I received by mail a catalogue of market intelligence and forecasting about aerospace, electronics, etc. Reading through it, I remembered how much I have wanted to have a catalogue of intelligence (data) and forecasting about learning, especially in PK12 schools.

I know that several companies and the U.S. Department of Education provide data about schools, so administrators and boards of education can make reasoned decisions about school policies and operations. But, most of these data have limited use for teachers while in their daily classrooms with students.

Teachers have a heightened awareness of their role in adjusting classroom activities to increase student learning rates. They share the same front line in trying to equalize the distribution of learning at the highest levels accomplished by the best students in the best schools. In other words, teachers share with family, socio-economic, religious, government, etc. the front line against ignorance.

Yet, even the most talented and articulate teachers tackle their daily duties with limited immediately available data beyond personal experience and group hearsay (sometimes called professional development communities, lesson planning meetings, etc.) relevant to judging whether to use instruction pattern A or B with Billy this morning and C or D at 1PM.

I, and I think others also independently, propose that an education investor consider creating a fund to underwrite development of a company to provide such data to teachers through online subscriptions.

If done correctly, these data should lead to demonstrating whether Billy, each day, learns more at 8:30AM with procedure A or B, and C or D at 1PM.

Tablet PCs, Ultra-Mobile PCs, and other mobile PCs provide a platform to collect such data with the appropriate approvals. I think enough teachers, mobile PC software developers, and investors would willingly participate in such a venture to make it a teacher friendly, financially viable operation, probably without equal for yielding increased learning rates reliably.

Hmmm. I wonder if anyone else thinks, "Let's do it!"

Tablet PC Education Blog