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*The Edvocate is pleased to produce its “Best of the Best” resource lists. These lists provide our readers with rankings for education-related blogs, twitter accounts, influencers, products, etc. These lists are meant to be fluid, and for that reason, they are regularly updated to provide up to the moment information.*
Who are the biggest edtech influencers in the world? The Edvocate editorial team has exhaustively researched the movers and shakers of edtech and selected 20 global influencers. To frame our methodology, we decided to define edtech influencer broadly. On this list, you will find administrators, bloggers, journalists, policymakers, researchers, innovators, businessmen, activists, etc. who are transforming the edtech space as we know it.
The influencers that we chose are all active in the area of edtech, doing something influential in 2017, well-known throughout the edtech landscape, and making an impact globally. We are excited to witness how these influencers continue to change the world this year, and we are anxious to see who will stand on the shoulders of these giants, and as a result, make our list next year. Without further ado, here is The Edvocate’s 2017 EdTech 20: A Ranking of 20 Global Edtech Influencers.
11. Dr. Julie Carter
Co-Founder & CEO, GreyED Solutions
What Her Current Focus Is: Dr. Carter’s current focus is assisting K12 school districts and EdTech organizations transform themselves for the digital age. Through organizational alignment, strategic planning and professional development, she is fostering change and adaptation in teaching, learning and leadership. Her focus on understanding organizational culture and ecosystems leverages the power of stakeholder insights and builds capacity for impacting learners through the purposeful implementation of technology. As part of her focus she serves as a liaison to EdTech organizations influencing their product development, identifying the most important gaps and needs in the market from the educator perspective.
How She’s Transforming the EdTech Space: She’s co-created FilterED, an adaptive, digital toolset offering school leaders a comprehensive, actionable view of their current technology landscape. This is transforming the edtech space offering leaders insights into previously intangible elements of their organization, providing the evidence needed to prioritize and measure ongoing technology initiatives.
What Her Background Is: Dr. Carter’s background in education began as a classroom teacher and media specialist before becoming the Executive Director of Technology for Minnetonka Public Schools. There she oversaw one of the best 1:1 computing efforts in the country, recognized by Apple and the National School Board Association (NSBA). She was named as Tech & Learning’s Leader of the Year in 2010 for her innovative use of technology and as one of “20 to Watch” by the NSBA in 2010.
What May Surprise You About Her: She studied computer science prior to blending her passions for technology and education and pursuing a degree in education leadership.
Twitter: @greyedsolutions
Email: julie@greyedsolutions.com
15. Jess Gartner
Allovue CEO and Founder
What Her Current Focus Is: Jess Gartner, a former Baltimore City public school teacher, founded Allovue, a K-12 education finance technology company that empowers educators to strategically and equitably allocate resources. Allovue’s software platform, Balance, integrates seamlessly with districts’ existing accounting systems and other data systems to help educators budget, monitor, and evaluate spending. Allovue also provides supplemental services, including funding equity analysis, diagnostic skills surveys, financial management training, and cost-effectiveness analysis. Allovue is currently working with districts across 15 states to analyze their education spending.
How She’s Transforming the EdTech Space: $700B of annual education spending data is stored in archaic systems, further obfuscated by complex accounting codes. Compelled to reveal connections between school spending and student outcomes, the Allovue team is transforming how education finance data is managed and analyzed.
What Her Background Is: Before founding Allovue, Jess studied education policy at the University of Pennsylvania and received her MA in Teaching from Johns Hopkins. She’s a former Baltimore City middle school teacher, where she saw first-hand how resource allocation impacts student success. Jess has been featured as Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 in Education. In 2016 she received the Maryland TEDCO Entrepreneur of the Year and the Johns Hopkins Outstanding Alumni Award.
What May Surprise You About Her: Jess Gartner believes that education finance is a civil rights issue, necessitating increased financial transparency to evaluate resource equity. Jess leads a national #edfintech company that provides technology solutions making strategic and equitable budgeting easy, efficient, and effective.
