edBurst Update

A Newsletter for Education Leaders

Compiled by
BSG Team Ventures

Ralph Protsik
Co-Founder and Managing Director
ralph@bsgtv.com

Todd Hand
Managing Director
todd@bsgtv.com


This Update is revised regularly.
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BSG Searches: Active and Recently Closed

Walton Family Foundation, Charter School Finance Officer
KIPP, Chief of Programs and Impact Officer
The School of the New York Times, Director of Pre-College Division
MeTEOR Education, VP Sales
eDynamic Learning, VP Sales
LePort Schools, CEO
Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Chief Marketing Officer
One CEO search currently underway under a non-disclosure agreement.

Rosetta Stone, CEO (closed)
AltSchool, Chief Academic Officer (closed)
American Public University System (APUS), President (closed)
Burning Glass, VP Business Development (closed)
OnCourse Learning, Chief Technology Officer; Chief Marketing Officer (both closed)
Turnitin/Insight Venture Partners, SVP Sales (closed)
Quad Partners, Chief Financial Officer; Chief Marketing Officer (both closed)
InsideTrack, SVP Program Development (closed)
Voyager Sopris Learning, President (closed)
Elsevier, Head of Adaptive Solutions (closed)
GEMS Education, Chief Financial Officer (closed)
Cambridge Education Group, General Manager (closed)
American Honors/Quad Learning, VP Business Development (closed)
Catapult Learning, P Sales (closed)
Cambridge Information Group, Executive Director, Pre-Collegiate, NYT EDUcation (closed)
Cambridge Information Group, Director of K-12 Education (closed)
Center for the Collaborative Classroom, Chief Technology Officer (closed)
Human Capital Institute, Chief Learning Officer; Chief Marketing Officer (both closed)
ILSC, Managing Director (closed)
DecisionDesk, CEO (closed)
Penn Foster, EVP Business Solutions; General Counsel (both closed)
Texas Teachers, Chief Revenue Officer (closed)
Tiber Health (a University Ventures portfolio company), Chief Product Officer (closed)
Achieve 3000/Insight Venture Partners, Chief Financial Officer; Chief Sales Officer (both closed)




Sources

  • Academic Business Advisors, LLC
  • The Atlantic
  • Bostinno
  • Brookings Institution
  • Campus Technology
  • Center for American Progress
  • Center for Digital Education
  • Center on Education and the Workforce
  • Christian Science Monitor
  • The Chronicle of Higher Education
  • The Clayton Christensen Institute
  • CLO Media
  • CNBC
  • CNET smartplanet.com
  • Computer World
  • Diverse: Issues in Higher Education
  • eCampus News
  • eLearning
  • The Economist
  • The Economic Times
  • edSurge
  • Education Dive
  • Education News
  • Education Next
  • Education Sector
  • Education Week
  • Educause Review
  • Edudemic
  • Edutopia
  • eLearn Magazine
  • Entrepreneur
  • eSchool News
  • Fast Company
  • Forbes
  • Fortune
  • FoxNews.com
  • Geekwire
  • GettingSmart.com
  • Harvard Business Review
  • The Hechinger Report
  • The Heritage Foundation
  • Huffington Post
  • Inside Higher Ed
  • IT World
  • Journal of Applied Research on Children
  • KQEDMind/Shift
  • McKinsey Quarterly
  • MDR EdNet InSight
  • MIT Technology Review
  • Mother Jones
  • National Journal
  • NBCNews.com
  • NewsDay
  • NewsWeek
  • The New Republic
  • The New Yorker
  • The New York Times
  • The Week
  • NPR
  • OnStartups.com
  • Politico
  • Psych Central
  • Rolling Stone
  • San Francisco Chronicle
  • Scientific American
  • SkilledUp
  • Skoll World Forum
  • Slate
  • The Stifel Equity Research Group
  • Social Science Research Network
  • TechCrunch
  • Tech Radar
  • T.H.E. Journal
  • Thomas B. Fordham Institute
  • Time
  • University Business
  • University Ventures
  • University World News
  • US News & World Report
  • Wall Street Journal
  • Washington Post
  • Venture Beat

