging teachers “to step outside their comfort zone and use Social https://edtechdigest.com/more/advertising/ Media for professional learning. It gives you ultimate control of your professional learning from the comfort of your sofa!” Nikole travels the world training teachers on technology and working with educators on Get the word out. one-to-one best practices. EdTech Digest looks forward to her positive input into ISTE’s development over the next few years. Nikole is the Director of Innovation and Technology at The Dunham School in Baton Rouge, La. Before her current position, Nikole taught grades 2-5 in public schools. She is a National Board Certified Teacher, Apple Distinguished Educator, Google Certified Trainer, and Google Innovator. One of Nikole’s greatest honors was speaking on the stage alongside Tim Cook at an Apple Education Keynote. Nikole is honored to represent educators around the world as a newly elected ISTE Board member. //
38 EDTECH DIGEST - 2019 STATE OF EDTECH: THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT HIGHLIGHTS STATE OF EDTECH EDTECH’S TOP INFLUENCERS The minds behind what’s now and next.
By VICTOR RIVERO
There’s a lot of energy in the field of edtech. Whenever I meet someone new to the sector, With millions of educators worldwide now and there are plenty of these people, the using technology, more than 15,000 common idea they enthusiastically express is: companies in edtech, and tens of thousands of edtech-passionate people descending on “I love the people working in edtech, and I really various conferences nationwide and get the feeling that I’m part of a larger mission.” beyond, these are people working in one of the most important fields of human So true. endeavor, and leading others forward.
There are other worthwhile fields—finance, By their example and their reach, they are healthcare, manufacturing, etc.—but there’s influencing others in a big way, and are something about edtech. dedicatedly part of a larger mission to help future generations thrive. Education reaches all those fields and more. Technology runs along underneath education By their actions, by what they write, and learning as a tool, platform, and support communicate and the products they create, mechanism to enhance and improve it. they are interacting with those around them, making the world a better place Together, education and technology are a great through their work in education fit and a tremendous alloy when directed by technology, and this year, they join a people with the innovative leadership it takes to growing list of our field’s top influencers. pull off the big wins available by leveraging their combined strength. Here they are—and why.
A sampling of those people can be found right Enjoy! here in our second, and now annual, class of the Top 100 Influencers in Edtech.
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Ossa Fisher Per Emanuelsson President & COO IStation Managing Director Soundtrap at Her company serves 4 million+ Spotify students, she was Tinder and The original CEO and co-founder and match.com SVP Strategy & Analytics; on Board of now managing director of a company helping Directors for Uplift Education, one of the largest students to learn by doing, in this case, doing not-for-profit charter school networks in Texas, the music, is rocking out with Soundtrap for education Yale grad is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Sweden. and opening up music education through a platform enabling collaboration for 10k+ teachers. Stanley Buchesky Managing Partner EdTech Fund, Anjli Jain Interim CFO US Dept of Ed Managing Partner EVC Ventures Led M&As for McGraw-Hill, founding The communicative VC is also founder trustee of Equality Charter School ranked and chair of Campus Consortium, a in top 3% NYC middle school math, at EdTech Fund consortium of 2k+ colleges and universities; with the former Airborne Ranger and West Point grad with the Chicago-based $50M fund she’s committed to a BS in computer science invests in, advises seed converting ideas into compelling fundable stage companies in both K-12 and higher ed. propositions and viable businesses very quickly.
Sarah O’Rourke King Paul Turnbull Senior Manager, Brand Strategy President Mid-Pacific Institute Autodesk This inspiring innovator leads a pre-K-12 Leads marketing efforts for Tinkercad— college prep school in Honolulu, helping growing from 100K to 10M community students become innovators, artists, and individuals users, the contagiously energetic Bay Area writer through a model tech integration program asking, and communicator is into personal design, 3D ‘How can technology amplify the human experience printing, and maker education—and expert at rather than drive it?’ to amazing results. generating enthusiasm in youth. Saki Dodelson Sal Khan CEO Invest in Literacy Founder Khan Academy Well known for her tenure as founder Proving a free world-class education for and CEO of Achieve 3000, a leader in anyone, anywhere, the online teacher differentiated instruction, she now synonymous with the learning model that caught focuses her efforts on equity for all children using Bill Gates’ eye and Harvard Business School and the best content and technology to create the very MIT grad continues to deliver keynotes, and results: best platform—garnering commitment from his non-profit now employs over 150. industry leaders.
Stacy Childress Patrick Brothers CEO NewSchools Venture Fund Co-Founder & Managing Director The former Bill and Melinda Gates HolonIQ Foundation Deputy Director and HBS His Royal Military College (Australia) lecturer now leads the national nonprofit venture experience in strategy, leadership, management, philanthropy working to reimagine public education, warfare, and tactical operations has translated well investing nearly $200M in 200 education ventures, into education, where he’s lucidly aggregated, creating edtech products serving 60M+ students. organized, and classified the entire industry for a new age of cradle-to-gray learning and work.
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Robert Martellacci Amy DelCorvo Founder & CEO MindShare Learning CEO & Executive Director NYSCATE Technology & Workspace 20+ years dedicated edtech leader on Canada’s foremost edtech thought- local, statewide and national level; past leader, the affable host, curator, and connector ISTE, CoSN board member; superintendent for tech, works tirelessly in uniting industry and education, director of instruction, and for the last decade and serves as a champion for igniting student managing 250 employees, multi-million dollar budgets success through innovative solutions and with a keen eye for workable, effective solutions. partnerships in Canadian schools—and beyond. Micah Shippee Rebecca Kantar Social Studies Teacher Liverpool Founder Imbellus Central Schools Her venture-backed tech co reinvents The innovative ideas man, outside-the- how we measure human potential. She box thinker and speaker is just the sort of social attended Harvard—proposed a special studies teacher any student would be lucky to have; concentration in leadership and organization; it was not to worry, he’s sharing himself with educators as never approved—dropped out, didn’t look back, a consultant and speaker on adoption of emerging but looks forward to changing the face of learning. tech in innovative school cultures.
Matt Renwick Neeru Khosla Principal Mineral Point Elementary Co-Founder & Exec Director CK12 18 years and counting as a public Her nonprofit organization provides educator, this Wisconsin principal K-12 learning materials that are tackles technology integration head on, and sets a customizable, aligned to requirements, and free for good example for other school leaders through his all; she’s also busy serving on boards of The Nueva inspiring perspective in articles and tweets about School, High Tech High School Graduate School of learning, leading, literacy, technology and teachers. Education, Stanford U’s School of Ed, and more.
Jennifer Fritschi Anderson Morais Independent Contractor EdTech CEO & Co-Founder Agenda Edu Strategies The business law grad (focus: startups) is She’s coordinated the refresh process an enthusiastic education entrepreneur, of ISTE Standards for Administrators, a resource initially encouraged through an entrepreneur used worldwide to support digital age learning; competition win over 25k other registrants. His she’s done work for SETDA, Digital Promise, and platform assists more than 1k Brazilian schools with Smithsonian; the D.C.-based former teacher is a communication and management. behind-the-scenes mover and doer. Nicole Tucker-Smith Sieva Kozinsky Founder & CEO Lessoncast Learning CEO StudySoup The former teacher and professional A Forbes 30 Under 30, he’s also an learning leader for Baltimore County edtech star with a social learning Public Schools, she’s worked in turnaround platform that helps more than 1M students get good environments and knows what it takes to improve grades every month; he’s raised millions of dollars student outcomes; she developed a process which and is an active tech investor, writer, and advocate of evolved into a software to replicate teacher success. entrepreneurship amongst college students.
