eScholar Gathers Group of Education Data Experts to be Problem Solvers at SXSWedu 2015
The ownership and application of data in the education field continue to be pressing concerns.
March 10, 2015 – Austin, TX – As the leading company in the education data field, eScholar has gathered a group of data experts to lead a problem solver session at SXSWedu entitled Whose Data Is It Anyway?! The session will take place during the height of SXSWedu in Austin, TX on March 11th from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
A combination of public voting and SXSWedu administrative interest propelled the “Whose Data Is It Anyway?” panel past 1038 other proposed sessions to be selected for the conference.
Whose Data Is It Anyway?! will feature:
- Shawn Bay, the Founder and CEO of eScholar, who has helped state and local education agencies for almost 20 years collect and manage data.
- Olga Garcia-Kaplan, student data privacy advocate and writer for the FERPA|SHERPA blog. Garcia-Kaplan is also Vice President of D.F. King, a global financial services firm.
- Jules Polonetsky, Executive Director of the Future of Privacy Forum. Polonetsky is also a former New York State legislator.
Facilitating the session will be Dr. Jeff Wayman, an education consultant who focuses on effective use of data. Dr. Wayman is a former teacher and professor at the University of Texas, Austin. All four session leaders also bring the perspective of being parents of school children.
Questions of student data privacy press the education community because new technology offers the opportunity to improve educational outcomes, but data security and ownership are concerns. In 2015 alone, 39 states have introduced 138 bills related to education data and student privacy, according to the Data Quality Campaign. President Obama has also taken up the issue, releasing the legislative proposal “Student Digital Privacy Act” in late January of 2015.
Shawn Bay believes Whose Data Is It Anyway?! will be another important step in 2015’s march towards student data solutions.
“Student data privacy and ownership must be addressed before we can use data to help students achieve a better education,” says Shawn Bay. “All of us, as parents, providers, and practitioners in the field, have a responsibility to help develop solutions for ethical and effective data use.”
The SXSWedu Conference & Festival fosters innovation in learning by hosting a diverse and energetic community of stakeholders across a variety of backgrounds in education. For more information on this year’s conference, please visit http://sxswedu.com/.
Contact:
Elissa Seto
eScholar LLC
914.989.2911
About eScholar: eScholar is the leader in education data solutions. eScholar’s award-winning solutions have an impact on over 20 million students in 5,000 school districts across 13 states. Since 1997, eScholar has set the standard in education data integration and quality management. Learn more at www.escholar.com.
Tags: