An Industry that Never Stands Still: The History and Future of the SIIA CODiE Awards

Now in its 28th year, the 2013 CODiE Awards will be launching Monday. I sat down with SIIA President and CODiE Awards founder, Ken Wasch, to discuss why the program is so meaningful to the industry and what contributes to its success. Since this is my second year as the program coordinator, I wanted to find out why Ken has invested a great deal into the program and why he gets so excited at the start of each CODiE Awards season.

Why did you start the CODiE Awards?

Every industry should have an opportunity to celebrate its own achievements, and the CODiE Awards were the very first peer recognized awards in the personal computer/software industry. Over the years, we modified the categories to reflect the dynamic changes in the industry, but what we never changed was the fact that it was a peer reviewed program.

What’s important about peer review?

Unlike awards that are based on sales, what’s important about peer review is that there’s a leveling of the playing field. Great products from smaller companies have an equal shot at winning a CODiE Award. If you have an awards program that is based on sales, obviously the industry giants will always win them. And so, awards that are based on sales reflect the marketing muscle of the publisher, not necessarily the intrinsic innovation of the product. The CODiE Awards sometimes recognize great products that may not achieve great commercial success.

Why do companies nominate for the CODiE Awards?

The hallmark of our industry is the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of software developers who are hard at work, innovating in a way that was unimaginable a few years ago. It’s good for the industry, it’s good for the customers, and it’s good for developers themselves to be recognized for that innovation.

What do you love about the CODiE Awards?

This time of year, it’s very exciting to see all the new products. I love the CODiE Awards season. It lasts from early August to mid-October, when all the nominations for the next year come in, and I’m always blown away by some of the new products that are nominated. It’s an industry that never stands still.

How have the CODiE Awards changed over the last 28 years?

There are so many different categories. The CODiE Awards have grown in scope from initially 20 categories, to 79 categories. Originally, the awards were largely focused on entertainment and education, and they expanded to a broad range of business and information categories. You know, the words software and information have become so broad they touch almost every human endeavor, so there are almost an unlimited number of categories we could establish. This year, we have limited the categories to the 79 where we believe there’s a critical mass of companies that we can reach.

The nominees have changed so much. I remember one CODiE Award winner 20 years ago. It was a product called Coupon Clipper, where you would take the coupons that you get from the newspaper and enter them into a database. It would keep a record, so before you went to the supermarket, you would know which coupons are about to expire, and how you might adjust your shopping so you get maximum impact from your coupon collection. The product won a CODiE Award, but I thought anyone who would use this product has too much time on their hands. It was too much work to manage it! But, even though the product didn’t do well in the market, because our program recognizes great products, and not sales, it was recognized for its innovation.

What is the future of the CODiE Awards?

When something has been around as long as this–28 years–it has stood the test of time. We have been smart enough to freshen the program every year or two. The CODiE Awards will thrive if we keep modifying the categories to keep current where the industry is innovating. The categories can’t remain static.

A decade ago, the word cloud meant something totally different. The cloud categories have now become mainstream. The mobility categories cut across all of information and all of software, and the development and distribution of video products has become a mainstream new category. On the ed tech side, the use of technology in education is nothing new. What is new is the multiplication of devices within an educational environment, whether it’s mobile, tablets, laptops, desktops, or electronic whiteboards. The number and diversity of devices is spurring innovation in the software applications that run on them.

Why do you think companies should nominate for the CODiE Awards?

For small and medium-sized companies that want to distinguish themselves from their competitors, the CODiE Awards provide a great opportunity to set themselves apart from other innovators. It’s a great reward for the developers, but it also has significant payoff in terms of bragging rights in a CODiE Award winner’s market.


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

Ed Tech Industry Summit Guest Blog: Seismic Changes in Education

Recently, I attended the SIIA Ed Tech Industry Summit in San Francisco, CA, the nation’s leading education technology conference. Leaders of edtech companies came from around the country – and the world – to network, attend keynote speeches, participate in panel discussions and focus groups, and enjoy the annual CODIE Awards. The theme of this year’s conference was Bridging K-12 and Postsecondary, so the agenda addressed transitioning and leveraging edtech businesses from one marketplace to another.

One particular panel discussion that caught my attention was entitled, Adapting to the Seismic Change in Education Culture. The write up in the SIIA program read:

It’s not just about digital transformation. From teacher accountability and superintendent turnover to funding and standards — all areas across both K-12 and Higher Ed education are experiencing transformational changes in the culture of education. This is beyond a trend. Tweaking our business models and product offerings won’t be good enough to survive. How should businesses adapt to the huge shifts in education culture? Listen to a panel of industry gurus on how successful businesses recreate themselves in times of great change.

Moderator:
Randy Wilhelm, Chief Executive Officer, Knovation (formerly netTrekker)
Panelists:
Farb Nivi, Founder, Grockit
Justin Serrano, President, Kaplan K12 and College Prep, Kaplan K12 Learning Services
David Straus, Vice President Product, Kno, Inc.

