Digital research to improve learning ?

From the Youtube blurb:

• "Karen Cator is President and CEO of Digital Promise. From 2009-2013, Karen was Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education, where she led the development of the 2010 National Education Technology Plan and focused the Office's efforts on teacher and leader support."
• "She also was a leading voice for transforming American education through technology innovation and research. Prior to joining the department, Cator directed Apple's leadership and advocacy efforts in education. In this role, she focused on the intersection of education policy and research, emerging technologies, and the reality faced by teachers students and administrators. She began her education career in Alaska as a teacher, ultimately leading technology planning and implementation."

Not only is the education attainment gap used to explain away poverty but it can be used to promote technology and student data capture in the classroom.

Digital Promise raises the serious problem of equity in American education and reports on their summit to Put Research to Work.

There were three groups:

• "Researchers who can help provide data on the kinds of educational environments, practices, and tools that best improve learning."

• "Educational technology developers who can harness the power of technology to create products that support innovative teaching methods and improved student learning outcomes, and capture real-time data to enable ongoing improvement."

• "Educators and education leaders, who can share their insight and expertise with researchers and developers, and implement research-based tools and practices to support students."

Two of the attendees at the research summit were Apple and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the organisations who will make fortunes designing products out of children`s data.

Children`s right to privacy does not feature in the Karen Cator video nor does it appear on the Digital Promise website.

http://www.digitalpromise.org/pages/a-summit-to-put-research-to-work