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Innovate
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| Edtech insights for decision makers |
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This issue is sponsored by
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Why does personalized learning, ironically, feel so impersonal at times? Here’s what’s been irking us—enough to pen an op-ed: when makers of “personalized” tools don’t answer a basic question that all students are taught to ask: How does it work?
Instead, they sometimes offer vacuous references to companies like Netflix, assuming that teachers, students and, yes, reporters should give learning tools the same benefit of the doubt that we afford to movie or online shopping recommendation engines.
If we are expected to use such tools without fully understanding how they work, then perhaps it is fair to worry that technology—not the human—is driving the learning experience.
THE ISTE MEDLEY
SUMMER SHOWCASE: More than 20,000 attendees—many of them educators—descended on San Antonio this week for the mecca of edtech conferences—ISTE. Naturally, the industry took the opportunity to show off its latest wares. As we strolled the behemoth expo hall, here are the biggest product updates and upgrades from blue chip companies and scrappy upstarts alike.
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL: A story on personalized learning, published on NEA, ruffled some educators who charged the union with supporting replacing teachers with computers. Was this perception shared by teachers at one of the biggest edtech conferences in the world? We asked attendees what the word “personalized learning” means to them—and the diversity of opinions might surprise you.
GET LOST AND LEARN: If he weren’t making podcasts, Jad Abumrad might be teaching high school. Perhaps that’s why the Radiolab founder and co-host offered some advice for teachers at ISTE. It boils down to this: There’s a benefit to being lost. We sat down with Abumrad before his keynote for his thoughts on creativity, diversity and the humanities “crisis.”
BACK WITH A BANG: Last year Curriculet, which offered a literacy platform with digital books, articles and quizzes, announced that it would be shutting down. But some companies can get a second life. How? In Curriculet’s case, it involves a nonprofit, an acquisition, and some tough decisions. Get the deets on the full story here.
MAKING ‘IT’ HAPPEN: Among the hubbub this week, ISTE spotlighted a few people who are “Making IT Happen.” Hats off to them all here (including our former EdSurge colleague, Katrina Stevens)!
EDPUNK UNDERGROUND
CUSTOMERS WHO BOUGHT THIS ALSO TAUGHT: Amazon sent shockwaves when it bought Whole Foods Market. Yet it’s effort to create a marketplace for educational materials appears to have gone cold and quiet, just one year after its launch. From EdSurge’s Jeff Young and Sydney Johnson: “What Happened to Amazon Inspire, the Tech Giant’s Education Marketplace?”
TEACHING NAKED? That’s what Goucher College’s president, Jose Bowen, calls going tech-free in the classroom, and he thinks more teachers should try it. He’s not anti-tech, but he worries that PowerPoint encourages professors to “profess” too much—spouting content rather than encouraging active learning. Bowen shares his provocative take on teaching in this week’s EdSurge Podcast.
BIG PUBLISHERS SUE: Pearson, McGraw-Hill and Cengage are suing Follett, a major textbook distributor, on charges of selling counterfeit books. “These scurrilous dealers are no better than those selling counterfeit watches on a street corner,” the complaint charges. But Follett says the lawsuit is an attempt to “cripple the campus store’s ability to provide lower-cost course material options.” Details here.
MICROSOFT AND MIT WANT STUDENTS CODING—for life. But is coding in the classroom enough to get them hooked? That’s the question that the developers of Scratch and MinecraftEDU are asking. We explore their strategies for keeping kids engaged with computer science after the school day is over.
MAKE AMERICA HIGH-SPEED AGAIN: In what seemed like a flashback to the election campaign, President Donald Trump held a rally Wednesday night in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where he made promises to rebuild America. This time he pledged, during a visit to Kirkwood Community College, to add provisions to his trillion-dollar infrastructure proposal that would bring broadband into rural communities.
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The following is a message from our sponsor
Join LEAP Innovations, educators, edtechs and other personalized learning experts at the LEAP InnovatED Summit in Chicago on August 28th!
Highlights include a keynote by Angela Duckworth, author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, social emotional learning with CASEL, design thinking with IDEO, early childhood learning, college and career readiness, and more.
The early bird rate is $95 through June 30 and $130 after. For groups of five or more, use code SAVE20 to save 20%!
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YES, THIS HAPPENED
From the floor of ISTE: When company swag tries keeping up with current fads
COLUMNIST CORNER
HEALTHY LESSONS FOR HIGHER ED: Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods offers higher-ed leaders a lesson in how online and offline worlds will converge in unprecedented ways, argues Sean Gallagher of Northeastern University. Rather than thinking of online and in-person learning as mutually exclusive experiences, educators would do well to learn from the online retailer’s “omnichannel” delivery of services.
HE SAID, SHE SAID
EDTECH ‘DISARMAMENT’: The distrust between academics and entrepreneurs has reached “absurd” levels, argues Matthew Pittinsky, CEO of Parchment. (After founding Blackboard, he went back to school to get a Ph.D. and has been a professor at Arizona State University—before starting his current venture.) In an interview with EdSurge, Pittinsky explains how entrepreneurs make their lives harder by not learning how higher ed operates.
ASU HAS BIG PLANS BEYOND STARBUCKS DEAL: Plenty of baristas take online courses from Arizona State University, thanks to its deal with Starbucks that gives its employees steep discounts on the courses. Expect more big contracts between colleges and employers, argues Philip Regier, university dean for educational initiatives and CEO of EdPlus at ASU.
Sponsored by Edmentum
BRIDGE BUILDING: How do we build student agency without losing sight of the standards we are required to teach? Data, writes Edmentum’s Winnie O’Leary, can bridge student choice and teacher accountability. She outlines three ways data can help students become more invested in their own learning.
KA’CHING!
BUILDING A MYSTERY: Einstein once said “the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.” Perhaps he’d be a fan of Mystery Science, a collection of inquiry-based science lessons that allow students to solve scientific mysteries. The company just scored $2 million and claims one million users, so we had to find out: Would the user experience fill Einstein with awe? See for yourself.
OUTSCHOOL, which offers a marketplace where parents can find and sign their kids up for small-group online classes covering K-12 subjects, has raised $1.4 million in a seed round led by Collab+Sesame, the tag-team venture fund run by Collaborative Fund and Sesame Workshop.
UNBOUND CONCEPTS, a Baltimore-based startup that tags reading content with metadata to make them easier to find, has been acquired by Certica Solutions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed; Unbound’s team will be joining its new owner.
LIBRARIES THAT CODE: Computer science isn’t making its way into public schools—it’s spreading across public libraries as well. Last week the American Libraries Association announced a $500,000 competitive grant program, sponsored by Google, to help libraries build computer-science education centers.
3R’S: RESEARCH, REPORTS & RESULTS
79 PERCENT of E-rate applicants in the U.S. said they have faster internet on their campuses because of the program, which makes broadband services more affordable for K-12 schools and libraries. The finding comes from a study by Funds For Learning, a consulting firm that assists schools with the E-rate application process.
PRIVACY PEEVE: Critics of how the edtech industry secure and protect user data can now refer to a new study from Carnegie Mellon University, which found that startups often fail to “prioritize student data protections” over customer acquisition and product development. Many companies also do a poor job communicating what (if any) privacy safeguards are in place.
MEET EDSURGE
ARE YOU A PERSONALIZED LEARNING LEADER? In partnership with Digital Promise, EdSurge will be hosting the EdSurge Fusion Conference on Nov. 1-3. Hundreds of K-12 administrators will share how they bring personalized learning to life. Want to learn how your company can be involved? Reach out to al...@edsurge.com.
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Looking for a job in edtech? You’ve come to the right place. EdSurge has the leading edtech jobs board with over 400 openings from schools, nonprofits and companies.
National Sales Director Clever ★
If you’re an exceptional salesperson and mentor and you’re excited to help build a future where access to the best educational software isn’t limited by technical hangups, we’d love to talk.
Sales • Startup • San Francisco, CA
VP Marketing Hire Education ★
Our client partners with higher education institutions to help improve marketing processes and drive enrollment. They're on the hunt for a VP Marketing to lead their efforts.
Marketing • Startup • TX
Partner Success Manager Goalbook ★
Lead Goalbook’s work with our district and school partners across the country. You’ll partner closely with instructional leaders to plan implementations and deliver professional development. Opportunities in both NYC and CA.
Sales • Startup • NYC and San Mateo, CA
Assistant Editor, K-12 EdSurge
EdSurge is looking for a K-12 editor who is passionate about the people and ideas that shape how learners learn and teachers teach.
Research • Startup • San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Chief Education Officer Enable Education
Enable Education is seeking a Chief Education Officer to join our innovative, rapidly growing team. As a proven and eager advocate for EdTech, you’ll have responsibility for the quality and educational efficacy of our work.
C-level executive leadership • Startup • Toronto, Canada
Request for Proposal (RFP) Writer and Research Associate BrightBytes
We are looking for someone to support the sales team through writing, editing, and managing the development, completion, and on-time submission of proposals and security questionnaires.
Sales • Startup • San Francisco, CA
Product Manager, i-Ready Curriculum Associates
Curriculum Associates is seeking a Product Manager who will work closely with Product and Technology leadership to plan, define, and deliver innovative and effective solutions to the K12 market.
Product • Large Company • Billerica, MA
Product Manager Pacific Metrics
We're looking for a Product Manager who will be responsible for product management through implementing the strategy, roadmap, and feature definition for our automated scoring product.
Product • Large Company • Denver, CO
Events
Post an event • See all events and meetups
EdSurge Fusion
500 school and district leaders are coming together around personalized learning and school transformation. Interested in being there? Read more here
Nov 1 to Nov 3 • Burlingame, CA • more than $250
Edtech Opportunities
Post an event • See all events and meetups
OLC's Digital Learning Innovation Awards
Online Learning Consortium (OLC) hosts an annual award showcasing the exemplary use of digital courseware to improve student success, especially among minority, first-generation and other underrepresented student groups. Application extended to July 15th.
Applications due July 15th
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