Tag Archives: EdSurge

Big Data In Public Schools Ignites Privacy Debate

Big Data looks different when the target is your child. I’ve written before about the benefits of marshaling and analyzing swaths of data. InBloom, an Atlanta-based nonprofit, wants to bring big data’s perks to public schools, but it’s encountering resistance from parents who view the data collection and crunching as an invasion of their children’s privacy.

I covered the New York City version of this debate for EdSurge here. On one side: parents and some educators who oppose New York State and City’s decision to build a new education data portal based on inBloom’s software. They worry that inBloom’s infrastructure, which is capable of capturing and tracking reams of data, will gather too much sensitive information, which could be hacked or otherwise misused.

On the other side of this issue are education officials and technologists who believe the new software adequately protects privacy while enabling schools and teachers to better customize learning and save money.

It’s a debate that is already occurring elsewhere around the country and will likely spread further. New York is currently one of eight states piloting inBloom’s new software. I imagine similar discussions will take place in any school districts that sign on to inBloom in the future.

The New York parents I met want to halt inBloom completely. As Big Data moves into all realms of life, inBloom may set an important precedent.

EdLab: Building EdTech And Community At Columbia’s Teachers College

In New York, the educational technology scene is dominated by start-ups and Meetups. I belong to the NY EdTech Meetup, which is popular and organizes good panels and discussions on a regular basis. At times, though, I’ve thought the community would benefit from another organization stepping in and being active.

Monitors outside Columbia’s EdLab office showing sites and apps the organization developed.

Over the past few months, Columbia’s EdLab has taken on that role. Though EdLab is part of the Teachers College library system, it operates relatively independently, brainstorming its own ideas and quickly prototyping them. The result is a steady stream of innovative educational software products, including apps, news sites and online curricula.

In recent years, eight-year-old EdLab has started opening access to these services and websites beyond Teachers College. The 40-person organization has also begun connecting entrepreneurs, students, faculty and working teachers through seminars and demo nights.

EdLab staffers told me outreach is a natural transition since EdLab regularly speaks to these groups. You can read more about EdLab and its evolution in this story I wrote for EdSurge. Anyone interested in edtech, particularly New York edtech, may want to keep an eye on EdLab’s product-development and community-building work. EdLab has some big plans, including a multi-year effort focused on rethinking education, which will kick off in 2013.

Special thanks to Kate Meersschaert, the EdLab Innovation Fellow who introduced me to the lab and its many projects.

More Edtech Writing: NYC’s iZone360 Gets Personal

My latest story is for EdSurge, a “community resource for all things in edtech”. EdSurge is a Silicon Valley-based start-up that publishes two weekly newsletters about educational technology; one geared towards entrepreneurs, one for teachers. EdSurge also operates a wiki-like site full of information on educational products, organizations, schools, etc. If you’re interested in education, educational technology and/or education reform, check out the site/newsletters.

Below is a snippet from my story, which focused on the iZone360 school redesign initiative spearheaded by the New York City Department of Education. iZone360 is a select group of a few dozen NYC middle and high schools tasked with re-thinking traditional public school education to be more personalized and effective. The schools spend a few years experimenting with new ideas and technologies that other New York and U.S. schools may follow. The rest of the story can be found here.

“The conversation has gone well beyond gadgets,” said Jim Shelton, assistant deputy secretary of innovation and improvement for the U.S. Department of Education. A room of about 150 New York City educators nodded in response. The group, part of a NYC DOE initiative called iZone360, gathered on Monday in Google’s New York office to discuss revamping their schools for personalized instruction…