Learning engineering double-header: EIS and AERA

Last month there were two events in fairly close proximity that are worth reviewing together.  During AERA and at the ASU Education Innovation Summit (EIS) there were sessions talking about why evidence-based approaches continue to get short shrift in education technology and education at scale.  It’s clear (at least to researchers) that there’s a tremendous opportunity to improve learning, and researchers are interested in being involved – if they can figure out how to be helpful, not merely asked to rubber-stamp projects at the end. It’s a mix of things to tackle, it seems: more informal communication between investors, decision-makers, and learning scientists about what’s possible; more practical evidence at scale about how to do the work; more examples of success to draw on; more support for better decision-making by buyers.  It’s not simple, clearly, but not impossible either.