Dive Brief:
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The Education Department is building a “developer’s toolkit” to be used as a handbook for entrepreneurs interested in creating new technologies for the classroom.
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The goal of the toolkit is to help developers understand what classrooms actually need, how apps can be integrated into a school setting, and what research has said about the most effective uses of technology in schools.
- The toolkit is meant to be an innovation instigator after years of insubstantial spending (less than 1% of the education budget) on basic education technology research.
Dive Insight:
Over $500 million was raised by ed tech startups in Q1 this year; however, according to Kumar Garg, an assistant director for learning and innovation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the market is still a tough one to break into because of fragmentation across school districts, states, etc.
While the Common Core will likely ease some of this disconnect, the developer’s toolkit is meant to provide more context for these men and women creating tech products for the classroom.
It’s great that so much money is being invested in increasing classroom technology, but if the app builders work in isolation without feedback from individuals on the frontline, there is likely to be a divide in what is useful or not. The developer’s toolkit will hopefully address this.
When announcing the future kit, the White House also mentioned sections of the manual that will deal with data and privacy. Today, many classroom apps collect information on students to help personalize the learning instruction and tailor the software to the individual’s needs; many parents and educators are uncomfortable, however, with how/where the private sector could use the data in the future.