K-12

Mother Jones: "This Isn't Something That Just Cropped Up Because of Trump": Teaching on Racism, Post-Charlottesville
Educators around the country grapple with America's past and present...more>>
NPR: Surprise, Trump's Education Ideas Are Polarizing
In the last year, there's been a big drop in support for charter schools, while other forms of school choice are getting a little less unpopular. That's the top line of a national poll released today...more>>
WSJ: Opponents of School Spending Accounts Claim Victory in Arizona
Programs that give parents tax dollars to choose education options have been growing in recent years...more>>
WSJ: Charter Grads Get a Leg Up in College
The NAACP and NEA have chosen the wrong time to double down on failing traditional schools...more>>
NYT: Proposal Would Let Charter Schools Certify Their Own Teachers
It is usually a sleepy civic exercise: A proposed change to a specialized bit of state regulations is published in the State Register, officially marking the beginning of a public comment period...more>>
U.S. News: American Federation of Teachers President Under Fire
American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, the head of the 1.6 million member teachers union, is under fire for controversial remarks linking private school choice to racial segregation...more>>
Huff Post: School Choice-Past And Present
By Randy Weingarten: At the exact time I was giving a speech last week to 1,400 educators about ensuring that all children have access to a powerful, purposeful public education, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was addressing the American Legislative Exchange Council-a group of corporate lobbyists and conservative legislators who are working to privatize and defund public education, and cloaking their efforts as school "choice."...more>>
Hechinger: Despite opposition, homeschooling is thriving
States must do more to acknowledge and support the practice...more>>
Hechinger: May we please forget about tests for a minute and go read some books?
The average American student now takes 112 standardized tests through their K-12 career. In preparation for these tests, too many schools spend hours on test-prep or skill-based drills...more>>
The 74: Jason Botel Reportedly Out at Education Dept. as Feds Reject ESSA Plan From DeVos's Home State
In recent days, education Kremlinologists have been glued to the potentially intertwined dramas of the U.S. Department of Education's rejection of Michigan's plan for complying with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act and the likely departure of Jason Botel, the ED staffer who did the rejecting...more>>
The 74: As Congress Mulls Slashing $2B in Title II Funds, Educators See Cuts Devastating Critical School Leadership
Action by the House Appropriations Committee last month to gut a $2.1 billion funding stream used to train teachers, principals, and other staff could be disastrous for school districts throughout the country, advocates and administrators say...more>>
U.S. News: Bipartisan Concerns Mount Over DeVos' Guidance on New Education Law
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos will be asked to testify before the House Education and the Workforce Committee for an oversight hearing, Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said Tuesday...more>>
WSJ: How New Science Standards Avoided the Backlash of Common Core
Learning from the pushback after a federal nudge on academic standards for reading and math, supporters of new science guidelines tried a different focus: 'For States, By States'...more>>
EdSurge: 'Fun Learning' Startup Led by Former Rovio Execs Boosts Funding Total to $7.8M
Lightneer, a Finnish developer of educational games, is adding $3.8 million to its seed round, which bumps its funding total to $7.8 million...more>>
China Money Network: H Capital Leads $150M Round In Chinese K12 Online Education Platform Zuoyebang
China-focused venture capital firm H Capital has led a US150 million series C round in Zuoyebang, a K-12 online education spin-off from Baidu Inc...more>>
Forbes: It's The High School Diploma That's Luring Chinese Students To The U.S.
The number of international students in U.S. high schools has more than tripled over the last decade - with China almost single-handedly fueling the rise...more>>
TechCrunch: DreamBox Learning's CEO Jessie Woolley-Wilson on startup strength through purpose
For the third installment of this season's Founder's Corner podcast, I sat down with Jessie Woolley-Wilson, the inspiring edtech leader who is transforming the way students learn with DreamBox Learning...more>>
EdSurge: Tinkergarten Raises $5.4M to Get Kids to Go Outside, Play and Learn
For Brian Fitzgerald, what began as a newborn side project in 2012-when he was working at edtech startup Knewton-has become a fully-grown venture of its own...more>>
EdSurge: Investment Corp Purchases Impero Software for $36.3M
Investcorp Technology Partners, an European tech investor, has acquired Impero Software, a remote management and monitoring software used by schools...more>>
EdTech: Blockchain Technology Promises Innovation in K-12 Record Keeping
Emerging peer-to-peer technology could help elementary and high school records become more portable...more>>
EdSurge: Apple iPad Sales to Schools Jump 32%, Selling 1M Tablets in Fiscal Q3 2017
Apple's iPads are making their way back into schools. During an earnings call for the company's fiscal Q3 2017 results, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared that sales of the tablet in the education market jumped 32 percent from the same period last year, reaching one million units sold...more>>
EdSurge: Sawyer Raises $6 Million to Help Parents Find, Book Classes for Children
Sawyer, which described itself to Fortune as the "OpenTable for Education," has raised $6 million in a Series A round led by Advance Venture Partners with Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, 3311 Ventures, Collaborative Fund and Female Founders Fund also participating...more>>
The Guardian: Out with the old school? The rise of ed tech in the classroom
Startups are creating toys that teach robotics, games that help kids code and apps for teachers in an industry forecast to be worth £129bn by 2020...more>>
Ed Dive: Ed tech innovation a growing field for private contracting
As federal, state and local governments continue to contend with shrinking budgets coupled with an expanded need for services, many are turning to private contracting as a means to offer the same services at a lower cost, and education has seen a tremendous amount of growth in this regard in the past year...more>>
THE Journal: College Board and Khan Academy Partner on AP Courses, Test Prep
The College Board, which administers the SAT and Advanced Placement tests and programs, has teamed up with nonprofit Khan Academy to create preparatory materials and exercises for AP courses, to be available for free on Khan Academy's website...more>>
Forbes: Why Schools Should Be Wary Of Free Tech Products -- And Startups Shouldn't Make Them
When I was a middle school science teacher, I oftentimes found myself digging into my own pockets to pay for equipment - Bunsen burners, test tubes, dead frogs...more>>
eSchool News: Google continues its classroom climb
Google's Chrome OS is spreading throughout U.S. classrooms and is becoming an increasingly popular choice for computers, while Apple's iOS platform holds the lead on mobile devices, according to a new survey from game-based learning provider Kahoot!...more>>
Empirical Education: ETIN Releases Guidelines for Research on Educational Technologies in K-12 Schools
The Education Technology Industry Network, a division of The Software & Information Industry Association, released an important new report today: "Guidelines for Conducting and Reporting EdTech Impact Research in U.S. K-12 Schools."...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: K-12 Dealmaking: Frontline Buys School Improvement Network; Kahoot! Gains $10 Million
The education software company Frontline Education has continued its acquisition streak with the purchase of a professional-development provider...more>>
EdSurge: Kahoot Gets $10 Million-and a Spot in the Disney Accelerator
Most students associate Kahoot with its addictive, funky theme song. Today the Norwegian company is groovin' to a different tune: ka'ching!...more>>
PR Newswire: New Report from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Reveals Increasing Educator Confidence, Optimism around Digital Resources in the Classroom
Third annual Educator Confidence Report shows teachers want more support and professional development to maximize the impact of educational technology...more>>
Getting Smart: Lean School District: 12 Service Delivery Opportunities
In most states, there is no new money coming to K-12 education and in many areas enrollments are flat or declining-not a pleasant combination for school district administrators...more>>
PR Web: Catapult Learning Strengthens Sales Leadership with Addition of Chris Shenk
Catapult Learning announced today that Chris Shenk has joined the company as Vice President of Sales for the company's Education Solutions group...more>>
Straits Times, Singapore: New online platform will let students learn at own pace
Schools are taking e-learning to the next level with the launch of a resource-rich online platform on which students can learn at their own pace anywhere, any time...more>>
EdTech: Teachers Struggle with Personalized Learning Initiatives, Study Finds
Educators lack time, resources and support when it comes to personalized learning initiatives...more>>
RAND: Informing Progress: Insights on Personalized Learning Implementation and Effects
The basic concept of personalized learning (PL) - instruction that is focused on meeting students' individual learning needs while incorporating their interests and preferences - has been a longstanding practice in U.S. K-12 education...more>>
The Economist: Technology is transforming what happens when a child goes to school
Reformers are using new software to "personalise" learning...more>>
Christensen Institute: Is disruptive innovation driving K-12 privatization?
If you've followed the K-12 education dialogue over the last decade, then you're probably familiar with the term "disruptive innovation."...more>>
The Atlantic: One School's Quest for Personalized Public Education
A San Diego-area high school hopes a new program based on individual interests will keep more students in class. Will it work?...more>>
The 74: Montessori Was the Original Personalized Learning. Now, 100 Years Later, Wildflower Is Reinventing the Model
For a classroom of a dozen 3- through 6-year-olds, things are surprisingly quiet inside Wildflower Montessori...more>>
WICHE: Fewer Students, More Diversity: The Shifting Demographics of High School Graduates
WICHE's 9th edition of Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates, released in December 2016, describes substantial demographic changes among U.S. youth for the next 15 years with critical implications for higher education...more>>
BBC: How Canada became an education superpower
When there are debates about the world's top performing education systems, the names that usually get mentioned are the Asian powerhouses such as Singapore and South Korea or the Nordic know-alls, such as Finland or Norway...more>>
WalletHub: 2017's States with the Best & Worst School Systems
...Unlike other research that focuses primarily on academic outcomes or school finance, however, WalletHub's analysis takes a more comprehensive approach, accounting for performance, funding, safety, class size and instructor credentials...more>>
OZY: Why More and More High Schools Are Acting Like Startups
A railroad bridge had become a rusty eyesore in Marion, Iowa, and a local firm was on the hunt for a new design. So Martin Gardner Architecture turned to high school students...more>>
EdSource: Understanding transitional kindergarten: a quick guide
Transitional kindergarten is an option for younger children, who are not old enough for kindergarten, to gain social and academic experience...more>>
The Atlantic: The High-Speed Preschool Experiment
In some districts, free summer "crash courses" are trying to meet the needs of students who can't afford to attend traditional pre-K programs...more>>
Hechinger: Cramming for Kindergarten
In places like Indiana, where just 3 percent of children attend state-funded preschool, kids cram for kindergarten during a few weeks in the summer...more>>
Forbes: This Early Child Education Group Is Getting A Closer Look From Mark Zuckerberg's Philanthropy
Alongside a pale pink house in East Palo Alto, Calif., a gaggle of 5 year olds wearing green graduation caps and gowns waited quietly for a group photo to be taken...more>>
Hechinger: We mustn't make preschool less fun for the 4-year-olds who need more help
Which kind of preschool is more beneficial for young children: academic or play-based? Recent research has breathed new life into a debate that has been around for decades...more>>
NYT: How to Prepare Preschoolers for an Automated Economy
Amory Kahan, 7, wanted to know when it would be snack time. Harvey Borisy, 5, complained about a scrape on his elbow. And Declan Lewis, 8, was wondering why the two-wheeled wooden robot he was programming to do the Hokey Pokey wasn't working...more>>
Center for American Progress: Early Learning in the United States: 2017
The importance of high-quality early learning programs, such as child care and preschool, for children and families in the Unites States is well-recognized...more>>
EdSurge: Early Learning Faces Obstacles and Inequities-Here's How Edtech Can Help
Remember the days when Farmer Eddie taught youngsters what the pig and cow says by pulling the See 'n Say string?...more>>
NYT: Seeing Hope for Flagging Economy, West Virginia Revamps Vocational Track
In a sleek laboratory at Marshall University last month, four high school teachers hunched over a miniature steam-electric boiler, a tabletop replica of the gigantic machinery found in power plants...more>>
NPR: Social And Emotional Skills: Everybody Loves Them, But Still Can't Define Them
More and more, people in education agree on the importance of schools' paying attention to stuff other than academics. But still, no one agrees on what to call that "stuff."...more>>
NYT: A New Kind of Classroom: No Grades, No Failing, No Hurry
Few middle schoolers are as clued in to their mathematical strengths and weakness as Moheeb Kaied. Now a seventh grader at Brooklyn's Middle School 442, he can easily rattle off his computational profile...more>>
The Atlantic: Japan Might Be What Equality in Education Looks Like
The country's government makes sure areas with low income levels and property values get good teachers too...more>>
Real Clear Education: The Kauffman Foundation's Mission to Transform Education Reform
Aaron North and Larry Jacob of the Kauffman Foundation explain how the Kauffman Foundation is taking a different and unique approach to education reform, one focused on lifting disadvantaged students and not getting sucked into partisan political fights...more>>
Getting Smart: Skip Coding, Teach Data Science
Computer programing can be a valuable part of the K-12 curriculum. Pleasanton USD superintendent David Haglund thinks "programming is a mindset and a great foundation for math."...more>>
The Atlantic: Schools Are Missing What Matters About Learning
Curiosity is underemphasized in the classroom, but research shows that it is one of the strongest markers of academic success...more>>
The Economist: Together, technology and teachers can revamp schools
How the science of learning can get the best out of edtech...more>>
EdSurge: Google and Digital Promise Reimagine Teacher Tech Training with New National Program
While the government might be pulling funding from teacher training programs, private organizations are stepping up to fill the gap. This week, Google, in concert with Digital Promise and EdTechTeam, announced the start of the Dynamic Learning Project (DLP), a national program to help educators in low-income communities build advanced classroom technology skills...more>>

Higher Ed

Washington Post: Colleges grappling with balancing free speech, campus safety
When Carl Valentine dropped off his daughter at the University of Virginia, he had some important advice for the college freshman: Don't forget that you are a minority...more>>
Gallup: Why Are Republicans Down on Higher Ed?
Symptomatic of today's politically polarized environment in the U.S., Democrats and Republicans express substantially different levels of confidence in colleges and universities...more>>
Chronicle: Why Most Republicans Don't Like Higher Education
Let's start with the good news. In a national survey released last week by the Pew Research Center, a solid majority of Americans, 55 percent, have positive views of higher education...more>>
Huff Post: Sharpening the Case for American Higher Education
At the annual meeting of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) in Minneapolis last week, there was a good deal of attention paid to how higher education should address the steady decline in support for America's colleges and universities among consumers (that is, students and families) and key external stakeholders...more>>
Good: College Used To Be Free. Here's How We Make It That Way Again. (Seriously)
The promise of free college education helped propel Bernie Sanders' 2016 bid for the Democratic nomination to national prominence...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: 2-Pronged Strategy Against 'Gainful' Rule
Biggest for-profit college trade group isn't waiting for favorable outcome from Department of Education's rule-making process...more>>
Chronicle: Education Dept.'s Progress Is Stalled in Complying With Consumer Rule
The Education Department has not made any progress toward generating data this year to comply with the Obama-era gainful-employment rule and does not have "any timetable" for doing so, according to a letter last week from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos...more>>
Chronicle: Purdue Wins State Approval for Controversial Deal With Kaplan U
Purdue University, as expected, won state approval on Thursday for its deal to take over Kaplan University. But as the transaction now moves to the U.S. Department of Education for review of a "change of control" request, a critic of the deal is urging the department to reject it because, he argues, control isn't really changing...more>>
Baltimore Business Journal: Laureate reports $117 million profit in second quarter
Laureate Education Inc. turned a $117 million profit in the second quarter as revenue and enrollment grew...more>>
BuzzFeed: How The For-Profit College Art Institutes Found A Savior With Christian Roots
The Dream Center Foundation, a nonprofit with many ties to communities of faith, is seeking to buy the for-profit EDMC - parent company of the Art Institutes...more>>
Hechinger: How can we send students out into the world with huge college debt loads and not teach them what this means?
High schools, colleges and the federal government must start giving students the financial knowledge and skills they need...more>>
Hechinger: Debt Without a Degree: The human cost of college debt that becomes "purgatory"
In a vicious circle, debt and low-paying jobs make it tough to earn a way back to college...more>>
BuzzFeed: Trump's Student-Loan Plan Could Be A Great Deal For Undergrads
A new study from the Brookings Institution suggests that undergraduates could stand to save thousands of dollars under Trump's plan. Graduate students, however, will pay more, while poorer students could have higher debt levels at graduation...more>>
Diverse Education: Department of Education Scrapping Plan for Single Student Loan Servicer
The U.S. Department of Education announced late Tuesday that it was reversing course on its plan to award all federal student loans to a single student loan servicer and creating a new "environment" for how it operates...more>>
U.S. News: New U.S. Student Loan System to Be in Place in 2019: Education Department
A whole new student loan servicing and processing system will be up and running in 2019, the U.S. Education Department said on Tuesday, as it formally unveiled its plan to overhaul the current $1.3 trillion program...more>>
U.S. News: Is a Top Online MBA Worth It?
On average, 43.8 percent of 2015-2016 graduates from top 20 ranked online MBA programs had debt, U.S. News data show...more>>
The Atlantic: This Is the Way the College 'Bubble' Ends
For the past few decades, the unstoppable increase in college tuition has been a fact of life, like death and taxes...more>>
ELearning Inside News: 3 reasons why post-secondary online learning is absolutely crushing it
A few weeks ago I ran across a Twitter post that read,"1998: Don't get in strangers' cars. Don't meet people from Internet. 2017: Literally summon strangers from the Internet and get into their car."...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Warnings on a Different Kind of For-Profit
Century Foundation cautions that nature of public university deals with online program managers could undermine the institutions' financial stability and their students' data...more>>
Edsurge: Andrew Ng, Co-Founder of Coursera, Returns to MOOC Teaching With New AI Course
Andrew Ng taught one of the most-viewed online courses of all time-more than 1.5 million people have registered to take one of the many sequences of his free online course about machine learning...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Harvard Goes Outside to Go Online
Three schools at the oldest university in the United States team up with 2U to start an online program in an emergent field...more>>
EdSurge: Microcredentials and Macro-dollars: How an Online Ad Led 2U's Chip Paucek to Make a $120M Bet
Chip Paucek is an entrepreneur's entrepreneur. After two other startups sputtered, Paucek cofounded and runs 2U, which made its debut on the public market in March 2014...more>>
EdDive: Interest in online programs up drastically, while traditional programs continue to drop
Robert Atkins, Chief Executive Officer of Gray Associates, told Education Dive in an email that the firm's analysis of higher ed "inquiry data indicate strong interest in online programs, while demand for campus programs continues to fall."...more>>
What online college students really want: More interaction with peers and teachers
According to a new report from The Learning House, Inc. and Aslanian Market Research, "The Online College Students 2017: Comprehensive Data on Demands and Preferences," online students want more interaction with instructors and fellow students...more>>
Hechinger: Online learning: Students want quality, not just convenience
Survey says most college students in online courses yearn for interaction with instructors, peers...more>>
Business Vancouver: Online learning on the uptake in international education
We've reached a tipping point, warns industry consultant...more>>
Forbes: Are OPMs Building an Ivory Tower of Babel?
It's gotten a lot harder to sell online degrees. According to an annual survey by Quality Matters and Eduventures titled the Changing Landscape of Online Education (CHLOE), 56% of administrators say the market for online programs is much more competitive than it was five years ago...more>>
Campus Technology: Finding the ROI of Online Programs
It's time to get serious about growing online education programs if your institution wants them to be sustainable. This Arizona State University research project is examining the costs and benefits of scaling digital learning in order to share replicable return-on-investment mechanics and tools for any school willing to take on the challenge...more>>
EdDive: Coursera's Tom Willerer talks personalization, access
For 3.5 years, the company's chief product officer has improved user experience with lessons learned at Netflix...more>>
EdSurge: What if MOOCs Revolutionize Education After All?
If you've ever zoned out during a lecture, or if your students are prone to distraction as you click through your PowerPoint deck, that's partly because we're hard-wired not to focus intently for longer than ten or fifteen minutes at a time...more>>
The Next Web: Now that MOOCs are mainstream, where does online learning go next?
From AI-driven personalized learning to virtual reality, online courses will need to innovate to address their credibility issues and fulfill their enormous promise...more>>
EdSurge: What Happened to Google's Effort to Scan Millions of University Library Books?
It was a crazy idea: Take the bulk of the world's books, scan them, and create a monumental digital library for all to access...more>>
Christensen Institute: Innovators Worth Watching: StraighterLine
Every year, American students and taxpayers spend roughly $7 billion trying to bridge the gap between finishing high school and actually being ready for college...more>>
WSJ: College Is Trade School for the Elite
Even education in the humanities has become vocationalized, though the transformation is subtle...more>>
Times Higher Ed: Do critical thinking skills give graduates the edge?
It has long been claimed that critical thinking ability sets graduates apart. But are universities really preparing students for the modern workplace?...more>>
EdSurge: Elsevier Acquires Berkeley-Based Academic Research Platform
Science and health analytics publisher, Elsevier, has acquired bepress, a Berkeley, Calif.-based platform used by academics to share and showcase research online...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Going All In on Personalized Learning
A $20 million project from National U seeks to combine adaptive courseware, predictive analytics and competency-based learning with a goal of better serving adult students...more>>
eCampus News: Here's what hotels and higher ed have in common
In the mid-1990s, Amazon started selling books online and quickly moved to dominate the space, including running Border's online store by 2001 and driving Borders to bankruptcy by 2011...more>>
MarketWatch: Shift to Cloud Creates Opportunities for New Players According to 2017 Global LMS Market Report
Learning Management Systems remain the hub for educational technology on campus, but growing number of institutions are making the shift to managed or cloud-based solutions...more>>
CNBC: Universities, hoping to sway millennials, are now opening innovation hubs for undergraduates
As colleges look to keep pace with a competitive job market being shaped by automation and globalization, many are opening entrepreneur centers designed to entice millennials...more>>
EdTech: Campus Technology 2017: Lifetime Learning Is the New Model for Higher Education
In the workforce of the future, graduates will need to complement - not compete with - technology, an education expert says...more>>
WSJ: More Colleges Dropping Out
The number of colleges in the U.S. declined by nearly 6% between the past academic year and the year before, according to a new count by the federal government, and the rate of closings is accelerating...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: The Culling of Higher Ed Begins
The number of colleges and universities eligible to award federal financial aid dropped by 5.6 percent in 2016-17. The vast majority of disappearing institutions were for-profit colleges, but more than 30 private nonprofits were among them...more>>
EDUCAUSE: Shaping the Educational Technology Innovation Ecosystem
Moving beyond "one size fits all," Next Generation Digital Learning Environment research is a call to action for greater personalization of educational experiences built on a technology foundation seamlessly integrating existing and emerging digital technologies and products...more>>
Chronicle: How 3 Colleges Improved Graduation Rates
As Provost Ralph C. Wilcox likes to tell it, the University of South Florida's effort to raise graduation rates on its main campus started years before advocacy organizations, television personalities, or the Obama administration made the issue a popular talking point...more>>
Inc42: What Colleges Should Teach When They Teach Startup Entrepreneurship
Professors Need To Understand Entrepreneurship In Practice In Order To Teach It...more>>
Hechinger: Bureaucratic costs at some colleges are twice what's spent on instruction
Some small private colleges are spending almost twice as much on administration as on academics, according to a study by an association of university trustees...more>>
Forbes: After Reaching Stratospheric Highs, Indian Education Companies Now Face Crushing Lows
Shantanu Prakash was flying high in 2009. The founder and chairman of education tech firm Educomp Solutions debuted on Forbes' India's Richest list that year with a net worth of $920 million...more>>
Your Story: Jeopardy or opportunity: The future of a student's education and employment in the era of automation
Education lags technology by a decade as the nature of jobs change. As a result, employability is the big challenge facing the academia and industry. However, education remains the biggest opportunity in India...more>>
I Programmer: Are Developer Bootcamps Dying Out?
The announcement of the impending closure of Dev Bootcamp, and news that The Iron Yard had already stopped accepting new registrations has led to some speculation about the demise of coding bootcamps in general...more>>
TechCrunch: This ambitious founder wants to find high-paying biz dev jobs for one million Americans
Rahim Fazal grew up in government housing. He worked, as do many students, at McDonald's during high school. He didn't go to college...more>>
Ed Dive: Codecademy CEO talks bootcamp growing pains, new 'Pro' courses
Recovering from its near-death experience, Zach Sims' company is focusing on additional content, help and mentorship...more>>
Reuters: Some U.S. coding boot camps stumble in a crowded field
The hype is fading for coding "boot camps," for-profit U.S. schools offering graduates entry into the lucrative world of software development...more>>
Observatory: Study shows "weak" evidence of ROI for alternative credentials
The new study developed by Ithaka S+R for the Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, examines the growing field of alternative pathways and credentials, like MOOCs, online micro-credentials, and other training and certificate programs that don't lead to an associate's or bachelor's degree...more>>
EdSurge: More Bootcamps Are Quietly Coming to a University Near You
In the last two years, a surge of nonprofit, four-year institutions have hopped on the bootcamp bandwagon...more>>
U.S. News: Are MOOCs, Bootcamps and Other Alternative Education Options Effective?
The House has passed one bill, and is likely to pass another, that would provide funding for people to enroll in certificate programs, apprenticeships, bootcamps and other technical education programs. But a new study questions the quality of these programs, as well as the evidence that demonstrates their efficacy...more>>
EdSurge: Another Major Coding Bootcamp, Iron Yard, Announces Closure
The Iron Yard, a Greenville, S.C.-based coding bootcamp, is closing up shop. The school wrote in a blog post today that it will be ceasing operations at all of its 15 campuses around the U.S. after its current 12-week session finishes...more>>
Quartz: The future of coding bootcamps, according to the president of one that is shutting down
When Dev Bootcamp, a 19-week coding course, launched in 2012, it was at the beginning of what would become a huge trend in tech education. To assuage tech's demand for entry-level coders, the company promised it could prepare anyone for a career as a programmer...more>>
GeekWire: Coding bootcamp grads up 10X over last 5 years, as study shows industry still on the upswing
Despite the recently announced closure of Dev Bootcamp, the coding school industry is a more than $266 million market that continues to grow, according to a new study from Course Report...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Men Flock to Short-Term Career Ed
Some critics argue colleges aren't doing enough to help working-class men earn certificates, but one Arkansas community college has found success in short-term programs. Is federal policy keeping up?...more>>
Career Education Review: Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP Announces Proposed Settlement of Corinthian Colleges Securities Litigation
The following statement is being issued by Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP regarding the Corinthian Colleges Securities Litigation...more>>
EdSurge: Not All Career and Technical Education Programs Are Created Equal
Expanding Career and Technical Education programs (CTE) is one of the few legislative proposals that both Democrats and Republicans can get behind...more>>

Et Alia

Observatory: The digital native is a myth: new paper claims that "information-savvy digital natives do not exist"
A paper published last month in Teaching and Teacher Education claims that the digital native is a myth. The paper presents scientific evidence showing that there is no such thing as a digital native who is more tech-savvy or good at multitasking than older generations...more>>
Singularity Hub: Why Education Is the Hardest Sector of the Economy to Automate
After a detailed analysis of more than 2,000-plus work activities for more than 800 occupations, a report by McKinsey & Co states that of all the sectors examined, "...the technical feasibility of automation is lowest in education."...more>>
McKinsey: Competing in a world of sectors without borders
Digitization is causing a radical reordering of traditional industry boundaries. What will it take to play offense and defense in tomorrow's ecosystems?...more>>
NYT: Tech's Damaging Myth of the Loner Genius Nerd
The Google engineer who was fired last week over his memo wrote that most women were biologically unsuited to working in tech because they were more focused on "feelings and aesthetics than ideas" and had "a stronger interest in people rather than things."...more>>
HBR: Good Leaders Are Good Learners
Although organizations spend more than $24 billion annually on leadership development, many leaders who have attended leadership programs struggle to implement what they've learned. It's not because the programs are bad but because leadership is best learned from experience...more>>
Inc: 5 Entrepreneurs That Are Shaking Up Education
Entrepreneurs should care about education, regardless of their personal experiences. How kids of today are educated has a massive effect on our economy and society...more>>
EdSurge: How Many Times Will People Change Jobs? The Myth of the Endlessly-Job-Hopping Millennial
During a recent interview with EdSurge, a LinkedIn executive made the offhand comment that people will change careers 15 times over their lifetimes...more>>
Forbes: How Google's AI-Powered Job Search Will Impact Companies And Job Seekers
In mid-June, Google announced the implementation of an AI-powered search function aimed at connecting job seekers with jobs by sorting through posted recruitment information...more>>
Forbes: How Should LinkedIn Respond To Google Hire?
From the accounts I've read, Google Hire is an applicant tracking system (ATS). It's not a sourcing tool, but rather a platform to manage candidate workflow once you've gotten candidates into the hiring funnel...more>>
THE Journal: 'Good Jobs' Still Exist; Most Require Post-High School Education
Good jobs - those that pay at least $35,000 a year - don't necessarily require a bachelor's degree. These good jobs have a median salary of $55,000. And 30 million of them exist in this country, compared to 36 million "good jobs" for workers with four-year college degrees...more>>
Inc: Why Google for Jobs Is a Total Game Changer for Recruiters, Employers, and Job Sites
The company recently unveiled its new Google For Jobs feature, designed to better connect job seekers with the right positions and companies...more>>
EdTech Digest: Worlds of Possibilities
Three edtech trends to watch and how to use them to transform learning in your classroom...more>>
EdSurge: Why Late Adopters Are Skeptical of Edtech (and How to Get Them on Board)
The "technology adoption life cycle," inspired by the work of American communication theorist and sociologist Everett Rogers, argues that 50% of adopters fall into the "late adopter" or "laggard" categories...more>>
GoodCall: IT Skills Gap Worries Company Executives, Assessment Reveals
Companies report a costly skills gap for a variety of professions, including marketing managers, human resource managers, sales managers, finance managers, and industrial engineers. But the skills gap in IT is unique...more>>
Business Insider: Facebook launched its own job search feature - here's how it works
Need a new job? Try logging onto Facebook. Surfing social media when you're supposed to be on the hunt for gigs might sound like a bad idea...more>>
Washington Post: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on some education issues
In an interview with The Associated Press, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos spoke about a range of subjects, from for-profit schools to sexual assault on college campuses...more>>
EdSurge: Unconventional (and Timely) Fundraising Tips for Edtech Startups
I want to start by saying that this post is not about the fundamentals of fundraising and what a startup needs to do to get funded...more>>
EdSurge: Barnes & Noble Acquires Student Writing Company for $58.5M
Barnes and Noble Education has acquired subscription-based writing skills service, Student Brands, for $58.5 million cash...more>>
EdSurge: Thoma Bravo's Acquisition of Frontline Education Creates Edtech's Newest Unicorn
Frontline Education is swapping one private equity owner for a bigger one. Today the Malvern, Penn.-based education company announced it will be acquired by Thoma Bravo, a major private equity firm with offices in San Francisco and Chicago...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: Competency-Based Educational Strategies Enhanced by Technology
Competency-based education is another good example of an exciting concept that doesn't fit the mold that most schools have built. The basic concept is great: ensure that no students get bored and no students get left behind by allowing each learner to progress at their own pace...more>>
The Economist's 1843: The Flaw of Averages
A high-school dropout turned Harvard professor is inspiring Silicon Valley's efforts to overhaul America's schools. John McDermott studies his idea...more>>
Forbes: The Disconnect Between Education and Entrepreneurship
As the CEO of an edtech startup, I witness first-hand the abundant challenges that confront our country's educational system...more>>
Bloomberg: Pearson to Cut 3,000 Jobs, Dividend as Education Woes Remain
Pearson Plc made good on a pledge to cut costs, slashing 3,000 jobs and cutting its interim dividend to preserve cash as it works on a turnaround of its struggling education business...more>>
Nibletz: EdTech Startups Will Find The Education Market Is Like No Other, EdNet Has A Marketing Track You Don't Want To Miss
Ask any company that's brought a product to market in education, coming from b2b or b2c and they'll tell you that the education market was not what they expected...more>>
EdSurge: Text Message Fundraising Platform Raises $8M in Series A Round
Hustle, a text messaging campaign platform, has raised $8 million in a Series A round led by led by Social Capital...more>>
EdSurge: ACT Invests $10.5 Million in New Markets Venture Partners' Edtech Fund
ACT, the nonprofit behind the standardized college-readiness test, has invested $10.5 million in New Markets Venture Partners, an education venture fund based in Maryland...more>>
WSJ: Lessons Learned From a Frustrated University-School Partnership
USC's attempt to turn around Crenshaw High School didn't pan out...more>>
EdSurge: Real Questions About Artificial Intelligence in Education
Don't doubt it: Machine learning is hot-and getting hotter. For the past two years, public interest in building complex algorithms that automatically "learn" and improve from their own operations, or experience (rather than explicit programming) has been growing...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: Predictive Analytics in Ed-Tech Create New Questions in K-12, Higher Ed
The advent of predictive analytics in educational technology brings with it a new set of questions about how the data it generates is being used to help students, what happens with that data, and what assumptions are built into the algorithms used to make decisions based on it...more>>
EdSurge: Board of Directors for 20 Best Funded Private US Edtech Companies
EdSurge went looking for the privately-held, independent edtech companies that have raised the most venture funding over the past dozen years and asked: Who's on your board? Here's what we found...more>>
U of Virginia: Silicon Valley's Billionaires Are Excited About EdTech. Here's Why
Entrepreneurs and tech giants like Facebook, Apple and Google are increasingly turning their attention to education, lured by the possibility of an Airbnb-style disruption to the current system...more>>
EdTech Review: Propelling & Monetizing Your EdTech Startup: Tips for Edupreneurs
The education sector at present is witnessing a tremendous growth, and with it, the scope of edtech business is also diversifying...more>>
Is Online Education a Jobs Engine?
I like nothing better than getting things wrong. When we are wrong, we learn something.
So I interested to read a NYTimes piece on 7/10/17 on e-commerce, the tech sector, and job creation...more>>

EdSurge: Indian Startup Byju's Adds Another Big-Name Investor in Chinese Tech Giant, Tencent
BYJU'S, an Indian startup that offers online test-prep and study materials, has notched an undisclosed investment from Tencent, the Chinese internet juggernaut and developer of popular apps such as WeChat...more>>
The Economist: South Korea is losing faith in an elitist education system
University was once seen as a source of social mobility in South Korea. But so important is the right degree to a student's prospects in life that rich families began spending heavily on coaching to improve their children's chances, leaving poorer families behind...more>>
Business Because: Could Mooc Platforms Disrupt Executive Education?
Online learning platform Coursera has partnered AXA, the insurer, to provide skills training for its employees in the latest sign that digital disruptors are muscling into the lucrative market for executive education...more>>
TechCrunch: Duolingo raises $25M at a $700M valuation
Duolingo, the popular language learning service that was co-founded by reCAPTCHA founder Luis von Ahn, today announced that it has raised a $25 million Series E round led by Drive Capital...more>>
Venture Beat: 14 ways AI will impact the education sector
There have been a lot of digital "next big things" in education over the years - everything from the Apple IIe to online learning. The latest is artificial intelligence education tech (AI ed), and only time will tell what impact it ultimately has...more>>
Forbes: Top 6 Digital Transformation Trends In Education
This is a continuation of my series looking at how digital transformation has impacted every industry. Today's focus is on educational trends...more>>