Education 'app store' launches with support from Gates

March 11, 2013

Some school administrators are testing a bold idea to integrate the multitude of systems that are used to store student data, giving teachers a single view of how students are performing and allowing them to better deliver the right learning materials. The idea, which builds on a project called inBloom that's partly funded by Bill Gates, would also provide a single repository for the best learning applications and content, which teachers could draw from in a model akin to the app stores run by Apple and Google. It's just one way that schools are trying to put all their student databases, educational software, and administrative systems under one roof as their use of educational technology grows. It has inevitably raised concerns about privacy and security, however. Eager to share Some say the arrival of such a system would be long overdue. "This has always been where I wanted to be able to go," said Jim Peterson, technology director at Bloomington Public Schools in Illinois, who was on a panel discussing the idea Thursday at the education arm of the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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