Digital Discourse / Archives for webinar

SIIA and Amprey & Assoc. Announce School Technology Webinar Series

August 28, 2013 By

The SIIA Education Division is teaming up with Amprey & Associates to bring the needs of school leaders before developers of educational technologies. The SIIA members-only webinar series will launch September 19, and will feature education leaders from the nation’s largest school districts. Superintendents, curriculum directors, chief technology and information officers, and other senior administrators will share their educational goals and challenges, especially ones involving technology and digital learning.

This exclusive opportunity will provide SIIA members with insight into the needs of educators and students, as well as actionable market intelligence to drive development and delivery of market-critical digital products and services.

“We are excited to launch this joint venture with Amprey & Associates,” explained Karen Billings, Vice President of SIIA’s Education Division. “Walter Amprey and his team have unique access to leaders in the nation’s largest school districts, and will help SIIA members gain unique insights into their educational vision and technology needs.”

“As a former superintendent, I know how important it is to build ongoing relationships with the external partners needed to deliver products and services so critical to a school’s success,” said Walter Amprey, President & CEO of Amprey & Associates. “We look forward to working with SIIA as the leading voice of this important industry, and more importantly to giving education leaders a forum to drive the delivery of instructional technologies that address their needs.”

The SIIA-Amprey School Technology Webinar Series will feature six to eight webinars during the 2013-2014 school year. The webinars will feature superintendents and other senior officials from large school districts, who will share their educational goals, their challenges, and their needs for digital content, online learning, virtual professional development, data systems, computer-based assessments, and more.

SIIA Members: Contact me for more info.

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

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

Ed Tech Opportunities in China

November 9, 2012 By

The large population and growing attention to education make China an enticing and interesting market for education technology expansion. SIIA’s recent webinar on China  outlined opportunities and challenges associated with entering this market.  Thought leaders Charles Callis(Vice President, Waterford) , Chris Livaccari(Associate Director of Education and Chinese Language Initiatives, The Asia Society) and Jim Teicher(President,  Cybersmart! Education Company) spoke in depth about their experiences with the Chinese market and country.

Five takeaways from the webinar:


  1. Do not think of China as one homogenous market. The country is geographically diverse, and each region is, in effect, its own market. In addition to geographical segmentation, there are differences between schools and grades, as well as between institutions and informal learning outside of school. Much of the purchasing is done on a local level, and large scale purchases by provinces is not common.


  2. English language learning is a huge market in China. There are approximately the same number of English speakers in China as there are in the US.  China and the United States are becoming more intertwined and shared language exchange is key in the view of many Chinese.


  3. Among the biggest drivers in the Chinese market are parents. With the one child policy and other cultural norms, it is common that parents will invest their own resources heavily in their child’s education.  These investments include private schooling (in the US and China) as well as heavy investment in after school study tools and programs.


  4. Tablets are increasingly popular in China because of their lower price point and enhanced capabilities, but infrastructure is the more challenging part of the equation.  Finding quality content to place on the tablets is increasingly important.


  5. In the near future, 70% of the population of China will be urban, causing stress on city schools and infrastructure and forcing options for distance and computer-based learning to become more common.

 

The SIIA Global Working group produces country specific webinars on a regular basis to expand SIIA members’ knowledge of global trends in education.  Any SIIA member interested in learning more about the China market or any prior spotlight country should visit our webinar archive.

 

 

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

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Filed Under: Education, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,