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Will ed-tech have a role in the White House’s college access push?


President Obama invited nearly 150 university, nonprofit, and business leaders to the White House Jan. 16 for a summit devoted to finding ways of improving college access to low-income students.

white-house-educationThose in attendance were required to make specific commitments to increase college opportunity — and education technology such as data analytics, online learning, and mobile devices are key factors in many of those pledges.

“Today only 30 percent of low-income students enroll in college right after high school and, far worse, by their mid-20s only 9 percent earn a bachelor’s degree,” Obama said. “So if we as a nation can expand opportunity and reach out to those young people and help them not just go to college but graduate from college or university, it could have a transformative effect.”

The summit largely stayed away from any discussion of Obama’s controversial college rating system, and instead focused on a series of panel and group discussions about individual efforts to address enrollment and retention.

Greg Tobin, Pearson’s president of higher education English, mathematics, and student success, was one of the few executives invited to attend the summit, which was primarily comprised of college and university presidents.

Tobin, who described the White House assembly as a “once-in-a-lifetime gathering,” said while the summit did not explore specific techniques for technology implementation, ed-tech was frequently referenced throughout the event.

“Technology plays a large part in helping colleges make the right decisions,” Tobin said, adding that Pearson would work with 50 colleges and universities to bolster completion rates. “I think the charge that came from the meeting was to ask ‘what can you do proactively to reach out to these students?'”

The summit came just one day after the second annual White House Education Datapalooza, a gathering of more than 600 educators, business leaders, policy-makers, and data scientists focusing on the future of data and technology in education. The Obama administration is also now seeking “public comments to inform its policy development related to high-impact learning technologies.”

A quick glance through the list of commitments made by universities and groups at the White House reveals how critical a role ed-tech will play in the White House’s call to action.

The Georgia Institute of Technology will “deliver technology-assisted, college level calculus courses to low-income students.”

Georgia State University plans on utilizing Big Data and predictive analytics to find the right moments to intervene when students are struggling due to financial reasons. Similar uses of data are a part of commitments made by the University of Hawaii and Howard University.

The Oregon Institute of Technology will create a text message program connecting advisers more directly to students who need extra support. The State of Arizona will develop a state-wide system to give better and more flexible access to online courses.

Louisiana State University said it will develop “additional online technologies that target and aid low-income, under-represented, and first-generation students.”

Khan Academy – which offers online classes similar to massive open online courses (MOOCs) – is developing a section of its website that focuses on advising and counseling low-income students.

Dan Rosensweig, the CEO of Chegg, said the White House summit also touched on helping students once they graduate. To that end, Chegg’s “commitment” is a partnership with Internships.com. The collaboration will combine the website’s database of 70,000 internships with Chegg’s resume builder and “student graph.”

“We are empowering students to take control of their own destiny,” Rosensweig said. “By giving students instant access to an internships database on the devices they use, we are investing in the future of students and the American economy.”

Follow Jake New on Twitter at @eCN_Jake.

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