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Susan Bearden Lane Merrifield Chief Innovation Officer CoSN Co-Founder FreshGrade The musician, Director of IT, and Senior A brilliant entrepreneur with a passion for Education Pioneers Fellow at the U.S. the convergence of creativity and Department of Ed is now lending her expertise to technology, he co-founded learning portfolio platform the Consortium for School Networking, assisting FreshGrade back in 2012, now in use around the world other leaders in strategic, growth-oriented in more than 70 countries; he’s also an investor-dragon approaches to innovative teaching and learning. on Dragon’s Den (Canada’s Shark Tank).
Amit Patel Katy Fryatt Managing Director Owl Ventures Founder & CEO Learnit The consummate listener is taking close After taking Bett, the world’s largest notes; he’s on a team backing some of edtech exhibition, from the UK into the world’s leading edtech companies with one of international markets (Latin America, Asia), now the the largest capital funds for education. Find him at 30-something is uniting education’s global community LearnLaunch, GESF, ASU GSV and other conferences with Learnit, “an intellectually honest conversation around the country and across the planet. about the current state and future of education.”
Johanna Kartila-Malmivaara Robert Avossa CEO & Co-Founder Cuppla Technology Senior VP LRP Publications The Finnish business leader formerly After 25 years in public education, the with Nokia and Microsoft is now former Superintendent of Schools for confronting the digitalization of schools; her startup Palm Beach County, Fulton County Schools, and is expert in mobile technologies including mobile Charlotte-Mecklenburg, heads up the organization device management and content sharing, two key behind the Future of Education Technology elements in creating tools for teaching and learning. Conference, leading other leaders forward.
Burck Smith Julie Evans CEO Straigherline CEO Project Tomorrow His successful Baltimore-based firm This accomplished strategist, helping colleges offer innovative pathway entrepreneur, and leader is a nationally programs to improve enrollment and retention by recognized speaker, writer and researcher – and helping prospects and students reduce the price and gets her information from the largest survey on risk of pursuing a degree is an outgrowth of his digital learning, with more than 5 million pioneering thought leadership in education. participants, 35,000 schools, and all 50 states chiming in on the future. Vivi Friedgut CEO & Founder Blackbullion Max Ventilla The London-based Aussie is changing Founder & CEO AltSchool the world by ensuring people have In a class of his own, though access to the right learning to develop the right nonetheless creating classes for skills at the right time; with Blackbullion, that means everyone through a new model of how to open and financial education, a perfect base. operate 21st-century schools delivering highly personalized education without resorting to on screen learning, having secured $200M to do it— from some very big names.
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Daniel L. Smith Sarah Schapiro GM Education Amazon VP Education PBS He likes to build businesses from no Dedicatedly involved in education as an team and $0 to hundreds of millions in Education Pioneers Fellow, a program revenue and global business units—and works at analyst for Chicago Public Schools, a Pearson the perfect company to do so, with SaaS, consultant, the Founding Director of the Digital ecommerce, and cloud infrastructure to back any Promise League of Innovative Schools, and now at ideas that prove robust enough. the nonprofit edu programming giant, she’s on a roll.
Jennifer Womble Matt Harris Program Chair FETC Consultant International EdTech The future is bright with this much-loved He’s been chair of the board of directors leader of edtech responsible for all of that for ISTE, Director of Technology and great content, keynotes, panels, and presentations at Operations at an independent school, worked for the largest independent edtech conference in North The International Baccalaureate, Head of Learning America; she’s nearly a decade into it and going Resources at the German European School stronger than ever, enjoying the show. Singapore—be sure to read his blueprint.
Charles Best Jess Gartner Founder DonorsChoose.org CEO & Founder Allovue The former Bronx public high school She’s been a social studies teacher, classroom history teacher was one of marketer, and now works with school Oprah’s ultimate favorite things; his company was districts across the country to budget and manage named by Fast Company one of “50 Most Innovative $25B+ in education spending through her software Companies in the World,” the first time a charity has platforms, seamlessly integrating into existing received this recognition—and deservedly so. accounting systems—a very smart move.
Maria Spies Alberto Carvalho Co-Founder & Managing Director Superintendent Miami-Dade County HolonIQ Public Schools The global intelligence platform, like Approaching technology as an most machines, needs a human mind to give it environment that can be leveraged for the benefit that spark of life—that would be Maria; her of public education, the longtime superintendent mission is to connect the world with the (appointed 2008) of 4th-largest U.S. district technology, skills, and capital to transform oversees 345k students, 40k employees across 392 education—and she’s well on her way. digitally transforming fully 1-to-1 laptop schools.
Vikas Pota Cheryl Lemke Group Chief Executive Tmrw Digital CEO & President Metiri Group Founding chair and Chief Executive at Served as state Dir for edtech in an era the Varkey Foundation for 8 years, host preceeding widespread tech use in of the Global Education & Skills Forum; now boldly schools (1985-1995); she’s been an associate leading Tmrw Digital, the holding company for superintendent for Illinois State Board of Education, education entrepreneur Sunny Varkey’s edtech VP of Milken Family Foundation, and for the last 20 investments and associated companies. years, heads up the widely-sought ed research firm.
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Miriam Altman David Blake Co-Founder & CEO Kinvolved Executive Chairman Degreed This former NYC Department of Ed high He’s on a mission to help create an school history teacher now leads a social educational system that will drive the enterprise catalyzing communities to elevate student cost of learning to zero, promote universal access to attendance. The award-winning entrepreneur is a education, create meaningful indicators of personal Social Innovation mentor, Women’s Launch Pad at educational outcomes and success, to restructure her alma mater, Brown University. the physical learning environment, and more.
Jon Corippo Idit Harel Executive Director Computer Using Founder Gazelle Learning Educations An accomplished serial entrepreneur, A natural when it comes to putting on tech innovator and futurist of global an edtech training event, he’s developed learning learning systems, she’s passionately committed to for nearly 50k educators, he’s the co-author of The educating and empowering entrepreneurs globally. Eduprotocol Field Guide, and doubled CUE The former competitive gymnast mother of 3 membership under his leadership; he’s worked for served in the Israeli army and holds 4 degrees. several different California school districts. Esteban Sosnik Sunny Washington General Partner Reach Capital CEO Because Learning Previously executive director of the Like her name says, an inspiring and co.lab, an edtech accelerator leveraging upbeat leader with experience building the power of games to improve educational new programs, particularly those bringing hands- outcomes; former co-founder Atakama Labs; on science, tech, engineering and math lessons to pioneer in leveraging Latin American talent for classrooms and homes through her Salt Lake City- design and production. based company now in more than 400 schools. Mila Thomas Fuller Jonathan Harber Assistant Director U Illinois Urbana- Adjunct Professor NYU Steinhardt Champaign In the school of Culture, Education, and As the President of the ISTE Board of Human Development, he serves as prof Directors, she earned her doctorate of Education, of Edtech Entrepreneurship; he’s chair of StartEd, Instructional Technology from Towson University, which aims to accelerate edtech entrepreneurs to she’s also an EdNET advisory board member, and tackle the world’s greatest education problems, and member of the board of directors for Champaign he runs 3-month bootcamps to make it so. Urbana Schools Foundation.
Jessica Lindl Michael Crow Global Head of Education Unity President Arizona State University Technologies Academic leader, educator, designer of She works for one of the world’s most knowledge enterprises, science and widely used realtime 3D platforms, is an advisory tech scholar, ASU’s 16th president; guided its board member for GSV AcceleraTE and California transformation into one of the nation’s leading State University Entertainment Alliance Advisory universities, served since 2002 and, this past Council; she’s also served as COO at LRNG, and GM decade, collaborated with GSV for an edtech at Common Sense Media. summit like no other.
