Digital Discourse / Education

Top 5 Reasons Educational Games Work: Reason #1

September 11, 2012 By

Educational technology is essential to help children develop a digital literacy, but there are still questions about the effectiveness of educational technology – particularly when it comes to games and simulations, which have become known for for their entertainment qualities than their persuasive or educational abilities.

Although the games for learning field is still young, scholars can count on several “facts” about games that make them perfect for teaching and learning. This series of blog posts will investigate these game facts.

1) Video games are designed to convey complex ideas and practice these concepts repeatedly – these abilities can be used for serious purposes.

It’s an old game design adage that players don’t read the instruction book; game designers must account for the large majority that doesn’t want to read a book before experiencing play. A game should be easy enough to comprehend right from the game’s opening screen that the engaged player can understand controls and objectives from the start. Unfortunately there is a similar problem with today’s educational system; there are those that do not want to “read the booklet” or simply study theory when practicing these ideas and concepts is far more engaging, even in some cases entertaining.

Educational games are designed to play free of the “instruction book—” games like Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego and Oregon Trail take concepts like geography and history and make them an intrinsic part of gameplay. And through gameplay players gradually learn educational concepts like the distance between different countries in Europe or the historical diet of settlers moving out West in the 1800′s. James Paul Gee posits that this kind of “active learning” is more effective than reading the same kind of concepts in a textbook and testing them on the subject. While games don’t necessarily guarantee active learning, a well-designed game has a better chance of engaging the player/learner than any one text can possibly accomplish.

Intelligent, committed and creative teachers can engage the student and produce an active learning environment, but that kind of experience is only possible in smaller-sized classrooms and with students who are all roughly at the same level in the material. Today’s schools are facing budget cuts upon budget cuts and classrooms are expanding every year. The active learning environment is becoming a distant dream in many cases. Even if access to a computer is limited, giving students a short time with a cheap tablet and truly engaging educational programs can help to improve the educational experience even if it cannot fix the whole of what has gone wrong with the public school system.

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: Education

Leaders or Laggards: The State Role in the Shift to Digital Content

September 7, 2012 By

The focus at the recent annual meeting of the State Instructional Materials Review Association (SIMRA) was the shift from print to digital. While paper weight and book binding standards remain on their agenda, the shift is symbolized in part by this group’s recent name change that replaced “textbooks” with “instructional materials.” I had the opportunity to present at the meeting, and had some timely discussions about the evolving state role in the digital world. Texas (see SIIA webinar), Florida (see SIIA summary) and West Virginia are among the states most proactive in helping lead their schools into the digital content future, while many states (with leadership from their SIMRA-member adoption director) are trying to catch up with their districts and understand their evolving roles and rules. A parallel but accelerated shift to digital is underway in state assessments with the leadership of PARCC and SBAC.

As background, SIMRA members administer the process used in 20+ states for instructional materials adoption, including identifying curriculum and technical requirements, soliciting publisher submissions, managing the peer review criteria and process, and coordinating the school procurement of approved materials (including with state funds to buy materials in states such as Texas, California and Florida). SIIA has advocated for years the need to update legacy rules that often create barriers to adoption of digital and online resources, and therefore limit local choice. While often this is simply about correcting for unintended consequences of legacy print rules, the issues are often far more complicated and reflect the still evolving views of instructional materials in the digital age. A leading example is dynamic content: State policies have traditionally required that content remain unchanged over the course of the six year adoption cycle, while digital resources can be seamlessly updated to remain current, accurate and meet evolving curriculum and pedagogical needs. Not surprisingly, SIIA has long advocated the flexibility for content to be updated and improved during the period of adoption.

Here are a few other trends identified at the SIMRA meeting:

  • State budget shortages continue, causing many states to delay adoption cycles or reduce funding and leaving many teachers and students with increasingly outdated materials.
  • Common Core State Standards are central to the process, but many state cycles are not aligned and adjustments are often not possible given the overall budget shortages.
  • Fewer states are funding instructional materials. In the traditional model, states paid for instructional materials, providing them the leverage to determine which materials are to be used. That is often no longer the case.
  • States are increasingly providing local control such that school districts can buy state approved materials, but can also buy any other instructional resources as well.
  • Some states are asking whether they should continue to target only single, primary tools of instruction (i.e., textbooks or their digital equivalents), or whether they should also adopt, for example, digital learning objects and modules to support teachers in dynamically assembling resources to differentiate instruction and personalize learning.
  • Some states are allowing the use of instructional materials funds for the purchase of the technology hardware needed to access those materials, though priority in general still for content.

