Scaling Quality Topic 4
Standards and Information: What type of information do students and parents, teachers, and districts need to evaluate quality? What is the best way to get that information: a quality standard, Consumer Reports, word of mouth? Do we need standards at all and how do they evolve in a post-CCSS world?
The education Souq is a market place in Mideastern countries.
Our vision is the creation of an education “Souq” that both curates information about digital content (tools, curriculum, user practices, etc) and has feedback loops within the “Souq” so that members can share what they learn and interact with other community members.
There are many different constituents in education with very diverse needs for different types of information. The “Souq” will need “starter information” — reports, both formal and informal from a variety of sources. Community members will need guidance from a “smart” assistant to help understand what is available and how suitable it may be. Data types include – information about students – their learning style
Ultimately we believe the community must collectively learn to build the kind of information that will be most valuable for making decisions. That means our “Souq” needs native feedback loops–ways that community members can easily contribute information to the rest of the community.
Without such a clearinghouse, the users are unable to understand the landscape of products and can’t share learning and experiences. This kind of murkiness also means that little companies that may be building high quality products can’t get enough visibility to enter the marketplace and survive (much less improve their products for customers).
- INFORMATION ON THE TYPE OF DATA AVAILABLE THAT WILL SUIT YOUR NEEDS: Informs users about the type and quality of information, and data available in the clearinghouse (a “Siri”).
- LOTS OF DATA. ALL TYPES BUT ORGANIZED. Many types of “canned” data and information about the quality of products and their use: these data types should include everything from academic research, published analysis comparing products, peer-reviewed analysis of usage to “Yelp”-like comments and “Consumer Report” type product comparison charts. This collection of data should also include “soft” data such as teacher evaluations of ease of use and student reviews.
- ABILITY TO FILTER AND CUSTOMIZE THAT DATA QUICKLY & EASILY. The ability for users to create on the fly their own individualized “data reports” drawing on the available resources to suit their own needs. These specialized charts could also be fed back to the main data library for others to share.
- FORUMS FOR COMPARING OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIENCES. A collection of communities: People can choose to participate in one or more communities, including a general (all comers) community where people are identified by name, an anonymous community, and specialized user-defined communities. Communities should be able to contribute insights to the data library and should be able to proactively send community members’ relevant updates.
- A REGISTERY FOR GENERATING DATA. To record data on real user trends, we believe it would be helpful to have a “registry” where users can purchase, license or simply register (in the case of a free product) what specific tools they are using. Data on these trends would then be fed back to the main data library.
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES & CHALLENGES:
1. UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES:
REMEMBERING THAT “QUALITY” INCLUDES A HUMAN ELEMENT. We recognize that evaluating digital materials amounts to only one component of creating a powerful education experience.
2. CHALLENGES TO CREATING THE VISION:
- Getting quality data– both the “starter” data and the data created by feedback mechanisms.
- Ensuring that vendors or other “interested parties” don’t massage data and results.
- Creating a “souq” that works–smoothly, efficiently and clearly.
- Getting people to show up and actually use it.
- Ensuring that this souq is a “learning community” that evolves and changes as participants gain more experience.