2012 March
A tale of two South Bys – SXSWedu & SXSW Interactive
On 19, Mar 2012 | One Comment | In Company News | By Robert Collins
Pathbrite on the big screen
It’s taken a few days but I finally feel like I’ve decompressed from all things SXSW. Let me just say that the experience was amazing! The opportunities to learn about new technology, create partnerships and collaborate with others in the ed tech and consumer tech communities were awesome. I would need a fire hose to properly share all of the information we gained at both conferences but you’d be better served if I just give you a few personal highlights:
SXSWedu
- We officially launched Pathbrite, Next Generation ePortfolios at SXSWedu as a sponsor and presenter
- There were amzing companies participating in the LAUNCHedu event, some standouts included BloomBoard, LearnBoost, Matygo and CollegiateChat
- Khan Academy is still one of the most talked about disrupters in the ed tech space, however the conversation is shifting to how informal learning credentials can be presented and showcased
- Big Data, Big Data, Big Data
The Pathbrite Team at SXSW
SXSW Interactive
- We were all blown away by the number presentations at the conference and gained invaluable messages from the likes of Reid Hoffman, Ray Kurzweil, Mitch Kapor, Chip Conley, Sean Parker, Al Gore and many more
- Location based apps were all the rage, which caused me to think, “How will this impact education and learning down the road?”
- I overheard a great quote: “We live in a three-dimensional world, but the average person only has access to tools that represent their skills one-dimensionally”
- Big Rain, Big Rain, Big Rain
I am already looking forward to next year and clearly need to start planning now. Overall, both conferences were great and only reaffirmed and validated what we’re trying to build here at Pathbrite and I couldn’t be happier doing it with this team, at this time.
- RWC
Pathbrite Next Generation ePortfolios Debut at SXSWedu Conference
On 06, Mar 2012 | 3 Comments | In Company News | By Heather Hiles
What an exciting week this is turning out to be!
Today, we introduced our next-generation ePortfolio platform and knowledge graph at South-by-Southwest EDU (SXSWedu). Pathbrite ePortfolios enable individuals to go beyond static resumes to vividly chronicle and showcase a lifetime of achievement in order to secure important goals like getting into a preferred school or landing a first job.
Institutions such as schools, universities or corporations also use the Pathbrite ePortfolio platform to gain better insight into the performance and achievement of both individuals and that of a given cohort, such as a classroom or full student body. The Pathbrite knowledge graph is a secure cloud-based repository of data that, when aggregated and normalized, enables institutions to track group performance and to benchmark it against that of other, similar institutions.
The competition to get into the school of your choice or the job of your dreams is greater than at any point in American history. Moreover, institutions are also eager to find ways to better compete and differentiate themselves through the development of their students or employees. Both trends are driving the adoption of our next generation ePortfolio platform, which is powered by the Pathbrite knowledge graph.
Pathbrite ePortfolios and its knowledge graph also give students full control over all the evidence of their learning and achievement, including certified transcripts, report cards and earned credentials. Much of a student’s learning data has been trapped in digital “walled gardens” making it difficult for them to easily present that data to whichever audience would benefit from it. Pathbrite eliminates this problem and the need to rely on the USPS or other outmoded ways to transmit official documents and data on student achievement. Safiya Noble, an instructor at the University of Illinois and whose students use Pathbrite ePortfolios, said:
With Pathbrite, students can decide which items best reflect their own learning outcomes from the course,” said University of Illinois instructor Safiya Noble. “Our students are focused on collecting and analyzing media and Pathbrite not only displays and showcases that content for our course, but also helps them provide employers with three-dimensional views into their knowledge and skills.
I will be the featured speaker at a panel discussion on the subject of student data portability during the SXSWedu conference:
Liberating Student Data Using Next Generation e-Portfolios
Hilton Austin – Downtown, Room 412
Thursday, March 8th, 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. CST
Session Description: Students have work product, transcripts and other evidence of learning and achievement trapped inside of LMS’s, SIS’s, and other digital “walled gardens”. Students should have more control over this data, including its portability. Moreover, innovative higher ed and K-12 institutions are clamoring for tools to optimize learning outcomes and help their students differentiate themselves from other applicants when applying to colleges or for highly coveted job opportunities. Our in-depth discussion of how ePortfolios can track knowledge and achievement will provide the audience information for how to optimize student success, all while giving the student more control over all the evidence of their learning and abilities. Ed Tech start-up CEO Heather Hiles of Pathbrite will lead the discussion.
If you’re in Austin for the SXSWedu conference, I hope you’ll join me.
Remember: Pathbrite ePortfolios are available to any individual for free. To get started building an ePortfolio, simply go to www.pathbrite.com. Institutions interested in learning more about the Pathbrite ePortfolio platform and knowledge graph should visit www.pathbrite.com/institutions.
About SxSWedu
SxSWedu seeks to converge the wide variety of stakeholders who share an interest in 21st Century innovation and best practices. Attendees represent not only education professionals including teachers, administrators and university professors, but also business, industry and policy leaders who all share a keen interest in modernizing teaching and learning. SXSWedu 2012 will occur March 6-8, 2012 at the Downtown Hilton in Austin, Texas in advance of SxSW Interactive, Music and Film festivals.
