Market Trends

In this interview with edCircuit, Ryan Craig, Managing Director at University Ventures, discusses current trends in investing.

M ax Woolf, Senior Analyst at Eduventures, discusses current investment trends in higher education. Woolf talks about student services as a key area of focus within the investment community. Woolf sees the employer role dictating the direction of higher education as a trend to watch.  

M itch Weisburgh, founder of Games 4 Ed, discusses the market for games in education and the obstacles to reach current curriculum models. Weisburgh also talks about “game jams” and other ways to engage teachers in the process of game development and deployment within classrooms.

D r. Ken Hartman, Senior Fellow at Eduventures, talks about his recent report The Higher Education Highway: Heeding Your Warning Lights and the self-assessment he gives institutions of higher education to better evaluate their current status as viable schools. Dr. Hartman, along with nearly 900 participants, including some 250 global education companies, was in New York for the BMO Capital Markets 15th Annual Back to School Education Conference. Dr. Berger, in collaboration with MindRocket Media Group and edCircuit captured views from business leaders to investors taking a look behind the scenes of investment in education and technology.

Photo credit: Kelly MartinBy George AndersonIn 2010, Target  set a goal of donating $1 billion for education by the end of this year. Last month, the retailer celebrated reaching that goal, having donated to schools both inside and out of the U.S. Now, Target says it will end its “Take Charge of Education” program next spring and shift to health and wellness initiatives as the focus of its cause marketing efforts.Read the rest of the story at Forbes.

M ark Claypool, President and CEO of ChanceLight Behavioral Health and Education, took time to discuss his efforts to improve public-private partnerships (PPP) in the education sector. Claypool recently co-authored We’re In This Together: Public-Private Partnerships in Special and At-Risk-Education. A social worker and education administrator, Claypool grew frustrated by decreasing resources for children with learning differences, so in 1999 he founded ChanceLight™ Behavioral Health & Education, formerly known as Educational Services of America (ESA). Under his leadership, the company has grown from a start-up to nearly $130 million in annual revenue, and today, ChanceLight is the nation’s leading provider of behavior therapy and alternative and special education programs for children and young adults. Claypool, along with nearly 900 participants, including some 250 global education companies was in New York for the BMO Capital Markets 15th Annual Back to School Education Conference. Dr. Berger, in collaboration with MindRocket Media Group and edCircuit captured views from business leaders to investors taking a look behind the scenes of investment in education and technology.

K aren Mahon, Ed.D joined Dr. Berger to discuss educational apps and lessons for the industry. Mahon is the founder of Balefire Labs that has reviewed nearly 5,000 apps in education. Balefire Labs utilizes a research-based set of criteria to review apps in the areas of instructional and usability design. Karen L. Mahon Ed.D is an Educational Psychologist and Instructional Designer with more than 15 years’ experience in education technology. Mahon was Principal Investigator and Research Scientist at Praxis, Inc., a Waltham (MA) ed tech startup that produced instructional software for children with severe and profound disabilities. While at Praxis, Mahon successfully generated National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research grants totaling close to $4M.Other previous appointments have included Global Senior Manager of Learning Sciences at Mimio Interactive Teaching Technologies and Research Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas. Karen received her Ed.D. and M.A. in Educational Psychology from West Virginia University, her Product Management Certificate from the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, and her B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego.  

Aubrey Bach, PayScale’s Senior Editorial Manager, sat down to talk about their most recent reports informing the position of teaching and the return on investment (ROI) college students receive from their university experience. Bach also talks about upcoming studies and she discusses the results of the most and least meaningful jobs in the U.S survey recently released by PayScale. 

Photo Credit: Edgar Zuniga Jr.by Larry Dignan for Between the LinesNews Corp. is putting its Amplify electronic learning platform and curriculum up for sale because the new school year selling season flopped and the rush to digital tools never materialized.Was the demise due to educational institutions’ reluctance to change or fatal flaws with Amplify?Read the rest of the story at ZDNet.