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Karthik Krishan Leslie Wilson Global CEO Britannica Group CEO One-to-One Institute “I love transforming cultural and business Laptop school pioneer Mark E. Weston organization and unlocking their true says, “Leslie is the world’s leading potential,” says Karthik. The group: 1768-founded authority on one-to-one computing in primary and Britannica, Merriam Webster, Britannica Knowledge secondary schools.” For 12+ years, she has tirelessly System, and Melingo. He also serves as Urban helped countries, states, and school districts Upbound board member, and NYU Stern adjunct prof. improve student achievement and engagement.
Jennifer Gu Hardeep Gulati COO IXL Learning CEO PowerSchool Formerly sr. dev. manager for Oracle, A veteran of the software industry with she earned her MBAs from the Haas time spent at SumTotal Systems, School of Business and Columbia Business School; Oracle, and SpinCircuit, the EdTech Awards 2018 now COO for an edtech company asking over 25 Leadership Award winner brings his passion for billion questions and answers—helping schools use education and strategic mindset to one of the tech to improve teaching and learning. largest K-12 edtech companies in the world.
Ankur Nagpal Maia Sharpley Founder & CEO Teachable Partner Learn Capital For the past five years, he’s led his An education scaler active in the edtech NYC-based company to success startup arena, she’s also been VP of offering a platform for creating and selling beautiful innovation and strategic initiatives for Charter Schools online courses. From creators, YouTubers, niche USA, VP for strategy and innovation at Kaplan, worked experts, authors, businesses and others, MOOC or at NYC Department of Ed directly with the chancellor, not, online education is alive and well. and is fluent in several languages.
Emilie Cushman Guido Kovalskys CEO & Co-Founder Kira Talent Co-Founder & CEO Nearpod Colleges and universities can access He’s founded and run companies in the prospective students through her U.S., Latin America, and Europe; the unique holistic admissions platform, combining the former fellow and lecturer at Hasso Plattner old way—grades and test scores—with new: Institute of Design at Stanford U (the “d.school”), is competency-based assessments through text and a big fan of design thinking and human centered video, to get a full picture of every applicant. design, a key element to his current success.
Joe Mazza Svenia Busson Principal Seven Bridges Middle Founder LearnSpace, Edtech Tours School Rubbing elbows with industry leaders, His dissertation was on school startups, policy makers, educators, and principals’ use of social media to communication students to examine the scalability and efficacy of between home and school; he’s been a 3rd-grade learning technologies and edtech adoption teacher, bilingual assistant principal, middle school worldwide, her Paris-based LearnSpace accelerates vice principal, elementary principal, and all the efforts of European edtech startup founders. while written and shared about it.
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Mitch Resnick Randy Ziegenfuss Professor MIT Media Lab Superintendent Salisbury Township For 27 years, his research group has School District developed technologies and activities The lifelong educator with 3 decades of that engage people, particularly children, in creative teaching, learning, and leadership also has a learning experiences. Scratch programming is the background in instructional technology, and world’s leading coding platform for kids; Mitch is a education technology leadership; makes himself computing world pioneer and legend. available for others to help whenever he can through http://shiftyourparadigm.org/ and other channels. Gary Stager Founder Constructing Modern Ashley Beckner Knowledge Venture Partner, Education A brilliant mind and pioneer in Omidyar Network creativity, collaborative learning and computing, She built and ran organizational this constructivist advocate worked in edtech well functions for Bricolage Academy, was co-president before “edtech” was even a thing with Seymour of the Wharton Social Venture Fund, and was an Papert and others; provocative approach driven by Education Pioneers fellow with Silicon Schools a deep belief in learner-centric success. Fund; she currently focuses on U.S. education strategy and investments for the firm. Suzanne Xie Founder & CEO Lightwell Jason Coleman Her vision for modernizing children’s Co-Founder & Executive Director storytelling for the digital age through Project SYNCERE creator software is something only she could pull His nonprofit is on a mission to prepare off; energetic, relentless, and a bright light shining minds and create pathways for underrepresented for others, she’s challenging students to use tech to students to pursue STEM careers; the Eisenhower be creators of their own story. Fellow was a Senior Mechanical Engineer at Motorola and also worked on the re-design of Black Casey Green Hawk Naval helicopters. Founding Director The Campus Computing Project Eileen Rudden The largest continuing study of e- Co-Founder LearnLaunch learning and information technology in American The social entrepreneur is a seasoned higher education was launched way back in 1990 general manager and board member in by Casey; he’s a sought-after consultant, speaker, the tech and education sectors; she’s dedicated to moderator, panelist, and definitive source for the connecting, educating, and growing New England’s higher education transformation conversation. entrepreneurial ecosystem and edtech startups through the world-class accelerator. Julia Freeland Director of Education Christensen Steven W. Anderson Institute Co-Founder Web20Classroom She leads a team researching effects of The former science teacher and disruptive innovation on the public and private instructional technologist worked for education landscape; published and spoken Promethean, ASCD, currently assists West Corporation extensively on edtech, new school models, as their National Director of Solutions Engineering, competency-based education, and emerging tools Education Division; he’s a seasoned presenter, social and practices to expand social capital. media sharer, and overall digital evangelist.
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Sandra Liu Huang Jill Buban Head of Education Chan Zuckerberg Chief Academic Officer Unizin Initiative Due to rapid higher ed tech growth, 25 The Stanford grad served as a bridge research institutions and 900k learners between cultures for her immigrant parents formed one of the largest educational (Taiwan) who depended on her English skills; organizations in the country; the Austin-based applies this ‘agency’ in creating tech products for nonprofit consortium’s mission is to improve schools and leading a multidisciplinary 100- learner experiences with digital teaching and member team mapping the future of learning. learning resources.
Jacob Hanson Patrick Awuah Jr Managing Partner Storyteller PR Founder & President Ashesi with Panache! University Jacob’s firm earned The EdTech Awards Ghanaian engineer, educator, and 2018 Leadership Award Winner status from EdTech entrepreneur, former Microsoft program manager Digest; he’s consistently provided effective PR who lived 15 years in the U.S. then returned to his behind the scenes for scores of edtech startups as homeland to establish Ashesi (“beginning”) well as established companies serving the market— University with a mission to educate the next and is a true pleasure to work with. generation of African leaders.
Chris Jagers Coni Rechner CEO Learning Machine Senior VP Partnerships Discovery He’s setting the global standard for Education blockchain-secured digital credentials For more than a quarter-century, she’s (independently verifiable, tamper evident, and worked with her company, and now oversees their owned by issuers and recipients, issuable at scale). K-12 partnerships and innovative collaborations That’s huge for educational institutions; the next with school-based partners, ensuring teachers and few years will be educating leaders why that is. admins have access to best-in-class digital content and professional development solutions. Becky Navarre Ass’t Superintendent of Technology Vikas Gupta Fort Worth ISD Co-Founder & CEO Wonder This teacher from Beaumont decided Workshop to further extend her reach, studied Policy At 14 years old learned BASIC; first Leadership, became a director of edtech, moved up company acquired by Google; the father of two was to an assistant superintendent, and draws inspired by time spent with his daughter, his first inspiration from other likeminded leaders at ISTE child, to start this consumer electronics company Digital Leadership Summits. used in 20k+ schools and leading a student robotics phenomenon Ahmed El-Sharkasy CEO & Co-Founder Knowledge Officer Todd Brekhus The head of this London-based startup Chief Product Officer Renaissance is on a mission to organize the world’s Learning knowledge and build personalized learning paths to Champion of literacy and its convergence help people reach career goals; every Sunday night, with tech, led creation of myON student-centered just to pay it forward, he dedicates 2 hours to personalized literacy program with 6k age-appropriate helping anyone anywhere in the world for free. enhanced digital books; taking it all up a notch in his leadership role at the learning analytics organization.
