Industry Summit News

CODiE Education Judges Revealed: Everything You wanted to Know About Education CODiE Judges……But Were Afraid to Ask!

Tue, 10 Sep 2013 21:19

With the CODiE Awards deadline just 10 days away, I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes the awards program so special. In my 12th CODiEs cycle, I’ve come to realize that the educators and members who judge the awards are truly the backbone of this notable program. After all, an award is only as credible as the judges who determine the winner. That’s why I decided to share more about the educators and SIIA members who bring so much influence and integrity to the CODiE Awards as judges.

Who actually judges the products we nominate for the CODiE Awards?
In the first round or judging, your products are reviewed by educators and administrators who work in K-12 or postsecondary education institutions. The ratings from these education leaders will determine the finalists in each category.  The finalist products are then reviewed by representatives from SIIA Education Division member companies.  One person from each company, regardless of size, can vote. For example, one person from Pearson gets to vote, just as one person from Avant Assessment gets to vote.

Why do educators and administrators review our products?
SIIA wants educators–the true experts in the field–to review your products because it gives the judging process high credibility and it gives you, the nominating companies, pertinent and valuable information.  The educators and administrators know the ed tech field, are familiar with competing products, and have first-hand experience using products in the category they are reviewing.

What do we gain from having educational leaders review our products?
You gain the validity of participating in a credible awards program that has an almost 30-year history in education technology. Educators and administrators who review your products not only provide valuable feedback for product revision, but you build relationships with educators who are potential customers.  Their experience makes them great judges of what will work in educational institutions, so when they provide high marks for your product, you can truly say that your product is the best.

How does SIIA find these educators and administrators?
The Education Division staff leverages its relationships with professional associations, educational media, and online communities to find judges that have expertise in each category.  We also take referrals from current and past judges. They can directly reach out to their members or education readers and let them know about the opportunity to judge

How does SIIA select the first round judges who will review our products?
Each applicant fills out an extensive survey that asks about their relevant experience, degrees, and current work in the category they want to judge. The process is quite competitive in the popular categories, as so many educators apply. But with so many applicants, we can select those with the best qualifications to be the judges for your products.

How do they judge the products that we nominate?
SIIA recommends that judges first participate in a live demo with the nominating company, or listen to a pre-recorded demo, then use the product for a time to become come fully acquainted with it.  The judges then go online and fill out a rubric specifically designed for the products in each category.  They will rank the product on a numerical scale within that rubric and are urged to provide comments in the feedback areas.

What to the educators and administrators gain from judging our products?
Judges tell us they enjoy the process and find that it is a learning experience. It gives them a chance to not only see new products, but also to provide feedback to the companies that could prove useful in revising the products.  They consider the judging process to be a contribution to their field.

Learn more about the CODiE Awards judges or nominate before the September 20 deadline (October 4 extended deadline) at www.siia.net/CODiEs.

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

The SIIA 2013 Annual Ed Tech Industry Summit Explains Navigating Next

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:47

SIIA held its 10th Annual Ed Tech Industry Summit last week, themed “Navigating Next,” in San Francisco. Attended by more than 350 educational technology leaders, the Summit featured strategies, cases studies, and success stories about best business practices on topics including game-based learning, going global and mobile, market data and trends, OER and commercial publishers, leveraging social media, and more.

Conference activities, which launched Sunday, May 5, with speed networking, concluded Tuesday, May 7, with a closing reception and happy hour with attendees of the Ed Market 101, a new event co-located with the Summit, and whose attendees include education industry start-ups.

Included below are key highlights from the Summit:

• The Opening Keynote was moderated by Elizabeth (Betsy) Corcoran, Chief Executive Officer, EdSurge, with a panel composed of John Backus, managing partner at New Atlantic Ventures; Kevin Custer, founding partner at Arc Capital Development; Anita Givens, associate commissioner at Texas Education Agency; and Diana Rhoten, CSO at Amlify. See the full list of speakers and their bios.
• On Monday, May 8, SIIA announced the winners of the 2013 CODiE Awards in education technology during an awards reception and dinner. Overall, 28 winners were recognized for their products and services deployed specifically for the education technology market. View the full list of winners.
• On Tuesday, May 8, SIIA recognized four education technology solutions with five key awards for their originality, innovation, and industry promise during a special luncheon. During SIIA’s bi-annual Innovation Incubator Program, simCEO and See.Touch.Learn. were voted by 350 attendees as being the Most Innovative and Most Likely to Succeed, respectively. Citelighter was voted runner-up for Most Innovative, and scrible was voted runner-up for Most Likely to Succeed. Citelighter also earned the Educator’s Choice Award based on votes from educators across the country. Learn more about all of the Innovators.
• On Tuesday, SIIA also honored two education technology industry veterans with its Lifetime Achievement and Ed Tech Impact Awards at the awards ceremony and luncheon. SIIA honored Dr. Dustin (Dusty) Hull Heuston, chairman of the Waterford Institute, with its prestigious Education Lifetime Achievement Award. SIIA also presented its Ed Tech Impact Award to Lillian Kellogg, vice president of client services for Education Networks of America (ENA). Learn more about the awards winners.

In addition, SIIA launched its inaugural Ed Market 101, a separate event held Tuesday, May 7, in conjunction with the Ed Tech Industry Summit. Attendees included education industry start-ups. The Pearson Foundation and Whitestone Communications were lead sponsors for the daylong event, which featured sessions that will help startups learn more about their customers: who they really are, how to reach them and what it takes to “sell” to them.

For complete Ed Tech Industry Summit, please visit http://www.siia.net/etis.

Upcoming annual SIIA Education events include:

• Ed Tech Business Forum 2013, December 10-11, McGraw-Hill Conference Center, New York City
• Ed Tech Industry Summit 2014, May 12-14, The Palace Hotel, San Francisco

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

SIIA Announces Top Innovators in Education Technology

Wed, 08 May 2013 19:48

This week SIIA recognized four education technology solutions with five key 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, simCEO and See.Touch.Learn. were voted by 350 attendees as being the Most Innovative and Most Likely to Succeed, respectively. Citelighter was voted runner-up for Most Innovative, and scrible was voted runner-up for Most Likely to Succeed. Citelighter also earned the Educator’s Choice Award based on votes from educators across the country.

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.

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 were selected for the program

More about the winners:

Most Innovative:
simCEO, Jetlag Learning
simCEO creates online learning simulations where students compete and interact with one another – instead of a program – to make the environment and the learning more dynamic. Students apply skills in real-world environments without right/wrong answers. Our first solution, simCEO targets entrepreneurship and financial literacy where students create their own company then buy/sell shares in each other’s companies. Teachers keep the simulation dynamic through news articles.

Educator’s Choice and Most Innovative Runner-Up:
Citelighter, Citelighter Inc
Citelighter is an academic research platform that allows students to save, organize, and automatically cite content. Once completed they can open Citelighter in a Google doc to have their research next to their writing. As students undergo a critical thinking process (research, organizing, writing) we capture their behaviors and present it back to their teachers so they can see how and where their students need help. This appears like strands of DNA, but they are strands of thought.

Most Likely to Succeed:
See.Touch.Learn., Brain Parade, LLC
See.Touch.Learn., an iPad visual learning & assessment system, improves the social interaction & communication skills of special needs students. Parents & teachers are turning away from traditional, static picture cards towards See.Touch.Learn.’s easy-to-use & effective personalized picture card learning tool. With stunning images, a community of content created by thousands of users, plus their own personal content, teachers & parents can deliver highly personalized instruction & assessments.

Most Likely to Succeed Runner-Up:
scrible, scrible
scrible makes online reading and research apps for students/instructors and publishers. Our Web app lets you annotate webpages in your browser and then save, share and manage them in the cloud. Our Student Edition adds academic features (citations, reports, etc.). Instructors use scrible for collaborative e-reading exercises. Our Classroom Edition will empower them to teach critical reading skills using online reading/research assignments. Our annotation tools help publishers make content interactive.

The other Innovation Incubator finalists were:

• Globaloria, World Wide Workshop
• mAuthor, Learnetic S.A.
• Naiku, Naiku, Inc.
• ParentSquare, ParentSquare
• Shmoop, Shmoop University, Inc.
• zondle, zondle

Video of all the Incubator presentations will be available soon. For more information about the Innovation Incubator Program, visit http://www.siia.net/etis/2013/incubator.asp.

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