The panel discussion was a guided Q & A session, and below you’ll find a summary of some of the most salient points that were made during the one-hour discussion:

What’s the key to adapting to seismic change?
Straus: Two important elements to successful adaption are: 1) Evolution, not revolution; and 2) To think international, not just domestically.

Which education trend will have the greatest impact on K-20 education in the next three years?
Straus: Mobile, because of its portability, intimate user experience, and the increased touch environment.
Serrano: As things get cheaper, that will determine which trend is most impactful. I agree with Straus – mobile will have a huge impact due to its portability.

Nivi: Social learning – peers teaching peers – will have a huge impact. For example, real-time chat rooms are changing the way test prep is done. However, I also think that a variety of trends will be impactful, including mobile, print to digital, etc. It’s important to give people options, because determining which tool is the right one, depends on the particular person, school, etc. In general, we should be trying to find ways to amplify the ways people can connect with each other. In a world where the rate of technological change is affecting our lives more than anything else, if we don’t embed technology in education, then we’re not preparing children for the world.

Which one group/thing will be most responsible for transforming K-20 education?
Serrano: The government. The government is not going to inspire transformation, but it’s the group that has to give it permission to happen. But it’s also important to remember that technology is not necessary to fix education; many charter schools are successful without using technology. But like it or not, the government is going to play a huge role.

Straus: Companies and systems need to provide a compelling argument to help students engage. However, it’s the government that will be most responsible for transforming K-20 education.

Nivi: I think students should be the answer. When I was growing up, the best technology was at school. Today, schools are technology prisons where you’re not allowed to bring anything in. Until schools are technology meccas and not technology prisons, we’re not going to get change.

Which organizations/conferences do you believe will help shape or address K-20 trends?
Nivi: ASU SkySong, because moving big things in a short amount of time will most likely occur here.
Who will benefit the most from the changes taking place in education?

Serrano: This question assumes that the changes are positive. But to answer it, I think the students will benefit most.

Straus: Teachers. The role of the teacher is going to improve and transform into that of a facilitator.

Where will the fastest evolution in education occur?
Seranno: This question is asking about speed, and to address that point, the evolution of education will happen fastest wherever you have a more focused and centralized vision.

Nivi: The fastest growth will occur in other countries, because the stakes are higher. Internationally, there is more competition. Other countries leapfrogged the table phone and went straight to the cell phone. They leapfrogged the desktop and laptop and went straight to the tablet. When it comes to technology and education, other countries have the incentives and are not tied to any existing models. Because of this, they will be able to take advantage of new technology.

When they took the movie “High School Musical” to China and wanted to remake the movie for a Chinese audience, they encountered a major problem in the storyline. In the Chinese culture, the athletes are the losers and the smart students are the cool kids, so they had to flip the story line. The reason I share this story is because we need to change the culture of the U.S. As adults and leaders, we need to be examples of lifelong learners.

It was a great discussion, wouldn’t you say? And one we need to be having more often – not just at edtech conferences, but at the federal and state levels of government, lecture halls of universities, local school board meetings, teacher gatherings, classrooms, and homes. There’s no denying 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.

Beyond that, we should continue having open discussions, such as this one undertaken by Nivi, Serrano, and Straus at the SIIA EdTech Summit, addressing the current state of education and looking ahead to what’s to come. These conversations need to occur at all levels of society and involve a variety of key players, including the government, education companies, universities, employers, school leaders, teachers, students, and parents. In this manner, we can be assured that the future roadmap of education will be the result of a collective effort and represent a shared decision for how we should adapt and move forward with education in America.

 


Mandela Schumacher-Hodge is a former middle school teacher and doctoral student at UCLA. She is currently the co-founder & chief operation officer of DemoLesson, an innovative online hiring platform for teachers. In her spare time, Mandela loves to exercise, spend quality time with family and friends, and search for new adventures and experiences.

An Honor to Present Education Awards to Industry Veterans

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.

SIIA Honors Education Industry Veterans with Prestigious Awards

SIIA’s Education Division this week honored Dr. Patrick Suppes, Lucie Stern Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Stanford University, with its first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award. SIIA also presented the Ed Tech Impact Award to Charles Blaschke, Founder and President of Education TURNKEY Systems, Inc. In addition, the Education Division honored long-standing members of the Division during the recent Ed Tech Industry Summit (ETIS) in San Francisco.

During a special awards ceremony, SIIA President Ken Wasch and SIIA Vice President for Education Karen Billings presented Suppes with the award, which highlighted his accomplishments and contributions to the education technology industry. Suppes began conducting experiments using computers to teach students in the 1960s and led the charge of online instructional development. Computer Curriculum Corporation, the company he founded in 1967, is now part of Pearson Education Technologies. Among countless other awards, he received the National Medal of Science in 1990. With 50 years of experience in education technology at Stanford, Suppes is now Lucie Stern Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, and is Director and Faculty Advisor at Stanford’s Education Program for Gifted Youth.