Twitter: @jessgartner @allovuebalance
Email: admin@allovue.com
16. Todd Brekhus
President of myON
What His Current Focus Is: Todd Brekhus has made it his goal to personalize literacy in a way that will transform learning for all students. With myON and its expansive literacy ecosystem, Todd and his team aim to provide unlimited access to reading beyond the classroom walls. myON works to inspire the love of reading and learning by leveling the playing field with unlimited access to books and furthers the ability to provide unlimited opportunities for all students.
How He’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Todd and his team have built a literacy ecosystem that offers students instant access to more than 13,000 enhanced digital books with multimedia supports, daily news articles, real-time assessments, and close reading tools.
What His Background Is: Todd led the digital product concept and planning at Capstone Digital for myON and other digital products since 2008. Previously, he was the VP and Chief Marketing Officer for PLATO Learning, president and COO of Learning Elements, and Education Program Director for MCI WorldCom, where he helped develop and implement the Marco Polo program. Before that, he spent eight years in education as a teacher, department chair, and technology director.
What May Surprise You About Him: Todd’s very first job in 1982 was unpacking Apple II computers for the head librarian in the Bloomington Public School District.
Twitter: @ToddBrekhus
Email: tbrekhus@myon.com
Founder & CEO of Bloomz, Inc.
What His Current Focus Is: Chaks is focused on creating a fun, easy-to-use parent-teacher communication tool for a new generation of social media and mobile-savvy parents who have children in schools and daycares. Today’s parents are used to connecting and communicating through their smartphones and are fluent in the language of photos, likes, comments, and direct messages. With Bloomz, Chaks has created a mobile app with a familiar social media interface that encourages parents to participate in their child’s learning and connect to their teacher through a secure platform.
How He’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Chaks has helped bring Bloomz to over 14,000 schools across the nation by combining a social networking interface with a comprehensive set of tools, from messaging and media sharing, to calendar, signups, and student behavior tracking—all at no cost.
What His Background Is: Before creating Bloomz, Chaks applied his computer science and engineering education at companies such as Microsoft, AskMe, and most recently as the vice president of product and partnerships at GlobalScholar, where he focused on building an end-to-end learning platform to connect teachers, students, and administrators. He founded Bloomz, Inc. in January 2014 and serves as the Founder and CEO.
What May Surprise You About Him: A parent of two school-aged children, Chaks created Bloomz after he and his wife both fell ill and had communication difficulties with their teachers.
Twitter: @achaks
Email: Chaks@bloomz.com
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Defined Learning
What His Current Focus Is: As the CEO of Defined Learning, it is Farragher’s goal to build and maintain strong customer relationships and provide thought leadership in identifying best practices that provide educators with the best possible experience. Through Defined STEM, a product of Defined Learning, students can engage in project-based learning (PBL) and use what they know to solve real-world problems. The curriculum is aimed to save educators time when creating unique and relevant project-based lessons, while also opening students’ eyes to a variety of STEM careers.
How He’s Transforming the EdTech: With his Defined STEM curriculum, Farragher saves teachers time and makes PBL easy to implement by providing pre-built, project-based performance tasks complete with research resources. To help educators effectively implement PBL in their classrooms, Farragher added Performance Task PD, a professional development community.
What His Background Is: With 20 years in educational media, Farragher has used creative marketing campaigns to make Defined Learning a success. He started in education as a salesman for United Learning. From 1992–2009, he was Senior VP of strategy and business development for Discovery Education. Farragher’s vision led to the development of the widely adopted United Streaming. He started Defined Learning in 2009, which has grown to partner with thousands of schools.
What May Surprise You About Him: A Chicago native, Farragher is an avid sports fan and enjoys cheering for the Bears, the Cubs, and the Blackhawks.
Twitter: @DefinedSTEM