Rob Abel, Ed.D. | February 2022
"Out of many, one. Out of one, many."
The Foundations of the New 1EdTech Brand
I'm following on here from my last post about the upcoming transition from IMS Global Learning Consortium to our new 1EdTech brand.
Experts say that a "brand" is the experience that customers have with an organization and its products. In 2019, IMS hired a well-known marketing firm to help develop a brand that fits the experiences of the members. The process involved countless interviews and feedback sessions, including several in-depth sessions working directly with the Board of Directors.
Out of this work came a set of "brand pillars" and a "brand promise."
The brand pillars are what some might call core competencies that are at the root of the member experience. These are the things that the organization does well, and it comes through in the experience of our members.
While we have detailed summaries of each of the brand pillars for 1EdTech, I'll give you a high level here, including why we decided on these as the best fit for what we do and what we value.
Inspiring breakthrough collaborations
Our community is very unique and influential because we are collaborating across boundaries (e.g., supplier/institutional, K-12/HED/corporate learning, IT/instruction/academics, bridging across walled-garden ecosystems, collaboration across regions) to create the technical work that sets expectations for the future of the edtech ecosystem. We bridge across and break down these boundaries every day. Anyone who has experienced our community knows that we represent the best and brightest in edtech.
Advancing ecosystem connectivity
We produce open standards that provide the connectivity for an open edtech ecosystem of products that work together for better user experiences and better insights to inform learner success. Because of the extent of our membership collaboration, there is more investment in integrations using our standards than any other approach. So, the open edtech ecosystem is the fastest way for suppliers and institutions to get to innovation at scale.
Accelerating digital learning transformation
Our member organizations design and adopt scalable, sustainable, and responsive digital innovation by adopting the open technical foundation and the collaboration from close partnerships developed via the member experience. Educational institutions and suppliers have an unparalleled network of partnerships with other members that have shown over and over to accelerate their efforts to implement best-in-class digital learning.
Enriching teaching and learning experiences
For years we have called this effect of our combined activities "Learning Impact" and have challenged our community to provide evidence of impact through our annual Learning Impact Awards. Our members individually design and implement the products that support better experiences. At the same time, collectively, we enable what is available to practitioners and how they use and take advantage of the ecosystem we are creating together.
The "brand promise" is, as it sounds, both the synthesis and the heart and soul of the brand experience. It's our call to action now and into the future. We believe we're capturing that promise in the simple phrase: Together We Power Learner Potential
That brand promise is the headline of the 1EdTech Mission statement.
Together we power learner potential.
The 1EdTech community provides collaborative leadership that shapes the foundation of an open edtech ecosystem now and into the future to enable unlimited potential in every learner. 1EdTech member organizations shape the future, foster lasting partnerships, and accelerate digital learning by leveraging unparalleled cooperative investment across the ecosystem.
Every day, our staff, members, and I are inspired by what they have achieved as individuals and collectively. It's inspiring that edtech leaders can get a high return on investment in their time for their organizations while contributing to the greater good. There may be another organization out there that has done more to shape edtech (I don't know of one), but I'll say that we can all be very proud of what our community has achieved and the potential we have created for the future.
