EdNet 2009 starts this Sunday in Chicago. This is one of the three most important events of the year* for networking and professional development in the education industry. I’ve been attending since the early 90’s with only a couple of absences. Nelson Heller, EdNet’s founder, has also been a friend…
Special Education appears to be the first K12 market segment seeing the education stimulus dollars flow in volume. At PCI Education we saw our numbers start to move up towards the end of May. By August we were roaring on all cylinders. As a private company we don’t report out…
Student Information Systems (SIS) and Data Warehouses (DWS) are the bedrock enterprise software systems in K12 school districts. The K12 Decision Support Systems Market Report is now available. The 118 page report is based on a survey of over 300 district level IT Directors. ARRA Accountability Market Intelligence Given the…
Humor and marketing have a tricky relationship. Many marketers use humor in ways that actually undercut their objectives – people remember the joke but forget the company or the product. Here is an example that caught my interest and which I thought did a nice job of making an impersonal…
In this second of a two part series, guest blogger James Mayfield Smith responds to my post on Storyline in Textbooks and Video Games. James is an educational consultant, sales executive, and trained applied mythologist. Part 1 can be found here. Part 2 of 2: The Tactical Use of Story…
In this first of a two part series, guest blogger James Mayfield Smith responds to my post on Storyline in Textbooks and Video Games. James has the coolest job title I think I’ve ever seen – Applied Mythologist. We worked together at Pearson several years ago, he speaks about Education…
Why did I destroy a perfectly good book today? Actually more than good – Murukami never disappoints. Kafka on the Shore isn’t in quite the same league as The Windup Bird Chronicle – but it is a damn fine book. Did I burn it? No. Did I rip out the…
Interactive Whiteboards (IWB) are all the rage in education right now. Market penetration is about 15% of classrooms and climbing like a rocket. Is it time for publishers to jump on this bandwagon? If so, which digital whiteboard is right for you? I spent the better part of my time…
If you want to be taken seriously in the age of social media you have to speak authentically or people won’t believe you. Your marketing messages are a promise. I’ve written about delivering on that promise. Today I want to focus on the words. For the promise to be taken…
Doug Stein of Memespark has some commentary to share on ARRA and innovation. By Guest Blogger Doug Stein I don’t know if you saw this article. It details how one district is spending the ARRA education stimulus money: Most of the 6.5 million will be spent to keep teachers in…