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edition 135
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11 September 2013
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Quick: What do Rhode Island and Silicon Valley have in common? Answer: Both will be hosting special events, gatherings of innovative technology companies and educators, built around real exchanges. Applications are due this Friday for companies that want to take part in the Rhode Island event on October 5th. Silicon Valley will follow on November 2nd. Free for teachers; cheap for entrepreneurs. Powerful for everyone. All the glorious details here!
EDPUNK UNDERGROUND
EDTECH MAP UPDATE: This past May, EdSurge took over responsibility for updating and improving the "Edtech Market Map" started by NewSchools Venture Fund. We pulled out our cartographer hats and sextants and got to work! Our new and improved EdSurge EdTech Index now includes 650+ products categorized into five major sections based on the primary user and/or function of the product. Our frazzled intern, Benjamin Lei, describes our index in detail and offers tips on improving the effectiveness of communicating exactly what your product does. (Thanks Ben!)
REMIXING STEM: Students in the bricks and mortar world who rip the chapters out of their school textbooks can count on getting sent to detention. Instead, that's exactly the kind of practice that CK-12 has been encouraging in the digital realm since its founding in 2007. Now, CK-12 is giving them refined dashboards to keep track of that information, as well as ways to monitor student progress in mastering the material. EdSurge's Mary Jo Madda takes a sneak peek in her report.
THE 'OFFICIAL' WAY TO HACK YOUR EDUCATION: One UnSchooler begets another. Dale Stephens, part of the first class of Thiel 20 Under 20 Fellows and founder of UnCollege.org, is launching his own fellowship, the Gap Year Program, to help other motivated dropouts to embark on their own self-learning journey. We asked Stephens about the program here.
TUTORSPREE is shutting down. The graduate from YCombinator's Winter 2011 cohort offered an online marketplace where students can find local private tutors. Here's the founders' farewell note in the company blog. In an email to TechCrunch, Tutorspree CEO admitted that the team of ten "realized it would not scale in a way that would meet our goals. It was a tough decision emotionally, but it was the right move from the rational perspective." Tutorspree had raised a total of $1.8 million, with the most recent round coming in February 2013.
LIFE'S A PITCH: In August, Frank Catalano offered seven tips for startups taking part in the seemingly endless pitchfests that are now a staple of any edtech conference. But why do entrepreneurs fly cross-country and pull all-nighters for a mere five minutes of possible fame (or shame)? His follow-up Geekwire post explores some of the reasons. "Yes, there's the exposure," he writes. "But it appears, in a well-designed and supported competition, the homework itself is as much--or more--of the benefit."
PARTNERSHIPS TRENDING: On September 9, Udacity announced a new initiative, the Open Education Alliance, to bring together organizations like Khan Academy, Georgia Tech and AT&T to collaborate on courses focusing on skills relevant to careers in technology. A day later, edX said it partnered with Google to develop a new site called MOOC.org, described as a "YouTube for MOOCs" that will be available for schools, businesses, governments--just about everyone it seems.
SPEAKING OF MOOCS: Blended learning is about reconceiving the role of the student, the teachers and how you define schools. But, as edtech coaching and coordinating are still relatively new professions, teachers often have few direct resources on how to get started. The emergence of a new Coursera MOOC on blended learning, taught by Brian Greenberg (Silicon Schools Fund), Michael Horn (Christensen Institute) and Rob Schwartz (New Teacher Center) could provide such guidance--for free. More details here.
KA'CHING!
KNOWILLAGE: Acquired by Ontario, Canada-based Desire2Learn, which is apparently still flush with cash from its $80 million Series A in September 2012. Knowillage (pronounced "knowledge") has developed a personalized learning platform that uses a semantics search engine to automate the process of mapping learning materials to learning objectives. More details here on what that exactly means for teachers and students.
CLASS MESSENGER: $1 million to Toronto, Canada-based Learn Anything Inc. from Scholastic Inc., reports TechVibes. The startup offers a free, private messaging service for teachers, parents and students called Class Messenger. (It's a big upgrade from its previous name, "WDWDT?" or "What Did We Do Today?") As part of the deal, Class Messenger will be made available to current Scholastic teacher customers.
THINK THROUGH LEARNING: $5.6 million to Pittsburgh, PA-based Think Through Learning in a Series B Round with SJF Ventures participating. (The company was founded in 2002 as Apangea Learning and had also raised a $4.2 million Series B round in May 2011.) It is best known for its Think Through Math (TTM) platform that delivers adaptive math content for grades 3 through Algebra I. According to the press release, over two million students in 42 states are on the program. Here's our in-depth look at TTM.