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Tracye Stormer Michael Staton Director of Technology Jasper Partner Learn Capital County School District SC Led investments into Coursera, Her tightly-run 5-person technology Minerva, Brilliant, VIPKid, and Minerva; team serves over 3,000 users using over 3,000 co-founded Uversity, pioneer in social enrollment devices; she’s overseen the strengthening of management tech; the former teacher also secured servers, infrastructure, and switches to complete the first venture investment from the Bill & Melinda wireless installation in all buildings; they’ve also Gates Foundation for a private company. equipped all teachers with mobile devices. Jennifer Bell-Ellwanger Charles McIntyre President & CEO Data Quality Chairman & CEO IBIS Capital Campaign In 2013, the investment banker founded The lifelong educator guides educators, EdTechX, a series of global conferences families, and policymakers with quality information convening edtech influencers in Europe, to ensure students excel. From the classroom to Asia, and coming soon to Africa; his passion shines the U.S. Department of Ed, she also put time in at through with EdtechX Holdings, the world’s first the central office of the NYC Department of edtech special purpose acquisition company. Education as a senior advisor.
Karla Burkholder Don Wettrick Director of Technology SCUC ISD Founder StartEdUp Foundation The Texas educator, an instructional The Innovation Coordinator at Noblesville leader and veteran of edtech planning, Schools (Indiana) wants to move students purchasing, and implementation in large and small from passive consumers to creating school districts is also an adjunct professor at Baylor producers; exuding entrepreneurial can-do approach, University and is a past president of Texas Computer connecting students to big names, big ideas, and better Education Association (TCEA). learning through his podcasts, books, and videos.
Todd Thibodeaux Sylvia Libow Martinez President & CEO CompTIA Co-Founder CMK Futures Heading up the trade association for the Wrote the bible of the classroom maker global tech industry, the technophile movement (Invent To Learn: Making, reps more than 2k member companies, and 3k Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom); this business partners worldwide. He’s expanded the speaker, consultant, and PD expert was an aerospace association through education and training programs, engineer before becoming an educational software market intelligence, pro certs, and advocacy. producer and VP of a video game company.
Abby Sterensis Kevin Custer Founder & CEO observe4success Founding Principal Arc Capital Opens communication lines with tools Development for creating a common language to Driven, cut-to-the-chase leader of early- discuss teaching strengths and improvable areas; stage advising and investing firm for the education formerly Director Community Outreach for market; has advised nearly 100 companies, Advanced Learning Centers, owned and operated by achieved 50% U.S. K-12 market penetration, 2 gens of the Sterensis family; believes in giving back. generated over half a billion dollars in revenue, and maintains 20+ active investments.
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Michał Borkowski Natalie Nezhati CEO Brainly.com Director Edtech Mark One of the world’s largest social learning A behind-the-scenes edtech connector communities, his company convenes and communicator in London and middle and high school students to strengthen skills beyond, for the past 5 years she’s designed and from math, science, history and beyond. The Warsaw executed webinars, marketing programs, and strategic School of Economics grad’s NYC- and Cracow-based relationships for a number of edtech startups. edtech co helps 100M+ monthly users. Brian Rowe Kimberly A. Rice CEO Perceivant Secretariat CIO Executive Office of Indianapolis-based edtech entrepreneur Education MA helping people live better lives with FableVision founder Peter Reynolds innovative higher ed courseware linked to powerful says of her, “Boston is a lucky city. It has Kimberly analytics and real-time data to provide students with Rice as its CIO for Boston Public Schools.” Indeed, active learning experiences and easy-to-use analytics the former 4th-grade teacher has been on a mission for educators to see their actual efficacy. for students that has seen her rise through the ranks with a boost from the right technology. Ron Reed Founder & Executive Producer John Harrington SXSW EDU CEO Funds For Learning Involved in educational publishing and For two decades he’s been committed to technology since his University of Texas days; helping students receive the best possible helped launch Optical Data Corp in mid 1980s, education, passionate about the significant role pioneered first state-adopted tech program to internet access can play in equipping students and access traditional textbook funding; expert in teachers for success; he’s led the firm that helps producing perpetual sources of edu energy. schools and libraries get their e-rate money. Jack Lynch Suzanne Munroe CEO Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Teacher, Founder TinkerEd Understands value in teacher-student Elementary school teacher and edtech relationships; inspiring team-oriented entrepreneur; founded TinkerEd, won leader deeply interested in what’s right with Startup Weekend Edu in San Francisco. Seeing students, focusing on their abilities, and nurturing firsthand the disconnect between edtech founders that—great approach for BU-grad exec of $1.4 B/yr and classroom teachers, her platform matches publishing giant in midst of a shift toward digital. teachers to test, advise, and shape edtech offerings. Nadayar Enegesi Michael Spencer Co-Founder & Director Andela Co-Founder & CEO ASSIST Education Heads up the company’s internal The former director of international incubator, aptly named Launchpad, business for K12 also served as senior VP with his technical and entrepreneurial background; at The American Education Corporation. Fluent in also built the company’s learning infrastructure and Spanish, the world traveler is an edtech specialist in curricula teams. The Nigeria-based computer strategic business planning, raising capital, science engineer is a University of Waterloo grad. international sales development and online learning.
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EDTECH1000: COMPANIES TRANSFORMING EDUCATION
10 COMPANIES TO WATCH+ & WHY
THE EDTECH AWARDS
WITH GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM
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Bringing the Blurry, Probing Edge of Edtech into Focus
https://youtu.be/FyinD6ZDqeg It’s hard for anyone in edtech https://youtu.be/FyinD6ZDqeg to avoid being a futurist. old “Computers will/will not, replace FUTURE FUN | by Mark Gura teachers!” ditty.