States are working with SIIA, publishers and other stakeholders to address new challenges in reviewing adaptive instructional software and other robust digital content. For example, how do they review the full resource in cases where each student may be provided a unique, dynamic pathway through the content (compared to the relative ease of reviewing a more linear (e)textbook).

Also, as digital content shifts from supplemental to primary, format and platform are also increasingly of concern. State agencies, on behalf of local educators, seek to ensure the content they purchase is accessible from multiple platforms, as well as increasingly from their students’ personal/home devices. Some have floated the requirement that digital content must be accessible from every platform through a common format. While interoperability is a key goal, SIIA recommends for industry evolution of common standards and against regulatory mandates that could block use of many widely used technologies. SIIA instead encourages that states focus on ensuring publishers disclose system requirements to empower local decision makers with the information they need to determine what platforms and resources best meet their needs. This will enable technology innovation and competition, enhance education choice, and ultimately ensure the needs of teachers and students are best addressed.

SIIA encourages states to further lead the print to digital transition. In doing so, they must recognize that there is not yet any single best technology, curriculum or instructional practice solution for the use of digital content. Therefore, most importantly, SIIA encourages states to provide the investment, regulatory flexibility and technical assistance districts need to innovate as educators collectively and individually determine the best path forward.

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

Share|
Filed Under: Digital Policy Roundup, Ed Tech Business Forum, Ed Tech Government Forum, Education, Education Policies, Education Policy, Legislation, Personalized Learning, Policy, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Growing our Leadership Role in Education Technology

September 4, 2012 By

SIIA’s Education Division is looking forward to growing its leadership position within the education industry when we host the annual Ed Tech Business Forum on November 26-27 in New York City. We’ve seen increasing attendance at our Education Division conferences in recent years, which parallels the growing use of technology in K-20 institutions. This year’s Ed Tech Business Forum will support the dramatic increase in new, innovative companies, as well as the expansion of capital investment in the ed tech industry. And the most remarkable thing is that such impressive growth is happening during a period of severe budget cuts to education institutions, and other seismic shifts in the industry.

This Year’s Theme: Embracing the Seismic Shifts

The 2012 program will reflect the key business challenges facing ed tech companies today, given the seismic shifts in the K-20 education community. These shifts are occurring in our classrooms and administrative offices, online and face-to-face, and in both formal and informal learning environments.

One of the most popular program topics at SIIA’s Ed Tech Industry Summit held last May in San Francisco was about the seismic changes in education. Randy Wilhelm, the CEO of Knovation (formally netTrekker), and moderator of this great Q&A session, reminded everyone that the changes are about far more than the digital transformation going on in schools today. It’s also about the transformational changes in the culture of K-20 education – from teacher accountability to student expectations to school funding to academic standards.

But as these shifts are occurring, how do businesses adapt to stay successful? Here are a few questions related to that session that you’ll see woven into the program at the Ed Tech Business Forum.

  • What education trend will have the greatest impact on K-20 education in the next three years?
  • What’s the key to adapting to these trends and seismic changes?
  • What innovations – and investments – will be most responsible for the impact?

So join us at the Ed Tech Business Forum for a major conversation about these seismic shifts in education. Hear about the success stories and challenges as K-20 institutions move to personalized learning, new delivery models, learning analytics, mobile platforms, and social learning.

The program focus this year will be on the shifts that education companies are seeing and the transitions they are making to be successful in this market. In the morning, we’ll focus on the ‘ignition points’ and investments occurring in the K-20 space with topics such as:

  • Where’s the Venture Funding and Ignition Points for VC’s?
  • Who’s Buying Whom – and Why? What’s the Latest in the World of M&A?
  • What are the Disruptions Created – by the Start-ups to the Legacy Companies?

In the afternoon seminars, attendees will have a chance to focus on the details of making the shifts successfully, with topics such as:

  • Distribution in the Era of Consumerization
  • Public Private Partnerships That Produce Products and Customers
  • Forecasts for Education Funding Post- Election
  • Demystifying IP – Who Owns What at the End of the Day?
  • It’s All About Mobile Now
  • Exit Strategies Beyond the IPO
  • Changes in How Products are Being Developed, Marketed and Sold

We’re now in an era where every education company is becoming an ed tech company. There’s a growing ‘consumerization’ of education given the availability of curriculum for learning outside the classroom and the prevalence of wireless devices that are shifting the delivery platforms.

We know that technology is changing, and will continue to change, the way we think about education – both in regards to the content and the delivery of information. However, in order to successfully adapt to these changes, we need to make it a priority to reflect on our current state of education and think about how what we’re doing now, both individually and collectively, will impact the future.

