Education Table Talk

pK-12 schools are beginning to recover from a fiscal famine yet with very different tastes in the educational resources they plan to purchase. Now we have the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in Math and ELA as well as the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). All of these put considerable emphasis on process and generating depth of understanding in addition to conveying essential information students need to build knowledge. Educators and institutions  are also more savvy about going beyond the label that states the materials “meet the standard” and know to look for fundamental structural and design features that put the new standards into action. Even those states refuse to use the term CCSS or participate in the Common Core movement, the spirit of their educational processes have shifted much the same. In this Ed Table Talk show we have three well seasoned experts in marketing to pK-12 education, directly and though dealers, who have kept up with the trends and adapted their strategies to speak to this changing marketplace. Join us at 'The Table’ and listen in on our discussion about how to position your offerings to catch the attention of existing and potential customer in 2016 and how to communicate your ability to address their needs.

Guests at the table:

Michael Campbell, Head of Sales and Marketing at Learning Bird Annie Teich, President at Teich GroupSue Cowden, VP Product Management at AKJ Education

An ‘e’ in front of any word changes our expectation of that item. eBooks exemplify that point… what makes an eBook a book and what makes it ‘e’lectronic? In pK-12 most learners have expectations of how they interact with these digital assets based on their home life and their familiarity with the Internet, browsers, and dynamically generated content. Here two cultures collide… the organized structure of school and the dynamic nature and expectations of digital assets. In this show we will discuss the tug-of-war between the the market requirements and the user expectations, the changing nature of those expectations, and the evolving technical and business challenges. The discussion should elucidate some of the key issues so you know what you’re getting into when you say “eBook ’em Danno!”

Guests at the table:

Tzviya Siegman, Digital Book Standards & Capabilities Lead at

WileyMichael Ross, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Education at Encyclopaedia BritannicaGail Lewis, Director of Product Strategy at myON

In our first Play to Learn show we discussed if and how games are becoming an integral part of today’s school-based learning experiences. In this show, we will look at the role games can play in developing skills that might not otherwise be taught in traditional learning environments. 21st century skills rarely if ever involve sitting quietly at a desk along with others staring at someone at the front of the room or sitting at a computer being fed question after question. The skills we value often contradict conventional school measures or quiet, good grades, always on task, and working toward achieving goals set by others. Our guests will share the implications of the work they are doing as it relates to developing life and work skills necessary for the world today’s students will encounter as they take greater control over their lives and ours!

Guests at the table:

Jessica Lindl, Executive Director at GlassLab Games.Jennifer Groff, Co-Founder of the Center for Curriculum RedesignBernie Trilling, Founder and CEO of 21st Century Learning Advisors

Constraints need not lead to conformity. We all learn that no two snowflakes are alike and yet the properties that dictate how liquid water crystalizes are the same for each. The Common Core are a set of standards that leave room for considerable educational creativity and even demand that students delve deeper into English Language Arts (ELA) and Math content and processes than was common prior to these standards. The tendency, however, is to view the standards as what should be taught rather than what students should learn and, even then, just the minimum of what they should learn. Our guests on this show will share how they have accommodated and possibly embraced Common Core as they create products that improve student learning and support educators in the shift to Common Core.

Guests at the table:

Polly Stansell, SVP Strategy & Product Development at Voyager Learning Janet Pittock, VP Curriculum at Redbird Advanced Learning Michael Golden, CEO at Educurious

Museums are no dinosaur! Museums and new Instructional Resources.

We've all experienced the museum as a place to go as a member of an elementary class or on a stormy weekend day. In the internet age, museums have an audience far beyond those who walk through the doors. Museums have a long history of creating resources to help teachers plan a class visit and materials for students that extend their visit into the classroom and home.

In this show, we will explore a new generation of museums that provide rich experiences for learners that leverage the museums expertise and collections to extend their reach and impact on learners. We will hear how they plan and create those assets and discuss how they have or would like to work with publishers to increase the the reach and integration of their offerings into school practices. 

Guests at the table:

1. Kris Wetterlund, Director of Education and Interpretation at Corning Museum of Glass

2. Dr. Marjee Chmiel, Associate Director of Curriculum and Communications at Smithsonian Science Education Center 

3. Melissa Wadman, Manager of Program Evaluation at the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access

 

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Play to Learn, Part I: When will educational games be mainstream instructional resources, or are they already?

What is the role of play for humans? In our rather puritanical society is play a valid method to support learning or does it change the game? Will our cultural norms accommodate gaming or will communities respond by asking schools to engage in serious learning and dispense with this sort of learner engagement? Our guests on this show represent different perspectives in the business of gaming in education. Come join us at the Table and find ways that you can integrate game strategy into your products, instructional strategies, and marketing.

Guests at the table:

Lee Wilson, CEO at Filament Games 

Dr. Jodi Asbell-Clarke, Director of EdGe at TERC

Mat Frenz, Producer and Business Development Lead at GlassLab Games

 

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Ideas for future show topics? Tweet us @edtabletalk.

One of the significant promises of big data in education is to predict and prevent student failure. Of course we want to see learners succeed and data can help us with that as well, however, catching students before they get lost or even drop out is essential. Some visionaries see technology as driving learning through increasingly intelligent prompts, assessments of learning, and directing learners to ever more complex and advanced concepts… all driven by models for learning driven by student generated data. More recently many educational leaders have a more holistic view of data and recognize that while we need to educate the whole child, we need to also look at information about the whole child to diagnose and address learning deficiencies and help students on a path where they can be successful. Beyond their inherent interest in helping children, educators and the institutions in which they work are being held accountable to show learner progress. In this show we will explore the many different kinds of data that can be used to monitor student progress, identify those who require assistance, and the systems that make sense of those data to support educators and parents in driving student success.

Guests at the table:

Barbara Clements,  Consultant at ESP Solutions GroupDan Ginsberg, VP Global Product Strategy at PearsonBill Meade, Data Science Director at Neal Analytics

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Re-forming Summative Assessments: Blurring the line between learning and testing

We will explore the following questions:

What does a learning environment look like where learning and assessment are seamlessly integrated?What are the benefits and issues with this approach?Does this require technology or are there strategies that transcend the use of technology?How does this integration fit in a world of high stakes assessment?How can a content developer take advantage of this strategy to improve their existing and new products?

Guests at the table:

Elizabeth Greninger,  Managing Associate and Teacher Quality Specialist at edCount, LLCStuart Kahl, Founding Principal and former CEO of Measured ProgressShawn Morgan, District Data Coordinator at CNY Regional Information Center

To keep up to date, subscribe to the show at  edtabletalk.org

Ideas for future show topics? Tweet us @edtabletalk.