3RS: REPORTS, RESEARCH, RESULTS
SOLVING FOR X: Do online courses work? It's a question that's been debated since, well, the dawn of the Internet. Now, the venerable research institute, SRI International, is taking a crack at this question. In August, it published Phase 1 of an ongoing study to examine "to what extent, why, when, and how online learning models that target Algebra 1 work or do not work." Here's our run-down of its exhaustive look at six major online algebra course providers.
ADD TO YOUR VOCAB: All the attention lavished on MOOCs may be overshadowing other promising innovations in education. This report from The Open University, one of the oldest distance learning institution in the world, looks at MOOCs and nine other trends that "are already in currency but have not yet had a profound influence on education." Among the new terms to add to your edu-vocabulary list: "seamless learning," "lifelogging," and "citizen inquiry." The report also predicts their timescale to adoption, making it read a bit like the UK's version of the New Media Consortium's annual Horizon Report.
HE SAID, SHE SAID
A TIFF OVER ALTIUS-TIFFIN: The Chronicle of Education reports that the US Dept. of Justice is investigating whether Ivy Bridge College, the online school run by Tiffin University and Altius Education, broke federal student-aid laws. Writes the Chronicle: "the inquiry is part of a False Claims Act investigation that could cover Ivy Bridge's student-recruiting practices, academic-integrity issues, and student-loan policies, as well as the corporate relationship between Altius and Tiffin." Altius CEO Paul Freedman offers his observation on EdSurge.
DOWN WITH THE SYSTEM: "I like diving into something with no clue how to get out of it," said Udacity CEO, Sebastian Thrun. Ahead of a meeting with British education minister, Michael Gove, Thrun leveled some criticism in The Guardian about how the term-based structure of the education system, the focus on having entire age groups progress at the same pace, and a "fear-based" testing system are hampering the potential of edtech innovation.
IN OTHER NEWS
A new school year brings about new friends, new looks, new names and even new problems:
- Knewton inked a deal with Cambridge University Press to make its content "adaptive," and rolled out new "enhanced" content for sciences, finances and accounting with existing partner, Pearson.
- TenMarks CEO Rohit Agarwal told EdSurge the company went back to the drawing board to create 21,000 completely new math questions aligned to the Common Core.
- Recent Imagine K-12 startup 121Writing has a new look and name--Kaizena--but the focus remains the same: to make it easy to give feedback on documents. CEO Edward Sun shared a valuable lesson in naming your company: "we found the '121' part of our name often mispronounced..."
APPLY NOW
DEADLINE SEPTEMBER 13: The Gates Foundation is seeking proposals for ways to evaluate and improve the efficacy of digital courseware. The foundation has earmarked up to $2 million for ways to support short-cycle feedback on product efficacy to help teachers, social decision-makers and parents have more information and developers to improve their offerings. Check out the details here.
NEW! DEADLINE SEPTEMBER 20: Know a connected educator who has been championing change? Celebrate them and what they do by nominating them for the White House's "Champions of Change" award. Super streamlined nomination forms here. Your deadline: Friday Sept. 20 by midnight.
DEADLINE SEPTEMBER 20: Interested in mentoring students and teaching skills like making video games, designing iPhone/Android apps, or drafting business plans? Spark is looking for professionals to host middle school students in workplace-based apprenticeships in the SF Bay Area, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Mentors will expose students to STEM and business careers and give them the skills and resources they'll need to pursue any profession. The 8-week program takes place in the fall and spring, one day per week, 2 hours in the afternoon, usually at your workplace. Learn more about it here.
DEADLINE OCTOBER 1: If you're an early stage entrepreneur or considering launching an education venture now or in the future, join 4.0 Schools. To take a first step toward launching a new venture, apply to Essentials, a one-day crash course in empathy, unbundling, and prototyping in NYC and NOLA. Applications accepted rolling. To launch a new venture with 4.0, apply for Launch. Launch entrepreneurs have an idea for a new venture, school, or internal organization and bring it to life in 60 days. During Launch, they develop and test their MVP and secure their first customers. Apply here by October 1.
DEADLINE NOVEMBER 8: The Global Education Conference, a free week-long online event (11/18 to 11/13) that draws students, educators and innovators from around the world, is now accepting proposals for presentations. Last year's conference featured 400 general sessions and 20 keynote addresses from all over the world with over 13,000 participant logins. Presentations should be at least 20 minutes in length, and all sessions must be completed (including Q&A) within one hour. More info about proposal submissions here.
