Last week, a number of good blog posts and articles were published, outlining the main themes and top ideas coming out of SXSWedu. Tom Vander Ark published a nice article, “SXSWedu Halftime Report” and Edudemic highlighted 10 EdTech Questions SXSWedu is Trying to Answer. As I look back on the week, I remain inspired by the breadth and vibrancy of the conversation and I wanted to focus on a few other underlying and related threads that permeated the conference.
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“Small data” can be extremely useful to improving outcomes in classrooms.
Everyone is excited about Big Data and how volumes of assessment-level data can help administrators see how students and groups of students are progressing over time. But, there’s also a great deal of value in activity-based data such as the results you get from one digital curriculum application. As Richard Culatta of the US Department of Education suggested, wouldn’t it be helpful, for example, if a teacher could easily see what Khan Academy videos had helped a student master a particular concept and then assign new content appropriately? Access to this sort of “small data” would give a teacher the information he or she needs to address daily instruction. Big Data is great, in theory, but its usefulness to teachers hinges on having access to the data in a format that is digestible and actionable. -
There is a growing focus on security and privacy as access to and use of data becomes more widespread.
This topic came up more than a few times during a variety of different panels. While access to data may solve a lot of challenges schools face, it opens the door to new concerns. As consumers, we hardly think twice before we purchase something on Amazon.com or use our online bank to organize our monthly payments. Our comfort arises partly because we’ve been doing it for years and partly because we trust that these companies have put in place the proper security measures to protect our personal, identifiable information. And, that too, is why we are wary of no-name web vendors and random apps that want to know too much about us. As the ed-tech sector explodes, companies need to exemplify rigorous security measures and build trust with schools and parents. While laws like the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) provide high-level guidelines about how and with whom a student’s information can be shared, participants in the ed-tech market, including product developers and schools, should also take a proactive approach to converse transparently with end-users and parents about what data is exchanged and how it is used. -
The role of the teacher is changing and we should embrace the change.
While the conference buzzed about what technology can do to transform the classroom, the underlying message was that technology enables transformation by providing good teachers with great tools. Charlie Buffalino of Rocketship Education expressed it well when he said that “we (education innovators) need to collectively message that the ed-tech explosion is about building tools that help teachers do their job more effectively and augment what great teaching looks like.” Digital curriculum can be a wonderful way to engage students in understanding and remembering concepts that the teacher is covering in small-group instruction. Similarly, products like digital grade-books and classroom management tools can help teachers tackle administrative tasks more efficiently. And, dashboards that aggregate results from different systems can provide rich information to help teachers make more effective instructional decisions. At the end of the school day, the central resource for teaching is still the teacher. -
Personalized learning is the Holy Grail, but there is no “silver bullet” when it comes to delivering a personalized learning experience.
There’s no doubt that technological innovation is opening the door for schools to offer more personalized instruction to students, even in large classes, in a way that wasn’t possible before. However, simply putting technology in a classroom doesn’t inherently create a personalized learning environment. Implementation is critical. What works for one school doesn’t necessarily work for the school down the road. Things like classroom size and space, teacher and student fluency with technology, and broadband capacity can all impact if and how a technology solution can be used effectively in a classroom. -
Parental access to student data and engagement is an area both schools and product developers should continue to explore.
Parents are also getting excited about the potential of data to improve educational outcomes and many of them want to know how they can get involved. Plenty of studies show that parental involvement in a child's education can lead to better outcomes. That’s why many schools and tech innovators are asking the question: how can we leverage technology to more effectively engage parents in their child’s learning path? Fortunately, there are a myriad of options emerging. Many of the digital curriculum programs in use in schools such as Tenmarks, a supplemental math program and CompassLearning Odyssey, a reading and language arts program for K-8 offer parent observer accounts, which allow parents to follow along with their child’s progress in the programs. Schoology, a learning management system that enables teachers to store content, facilitate discussions, and foster collaboration allows parents to view grades, schedules (assignments/assessments), and course content. And, Goalbook is a individual learning plan application that facilitates communication and collaboration between all stakeholders of a student's education, invites parents to get updates on goal progress, celebrations of goals met, and class announcements. Parents and teachers can also exchange files to share student work.