The Ed Tech Business Forum is one place of many where we will have these conversations!

Note: A Change in Venue

We’re expecting a record attendance again this year – but this time we’re prepared for it because we’re hosting it in the McGraw-Hill Conference Center. Their auditorium will hold everyone in one room for the morning general sessions and the break-out rooms will hold more people for the afternoon Innovation Incubator presentations and the topical seminars. So join us in New York right after Thanksgiving.

Karen BillingsKaren Billings is Vice President for the Education Division at SIIA. Follow the SIIA Education Team on Twitter at @SIIAEducation

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

Sequestration and Ed Tech

August 30, 2012 By

The looming federal sequestration threatens ever deeper cuts to local education budgets, and potentially to investments in technology and instructional materials.  A recent survey report put out by the American Association of School Administrators gives a glimpse into what various districts and administrators are planning to do if Sequestration cut backs happen. Sequestration is the term for the automatic, across-the-board cuts included in the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA), which raised the federal debt ceiling and put in place annual budget caps. Sequestration was designed as a consequence, should the Super Committee created by the BCA fail to reach its goal of identifying other means to meet the caps. It did fail, and so the cuts will become a reality in January 2013 unless alternative legislation is enacted. If implemented in 2013, the first-year share of the sequestration ($1.2 trillion over ten years) would translate into roughly 8-9% cuts across the board, including approximately $4 billion in education alone.

According to the AASA report, 52% of all districts surveyed said that they would cut back on technology purchases if the sequestration goes into effect, while 38% would defer textbook purchases and 25% reduce course offerings. The highest cuts would be in personnel and pay for teachers, expectedly since they make up such a large segment of districts budgets.

When specifically looking at the option of deferring technology purchases, there was not much variation by district demographics such as socioeconomic status, community type (rural/urban/suburban), or student enrollment.  However, districts with a high number (70%+) of students in poverty (as measured by the free and reduced lunch program) responded more frequently that they would defer technology spending, with 64% in this category saying they would versus the 52% average across all districts. With 52% of all districts planning to defer technology purchases, the impact of Sequestration on education technology would be very noticeable. Especially since they come on top of previous zero funding of the NCLB II-D Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) grant program. Managing expectations and making a clear case for the cost savings potential of technology investments will be key for the sector if the Sequester continues. This provides both a challenge and opportunity in the upcoming budget climate.

Meanwhile, while a decision on sequestration could be made by Congress and the President in the coming weeks, more likely is that we will have to wait until after the election or even until the new Congress takes office in January around the time the cuts would go into effect.  One bright spot for education is that Deputy Secretary Miller announced that the sequestration cuts would not impact most education programs until the 2013-2014 school budget year beginning July 1, 2013.

 

Lindsay HarmanLindsay Harman is Market and Policy Analyst for the SIIA Education Division.

Share|
Filed Under: Education, Education Policies, Education Policy, Policy, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Insights from a CODiE Awards Pro

August 17, 2012 By

Kathy Greenler Sexton joined SIIA in February as our new Vice President and General Manager of the Content Division. The 2013 CODiE Awards will be Kathy’s first time going through the process from start to finish. Kathy adds a unique perspective to the program because of her previous positions at SIIA member organizations as she has previously nominated products for the CODiE Awards and judged them as well. She shares her thoughts on the benefits of nominating, the reason she enjoyed judging, and what it’s like to now be involved in planning the CODiE Awards.

Why did you nominate for the CODiE Awards at your previous companies?

I have participated in the CODiE Awards for years. Nominating my products in the awards competition was always an easy decision because I knew that if my product was named a finalist or winner, it validated my product to customers, investors and across the industry. I always put a lot of effort into figuring out which categories to apply for. Presenting in front of a judge really forced us to be very crisp about how we were presenting our product and company and it helped us tell our story in a stronger way. It ensured that we were thinking about the questions a judge might ask, and it better prepared us for media, analysts, investor and customer presentations. It was always a great experience for me.

Why did you judge the CODiE Awards?

Judging was really the next step. Judging is a great way for anybody who is involved in the industry to learn how different companies approach the same problem in different ways. For example, one company in a given category might approach an issue such as semantic search within their product much differently from another company. They might sell into the same industry and the same target customer, but it’s amazing how much different the products are. From an intellectual standpoint, it’s fascinating. I love seeing the best of the breed and how different companies approach different problems. It helps you think of products and solutions in a new way. The time I invested in judging helped me look at my own products and services in new ways.

How did being a judge help your professional development?