JUICY JOBS
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Hire Education, which specializes in finding great edtech candidates, is sponsoring EdSurge's job section. Write your own ad (but spare us the over-the-top claims, please!) Keep it under 500 characters. Send your job ads here.
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HireEducation has a bunch of new searches, several of which come from our new Technical Recruiting Team! Email tr...@hireedu.com to learn more. Two searches are particularly juicy: we need a software architect for the Gates Foundation-backed Literacy Design Collaborative and we need a Vice Provost for a NFP international University. Email ma...@hireedu.com for the goods.
Kickboard is hiring a Director of Professional Services! Join us in re-imagining how teachers use analytics to make smart, timely decisions centered around the whole child. Do you thrive in an entrepreneurial role? Are you ready to scale your impact and coach school teams across the country to high levels of performance? Are you hungry for the opportunity to set a new high bar for professional development, making "sit and get" a thing of the past? We're looking for someone with a track record of designing and developing professional development that gets results. If that describes you, please get in touch.
Wikispaces is looking for a software engineer to join our small, smart, fast-moving company. You'll play a huge part in the success of our business and work on every part of an education technology platform that is used by over 30 million people each month. You are fluent in PHP, python, Java, or Ruby and can pick up a language from this list you don't know. You've personally built large, interesting, or complex web applications before, and can show us what you've done. Read more about us and get in touch.
The Carnegie Foundation is seeking a developer to join our technology team as we support the growth of Carnegie's Pathways program. Pathways is changing the way developmental math is taught at participating colleges--tripling success rates while cutting the completion time in half. To scale this work, we have begun collaborating with the developers of leading edge tools. Join us in our goal of building an innovative platform for improving teaching and learning outcomes for all students.
Springpoint, a national organization that partners with school districts to design and launch innovative new high schools aligned to the rigor of the Common Core, is seeking a Director of Blended Learning and Program Analyst/Writer. The Director of Blended Learning will offer targeted support to districts as they develop technology-enabled school models, while the Program Analyst/Writer will manage organizational learning and write for internal and external audiences.
Clever's on a growth streak! Clever now automates SIS integration for over 6,000 schools (including 6 of the 10 largest US districts) and over 100 online learning products. Would you like to integrate Clever with your app? Email part...@getclever.com. We've also got a number of career opportunities for amazing people looking to join our tight-knit team. Openings in Engineering, Product Management, and Sales are available. Apply today at http://getclever.com/about/jobs.
OUT OF THE BOX
SEPTEMBER
SFO
9/11 |
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Ladies' Night Out by EdSurge: San Francisco, CA. September 11, 6:30 pm PT. The Women's EdTech Meetup is back on the West Coast! Join us at Google SF to mingle, make friends, get the inside track on how to build a company, connect with educators and entrepreneurs, or just enjoy some much-needed girlfriend time. If you're making a difference in the lives of teachers and students--in the classroom, in a company, or in your community--we want to meet you! And best part--it's free! |
AMS
9/11
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TODAY! Edtech Amsterdam: Let's Talk About Big Data in Education: Amsterdam, The Netherlands. September 11, 5:00 pm CET.The nascent edtech community in Amsterdam wants to grok some education data with a discussion led by organizer, Jelte de Jongh, about "Big Data for Education: bla bla or a game changer?" |
OAK
9/12 |
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Education Innovation Mixer: Berkeley, CA. September 12, 5:30 pm PT. Join the Berkeley Startup Cluster and Cooperative Education Project at NextSpace Berkeley for a mixer to discuss changes in higher education. We will bring together educators, students, investors, executives and entrepreneurs to discuss the impact of technological innovations, new collaborations and policy on higher education. No cost to attend! |
SFO
9/17 |
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NEW! Education Technology Tsunami: Common Core Disrupts K-12. Stanford, CA. September 17, 6:00 pm. How can entrepreneurs help unleash data, create new curricula, and train teachers all the while inspiring students to achieve higher levels of learning? And where does Common Core fit into all this? MindShift's Tina Barseghian will ask these questions and others to panel that includes Mick Hewitt, (CEO and co-founder, MasteryConnect), Lane Rankin (CEO, Illuminate Education) and Scott Drossos (Senior VP, 1:1 Learning, Pearson North America) Tix range from $15 to $50--or you can volunteer and get in for free! |
BOS
918 |
