Comments on: Schoology bets $250k on open education data challenge

By: Paul Smith

Paul Smith — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 18:41:37 +0000

I was surprised to learn of the write-back capability. If I’m reading this right, schools could potentially now use whatever gradebook and parent portal they prefer.

However, we should keep in mind that Pearson is not giving access away. Vendors must typically pay to play by joining Pearson’s ISV program: http://powerschool.com/partners/current/

One advantage to LearnSprout is that it’s not limited to what is provided by the SIS developer (typically the provided API, FTP Autosend or what can be scraped off a web page). LearnSprout establishes a direct database connection and is able to access ALL data within the SIS.

By: Startup Angel

Startup Angel — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 17:46:27 +0000

Reblogged this on Class Acts and commented: This is a very positive development for the ed-reform movement, but it strikes me as about as likely to succeed as a bank robber paying SunTrust to allow him to tunnel into the their safe. Sure they get $25K now, but they may find that down the road, people use the bank less often. SIS vendors have built nearly impenetrable walls around their systems, leveraging the fear and paranoia associated with issues such as student privacy and data security, because that allows them to continue extracting rents from their captive users, without having to innovate. Nimble start-ups like Clever, Learnsprout and others are creating ways to circumvent the stranglehold the SIS vendors have had on school districts, and it's refreshing to learn that a Goliath like Pearson is willing to give a slingshot to a David, like Schoology. Fire away!

By: Liliana Pertenava

Liliana Pertenava — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:09:35 +0000

Thank you for the article! What is also interesting – the personal data issue. How does the service deal with the personal data protection/law etc.?