Industry Summit News

SIIA Honors Education Industry Veterans with Prestigious Awards

Fri, 11 May 2012 00:35

SIIA’s Education Division this week honored Dr. Patrick Suppes, Lucie Stern Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Stanford University, with its first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award. SIIA also presented the Ed Tech Impact Award to Charles Blaschke, Founder and President of Education TURNKEY Systems, Inc. In addition, the Education Division honored long-standing members of the Division during the recent Ed Tech Industry Summit (ETIS) in San Francisco.

During a special awards ceremony, SIIA President Ken Wasch and SIIA Vice President for Education Karen Billings presented Suppes with the award, which highlighted his accomplishments and contributions to the education technology industry. Suppes began conducting experiments using computers to teach students in the 1960s and led the charge of online instructional development. Computer Curriculum Corporation, the company he founded in 1967, is now part of Pearson Education Technologies. Among countless other awards, he received the National Medal of Science in 1990. With 50 years of experience in education technology at Stanford, Suppes is now Lucie Stern Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, and is Director and Faculty Advisor at Stanford’s Education Program for Gifted Youth.

In addition, SIIA presented the Ed Tech Impact Award to Charles Blaschke, Founder and President of Education TURNKEY Systems, Inc., a 40-year-old Washington D.C.-based firm which provides data and analysis about Federal funding policies and K-12 technology spending, including Title I, IDEA/Special Ed, the new ARRA stimulus funding, and other related Federal programs. Among many other contributions to education and technology, Blaschke developed one of the first two IEP special education administrative systems and co-authored the first Title I Policy Manual.

Several companies also were recognized by SIIA for helping support the ed tech industry through their long-standing membership of the association. Member companies recognized at the awards luncheon for attaining long-term membership levels included:

25 years of membership
Interactive Education Systems Design, Inc. (IESD)

20 years of membership
o Adobe

15 years of membership
o Texas Instruments Education Technology Group

10 years of membership
o Headsprout, Inc.
o CyberSmart! Education Company
o Apple Education
o Knovation/netTrekker/Thinkronize

Karen Billings is Vice President for the Education Division at SIIA.

SIIA Announces Top Innovators in Education Technology

Wed, 09 May 2012 15:50

SIIA’s Education Division recognized three ed tech solutions yesterday with five awards for their originality, innovation, and industry promise.

During SIIA’s bi-annual Innovation Incubator program held in connection with this week’s SIIA Ed Tech Industry Summit, Language Express and Filament Games were voted by 350 conference attendees as being the Most Likely to Succeed (first place and runner-up, respectively). Filament Games and Language Express were also voted as the Most Innovative (first place and runner-up, respectively.)

The Innovation Incubator Program supports innovation in the education technology industry by raising the profile of promising new technologies while connecting these innovators with captains of industry for mentorship, expert advice, investment opportunities, and partnerships to support growth.

Overall, 73 applicants were assessed for the Innovation Incubator program on a broad range of criteria, including the education focus, end-user impact, market need for the innovation, representation of K-12/postsecondary market levels, and the level of originality and innovation. Ten finalists and two alternates were selected for the program and their participation was subsidized by program lead and co-sponsors Blackboard Partnerships and Texthelp Systems.

In addition to the recognitions announced above, Blackboard Partnerships™ continued its tradition of identifying the Innovation Incubator most aligned with their own initiatives, providing Smart Science Education Inc. with a complimentary year-long membership as a Blackboard Building Blocks™ partner in the Blackboard Partnerships program. Among the many benefits, partners have access to the thousands of clients using the Blackboard Learn™ platform. Program membership also includes a developer copy of the Blackboard Learn software, a product listing on the Blackboard Extensions online directory, personalized guidance and mentorship on the partnership, and participation at members-only events.

Karen Billings is Vice President for the Education Division at SIIA.

SIIA Announces CODiE Award Winners for Education Technology Industry

Tue, 08 May 2012 13:01

Last night, SIIA announced the winners of the 2012 CODiE Awards in education technology during a reception and dinner at SIIA’s annual Ed Tech Industry Summit. Overall, 29 winners were recognized for their products and services deployed specifically for the education technology market.

All of the education technology nominated products and services were first reviewed by a group of tech-savvy educators from across the nation, whose evaluations determined 128 finalists. SIIA members then reviewed these finalists and voted to select 29 CODiE Award winners, listed here by category, company, and product/service:

Best Classroom Management System:
Wowzers, Wowzers

Best Corporate Learning/Workforce Development Solution:
G-Cube Solutions, DBS Bank – Induction Program

Best Cross-Curricular Solution:
Gaggle, Gaggle

Best Education Community Solution:
ClassLink, Inc., ClassLink LaunchPad Virtual Desktop

Best Education Game or Simulation (tie):
Smarty Ants, Inc. Smarty Ants
Sokikom, Sokikom

Best Education Reference Solution:
ABC-CLIO, World Religions: Belief, Culture, and Controversy

Best Educational Use of a Device-Specific Application:
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., Everyday Mathematics – ePlanner Deluxe with ePresentations and eToolkit

Best Educational Use of a Mobile Device:
BrainPOP, BrainPOP Featured Movie App

Best Instructional Solution for Special Needs Students:
Rethink Autism, Inc., Rethink Autism Website

Best Instructional Solution in Other Curriculum Areas
Learning.com, Digital Literacy Solution

Best K-12 Course or Learning Management Solution
McGraw-Hill Education, Networks: A Social Studies Learning System

Best K-12 Enterprise Solution:
My Learning Plan Inc., MyLearningPlan Enterprise Solution

Best K-12 Instructional Solution:
ExploreLearning.com, ExploreLearning Reflex

Best Mathematics Instructional Solution:
Apangea Learning, Inc., Apangea Math

Best Postsecondary Course or Learning Management System:
Blackboard Inc., Blackboard Learn, Release 9.1, Service Pack 6

Best Postsecondary Enterprise Solution
McGraw-Hill, Tegrity Campus (Lecture Capture Service)

Best Postsecondary Instructional Solution
Pearson, CourseConnect

Best Professional Learning Solution for Education:
School Improvement Network, PD 360 (version 5.0)

Best Reading/English Instructional Solution:
ePALS, Inc., In2Books

Best Science/Health Instructional Solution:
Discovery Education, Discovery Education Science Techbook

Best Social Sciences Instructional Solution:
TCI, TCI

Best Student Assessment Solution:
Archipelago Learning, Study Island Version 5.0

Best Virtual School Solution for Students:
Adaptive Curriculum, Adaptive Curriculum

Three top winners were also chosen during the awards ceremony:

Best K-12 Solution:
Wowzers, Wowzers

Best Postsecondary Solution:
McGraw-Hill, Tegrity Campus (Lecture Capture Service)

Best Education Solution (three-way tie):
BrainPOP, BrainPOP Featured Movie App
Learning.com, Digital Literacy Solution
Discovery Education, Discovery Education Science Techbook

Karen Billings is Vice President for the Education Division at SIIA.