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LearnLaunchX Demo Day: LearnLaunchX, Boston's edtech accelerator, will be holding its inaugural Demo Day on September 18 at 4pm ET. Interested investors or memebers of the edtech community can request an invite by contacting Asad Butt at as...@learnlaunchx.com. |
DEN
9/18 |
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Edtech Meetup Colorado: Fall-ing in Love with Edtech: Boulder, CO. September 18, 6:30 pm CT. Edtech is often tied with 21st Century skills, and this is an all-call to members to share how you (or your tech idea, or resources you've built) help build 21st Century skills among students (and/or community groups like Girl Scouts, etc.), parents, teachers, faculty, and administrators! We are delighted to have the founder of the Imagine K12 accelerator present to our group as well! Be prepared for a great dialog, and bring your questions! |
WWW
9/19 |
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2013 Global STEMx Education Conference: Online. September 19-21. Say hello at the world's first massively open online conference for educators focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and more. The free, online, around-the-clock conference is free and offers great opportunities for primary, secondary, and tertiary (K-16) students and educators around the world to share and learn about innovative approaches to STEMx learning and teaching. |
ORD
9/20 |
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Chicago Startup Weekend EDU: Chicago, IL. September 20-22. Everyone's favorite 54-hour make-a-startup frenzy heads to the Windy City, where edtech enthusiasts will gather at National Louis University to pitch, build, and present to judges that include Apollo's Chief Academic Officer Dr. Alan Drimmer, noted education entrepreneur and executive Andrew Morrison, and a BenchPrep co-founder Ashish Rangnekar. The lineup of coaches reads like a Who's Who of Successful Chicago Edupreneurs. $99 gets you in. |
DEN
9/22 |
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EdNET 2013: Denver, CO. September 22-24. EdNET's all about building business networks and relationships, and hundreds upon hundreds of admins, CEOs, researchers, policymakers, and entrepreneurs will gather at the Mile High City to grok all things edtech. EdSurge beat contributor Frank Catalano shared his observations from last year and will be one of the featured speakers. Others include Karen Cator (Digital Promise), Nelson Heller (HellerResults Group), Iwan Streichenberger (inBloom), and Diane Tavenner (Summit Public Schools). Startups can also apply for a 50% discount. |
BOS
9/23 |
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Edtech Insights from Learning Research: Boston, MA. September 23, 6:00 pm ET. How can you, dear edtech startup, apply research findings to grow your business? This LearnLaunch event will feature three academic--Karen Brennan (Harvard), Andrew Ho (Harvard), Eric Klopfer (MIT)--and Irene Greif (Chief Scientist of Social Learning at IBM Research) to discuss how to mix the best of research and business. Register early to save. |
JFK
9/25 |
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NEW! NYEdTech Meetup: Parental Engagement required--an Edtech Conversation Outside the School: New York, NY. September 25, 7:00 pm ET. Much of this Meetup's focus has been on technology effecting teachers and students, but what about the parents? How are they participating in the conversation, and what are the tools allowing them greater insight into their students' educational experience? |
AUS
9/26 |
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EdTech Women Austin Chapter Kick Off: Austin, TX. September 26, 7:00 pm ET. This will be the kickoff event for women in the edtech community to come together, network, and determine the needs and wants of a connected community of women in edtech in Baltimore. The evening will provide ample opportunities for networking, along with appetizers, salads, and a cash bar. $10 gets you in! |
BWI
9/26 |
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EdTech Women Baltimore Chapter Kick Off: Baltimore, MD. September 26, 7:00 pm ET. This will be the kickoff event for women in the edtech community to come together, network, and determine the needs and wants of a connected community of women in edtech in Baltimore. The evening will provide ample opportunities for networking, along with appetizers, salads, and a cash bar. $10 gets you in! |
BOS
9/26 |
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Tablets and Apps in the K-12 Digital Education Economy: Boston, MA. September 26, 6:00 pm ET. Have you seen all the news about tablets in K-12 schools lately? It is important to understand the dynamics of this rapidly shifting marketplace if you plan to develop content for tablets and mobile devices. LearnLaunch has invited an expert in educational publishing and software development to show how your startup can stand out in the growing digital marketplace. $25 gets you in the door. |
JFK
9/28 |
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The Education Scrimmage: New York, NY. September 28, 10:00 am ET. This day-long event will bring together ten education-focused organizations making a positive impact in their community, 50 exceptional professionals sourced from ReWork and NY+Acumen, three mentors, and the ReWork team to teach Rapid Prototyping and move the needle on a problem that each organization is facing. It's an opportunity to meet some incredible talent in the community, experience the same Rapid Prototyping process that was used to create Google Glass and the Self Driving Car, and make dramatic progress on a business problem over the course of a single day. |