In addition, SIIA presented the Ed Tech Impact Award to Charles Blaschke, Founder and President of Education TURNKEY Systems, Inc., a 40-year-old Washington D.C.-based firm which 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. Among many other contributions to education and technology, Blaschke developed one of the first two IEP special education administrative systems and co-authored the first Title I Policy Manual.

Several companies also were recognized by SIIA for helping support the ed tech industry through their long-standing membership of the association. Member companies recognized at the awards luncheon for attaining long-term membership levels included:

25 years of membership
Interactive Education Systems Design, Inc. (IESD)

20 years of membership
o Adobe

15 years of membership
o Texas Instruments Education Technology Group

10 years of membership
o Headsprout, Inc.
o CyberSmart! Education Company
o Apple Education
o Knovation/netTrekker/Thinkronize


Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.

SIIA Announces Top Innovators in Education Technology

SIIA’s Education Division recognized three ed tech solutions yesterday with five awards for their originality, innovation, and industry promise.

During SIIA’s bi-annual Innovation Incubator program held in connection with this week’s SIIA Ed Tech Industry Summit, Language Express and Filament Games were voted by 350 conference attendees as being the Most Likely to Succeed (first place and runner-up, respectively). Filament Games and Language Express were also voted as the Most Innovative (first place and runner-up, respectively.)

The Innovation Incubator Program supports innovation in the education technology industry by raising the profile of promising new technologies while connecting these innovators with captains of industry for mentorship, expert advice, investment opportunities, and partnerships to support growth.

Overall, 73 applicants were assessed for the Innovation Incubator program on a broad range of criteria, including the education focus, end-user impact, market need for the innovation, representation of K-12/postsecondary market levels, and the level of originality and innovation. Ten finalists and two alternates were selected for the program and their participation was subsidized by program lead and co-sponsors Blackboard Partnerships and Texthelp Systems.

In addition to the recognitions announced above, Blackboard Partnerships™ continued its tradition of identifying the Innovation Incubator most aligned with their own initiatives, providing Smart Science Education Inc. with a complimentary year-long membership as a Blackboard Building Blocks™ partner in the Blackboard Partnerships program. Among the many benefits, partners have access to the thousands of clients using the Blackboard Learn™ platform. Program membership also includes a developer copy of the Blackboard Learn software, a product listing on the Blackboard Extensions online directory, personalized guidance and mentorship on the partnership, and participation at members‐only events.


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

SIIA Announces CODiE Award Winners for Education Technology Industry

Last night, SIIA announced the winners of the 2012 CODiE Awards in education technology during a reception and dinner at SIIA’s annual Ed Tech Industry Summit. Overall, 29 winners were recognized for their products and services deployed specifically for the education technology market.

All of the education technology nominated products and services were first reviewed by a group of tech-savvy educators from across the nation, whose evaluations determined 128 finalists. SIIA members then reviewed these finalists and voted to select 29 CODiE Award winners, listed here by category, company, and product/service: [Read more...]

Kentucky’s Implementation of Common Core State Standards Demonstrates Key Role of Technology

Kentucky was the first state to adopt the Common Core State Standards and has become a pioneer in implementation. Cindy Parker, a representative from the Kentucky Board of Education spoke recently at a National Adolescent Literacy Council event about the challenges and solutions to implementing the Common Core Standards. Kentucky began to implement CCSS for the 2010-2011 school year with very little funding support from state legislature. Educational technology has helped Kentucky by providing new and innovative methods for professional development, curriculum dissemination and teacher support.

A robust teacher training online platform was created to update teachers on the best practices for implementing the new standards. Lack of funding for traditional development methods created unique challenges that were overcome by implementing more flexible and easily accessed digital tools to support Kentucky’s educators.
Examples include:

  • iTunesU is used for podcasts and webinars for professional development of teachers. A monthly webinar with the state’s Education Commissioner and the district Superintendents has been established to create better communication.
  • Race to the Top funding was used to create “Literacy Central,” a website designed to aid teachers in professional learning. Videos, lesson plans, and forums are contained on the website and act as guideposts for teachers.
  • The Continuous Instructional Improvement Technology System (CIITS) was created in partnership with Pearson Schoolnet. This was designed as a one stop online platform for teachers to access CCSS literacy plans.  Modules within the site provide analysis of CCSS requirements and how to incorporate those into day to day classroom activities. Professional growth plans and consolidated professional development resources are also included.

The implementation of the CCSS in Kentucky led to not only classroom technology upgrades and changes, but also important changes in professional development. As new content and new guidelines were introduced, Kentucky reacted by creating technologically savvy teacher training. The important role of technology and digital learning, both for curriculum as well as for professional development, is clear.

SIIA’s recent CCSS webinar and Ed Tech Government Forum session are available to SIIA members seeking additional information about how they can support education’s needs with CCSS aligned content, technologies and resources. Further reading can also be found in Ed Week’s recent article.

 


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