▶ Our recent history is full of examples of And for the longest time, those of us who unrealistic predictions of futures that didn’t have had even the thinnest layer of materialize. This clip, the intro for the network experience with computers in the broadcast show The Jetsons (1962), is an classroom, who dispassionately have instructive and fun example of how observed and reflected, have understood speculating about the future can be difficult, that as crises go, this one is a total “nothing sometimes bordering on silly. burger”, a non-issue conjured up out of the uncomprehending fears of folks reflexively We educational technologists cannot suspicious of change. avoid being, at least in part, futurists. To the contrary, our understanding quickly It’s also true that we must reflect well to came to be that computers are tools for avoid becoming advocates and creators of teachers to use with their students; tools today’s equivalent of a Jetsons vision of that increase their reach and efficacy. education, getting it wrong and consequently misguiding our colleagues. Remapping the Edtech Landscape
One of the oldest areas of concern, But the landscape of education changes, argument, and confusion related to the use and its geologic features, even those long of technology in the classroom has been the thought to be solid bedrock, do move over time. A number of impactful things have
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appeared in recent years that require us to As impressive as the above examples have re-map a bit with the end in mind of not only been, they all largely make their understanding the nature of where we are, contributions in a liner fashion by offering but where we will arrive at in the possibility of more of the not so far off future. what was done traditionally –or of supporting students There are many examples of This approach deepens and teachings in doing it technology “improving” the potential value of better. We are now teaching in the sense of beginning to experience making classrooms more teachers. In a sense, applications of technology efficient by helping to make many emerging digital to the work of teaching and processes and chores easier learning that truly are and more effective. items are oriented different. similarly, intended to For instance, digital grades A Sampling of books make the recording of relieve teachers and Instructional Items student performance data students of the need to more reliable and easier to Here’s a sampling of some store, retrieve, and share interface directly for prominent instructional those records. An LMS basic functions that items to include in our (Learning Management reflections on “Instructional System) can similarly improve now can be handled by Continental Drift” (Sorry, the distribution of instructional machines, so that couldn’t resist the content and the collection of temptation to follow student responses to it. human bandwidth is through on the topography freed and expanded, metaphor): There are examples, as well, of allowing for deeper, technology improving the In the Flipped Classroom quality of the learning more relevant and students access and experience through more meaningful familiarize themselves with applications to instructional content on their own activities of things like learning to be through means driven by interactive, media-rich content. accomplished. digital communications technologies (e.g. video, There are technology audio, animations, game applications, as well, that have oriented, etc.) so that their somewhat transformed the face-to-face class time with very format of school by expanding its their teachers can be maximized for higher reach to deliver, and for students to access, order thinking goals: reflections, analysis, instruction. Virtual field trips, after school meaning making, and application of facts availability of content and paths to peers, and skills in important, often real-world and student access to experts in the field contexts. Thus, this approach deepens the are a few. potential value of teachers. In a sense, many emerging digital items are oriented similarly,
52 EDTECH DIGEST - 2019 STATE OF EDTECH: THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT FUTURE BRINGING THE BLURRY, PROBING EDGE OF EDTECH INTO FOCUS
intended to relieve teachers and students of development in what classrooms look and the need to interface directly for basic sound like, as well as how they function. But functions that now can be handled by much more is finding its way into the machines, so that human classroom… bandwidth is freed and expanded, allowing for deeper, A. I. (Artificial more relevant and more Students access and Intelligence). When the meaningful learning to be familiarize themselves Google search engine accomplished. improved its interface with content on their own algorithm a number of years Personal Digital Tutors. It’s back, many of us had an already common for students through means driven by unsettling, almost spooky to have their own personal digital communications “ah ha” moment with it as digital devices that offer we suddenly came to calendars, calculators, search technologies (e.g. video, understand the reality of engines, and more. Students audio, animations, game working with a technology interface with these generally that tracked our preferences through keyboarding. AND now oriented, etc.) so that and interests and predicted verbally, with digital entities like their face-to-face class the relevance of items to Siri, that the ever so polite and present us with. I perky little digital assistant who time with their remember my own will guide your iOS device by teachers can be experience when one day I engaging in a conversation with was totally astounded by you. Many now have (the maximized for higher what at first appeared to be Google Dot) Alexa at home (I order thinking goals: magical synchronicity. Out do), she’s that little digital of the tens of thousands of assistant who will ask you what reflections, analysis, advertisers Google must you want to hear and then have had, vendors who in retrieve Led Zeppelin’s Stairway meaning making, and the aggregate were offering to Heaven from a music application of facts and a very, very broad range of streaming service if you direct goods and services… how her to. These digital assistants skills in important, often did Google manage to feed are cropping up in many real-world contexts. me ads for things that places, my online bank offers actually caught my one, the downloadable GPS attention? How, I wondered, App, Waze, for instance, will could it be that the ads that take requests for driving directions verbally showed up on my screen as I was working and advise you when to turn left verbally, as were for particular brands of kayaks and well. So what happens when these electric guitars and tours of Thailand, etc.— technologies are reconceived for the the very things that I was most interested in learning of young people? Alexa and her at the time? And then, it hit me like a ton of peers put out by other providers have bricks (remember, this was cutting edge new already established a presence in back then and it was not explained to the classrooms. Stay tuned for a serious public at first)—that while I was learning with
53 EDTECH DIGEST - 2019 STATE OF EDTECH: THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT FUTURE BRINGING THE BLURRY, PROBING EDGE OF EDTECH INTO FOCUS
Google… IT was learning about me! Those Data Analytics and Visualization. Schools ads were for things I had been searching for have embraced the collection of data and its information about… were the same things application into their cultural repertoire over for which I had recently been clicking links the past couple of decades, an important for. Son of a gun! Google was figuring out change. But is that body of practice fully what I was interested in, what I liked, what I defined? Are they maximizing the impact wanted to see more of… and it was doing it this new focus offers? In “A Discussion on in a spiral of specificity and relevance and Data Visualization in 21st Century accuracy that was uncanny. My computer Education,” (from University of Michigan/ was working with me and it was working Academic Innovation) some next-level with other individuals behind it who wanted questioning is shared “As data collection has to increase their chances of presenting me proliferated within the classroom and across with things that resonated. Duh! Welcome to industry, those responsible for discerning the age of machines that learn and that act meaning from data are faced with a on what they learn. challenging task – cutting through the noise. Data visualization tools allow these From Amazon’s online store to individuals to synthesize and interpret Instructional Software - Adaptive Digital complex data in new and innovative ways, Instructional Resources. This same general analyzing key data trends to gain a deeper principle used by Google to find out about understanding of the statistical insights the its users has more recently been applied to data provide…. it’s beyond human ability to teaching and learning; the idea being that by grasp the useful information hidden in the identifying a student’s interests and mass of data points. Visualization serves as a preferences, his strengths and weaknesses, summarization, guidance, metaphor and his ways to approach learning, and on and eventually a gateway to understanding the on, highly personalized learning experiences data. Like the old proverb says, “sometimes a could be provided to him. Each student no picture is worth a thousand words.” longer has to access the same content as his classmates; nor does his content have to Blockchain. Blockchain has found a place have the same form, look, and feel as that on the exploratory edge of Education. offered to others; nor does the path Forbes recently ran the article “20 Ways established for him to react and respond to Blockchain Will Transform (Okay, May the content have to be the same, either. Improve) Education.” Most of the Enter to the world of Adaptive Digital applications for Blockchain listed relate to Instructional Resources. Of course, this is a Education in ways that are other than new development and some attempts at instruction, but there are several that do. bringing the ideas above to life for actual While number 3, “Student records”, seems to student use are better than others. There be yet another approach to more efficient are varieties and grades of A.I. available to management of what for schools is an resource designers and there are designs essential chore, number 11, “Learning that are better than others as well. This is an marketplace”, has a great deal of potential to area that we will be seeing a great deal more impact student choice, motivation, and of in the immediate future. satisfaction with the learning experience… “
54 EDTECH DIGEST - 2019 STATE OF EDTECH: THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT FUTURE BRINGING THE BLURRY, PROBING EDGE OF EDTECH INTO FOCUS
TeachMePlease is a Russian pilot on the “The number one hurdle facing Disciplina platform where teachers and innovative education solutions is students come together. It helps students getting information into the hands of enough teachers and students to find and pay for courses, registered by make a difference. Too much noise educational organizations or teachers.” makes it incredibly difficult to get the attention of educators and A Final Point administrators. That’s my expertise; we help innovative solutions connect It seems that whenever a new technology to schools and teachers, and we help teachers and schools find emerges there are some folks who quickly solutions that can help them make a difference in the lives of kids.” —Mitch Weisburgh, COO, EdChat Interactive, an wrap their brains around how it may be alternative approach to online professional development applied to Education. and focused information sharing for educators.
