Data dashboards encouraged to spread

The US Department of Educations is encouraging states and ed-tech companies to develop and utilise learning dashboards in order to integrate data from various sources, as it helps teachers "connect the dots" to help improve student learning.

Dive Brief:

The U.S. Department of Education's National Education Technology Plan puts a high priority on states, districts, and ed-tech companies developing and utilizing learning dashboards in order to integrate data from various sources.

Supporters say that the push is aimed at helping teachers "connect the dots" to help improve student learning.

Dashboards can also track and manage goal-setting, Education Week reports, in addition to collating data from formal assessments or building personalized-learning programs.

Dive Insight:

Data dashboards are already in use, and the new federal plan aims to encourage their spread.

In Long Beach, California, a student data dashboard has been incorporated into a teachers' professional development program that offers personalized learning plans based on student data, past training, and teachers' areas of weakness. Yet in New York, one platform offering a data dashboard, InBloom, has been abandoned due to new legislation that bans the collection and storage of student data for use in a data dashboard.

Student data privacy concerns continue to be an issue, with the Electronic Frontier Foundation's complaint about Google Apps for Education privacy setting recently capturing the attention of Minnesota Senator Al Franken.