Being a judge helped me get to know individual teams within different companies. It helped me with personal networking and personal branding. I built a lot of wonderful relationships out of my judging experience. You also get to talk to other judges about what makes a product innovative.

What’s the most interesting thing about being a CODiE judge?

It was interesting to see how well–and unfortunately, how not-so-well–some companies present. That has been very educational for me. While most companies have a senior or a very knowledgeable person from the company present, it always astounded me that some companies would go through the process of nominating and then have someone presenting who was “just going through the motions”. What a lost opportunity! Those companies that did well in conveying how their products aligned with judging criteria, explained why it was innovative, and could answer questions articulately – clearly did better in CODiE Awards judging! Seeing how strong companies present has really helped me learn how to be a better presenter myself.

What advice would you give to nominees about conducting their demos?

I always want the companies to put their best foot forward. So my recommendation is to make sure to put a lot of thought into your presentations. As a judge, I would always go in and look at the application, but a good presentation points you to the right places to go. It points you to the innovative and new things. A good presentation also explains who your target customer is, and why you created a product for that customer in the first place. Help the judge understand why you designed your product the way you did, and why it’s the perfect solution for your customers. If you just give a judge access to the application and let them go through it without the benefit of a presentation, you’ve lost that opportunity to highlight why you are unique.

What was the biggest surprise when you went from nominating to judging to working for SIIA and helping shape this year’s CODiE Awards?

I was more familiar with the behind the scenes of the CODiE Awards than most, because I’ve been on the Content Division board for eight years, I’ve submitted nominations, and I’ve judged. There were very few things that could have surprised me walking in. That said, I was really surprised at the level of detail and planning that the SIIA staff puts into the CODiE Awards. It’s essentially a year-round program. The level of detail, coordination and talent from the staff is really amazing to me. When you are on the inside, you see what you need to do to create an industry-leading awards program, and it’s astounding!

How do you feel going into your first cycle as SIIA staff?

Being on the inside, it’s somewhat daunting when you look at all of the categories. You want to make sure everyone is connected to the right categories and competing in the best category for them. You want to find the best judges. This year, we are partnering with FreePint to provide the finalists in five selected categories with buyer reviews. This isn’t part of the judging process, but it’s a value-add we are providing as a test to see if the nominees find it beneficial. If so, we hope to continue and expand the buyer reviews for the finalists in all of our categories. There are so many details to the CODiE Awards, from how to make the awards ceremony special, this year’s CODiE finalist showcase at the Information Industry Summit, to so many other details that make this award unique. There’s a lot going on!

Do you have a favorite category that you’re most excited about?

I’m really interested to see the nominees for Best Editorial Outsourcing Solution. It’s a new category recognizing companies that support the creation of editorial content. A nominee, and ultimate winner, for the Best Editorial Outsourcing Solution could use technology, crowd-sourcing, or even an outsourced solution to create the editorial. There are many different ways different companies are approaching this issue. It will be really interesting to see which companies step up into that category.

Wendy Tanner Wendy Tanner is CODiE Awards Coordinator. Follow the CODiE Awards on Twitter @CODiEAwards

Share|
Filed Under: CODiEs, Content, Content Events, Ed Tech Industry Summit, Education, Information Industry Summit, Software, Software Events, Uncategorized

Behind the Scenes of the CODiE Awards: A Conversation with the Coordinator

August 16, 2012 By

The kickoff of the 2013 SIIA CODiE Awards marks my second year as the awards program coordinator here at SIIA. Since I’ve been through the whole process from start to finish, I wanted to give you an inside look into how I manage each phase of the awards season.

The CODiE Awards are about recognizing excellence, but they’re also about creating and maintaining relationships. Since I’m the person both judges and nominees interact with most, it’s important for me to be available, and make sure the process runs smoothly for everyone. With this blog post, and the ones to follow, I want judges and nominees to get to know me, so they can feel comfortable coming to me when they have questions or concerns, or just want to share their excitement about the CODiE Awards!

—————–

It’s August… and that means nominations are open! That’s right, the CODiE Awards are already in full swing. It’s hard to believe sometimes, especially since the last two awards presentations were just a few months ago in May. It may seem like there’s only a small reprieve after the presentations, but we always get started immediately, planning for the next cycle. One of the first and most important steps we take each year is revisiting all of the categories. We make updates and create new categories based on what’s happening in the content, software and ed tech industries. (This year, there are 27 new and updated categories.)

