Top Ed-Tech Trends of 2016

This article includes news items that didn’t quite make the cut for part 3 of my annual review of the year in ed-tech The Next Big Thing Via The Atlantic: “Why Online Gradebooks Are Changing Education.” Via Edsurge: “When Teachers Build Edtech, Awesomeness Ensues – and Here’s Why.” Among the...

This article includes news items that didn’t quite make the cut for part 2 of my annual review of the year in ed-tech The Politics of Tech It’s good to be king… President-Elect Trump and the Presidential Campaign The Republican Party Platform. (More from Inside Higher Ed, New America, and...

This article includes news items that didn’t quite make the cut for part 1 of my annual review of the year in ed-tech Robots Coming For Your Jobs There’s been lots of hullaballoo about artificial intelligence over the last few weeks because of the defeat of Lee Sedol, champion Go...

All "Hack Education Weekly News" Articles Published in 2016 January 1 January 8 January 15 January 22 January 29 February 5 February 12 February 19 February 26 March 4 March 11 March 18 March 25 April 1 April 8 April 15 April 22 April 29 May 6 May 13 May...

In about a month, I’ll start working on this year-end series. So I’m starting to think about which ten trends I’ll focus on. My list, which is built in part from the topics I covered last year, is currently longer than ten: Business of Ed-Tech Politics of Ed-Tech The Collapse...

“Grit.” “Resilience.” “Growth mindset.” These buzzwords have been invoked in conversations about reforming schools for a couple of years now. (There’s nothing like a TED Talk, is there, to get people to take your idea for changing education seriously.) Ed-tech entrepreneurs and investors are getting in on the action, as...

Nearly one in four US children speaks a language other than English at home. But there’s a shortage of bilingual teachers. So investors see opportunity. I’ve noticed a handful of investments in ed-tech startups offering ELL software this year (but more importantly, I’ve heard investors say that this is an...

Virtual reality appears on one of the earliest Horizon Reports – back in 2007, when it was predicted to be 4 to 5 years out from being a widely adopted technology in higher ed. I’m not sure we’re any closer to widespread adoption, truth be told. But entrepreneurs and investors...

At ELI’s end-of-year webinar in December, Mindwire Consulting’s Michael Feldstein predicted that 2016 would be an eventful year for the LMS. Certainly Feldstein and his partner Phil Hill pay closer attention to the learning management system industry than almost anyone. Indeed, they’ve even launched a new subscription product that offers...

Edsurge has published six stories about coding bootcamp since the beginning of the month. That's probably as good an indication as any that ed-tech investors and ed-tech entrepreneurs continue pushing a narrative about "unbundling" and "disruption" and "everyone (still) needs to learn to code." I have chronicled the growth of...