OCTOBER
BOS
10/3 |
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NEW! LearnLaunch Community Demo Day & October Meetup: Boston, MA. October 3, 6:00 pm ET. This gathering will showcase the LearnLaunchX accelerator's inaugural cohort of seven ed tech startups. Each company will demo for 5 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of Q&A.Companies that will be demoing include: Cognii, Countdown, eduCanon, Empow Studios, Gradeable, Listen Edition and Intellify Learning. Register early to save. |
SFO
10/4 |
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IntegratED San Francisco: San Francisco, CA. October 4-5. IntegratED makes its way to San Francisco this fall for a two-day education extravaganza that comes with "unconference"-style discussions, collaboration with vendors, active learning workshops, and a keynote from renowned author, Alfie Kohn. Workshops on everything from HTML5 for teachers to Minecraft will run throughout the day. Tickets run from $225 to $275. |
PVD
10/5 |
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NEW! EdSurge Tech for Schools Summit: Rhode Island: Providence, RI. October 5. Want to show your product to teachers? Get feedback? Develop sales leads? Make your way over to the Providence, where Highlander Institute and yours truly at EdSurge are collaborating to give educators an opportunity to test out 20 technology products without being "pitched." (Want to be one of them? Apply here!) This gathering is part of a day-long conference sponsored by the Rhode Island Dept. of Ed, "Innovation Powered by Technology: Cultivating Quality." |
ORD
10/7 |
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Wireless EdTech Conference 2013: Chicago, IL. October 7-9.Whether it's via Wi-Fi or 4G, the world's going wireless. And this conference will feature speakers representing districts, campuses, and industry and policy leaders from across the nation that will be sharing their expertise on wireless learning through case studies and model projects. Last year's gathering featured keynotes from Peggy Johnson (Qualcomm) and Diana Rhoten (Amplify). This year, Robbie Melton (Associate Vice Chancellor of eLearning and Emerging Mobilization Technology for the Tennessee Board of Regents) will keynote. Tickets range from $349 to $399. |
BWI
10/11 |
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Digital Family Summit: Baltimore, MSD. October 11-13. This blogging and digital creation conference for digital teens, tweens, and their parents offers a series of creative and technical workshops, panels and inspiring keynotes for young digital media creators and their families. Whether it's blogging, entrepreneurship, creating videos, games or animations, this is the place to be. Last year's outstanding speakers featured professionals from Columbia University, Entertainment Weekly, Parsons School of Design. Prices range from $99-$179 per person ($99 per person through July 21). |
JFK
10/15 |
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NEW! NYEdTech Meetup: 2nd Annual EdTech Titans of Industry: New York, NY. October 15, 7:00 pm ET. 2013 is coming to close, and NYC is bringing out the Titans to talk about the year in edtech and where the action is. Is there still a bubble fear? Where are the B-Rounds? Are enough entrepreneurs getting out there and starting companies? Is edtech adequately pushing the limits on educational outcomes? Speakers so far include Diana Rhoten of Amplify. Others will be announced soon. Free! |
SNA
10/15 |
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EDUCAUSE 2013: Anaheim, CA. October 15-18. The premier edtech gathering for higher-ed folks promises a bonanza of networking with colleagues and fellow IT leaders, presentations and ideas from industry leaders, and a loaded exhibition hall with over 200 companies showing off their tools. There's also a Startup Alley for the smaller, scrappy teams who may be eligible for a discounted participation fee. Register by Sept. 17 and save big bucks. |
SFO
10/27 |
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FabLearn 2013: Stanford, CA. October 27-28. FabLearn is a venue for educators, policy-makers, students, designers, researchers, and makers to present, discuss, and learn about digital fabrication in education, the "makers" culture, and hands-on learning. The conference will feature workshops and demos for both educators and researchers. Tickets range from $75 to $100. |
MCO
10/27 |
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iNACOL Blended and Online Learning Symposium: Orlando, FL. October 27-30. Over 2,000 reps from an array of schools, districts and companies will descend in Orlando for the sunny skies and show off the latest cutting-edge work in K-12 blended and online education across the country. Expect lots of announcements, white papers and reports. Here's our short recap from last year's gathering. More info on speakers and program agenda forthcoming. |
Also, don't miss ongoing Google Apps for Education Summits happening all around the world later this year and next.
EDSURGE PEEPS AND TWEETS
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Thanks for reading -- and for sharing. -- Betsy, Nick, Agustin, Tony, Leonard, Kris, and Jennie |
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