EdTech 10: If You Build It, They Will Come

In this week’s EdTech top storylines, new structures, frameworks, and resources were released and launched that will support in building new visions for learning.

Are you planning for fall conferences like we are? The SXSWedu PanelPicker voting window will open soon – look for an upcoming blog post on how to vote for your favorites. National Education week registration opened this week and join our team at iNACOL’s Blended and Online Learning Symposium in November.

Blended Schools & Tools

Comm’ on man. Communications Planning for Blended Learning is a new step-by-step guide from The Learning Accelerator that helps district leaders understand the importance of, and how to develop, a blended learning communications plan. Check out our re-released Blended Learning Implementation Guide 3.0 for recommendations for developing and implementing an effective plan to adopt a blended learning model.

A Step by Step Guide to Communicating Your #BlendedLearning Goals @LearningAccel https://t.co/hTCZ8jDOA6 #edtech @EdSurge #edtech #edtech10

— Carri Schneider (@CarriSchneider) July 21, 2015

Digital Developments

Turn it up. The Getting Smart Podcast is now available on iTunes and Stitcher! Download the apps and start streaming today. Check out our last episode on why talent matters, stay tuned, episode five on student-centered learning and our new book Smart Parents: Parenting for Powerful learning will be launched in August.

LAUNCHED. The @Getting_Smart Podcast is now on @iTunes! https://t.co/DVHAOT0kAf #podcasts

— tyler (@post_west) July 24, 2015

Who’s going first. Smart Sparrow is EdTech’s first instructional design platform that allows instructional designers to create adaptive online learning experiences. For more on platforms, check out how learning will work in the near future.

.@smart_sparrow 1st instructional design platform to enable faculty to create their own adaptive courseware http://t.co/Lutru1QU2V #EdTech10

— tyler (@post_west) July 28, 2015

Evaluating Evals. K12 Inc. and the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching released a rubric for evaluating, coaching, and teacher development in K12’s online learning environments. Teacher talent matters (listen why). That’s why we we’re really excited for this next-gen teacher evaluation tool.

.@K12Learn Partners with the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching to dev #onlinelearning teacher rubric http://t.co/gIE5XPWpwy

— Jessica Slusser (@Jess_Slusser) July 28, 2015

A story to tell. Just in time for the annual release of the Common Application and the ‘15-’16 College Admission cycle, Story2 released an update to EssayBuilder that lets students research colleges, and find and track application essay prompts and deadlines. As high school seniors begin to rethink college, this is big for students as the essay prompts can give a glimpse into the values of institutions.

Find topics, research colleges, tell stories, build structure, form connections https://t.co/O0gDWXEg5F #EdTech10

— Catherine Wedgwood (@C_Wedgwood) July 28, 2015

Dollars & Deals

Big funding. BrightBytes, which helps 1 in 5 US schools make better decisions, landed $33 million in follow on financing.

.@BrightBytes raises $33M to help schools gauge #edtech impact http://t.co/TkiYwNje79 via @VentureBeat #edtech10

— Carri Schneider (@CarriSchneider) July 22, 2015

Konichiwa. Pearson announced the sale of FT Group to Nikkei Inc. for £844 million (and it looks like the sale of the Economist is right behind it). With FT Group circulation increasing by 30% in the last five years and with digital circulation growing to represent 70% of traffic, and mobile driving almost half of all traffic this has big implications for our Smart Planet.

@Pearson says sayonara @FT with sale to @nikkei for £844 million https://t.co/gMLlDtU8dk #EdTech10

— Bonnie Lathram (@belathram) July 28, 2015

Seed & Grow. Investment firm, University Ventures announced allocation to a $5 million seed portfolio for early stage EdTech startups that are working to solve challenges in HigherEd and workforce development. “To be successful, emerging companies need more than just access to capital. They also need access to market insight, relationships, and domain experience,” said Paul Freedman, Founder of Entangled Ventures.

.@UniVenturesFund allocates $5 million seed portfolio to support early-stage #HigherEd EdTech companies http://t.co/PFiN9vHZbY #EdTech10

— tyler (@post_west) July 28, 2015

Stem Gems

Absolutely Fab Lab. Thanks to support from Chevron, The Fab Foundation announced the expansions of a fabrication lab (Fab Lab) in Washington DC. The Fab Foundation supports Fab Labs worldwide in a wide range of projects that foster and accelerate education, innovation, entrepreneurship, business development and community building.

The Fab Foundation & @Chevron Enhance Fab Lab DC to Promote #STEM in U.S. http://t.co/gGNxzd8DR3 #edtech10 #stemchat pic.twitter.com/PzVn0WOL5S

— Megan Mead (@MegMarMe) July 27, 2015

Higher, Deeper, Further, Faster Learning

Free from MIT. A new website, founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University is providing clutch resources for AP students. Free lessons designed by Davidson College for high school AP calculus, physics and macroeconomics are now live. Move over massively open online courses, make room for massively open online lessons.

Well, check this out! The new frontier for Advanced Placement: Online AP lessons! Gratis! http://t.co/nj6smqngKo via @WPNick #highered #CCR

— Carri Schneider (@CarriSchneider) July 23, 2015

For more EdTech 10’s, check out:

• EdTech 10: On The Come Up
• EdTech 10: Seizing Opportunity, Propelling our Game
• EdTech 10: ISTE… The Superbowl of EdTech