12.17.2012

Education Article and Mini Rant: Top Ed-Tech Trends of 2012: The Platforming of Education

Hack Education's article "Top Ed-Tech Trends of 2012: The Platforming of Education" is a great examination at the lastest trend in ed technology.

On a mini tangent: Audrey Watters is one of my favorite ed tech writers who constantly provides thought provoking articles. It is important to highlight authors like this - while I do not always agree with Watters her point of view always helps me better understand concepts and philosophies of my own because she challenges the logic of the norm while providing a clear and reasonable articulation of her point.

Within her article Watter's highlights "Marc Andreesen [who] offered a good definition of platforms in a 2007 post titled “The Three Kinds of Platforms You Meet on the Internet”:

A “platform” is a system that can be programmed and therefore customized by outside developers — users — and in that way, adapted to countless needs and niches that the platform’s original developers could not have possibly contemplated, much less had time to accommodate.

Andreessen goes on to argue that there are 3 levels of Internet platforms — 1. Access API, 2. Plug-in API, and 3."

As Watters' continues she articulates "while the Web remains my favorite education platform, what we witnessed in 2012 is probably less about the open Web and more about the development of closed commercial platforms."

This last point is important - the implementation of technology in education is requiring us to rethink how we access and manage this 'platform' for our classrooms. Watters' article provides a great overview of who is currently attempting to platform education - and her point of view is extremely accurate from my point of view - her commentary on the companies currently engaged in this process is a must read for any educator or developer.

But I believe that the one point that was not emphasized enough is the simple need that remains unfilled - this platform that Watters' highlights and explains the potential of - this platform that can delivery the necessary tools to teachers in an easy to use, comprehensive, and potential to push individualized education beyond closer to an ideal still remains just a thought and not a reality.


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