Giving Compass' Take:

· The authors relay the discussions on education technology and equity from the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference.

· How can donors support the development of education technology that takes equity into account? How are schools planning to implement AI into the classroom? 

· Check out this article to read more about education reform and driving America to a modern education model.


More than 20,000 teachers gathered in Philadelphia this week to learn together about using technology to enhance learning. The 40-year-old International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference is the biggest ed tech convening in the US. This year, more than 3,000 presenters hosted 2,000 learning experiences–and they included about 500 students.

After serving as the nation’s ed tech director, Rich Culatta (below) took on the leadership of the ISTE two years ago. He opened the conference discussing the organization’s new focus on the implications of artificial intelligence and their renewed commitment to equity.

Microsoft had a huge presence at ISTE. Education VP Eran Megiddo was onsite to demo immersive reader (a new Azure Cognitive Service) available across Office 365, Minecraft and pretty much anywhere there is text. Developers can embed assistive tech to improve text reading and comprehension. Megiddo noted that three of four classrooms include students with learning differences that could benefit from the accessibility features.

Eran also showed off Teams, the workflow management platform (and Slack alternative) integrated with Office 365. Teams has a clean new interface and improved grading features. He also demoed Powerpoint coach which allows learners to rehearse presentations and receive feedback. Megiddo illustrated the expanded writing feedback features in Word.

Read the full article about the ISTE19 conference by Rachelle Dene Poth and Tom Vander Ark at Getting Smart.