Granted, some of these folks are simply tech IN CLOSE WITH | Mitch Weisburgh enthusiasts, but other truly understand that
these new technologies (especially after IN THE ONGOING series of Edchat Interactive events, areas of work other than Education have instead of a long presentation, the event is a live video adopted and gotten significant value from discussion. The leader present a basic concept in the first them) represent potential for Education, 5-10 minutes of the event, then participants break into deep potential. small video chat groups to discuss the practicalities of the concept. Finally, representatives of the various groups discuss their findings with the event leader while the entire The stream of emerging technologies seems group watches and listens.This, more interactive format to be a constant; it would be wise for incorporates social learning and reflection into the educators to keep yet another eye peeled learning process, which facilitates deep learning, and for important technology innovations with greater engagement. EdChat Interactive offers a broad potential impact for their work. range of Instruction oriented themes. A few of its past installments have been: Giving Voice to All Students, Discussing the Shift from Consumption to Creation, Five And, hey, isn’t that one of the more Ways Video Can Transform Your Classroom, and Data is interesting things the field has to offer? not a Four Letter Word. These events are free to all and easy to access at Edchat Interactive:https://sites.google.com/site/ — edchatinteractive/upcoming-seminars Mitch cofounded Academic Mark Gura is a Contributing Editor to EdTech Business Advisors in 2005 which helps organizations Digest. He is former director of the Office of develop business strategies to align their products and Instructional Technology for New York City services with the ways purchasing decisions are made and technology is used in schools and districts so that they can department of education. Write to: scale and make a difference to kids and educators. He is [email protected] currently on the Board and Executive Committee, having just finished a term as president, of the Ed-Tech Industry Network (ETIN) of the SIIA. //
HOT LINKS
Blog: https://blog.academicbiz.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mweisburgh/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/weisburghm Contact: [email protected] or weisburghm on Twitter
55 EDTECH DIGEST - 2019 STATE OF EDTECH: THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT FUTURE EDTECH1000: COMPANIES TRANSFORMING EDUCATION
In the fall of 2019, we will highlight a handful of companies from The EDTECH1000 List. Watch for them on www.edtechdigest.com
STATE OF EDTECH LET’S DO IT! Purpose-driven individuals teaming up together in shoulder-to-shoulder efforts to create the future of learning. By VICTOR RIVERO
Among the most dedicated companies serving the education sector are those seen here among The EDTECH1000 List. They are leading- edge, innovative technology solution providers intent on transforming education. From small startups to larger, established firms in K-12, higher education, and workforce learning—the companies highlighted here represent committed individuals who teamed up, scaled up, and looked up toward the mountain of help they could provide others, and despite the odds, shrugged and said, “Let’s do it!” HAPPY TO PARTNER: Rajeev Arora, CMO of Nearpod, at FETC 2019 alongside 50+ partners.
56 EDTECH DIGEST - 2019 STATE OF EDTECH: THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT FUTURE 10 COMPANIES TO WATCH & WHY
COMPANIES TO WATCH 1 Britannica Group. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Britannica Digital Learning, Britannica 360 Alumni Arma Partners Knowledge Systems, Merriam-Webster, and Melingo comprise the group; 3A EDucation Aruba (HPE) Britannica celebrated its 250th anniversary year, Merriam-Webster its 180th, in 3Doodler ASCD 3M Assembly 2018. Watching them will be a great indicator of how old meets new. 500 Startups ASU+GSV A.D.A.M. Atomic Learning Aakash Educational Audio Essentials Services Pvt. Ltd. Authentica Solutions 2 ABC-CLIO Autism Expressed ABPathfinder Autodesk Capsim. Offering experiential learning Abl Autodesk Tinkercad solutions to develop the skills most critical Academic Progress Avaya to career success in today’s business landscape, here’s a company with Accelerate Learning Aver USA Accel Partners AWE Learning simulations, assessments, and corporate training for students, instructors, Accuplacer awe Media academic administrators, and corporate trainers that is up on the times. Achieve3000 AwesomeStories AchieveTheCore AWS (Amazon) ACT Axonify Activate Instruction BankersLab 3 Adaptemy BCG Adaptive Curriculum Because Learning! DreamBox Learning. With a recent Ad Hoc Academic Limited Bedrock Learning investment from The Rise Fund of $130 AdmitSee Belkin Education million to support their mission to be a Adobe Bell Tower Schoolhouse ADTRAN Benetech powerful learning partner in every classroom, school, and district, Advancement Courses Benq DreamBox Learning is one of the highest-funded edtech companies in the AEFOL EXPOELEARNING BenchPrep world. The Rise Fund is the world’s largest social impact investment fund. Aeris Partners BeRobot Aerohive BETT Affirm BiblioNasium Age of Learning Big Word Club
AirWatch BigBlueButton Inc. 4 Albert BirdBrain Technologies Gale. Connecting libraries to learning and AlchemyVR Blackbaud learners to libraries for more than 60 Alcoa Foundation Blackboard Alive Studios BloomBoard years by partnering with libraries around Alma Bloomz the world, empowering the discovery of AltSchool Bloxels EDU knowledge and insights for all people, for all purposes. They serve academic Alumnifire BNC Amazon Education BocaVox institutions, school educators, public libraries, and special libraries with their Amplify Book Creator databases, primary sources, eBooks, eLearning, and more.. Andela BookNook A Pass Ed. Group Bookopolis App Ed Review BookPagez Apperson Inc. BoomWriter Appleton Boulder Learning (continued) Arcademics Boundless Ardusat Boxlight Mimio Arivanza Brain Hive more next page >>
57 EDTECH DIGEST - 2019 STATE OF EDTECH: THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT EDTECH1000 10 COMPANIES TO WATCH & WHY
COMPANIES TO WATCH (continued) 5 MASTERCLASS. They’ve been generating a lot of headlines, from the The New York Brainly ClassWallet Times to Vanity Fair and the TODAY BrainRush Classworks Show, the world’s top actors, authors, Breaking the Barrier Clearpath EPM Brett E Shelton Clever musicians, business leaders and other notables are spilling their secrets to Bridge Int’n’l Academies CoCubes Technologies success in an easy to relate to online video format for $180 / year. “Online Bridge U Code Avengers classes taught by the world’s greatest minds” — pretty much takes the cake. BrightBytes CodeCombat Britannica Digital Learning CodeHS bulb digital portfolios CodeKey Inc. Buncee Codementor Busuu CodeMonkey 6 Byju’s CodeREV MobyMax. Founded in 2010, today they are C. Blohm & Associates CogBooks in over 83% of K-8 public schools and Califone Cogent Education Callido Learning Cognero growing with their 27 complete subjects Cambium Learning Cognii covering all grades, is a winner of The EdTech Campus Suite Cognotion Awards 2018 Best E-Learning and Blended Learning Solution, and is extremely well Canary Learning Collabco Capstone Digital College Ave designed, thorough, attractive, workable, and aligned to standards. Capti Voice College Board Career Power CollegeVine CareerInSTEM Colvard Learning Carolina Biological Common Caches 7 Carrot Rewards Communications onQ. Unleashing engagement is how Castle Rock Research Strategy Group Catalyst Compass Learning they bill themseves, which is quite Catapult Learning Connected Data accurate considering the video CatchOn Connections Academy experience they’ve created to track reactions, conversations, and Cengage Connections Education CEV Multimedia Content Technologies, Inc. engagement; they do so moment-to-moment for the benefit of Chalkable Copia Interactive organizations looking to transform static video and other presentation Chalkup CoSN media into immersive, interactive group experiences and engaged ChatterHigh Course Base Civitas Learning Course Hero conversations around content that matters. Checkmate Foundation Coursera Chegg Inc Creation Crate Chrome Warrior CreatieLIVE Chronus Creya Learning & 8 CIOapplications Research Renaissance. Creating assessment and Cirkled In Cricksoft Cisco CSG PR practice solutions that put learning CLANED CSI Literacy analytics to work for educators, their ClassCraft Cudoo products are in use in more than one-third of U.S. schools saving hours of ClassDojo Cuppla Technology Classera Curiosityville prep time while making truly personalized learning possible. Classkick Curious World ClassLink Curriculet (continued) ClassLoom Curriculum Associates Classroom Inc Curriculum Crafter more >>
58 EDTECH DIGEST - 2019 STATE OF EDTECH: THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT + COMPANIES TO WATCH 10 COMPANIES TO WATCH & WHY
COMPANIES TO WATCH (continued) 9 ROBOKIND. A different kind of learning company, their mission is to create cost- Curriki EdTechX effective and inclusive education for all; they especially help the autism CyberFlow Analytics Edthena community, but also school systems around the world. For now, they offer two CYPHER LEARNING Education Curb CZI Education Data Solutions products: Robots4Autism, and Robots4STEM. For students with the Autism D2L Education Elements Spectrum Disorder, they offer Milo, “a socially advanced robot” that is 80% DaDaABC Education Perfect effective versus a mere 3% in traditional therapy. Data Resources Inc. Education Technology Dayton Johnson Exec Search Associates Declara Education.com 10 Defined Learning Educational Consulting Defined STEM Services, LLC StrongMind. Their mission is to create the Degreed EducationSuperHighway most engaging and extraordinary 6-12th grade digital curriculum; they are Delightex EDUCAUSE doing just that with their next-gen courseware, leading edge assessments, Dell EduChange, Inc. DFRobot Educurious advanced reporting and analytics, and their “loudmouth” communications DigiExam Edufolios portal, showcasing superior content, excellent design, and workable analytics. Dig-It! Games Edulastic Digital Theatre Plus EduOne Dinan Capital Advisors EduOnGo + Direct Services eduPad VIP KID. A bonus: VIP KID is definitely a Disaster Records Eduplanet 21 company to watch. China, as one might Discovery Education Eduporium Docebo EduSystem expect, has huge numbers. This edtech DocentEDU EduTechGuys company is one of the largest in the world. DoctoralNet edWeb DonorsChoose eDynamic Learning DOT digital group Elesapiens Essential Spanish Vocabulary Firecracker DreamBox Learning Ellevation Education Flashcards First Round Dremel ELMO USA European Leadership University Fishtree DubLabs Embibe Event Leadership Institute Flipgrid DuoLingo Empow Studios Eventbrite FlipIt EasyUni.com Energized Minds EventTracker Flocabulary eBackpack EnGenius Technologies EverFi FLVS Edbacker English Central EVO 40 Cart from LockNCharge Follett EdCast Engrade EvoText, Inc. ForClass Edco Enhance Knowledge Examity Forward Thinking EDU EdFutures Services Pvt Ltd Excent FourierEDU Edgenuity Enrollment Rx ExecOnline FreshBiz Game EdioLabs EON Reality Explain Everything FreshGrade Edmentum Epic! ExploreLearning Frontline Education Edmodo Epiphany Learning Extension Engine FrontRow EdNET Epraise Limited EZ Vidya Private Limited FSR Edovo (Jail Education Epson FableVision Fuel Education Solutions, d/b/a Edovo) ERPScan Faria Education Group Fulcrum Labs EDpuzzle eSchoolView Fast ForWord Full Measure Education Edsby eSpark FastBridge Learning FundersClub EdTechAfterDark eSplice FETC Funds For Learning EdTechLens EssayTagger Fidelis Education FutureLearn EdTechTeam Essence Associates, LLC FieldTripZoom, LLC Gadget Software Filament Games Galvanize Labs more >>
59 EDTECH DIGEST - 2019 STATE OF EDTECH: THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT + COMPANIES TO WATCH EDTECH1000: COMPANIES TRANSFORMING EDUCATION
Gather Education iKeepSafe Knowledge Notebook, Inc. Lightspeed Technologies GCI Education IKIDSFUTURE KnowStory Lingo Live General Assembly Illumeo, Inc Kokoa Standard Lion's Heart Generation YES Illuminate Ed Kramer Listen Current GetSmarter Impero Software Kuder LiteracyTA Getting Smart Infinite Campus Kurzweil Literatu Globaloria ingram L Wolfe Communications Literatu Pty Limited GoConqr Insight Education Group Lab4u LiveBinders GoEnnounce InstaEDU Labster LivingTree GoGuardian Instructure Lambda Solutions LockNCharge Gojimo Intellatek Language Cloud LongLeaf Solutions GoNoodle intelliVOL Languagenut Lore Google for Education Interfolio LapCabby LTG Exam GoReact IO Education LaptopsAnytime Lumerit Education GPA Learn iontuition Laureate Education Lumos Learning Gradeable iPracticeMath Lea(R)n L Wolfe Communications GradeHub IStation LeadID Mac to School Grammarly ISTE Learn2Earn Magic Leap GrandKeyEd Itslearning Learn Capital MajorClarity Gridstore iTutorGroup Learning Ally MakeBlock Griffin Technology ITWORX Education Learning A-Z Makers Academy Groupwerk, Inc. IXL Learning Learning Bird Makey Makey Grovo J Harrison PR Group Learning Coach Central MangaHigh GSV Capital JAMF Software Learning Curve Mansfield Sales Partners LLC Guidebook Joomla LMS Learning Evolution Marbotic GuideK12 JoyTunes Learning Games Studios, Inc. MaRS Discovery District Hanover Research Junction Education Learning Upgrade LLC MasterClass Hapara Junyo Learning.com Masters and DoctoralNet Harbinger Knowledge Products Jupiter Ed Learning Counsel MasteryConnect Harris School Solutions K12 LearningBird Mathletics Hatch Early Learning K12 Insight Learnist MathWorks Helix Education Kaltura LearnLaunch Matific Her Interactive Kaizen PE Learnosity Mawi Learning Hero K12 Kaplan LearnPlatform McGraw-Hill Education Higher Learning Technologies Kapor Capital Learnsprout MCH Strategic Data HireEducation Kaseya LEARNstyle Ltd MDR Education HMH Marketplace KDSI LearnUpon ME Education Hobsons KEH Communications LearnWithHomer ME Group of Companies Holberton School Kickboard LearnZillion Measured Progress Hootsuite Kidaptive LEGO Education MediaCore Horizon DataSys KidPass Lerner Publishing Group MEL Science HotChalk Kids Discover Online Lesson Planet Meru Networks Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Kishmorr Productions Lenovo Metiri Group House of EdTech Kiwa Digital Ltd Lexia Learning Metria Learning HoverCam Knewton Library For All MIDAS Education HUE Knomadix Corporation Lifeliqe Middlebury Interactive i-Clicker KnoteSter LightSail Milestone Documents IBM Knovation Lightower Mimio Identity Automation Knowledgemotion Lightspeed Systems Mind Research more >>
60 EDTECH DIGEST - 2019 STATE OF EDTECH: THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT EDTECH1000 EDTECH1000: COMPANIES TRANSFORMING EDUCATION
MIT Education OOHLALA Mobile PR with Panache Ruckus Mobile Beacon Open Assessment PrepMagic RUSHWORKS MobyMax Technologies PREPMYFUTURE Said Business School Modern Teacher Open English PresenceLearning Salesforce Trailhead Modest Tree Media OpenED Primo Toys Samsung School Modo Labs OpenStax ProctorU Sapling Learning Mojo Enforce Optolexia Prodigy Scenario Learning MooreCo ORIGO Education Prodigy Game Schell Games Mosaic451 Osmo Promethean Scholastic Motivating Systems, LLC Otus proprep Scholastic Library Motivis Learning Outcert Proversity Scholastico Movenote Outschool PR with Panache School Improvement Network Mozaik Education Owl Ventures PublicSchoolWORKS School Specialty Mrs. Wordsmith Packback Qualtrics Schoold Muzzy Lane Software Padcaster Qubed SchoolMessenger Mwabu (aka iSchool) Pagamo Quill.org SchoolMint myly Panasonic Quizlet Schoology Mystery Science panOpen QwertyTown Schoolrunner n2y Panorama Education Qwickly, Inc. Schoolzilla Naiku PAPERbasket RaaWee K12 Solutions Science Bits Navigation North Paragon One Radix Science4Us Navitas Ventures Parchment Raise.me Scientific Learning Ncomputing ParentLink Raptor Technologies Seas Education Nearpod ParentSquare ReaderBee SecondSite Nepris PASCO Reading A-Z SharpSchool Netmedia Pathbrite Reading Horizons Shenzhen Cloudpoint NETMINO PBS Learning Media Readorium Technology Co., Ltd Netop PBS Teacherline ReadSpeaker Shmoop New Enterprise Associates PD Learning Network ReadWorks Showbie New Intelligence Inc. Pearson Ready4 Shutterfly New Schools Venture Fund Peekapak Realityworks Signal Vine, LLC Newsela Penda Learning Redbird Learning Silicon Mechanics Newseum ED Penguin RedShelf, Inc Silverback Learning Solutions Next Tier Education, Inc. Penveu Reed SimpleK12 NextLesson PeopleAdmin RefME SKILLS Global Noodle Performance Matters Remark Test Grading Skookii NoRedInk Performensation Remind SkySync NovoEd pivotEd Renaissance Skyward NS BASIC PlayMada Renaissance 2.0 Media, Inc. Skyward, Inc. NUITEQ PledgeCents Renaissance Learning Slate Science Nureva Plotagon Rethink Education SlideRoom NutKase PLS 3rd Learning Rethink First Smart Ants NWEA Pluralsight ReUp Education Smart Horizons Odysseyware Pocket Prep RICOH Smart Science Education Inc. OER Commons PocketTutor Rikt AS SMART Technologies Ogment Portfolium RoboKind SmartBrief OnCourse Systems for Education Portfolium, Inc. RobotsLAB Smarterer OnPoint Innovative Learning Powerful Learning Practice ROI Print Manager Smartly Environments PowerSchool Rosetta Stone SmartTerm
more >>
61 EDTECH DIGEST - 2019 STATE OF EDTECH: THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT EDTECH1000 EDTECH1000: COMPANIES TRANSFORMING EDUCATION
Smithsonian Synclovis Systems Pvt Ltd Through My Window Versifit Technologies Smrt English Ltd Synergis Education Tigtag Science ViewSonic SnapComms T4edu Tinkercad VIPKID Snaptech Digital Solutions Tabtor Tinybop Virtual Schools of Excellence Snowflake MultiTeach TAG Assessment Titan K12 VirtualSpeech Social Assurity TakeLessons Tobii Dynavox Virtual Speech Center Social Capital TAL Education Group Tolerance.org Virtway Socratic TALENT Mentoring LLP Tools4ever VitalSource Technologies Inc. Socrative Tales2go Toolwire Vocabulary SpellingCity Sofatutor Tangible Play Top Hat Voxy SoFi TCEA Trading Technologies Voyager Sopris Learning SoftChalk TCS iON (Tata Consultancy) Travels with Music Vretta Software2 TE21 Triad Interactive Waggle Sokikom Teach TCI Trilogy Education Waterford Institute SolarWinds Teacher Gaming Network Tripp Lite WebAssign SolidProfessor TeacherCast Educational Triseum WeVideo Solution Tree Broadcasting Network Triumph Learning WeWantToKnow Soluzione IT Services TeacherLists TrueAbility, Inc. Whetstone Education Sonic Foundry TeacherMatch Truenorthlogic WinjiGo Soomo Learning Teachers Pay Teachers TrueShelf Winter Group Soundtrap Teachers With Apps Turnitin Wisetail Speakaboos Teaching Channel Tuteria Wisewire Sphero Teachscape Tuva Labs Woot Math Splash Math Teachur Twig Workbench SpringBoard Teachwise Tynker Working Voices Ltd Square Panda Tech4Learning Typing Agent World Education LLC Squirrels LLC TechChange Udacity Wowza SRG Tech TechSmith Udemy WriteLab ST Math Teenlife UnboundEd WriterKEY Standard for Success TEKMAN BOOKS Unigo Group WriteSteps Writing Staymobile TenMarks Unimersiv Y Combinator Steelcase Tenpoint Academy University Beyond Youth Digital STEM Revolution Teq UniversityNow Y Soft Corporation Story2 Terrapin University Ventures Yuanfudao StraighterLine The BLE Group Upskill Zaniac Strategy Institute The Bradfield Company Usablenet Zaption StrongMind The Campus Computing Project USATestprep, Inc Zinc Learning Labs Study Hall The Clayton Christensen Institute Utelogy Zoom Study.com The College Board Vantage Learning Zoozil Media, Inc. StudyBlue The Douglas Stewart Company Varsity Learning Tools zSpace Studypool The Edtech Podcast vCloudPoint zero client StudySync/BookheadEd The Game Audio Insitute Vectra Networks Learning, LLC The Renaissance Network Velocify Sungard K-12 The Social Sentinel Verbling SuperMemo World The Virtual High School Verificient Technologies To be part of the Superplus ThingLink Vernier Software & Technology EDTECH1000: Companies Swivl Think Through Math Vernier’s Graphical Analysis for SXSWedu Thought Cycle Chrome Transforming Education Sycamore Education Thread Versal write to: [email protected]
62 EDTECH DIGEST - 2019 STATE OF EDTECH: THE MINDS BEHIND WHAT’S NOW & WHAT’S NEXT EDTECH1000 PAST WINNERS INCLUDE THE BIGGEST NAMES IN EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY: Get the recognition you deserve. StrongMind Flipgrid ClassCraft FastBridge Learning zSpace WeVideo 360 Alumni Cognero Soundtrap Authentica Solutions Labster Mimio Top Hat Nepris Aruba Networks Instructure Padcaster WeWantToKnow Tinkercad Coursera Voxy SchoolMint FrontRow Whetstone Education WebAssign BrightBytes ABC-CLIO Ardusat Silverback Learning Solutions Capti Voice Square Panda SlideRoom FreshGrade Zaniac Holberton School DreamBox Learning iTutorGroup GCI Education JHarrison Helix Education Triseum OER Commons Mountain Brook Schools Schoolrunner edWeb Bloomz TeacherLists ST Math Cogent Education HoverCam Cengage IXL Lea(R)n MobyMax Nearpod IStation Pocket Prep LTG Exam Languagenut Mozaik Education Edthena Kickboard for Teachers Teq Scholastic Library Carolina Biological Education Elements Superplus Buncee Gradeable Curriculum Associates House of EdTech MIT Education MediaCore Edmodo Epson SchoolMessenger Knovation Edsby Lightspeed Systems LearnWithHomer Learning.com Copia Interactive Skyward Sonic Foundry Teachscape 9TH ANNUAL ParentLink Vectra Networks Discovery Education The largest and most competitive Harris School Solutions Awards Recognition Program in edtech. Ncomputing ABPathfinder Meru Networks CB&A K-12 + Higher Education + Workforce School Improvement Network Teacher Gaming Network TE21 www.EdTechDigest.com FourierEDU eBackpack Science Bits Boundless Learnsprout PBS Learning Media Mathletics Versal SolarWinds AirWatch eduPad Promethean Insight Education Group Literatu Dell who’s who and what’s next RobotsLAB BiblioNasium LiteracyTA D2L Connections Academy OpenED Shmoop THIS REPORT WAS MADE POSSIBLE WITH GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM
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