Digital Discourse / Education Events

Education Technology Innovators Sought for Incubation Program

August 9, 2012 By

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

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

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

Past Innovation Incubator winners include:

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

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

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

Share|
Filed Under: Ed Tech Business Forum, Education, Education Events

An Honor to Present Education Awards to Industry Veterans

May 16, 2012 By

Presenting this year’s education awards during the recent Ed Tech Industry Summit in San Francisco was very special for me personally. It was great to be up on stage with two very key people in our industry as we honored them with SIIA’s education awards. We presented Charles Blaschke with the Ed Tech Impact Award, an honor we started just four years ago. We then presented Dr. Patrick Suppes with a Lifetime Achievement Award, the first time this award has been given at the Summit.

Each of these awards were given after reviewing quite a list of candidates. Our education technology industry has a growing number of veterans who have contributed ideas, products, and services for some decades– and some for over 50 years!

Our Ed Tech Impact Award went to Charles Blaschke, Founder and President of Education TURNKEY Systems, Inc., an education industry veteran whose work goes back over four decades. He is president of his Washington D.C.-based firm, where he provides data and analysis about Federal funding policies and K-12 technology spending, including Title I, IDEA/Special Ed, the new ARRA stimulus funding, and other related Federal programs.

Many of those in the audience raised their hands when he asked if any were or had been his clients. I raised my hand, remembering how I would get his monthly reports that my company had subscribed to. I would then share those reports with our sales reps who were always interested in Charles’s specific state-by-state funding information.

It’s become a tradition for the new Ed Tech Impact honoree to receive the award from the last recipient. The first awardee, Ellen Bialo (IESD), presented it to Tom Greaves (The Greaves Group) two years ago and Tom presented it to Kathy Hurley (Pearson) last year. This year Kathy, now with the Pearson Foundation presented it to Charles Blaschke, this year’s awardee and her husband!

For the Lifetime Achievement Award, we chose Dr. Patrick Suppes, now the Lucie Stern Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Stanford University. Suppes began conducting research using computers to teach students in the 1960s and even though he recently turned 90 years old, he is still doing online instructional development! He founded Computer Curriculum Corporation (CCC) in 1967, and served as CEO for many years, while maintaining a large class schedule at Stanford University.

We were lucky to have Ron Fortune, a colleague and CEO at CCC, introduce Dr. Suppes by providing background information about his 50+ years of experience in education technology. Dr. Suppes accepted the award from SIIA President, Ken Wasch, and gave very insightful comments about how far we’ve come – and haven’t come – in our industry. He pondered on the effects of cross-age tutoring via online, as well as the opportunities with voice recognition technologies. After his award, many in the audience came up to congratulate him and request pictures; some were SIIA members who had worked at CCC at the same time as Suppes and Fortune.

Few attendees with start-ups and early stage companies attending this year’s Ed Tech Industry Summit likely knew either of these men – or were aware of their work – before we presented them with the awards. Jenny House, President of RedRock Reports who sponsored the awards luncheon, remarked afterwards that the audience at the Summit luncheon was ‘getting older and – at the same time – younger’.

But we also agreed that whether young and old, the audience really appreciated the accomplishments and contributions the two awardees have made to our industry. It was truly an honor to introduce Patrick Suppes and Charles Blaschke to everyone in the audience, but in particular, to those very young companies who will grow and advance the use of technology in K-20 education.

Karen BillingsKaren Billings is Vice President for the Education Division at SIIA.

Share|
Filed Under: Ed Tech Industry Summit, Education, Education Events Tagged With: ,

SIIA Announces Top Innovators in Education Technology

April 18, 2012 By

SIIA today announced 10 qualifiers and two alternates for its Innovation Incubator Program, which connects developers of promising new technologies with industry leaders, potential investors, and established companies seeking partnerships or acquisition candidates. The qualifiers will provide brief presentations of their innovative products during the Ed Tech Industry Summit (ETIS) Innovation Incubator Business Profiles Presentations, and participate in the ETIS Innovation Showcase and Opening Reception on Sunday, May 6.

After the initial presentations, Summit attendees will select six finalists to present again at a lunch session on Monday, May 7. Following this second round of presentations, attendees will choose the Innovation Incubator “Most Innovative” and “Most Likely to Succeed” award winners and first runners-up. Winners will be announced during the Education Technology Awards Luncheon on Tuesday, May 8, where the Blackboard Partnership award will also be announced.

Seventy-three applicants were assessed for the program on a broad range of criteria, including the education focus, end user impact and market need for the innovation, representation of K-12/postsecondary market levels, and the level of originality and innovation.

Finalists: [Read more...]

Share|
Filed Under: Ed Tech Industry Summit, Education, Education Events Tagged With: ,

Leveraging the New Normal in Ed Tech

February 17, 2012 By

As outlined by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan more than a year ago, the New Normal in education is the challenge of “doing more with less” in our pK-20 education system. But as Duncan — and others including SIIA would respond – “this challenge can, and should be, embraced as an opportunity to make dramatic improvements . . . [E]normous opportunities for improving the productivity of our education system lie ahead if we are smart, innovative, and courageous in rethinking the status quo.”

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) continues to support our education system’s efforts to reimagine and retool by personalizing learning and leveraging technology and digital learning. SIIA’s latest effort is the March 7-8 Ed Tech Government Forum, which will bring SIIA member technology and education entrepreneurs together with national, state and local education leaders to dialogue about the policies of the New Normal digital age in education. 

The following keynote speakers will share how at the local, state and college levels, they are removing outdated policy barriers and modernizing practices to better meet the individual needs of their students through digital learning:
- Jorea Marple, State Superintendent of Schools, West Virginia Department of Education
- Kaya Henderson, Chancellor, Washington DC Public Schools
- Jay Box, Chancellor, Kentucky Community and Technical College System

We will share examples of how agencies and institutions are Doing More w/Less through Technology and eLearning, featuring Michael Casserly (Council of Great City Schools), Amber Winkler (Thomas B. Fordham Institute) and Todd Wirt (Mooresville, NC Graded School District) which was recently featured in the NY Times. 

And senior officials from state agencies in TN, OH, KY, GA and UT will share their initiatives in digital and open content, online assessment, virtual learning and data systems to meet the goals of Race to the Top and other state policies and ensure students meet the Common Core State Standards.

Throughout, this members-only SIIA forum will support two-way dialogue, enabling technology and digital learning providers to understand the needs of our pK-20 education system, while also providing learning opportunity for education leaders to understand the vision and innovative learning technologies coming from the private sector.

SIIA members not yet plannign to attend, please review the full agenda and speakers and register. For all, SIIA will be sure to help attendees and presenters leverage the results of this discussion to further support all stakeholders in Leveraging the New Normal to improve education and our students’ college and career readiness.

Mark SchneidermanMark Schneiderman is Senior Director of Education Policy at SIIA.

Share|
Filed Under: Ed Tech Government Forum, Education, Education Events, Education Policies, Education Policy, Events, Personalized Learning, Policy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Vision K20: Achieving Personalized Learning through Public-Private Partnership

January 26, 2012 By

[This blog was also published January 26, 2012 by the Alliance for Excellent Education, sponsor of Digital Learning Day.]

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) is pleased to be among dozens of education and technology organizations partnering to promote Digital Learning Day (DLD), 2/1/12, sponsored by the Alliance for Excellent Education. SIIA is promoting DLD to its high-tech member software, digital content and online services companies, and asking them to promote DLD through their networks. 

For those with the vision and successful use of digital learning, the idea of a DLD awareness campaign — showcasing how technology supports students learning and teacher instruction – may seem unnecessary.  But the reality is that too many of our educators and education leaders have not been provided the support they need to understand what is possible, nor the resources to make it happen.  This shift is not simply about replacing print with digital or giving every student a computer.  This shift is about reimagining how we teach and learn, and creating more customized, engaging, and productive learning made possible through technology and through public-private partnership with high-tech innovators.

SIIA has developed a series of resources to assist education stakeholders in this process, including:

For SIIA member and other high-tech companies, we encourage you to support Digital Learning Day:

  • Sign up and be counted in this effort
  • Add the DLD button to your website, and promote DLD to your customers and partners
  • Provide access to your online teaching and learning resources for the day
  • Showcase success stories of how teachers and students are using technology
  • Visit the DLD toolkits for more ideas and resources. 
  • Promote SIIA resources for educators, including Vision K20 and Software Implementation Toolkit
  • Use your imagination and creativity to promote education technology and Digital Learning Day

Thank you to the Alliance and all DLD partners for this important effort and for including SIIA and the high-tech industry. We look forward not only to A successful day on February 1st, but more importantly to THE day soon when all students will have access to the most relevant, engaging and effective learning opportunities that meet their personalized needs anytime and everywhere.

Learn more about Digital Learning Day at http://www.digitallearningday.org.

Mark SchneidermanMark Schneiderman is Senior Director of Education Policy at SIIA.

Share|
Filed Under: Ed Tech Government Forum, Ed Tech Industry Summit, Education, Education Events, Education Policy, Personalized Learning, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Take the Vision K-20 Survey – closes Thursday, June 30

June 27, 2011 By

For the fourth year, the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) has been monitoring the results in its national survey: Vision  K-20. The 2011 survey, which closes Thursday, June 30, asks participants to help benchmark their institution’s use of technology in meeting their educational goals. We’ll be very curious to see if there’s been any real progress in this past school year.

As the Association of companies who provide technology tools and content to education, SIIA members felt a responsibility to promote a “vision” of the best technology uses to help educations and K-20 students achieve an inclusive 21st century education. The Vision initiative includes a website (www.siia.net/visionK20/), booklet, and an online survey.  The survey helps educators benchmark the use of appropriate tools, providing access, closing the achievement gap, use of assessment tools and enabling the enterprise – through the use of technology.

Of the benchmarking questions, the highest ranking was in access to high-speed broadband (both for instructional, administrative and collaborative learning) and security tools (to protect student data and privacy). The greatest room for improvement still lies in increasing technology-based assessments, access to online courses, and personal ePortfolios for individual students.

In past years, the average increase in overall scores was less than 1 percent year-over-year.  That means educational institutions are making VERY SLOW progress in achieving SIIA Vision K-20 benchmarks. Will it be different this year?

Help us build on this baseline data and find out how much progress is being made. We invite all interested educators to participate in this year’s survey here. Monitor the your progress in using education technology for 2011, to be part of this year’s survey, we need your input by Thursday, June 30!

Share|
Filed Under: Analytics and Metrics, Education, Education Events, Education Policy, Uncategorized

CODiE Finalists: Ed Use of a Device-Specific Application & Instructional Solution in Other Curriculum Areas

April 21, 2011 By

Congratulations to the finalists in Best Educational Use of a Device-Specific Application and Best Instructional Solution in Other Curriculum Areas!

Best Educational Use of a Device-Specific Application recognizes the best educational software solution, either curriculum or administrative, designed for integration and use with unique devices. Such devices include interactive white boards, testing/diagnostic equipment, etc. This solution may be designed for the K-12 or postsecondary markets or both.

Finalists are:

  • SuccessMaker Collaborate, Pearson

Best Instructional Solution in Other Curriculum Areas recognizes the best teaching application focusing in non-core curriculum areas for students in the K-12 market. These areas include art, foreign language, music, technology or multi-disciplinary topics.

Finalists are:

Join SIIA at the 2011 Ed Tech Industry Summit CODiE Awards Dinner on Monday, May 23rd where the winners will be announced!

Share|
Filed Under: CODiEs, Ed Tech Industry Summit, Education, Education Events, Finalists Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »