A new database is in place to capture every US student in the name of "personalizing" their education. It is a $100 million database called inBloom, funded by the Gates foundation to track students from kindergarten through high school. The database was built by News Corps' Amplify Education subsidiary and turned over to a non-profit to run.
A Reuters report says that in its first "three
months, the database already holds files on millions of children identified by
name, address and sometimes social security number. Learning disabilities are
documented, test scores recorded, attendance noted. In some cases, the database
tracks student hobbies, career goals, attitudes toward school -- even homework
completion."
Who is most excited about this product? Entrepreneurs who see education as a market.
By the public release of information about the
database, some two dozen companies already had developed applications that mine
the database to create products--educational games, lesson plans and progress
reports for principals. The Gates
Foundation has promised another $70 million to private companies that develop
applications.
Promoters say that the database will
transform education by "personalizing." Some examples:
Does
Johnny have trouble converting decimals to fractions? The database will have
recorded that - and may have recorded
as well that he finds textbooks boring, adores animation
and plays baseball after school. Personalized learning software can use that data to serve up a tailor-made math lesson,
perhaps an animated game that uses baseball
statistics to teach decimals.
Johnny's teacher can watch his development on a "dashboard" that uses bright graphic to map each of her students' progress on dozens, even hundreds, of discrete skills.
"You can start to see what's effective for each particular student," said Adria Moersen, a high school teacher in Colorado who has tested some of the new products.
Johnny's teacher can watch his development on a "dashboard" that uses bright graphic to map each of her students' progress on dozens, even hundreds, of discrete skills.
"You can start to see what's effective for each particular student," said Adria Moersen, a high school teacher in Colorado who has tested some of the new products.
Companies
with access to the database will also be able to identify struggling teachers and pinpoint which concepts their students
are failing to master.
One startup that couldbenefit:
BloomBoard, which sells schools professional development plans customized to each teacher.
Privacy
concerns are bound to arise with so much data collected in one place from many
sources. InBloom promises to guard the
data, but its privacy policy correctly points out that it "cannot
guarantee the security of the information stored...or that the information will
not be intercepted when it is being transmitted."
Not
everyone, of course, sees this database as an advance. Education technology consultant Frank
Catalano told Reuters "The hype in the tech press is that education is an
engineering problem that can be fixed by technology. To my mind, that's a very
naive and destructive view."
With thanks to Susan
Ohanian: http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=443
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