Once nominations are open, it’s fun to see which company nominates first, and in which category. I get a kick out of telling our president, Ken Wasch, when the first nomination comes in because he can hardly contain his excitement. Nominations usually come in slowly in the first couple weeks of the nomination period, but I receive many emails and phone calls from companies, with questions ranging from process clarification to help determining which category is the best fit for a product. I encourage companies to ask as many questions as they’d like. That’s what I’m here for!

While I enjoy checking out all of the various companies that nominate, I especially enjoy learning about the ed tech companies. I completed my master’s just a year ago, so I’m not far removed from the classroom. I frequently come across products that I wish had been around when I was going through school, especially in middle and high school. Some of the math and science solutions would have come in handy (since those were not my favorite subjects–I suppose that’s why I majored in public relations and Spanish.)

I am also interested in each division’s “social” categories. Software has Best Social Business Solution, in Content there is Best Social Media Platform, and in Education there is Best Education Community Solution. They each target different audiences and serve different purposes, but it’s interesting to see how social media and digital communities are incorporated.

The Best Education Community Solution category is intriguing to me this year, because it focuses on social media solutions geared toward the classroom. The progression of social learning and social networks has been amazing and it’s interesting to see how ed tech companies are creating social communities for the classroom at all levels. I’m very much looking forward to seeing which companies nominate in this category.

Overall, I’m just excited for all of the nominations to come in! With more than 75 categories this year, there will definitely be a large variety of products and solutions. Remember, if you’re looking to judge or nominate, I’m here for you. Ask me anything! It doesn’t even need to be related to the CODiE Awards. Ask me where I’m from (Pennsylvania, if you’re curious), or what brought me to DC (grad school), even my favorite football team (San Diego Chargers)! The CODiE Awards are really about the relationships. I’m here to make sure your CODiE Awards experience is the best it can be.

Wendy Tanner Wendy Tanner is CODiE Awards Coordinator. Follow the CODiE Awards on Twitter @CODiEAwards

Share|
Filed Under: All About the Cloud, CODiEs, Content, Ed Tech Industry Summit, Education, Information Industry Summit, Software, Uncategorized

New Trends in Elementary Game Based Education

August 16, 2012 By

Screen time—or the amount of time a student spends in front of a computer or other device–is hitting new records across the educational spectrum. Preschoolers are in front of a screen an average of 120 minutes per day, elementary school aged children are even higher, and it’s projected to rise in coming years.

As these numbers continue to increase, the potential for education has not gone unnoticed by teachers, as well as parents. In the iTunes app store, three-fourths of top selling applications were targeted at pre and elementary aged school children. Most of these applications are used in the home, not in school settings.

At a recent talk put on by Future Tense (a collaboration between Slate, New America Foundation, and ASU) a panel of leaders in the study of elementary education and technology spoke about the changes occurring in early childhood learning. The panelists included Joel Levin-“The Minecraft Teacher”, Creator of “Super Why!” Alice Wilder, and Annie Murphy Paul –Schwartz Fellow with the New America Foundation and the Author of Brilliant: The Science of Smart.  Though educational technology is nothing new, it is less common in K-5 classrooms than in higher grade levels. Much of the educational technology in use for the K-5 age group is used in the home, and it’s mainly comprised of games. According to Paul, the problem with educational games is that many are simply “chocolate covered broccoli” with a fancy coating obscuring traditional ‘boring’ learning models.

Levin discussed his time in the classroom working with Minecraft, a game many elementary school age children already know and love. What’s unique about Minecraft is that it is not inherently educational, nor was it designed to be. It was created to get kids to play and have fun, and it’s classroom adaptation has proved much more successful than Levin predicted.

Several examples of Minecraft being applied in the classroom were covered in the panel. In the game, players mine and create buildings, cities, and more. Multiple students can use it together, to build lifelike digital models of historical sites including the Acropolis and the Alamo. It sparks conversation about digital citizenship, related to how users interact in the game.  Discussing the game in a classroom setting helps students and teachers monitor and filter out inappropriate or intrusive online social behaviors.  New applications are being built, which add to the basic game and adapt it for classroom or educational use.

When teachers think outside of the traditional educational game space, there is huge potential to adapt games children are already interested in. Intrinsic learning, or learning for learning’s sake, is a key element of the intellectual growth of elementary and preschool children. As they grow older, this unique thirst for knowledge tends to diminish in classroom settings. If teachers can keep learning fun, as opposed to making it a chore, children will stay interested in technology. Adapting games they already like so they can have fun while learning is a key to keeping them engaged.

Lindsay HarmanLindsay Harman is Market and Policy Analyst for the SIIA Education Division.

Share|
Filed Under: Ed Tech Business Forum, Education, Events Tagged With: , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »