Digital Discourse / Education Policy

Leveraging the New Normal

February 17, 2012 By Mark Schneiderman Leave a Comment
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The following keynote speakers will share how at the local, state and college levels, they are removing outdated policy barriers and modernizing practices to better meet the individual needs of their students through digital learning: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.

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

Vision K20: Achieving Personalized Learning through Public-Private Partnership

January 26, 2012 By Mark Schneiderman Leave a Comment

[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.

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

Senate Committee approves reathorization of ESEA

October 25, 2011 By Mark Schneiderman Leave a Comment

Last Thursday, the U.S. Senate HELP (education) Committee approved a bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), updating the current No Child Left Behind Act. The bill has been stalled for years, though minimal bipartisan support allowed it to move forward at this time with expectations for significant amendment if/when it gets to the Senate floor.

Among the approved amendments were two on the technology. The first, supported by a broad coalition, would add the Achievement through Technology and Innovation Act, providing direct support to states and schools around technology acquisition, implementation and professional development. The second, generally supported by SIIA, would create an ARPA-ED research agency within the U.S. Department of Education focused on learning technology R&D advancement. SIIA will advocate for further infusion of digital learning in ESEA moving forward.

Mark Schneiderman is Senior Director, Education Policy at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Education, Education Policy, Policy Tagged With: , , ,

Great week for IP protection and software antipiracy, Hill resumes privacy, cybersecurity focus

October 4, 2011 By David LeDuc Leave a Comment

With two very positive developments, this is a great week for intellectual property protection and efforts to fight software piracy. First, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was ratified this weekend when it was signed by the U.S. and seven other countries. The treaty represents a major advancement in international cooperation around enforcement of intellectual property laws, as it will encourage and empower nations to work together to stop those who use the Internet to profit from counterfeiting of software. The agreement will also extend SIIA’s reach and ability to thwart counterfeiting – especially operations taking place on foreign websites.

Second, on Monday the U.S. Supreme Court handed a monumental victory on Monday in refusing to hear the Vernor v. Autodesk case. In declining to review the case, the High Court upheld 9th Circuit ruling that the first sale doctrine should not apply to Autodesk’s software because it was licensed — thus Vernor is not permitted to sell “used” copies on eBay. In January 2010, SIIA filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit that advocated for this outcome, and it is now officially confirmed that a one-time payment and/or ability to keep possession of the disk (media) do not transform a software transaction into a “sale.” The copyright owner’s reservation of title and imposing restrictions inconsistent with ownership confirm that it is a license, not a sale.

In other news, Congress’ return means more focus on privacy and cybersecurity on the Hill. Most notably, the House E&C Subcommittee on Commerce and Trade will hold a hearing on Wednesday on the FTC’s proposed revisions to COPPA, and then another hearing on privacy next week focused on consumer expectations. On Thursday the House Homeland Security Committee will Hold a Thursday hearing on cloud computing, with an emphasis in evaluating the security for Federal use of cloud computing.

Finally, the U.S. Senate HELP (i.e., education) committee has announced its plans to mark-up legislation October 18 to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act following several years of hearings and internal discussions. The base-bill is expected to be only a basic package of those issues where there is bipartisan agreement, with other issues and programs left to an extensive amendment process. SIIA expects an amendment to be offered to authorize the Achievement through Technology and Innovation (ATTAIN) Act (S.1178), legislation long-championed by SIIA. Despite the bipartisan support for the legislation, the outlook is still murky, especially now that the Obama Administration’s waivers have relieved some of the pressure.

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Digital Policy Roundup, Education Policy, Policy Tagged With: , ,

Cloud season continues on Hill, data security headlines Committee focus

September 27, 2011 By David LeDuc Leave a Comment

Cloud computing season continues on the Hill. Last week’s hearing on cloud computing in the House Science Sbcmte. on Technology and Innovation didn’t generate any major headlines, which is largely a good thing. Next week the House Homeland Security Sbcmte. on Cybersecurity is planning to hold an informational hearing on cloud computing security. Most importantly, but least officially, rumor has it that Sen. Klobuchar is still seeking to introduce her draft cloud computing legislation.

In other cloud news, NIST has officially scheduled their fourth Cloud Computing Roundtable and Workshop for Nov. 2-4, at which time they plan to unveil their Cloud Computing Roadmap guidance document for federal agencies.

Also of note last week, the Sen. Judiciary Cmte. approved — along party lines — three bills seeking to establish uniform rules for data security and breach notification. As we reported last week, these were held over from the previous week due to a lack of Republican members for a quorum. While attendance was sufficient this time around, Sen. Grassley again voiced serious reservation with all of the bills, stating that they would create an unnecessary burden on businesses of all sizes. And while Sen. Commerce Cmte., Chair Rockefeller still has not provided word on when the Cmte. will proceed with the pending markup of his bill, the House E&C Cmte. staff has indicated that it’s likely to revisit the issue this fall.

Finally, President Obama last Friday announced a sweeping set of federal NCLB education waivers states and school districts can apply for in the areas of testing/accountability, school improvement, use of funds and teacher quality/effectiveness. Most significantly, the waivers will provide some flexibility in how student, teacher and school performance is measured, as well as to the nature of school improvement remedies (e.g., Title I Supplemental Educational Services tutoring will likely see a large reduction) and the targeting of limited improvement resources. SIIA will provide members with further information and analysis on this in the near future, particularly considering how this is likely to affect education technology.

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Filed Under: Digital Policy Roundup, Education Policy, Policy Tagged With: , , ,

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

June 27, 2011 By SIIA 1 Comment

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!

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

More Buzz on Privacy, Cybersecurity and the ATTAIN Act

June 8, 2011 By David LeDuc Leave a Comment

Last week saw two noteworthy announcements on the privacy front. First, the House Commerce Committee announced its intention to conduct a comprehensive review of data security and electronic privacy. In the statement released last week, the Committee highlighted its immediate focus on data security, but also noted that later in the year will turn to “broader electronic privacy concerns,” including mobile and web “tracking.” Chairwoman Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) will introduce draft data breach legislation in the near future, with the intention for quick Committee consideration. Additionally, deputy Federal CTO Danny Weitzner confirmed last week that the Administration’s white paper will be released “later in the summer,” proposing a safe-harbor approach based on a broad set of information privacy principles.

On the cybersecurity front, new legislation was introduced in the House by Rep. John McCaul (R-TX). McCaul, who was tapped by Speaker Boehner at the beginning of the year to take the lead on this issue, introduced H.R. 2096 on Thursday, “legislation to advance cybersecurity research, development, and technical standards.” Meanwhile, key Senate staff continue to deliberate on their draft legislation and reconcile differences with the recent administration proposal.

And on the education technology front, this Thursday SIIA expects Senator Bingaman (D-NM) to reintroduce the Achievement Through Technology and Innovation (ATTAIN) Act. The ATTAIN Act has been championed by SIIA and a coalition of education and industry groups for several years to revamp the technology grant program in the No Child Left Behind Act, which is still up for reauthorization.

Also last week, SIIA submitted comments to the Federal Reserve Boards in response to their proposed clarifications of warranties and liabilities in connection with electronically-created items (checks). In our comments, SIIA noted that efficiency-enhancing innovations rely on electronic processing of information that is only impeded by traditional requirements for paper origination and authentication.

For SIIA policy updates including upcoming events, news and analysis, subscribe to SIIA’s weekly policy email newsletter, Digital Policy Roundup.

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Filed Under: Education, Education Policy, Policy, Software Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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