At 1EdTech, we like to say, “Together, We Power Learner Potential.” It’s not just our tagline. It’s a statement that perfectly sums up what we do and how we do it. The key is that first word, “together.”
Collaboration is at the heart of what we do at 1EdTech. We bring together members from every educational stakeholder group, including K-12, higher ed, suppliers, professional development, human resources, state governments, non-profit organizations, and the list goes on. These collaborations are important because to create standards that improve teaching and learning at all levels, we need to make sure they work and benefit everyone involved. At least, that is the goal, and so far, it’s working.
However, to keep that success sustainable and to continue to raise the bar on what we can do as a community, we also need our members to think about collaborations outside of 1EdTech, and inside their own institutions, companies, and organizations.
When people think of an edtech “standards organization,” they think of technology and IT. In one respect, they’re right. We do work on technical standards, but it’s what those standards aim to accomplish that requires teamwork from multiple departments in an organization.
It’s one thing to collaborate with colleagues in the same role to gain inspiration, know you’re in the same boat, and find solutions to similar challenges together. Those collaborations can be extremely valuable and one of the many benefits of a 1EdTech membership.
However, there is a reason there is no limit to the number of people your institution can bring into those collaborations once you are a 1EdTech member. It’s because we want everyone on your team, not just your department, to gain that benefit so you can all come together, set common goals, and find solutions based on the unique skill set each brings to the table.
We need people who understand curriculum to help inform what skills and knowledge need to be taught; we need experts in pedagogy to understand the best and various ways learners process and retain that information; we need executives who see the big picture; and we need technological minds to make it all work.
We know this philosophy is successful because it’s what some of our most innovative members are already doing.
Some have improved personalized learning in their district by making it simple for teachers to access data, clearly showing where students need help, or providing multiple options for teaching a specific topic, depending on an individual student’s learning interests and performance.
Others found new ways to measure student learning and can share those skills as more and more employers look to skills-based hiring models.
And still, others lift some of the load from teachers by making it easier to find high-quality content across the district, regardless of the individual teacher’s technical knowledge.
Our members are always finding new solutions to common problems. The power of the 1EdTech community then ignites by bringing those solutions to other members; finding the right supplier partners who can make those innovative ideas a reality; and creating a large enough demand to scale those solutions across the country and world, bringing the benefits to more teachers and learners.
Because when the technology “just works,” we can focus our innovative minds on how to serve learners better. That’s why we say, “Together, we power learner potential.”
About the Author
Tim Clark, Ed.D.
Dr. Tim Clark assists schools and districts in adopting 1EdTech standards and practices to enable interoperable and secure digital learning ecosystems. He also provides strategic leadership for K-12 in 1EdTech in collaboration with the consortium's K-12 institutional and state Department of Education members.
