School Technical Ideas

To chronicle the chaotic new reality of our times, Robert Safian at FastCompany recently published an article which identified speed, chaos, and uncertainty as defining qualities of business in the twenty-first century. Some—Safian identifies them as “Generation Flux”—have survived and even thrived in the new economic climate by adopting a mindset that “embraces instability, that tolerates—and even enjoys—recalibrating careers, business models, and assumptions.”

In the spirit of GenFlux, we decided to interview some of the “fluxers” here at Knewton. Earlier installments of our series focused on design, data visualization, marketing, and product management. This post will feature Multimedia Producer and long-time Knewtonian, Ian Parker whose past and current work includes teaching, computer science, and film and television production.

My role has definitely evolved since we’ve hired more people and pivoted to platform and college readiness. I’m still doing similar work, but there’s a much bigger video pipeline. We went from creating hundreds of GMAT videos to thousands of readiness videos. It’s exciting to think of all the students who are learning through these videos. It feels good to be a part of that.

From there I worked as an in-house editor and web/TV producer in London and Los Angeles for a couple of years, but it wasn’t very rewarding. So I headed to NY to do the freelance thing for a bit. Around that time, Knewton software engineer Ashley Miller gave me a call. She brought me in to meet the team, and when Jose gave me the pitch and mission, I was totally sold. That was three and a half years ago. So, to answer your question, I’ve always seen myself working in tech, but I actually didn’t hear the term ‘edtech’ until joining Knewton, and it was the sweetest thing I ever heard.

Here at Knewton, Robbie Mitchell, the Indiana Jones of the marketing team, is famous for saying “I work here to improve the past version of myself.” I completely agree with that. Looking back at my education, I can see that if concepts were presented in a slightly more creative or interactive way, I could’ve been more empowered at a younger age. I think media literacy gives people more opportunities to explore that creativity and interaction, and it could play a huge role in empowering the next generation.

One of the first videos we made was a live-action remake of a Brat Pack mashup video on YouTube set to the song Lisztomania by Phoenix. Today, our video has over 350,000 views on YouTube, and people from 45 different cities worldwide have made their own remixes of it. The remix guru, Lawrence Lessig, even mentioned the call-and-response phenomena in his TED Talk! Probably my favorite thing to happen out of that though was getting interviewed by a 4th grade class in Kansas about the making of the video.

I’m always learning new things, applying them to Knewton and vice versa. Since then, I’ve never had a shortage of fun side projects to keep me on my toes.

HOUSTON – The North Forest Independent School District has bought itself some time, but the drama for this struggling district is not over.

The Texas Education Agency ordered NFISD to be closed on July 2012 after the district was rated “academically unacceptable” for three years straight. The Houston Independent School District was set to take over NFISD’s schools when it closed.

But that all changed on Friday. NFISD says Commissioner of Education Robert Scott withdrew the annexation plan because of legal technicalities regarding a provision in education case chapter 13.054E. The provision states that before the commissioner orders the annexation of a school district, the commissioner is supposed to review the financial and education impact on the receiving district (HISD).

The commissioner gave the district one more year to shape up. If it doesn’t, the annexation plan will continue. HISD released the following statement after NFISD’s announcement:

“From the time Commissioner Scott announced his annexation plan last summer, HISD has been clear that while we have not sought this action, we stand ready to abide by any decision he makes,” said Superintendent Terry Grier. “HISD will continue making the success of all the students we serve the driving force behind every decision we make as a district.”

You can read the full order regarding NFISD below:

Gustavus Adolphus College students, staff, alumni, and friends of the College are invited to a Sesquicentennial celebration of 150 years of faith at the College on Saturday, April 21. The day’s events will include speaking appearances by the Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Rev. Mark S. Hanson and longtime Gustavus Chaplain Richard Q. Elvee.

Bishop Hanson’s keynote address will take place at 11 a.m. in Christ Chapel and is titled “The Future of Lutheran Higher Education.” Hanson was elected presiding bishop in August 2001 and installed in October 2001 at Rockefeller Chapel in Chicago. Before his election, Bishop Hanson served as bishop of the St. Paul Area Synod. He also served as pastor of three Minnesota congregations including Prince of Glory Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Edina Community Lutheran Church in Edina, and University Lutheran Church of Hope in Minneapolis. Bishop Hanson earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology from Augsburg College and his master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York.

Bishop Hanson’s keynote address will be preceded by a 10:15 a.m. morning worship ceremony featuring Rev. Richard Elvee as homilist. Rev. Elvee served as Chaplain at Gustavus from 1962 to 2000. He was the College’s first full-time chaplain and was well known for the inter-disciplinary dimensions he brought to his sermons and homilies. He served as director of the Nobel Conference for 19 years and provided leadership for the annual Christmas in Christ Chapel worship services for 27 years. A native of Holland, Mich., Rev. Elvee attended Bob Jones University and Northwestern Seminary (now Luther Seminary). His appearance at the GACAC Convention is part of a week-long residency (April 16-22) at the College.

After a short window for lunch (12-12:30 p.m.), attendees can choose to participate in a food packing service-learning event from 12:30-3 p.m. in association with the Christian non-profit organization Feed My Starving Children. The event is part of a year-long goal of the College to engage more than 4,000 volunteers to pack more than 800,000 meals. These events on April 21 are free and open to the public. Registration is required if you plan on eating lunch and volunteering for the food packing event. Registration can be done by contacting Marilyn Beyer in the Office of Church Relations at 507-933-7001 or . Registration is not required if you plan to only attend the worship service and/or Bishop Hanson’s keynote address.

The previously mentioned events are being held in conjunction with the 25^th annual convention of the Gustavus Adolphus College Association of Congregations (GACAC). Pastors and delegates from the more than 540 ELCA congregations from the state and across the country that are current member congregations of the association will hold their annual business meeting and elections over breakfast at 8:30 a.m. Marie Schafer Benson ’53 will also receive the Association’s annual Covenant Award for significant and distinctive contributions toward strengthening the partnership between Gustavus and member congregations.

California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson Saturday announced the creation of a 48-member state Education Technology Task Force that will have among its goals the alignment of its own state ed-tech plan, published in 2005, with the National Education Technology Plan put out by the U.S. Department of Education in 2010.

While the creation of such organizations is “not super unusual,” according to State Educational Technology Directors Association Executive Director Douglas Levin, it is notable because of California’s size and its unique position as the home of Silicon Valley, he said in an email.

And while California’s state budget is particularly crunched, Torlakson in a press release said that the task force’s work now would be crucial to allow schools to better implement technology when more funding becomes available in the future.

“Many schools have been all but left out of the technology revolution,” Torlakson said in the release. “If we’re serious about providing students a world-class education, we need a plan that leaves no school and no child offline.”

The task force will explore ed-tech by focusing on five areas—learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity—in a manner similar to the organization of the National Education Technology Plan. (The national plan also includes a sixth focus on research and development.) The organization will likely present recommendations to Torlakson and develop a “California Educational Blueprint over the next few months,” according to the release.

United States Deputy Director of Education Technology Steve Midgley is part of the 48-member volunteer group, as are representatives from state ed-tech advocate Computer-Using Educators, nonprofit research group WestEd, youth media watchdog Common Sense Media, and the philanthropic Silicon Valley Education Foundation.

The California task force is not the first such group, Levin said, with states such as Arizona, Nevada, and New York having standing committees on education technology within their state education departments. Other efforts in Idaho, Ohio and Wisconsin are also among the most noteworthy, Levin indicated.