Articles Tagged with SIIA

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IMG_4955.jpgI’ll be reviewing the findings of the white paper I wrote for SIIA on Best Practices for Implementing Games & Simulations in the Classroom today at 4 ET (corrected). The webinar and the paper are free.

We interviewed teachers, administrators, and vendors who have successfully implemented edugames and distilled the lessons they learned about how to sell the idea, how to prepare, and classroom management issues. It is a very practical hands on look at this arena and has implications for educators and people designing edugames.

The webinar is part of EdWeb’s lively Game Based Learning Community (500+ members). It is the first in a series of webinars with luminaries like Jim Bower, Chris Dede, and Dan Norton.

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fail-owned-out-of-business-hiring-employment-failThe tribe gathered, bad coffee was drunk, stale muffins were eaten, and we shared insights and guesses about where education technology and publishing are headed in era of tight budgets and ARRA munificence. It was a typical first week of December in New York.

Here is the first of my overviews of what happened during the week. Subsequently I’ll dig into the AEP CEO Roundtable, the MDR Christmas Party, and the AEP Hall of Fame Breakfast.

SIIA Education Technology Business Forum – Tuesday Dec. 1

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1029083_reaching_1The education publishing tribe’s annual gathering is in New York this week. Today kicks off with the SIIA Ed Tech Business Forum (sold out) at the Princeton Club followed by the AEP CEO Roundtable (2 seats left) and the MDR/Peter Li Christmas Party tomorrow (by invitation), and the AEP Hall of Fame Breakfast on Thursday.

This annual trek is an important part of the culture of our industry and if you have not participated I encourage you to make time next year. I love me some social media – but there is no replacement for looking people in the eye, handshakes, and hugs for old friends. 95% of communication is non-verbal after all.

Over the next few days I’ll be putting up a few posts about the events this week. My intention is not to provide general reporting, but to drill in on a few things I find interesting. We’ll see how that goes.

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videogamesA new free white paper that tackles the practical challenges teachers face when they use video games was released this week by the Software Information Industry Association (SIIA). I was the author of the paper and the co-chair of the working group that produced the paper.

Barrels of ink and pixels by the gigabit have been spilled trying to answer the question “Do video games work as teaching tools?” We started from a simpler perspective – assuming that games can support learning what are the practical tips that teachers can use to boost the odds of success? We interviewed the pioneers in the classroom and at the companies that have developed successful games and summarized their hard won insights in the paper.

I excerpt the executive summary below and over the coming days will post some of the more detailed findings. For the complete paper visit the SIIA’s website and download the PDF.

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rocket school busEducation is high on the list for the economic stimulus package being proposed by the Obama Administration. Congress also supports turbo charging education so the likelihood of significant aid to schools is very high. But where oh where will the money actually go?

  • Construction?
  • Maintenance?
  • Teachers?
  • Instructional Materials?

As a nation we have some clear choices to make. We should be fighting for the right things amidst all the logrolling and back slapping that go on in DC. If you are part of the education publishing industry you should be engaged with the government relations work at AEP, SIIA, or AAP. These folks are working hard to make sure our voices are heard and they need your support and engagement. All of them welcome members who get involved in this effort.

As experts in this area and as citizens we have a responsibility to speak up. This doesn’t mean pulling strings for our particular companies, it means making sure all of our money is spent wisely with the long term in view.

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highway-rainbow-nicklen-696533-xlWhat are the prospects for raising capital for education technology companies in the current financial meltdown? Last week at the SIIA Ed-Tech Business Forum a panel of investors tackled this question. The panelists presented some solid and detailed advice for investors and companies seeking capital during the recession.

Key Points:

  • Many investors are seeing Education as a safe harbor in a turbulent market, it is seen as relatively recession resistant. Education’s profile is rising as a marquee investment arena for the next 10 years – it is a good time right now for education.
  • Take in as little as possible at as light a valuation you can get because valuations are going to be low for a while.
  • The strong are going to win big in this downturn. Access to capital is going to be an important differentiator in this market.
  • Most venture firms are not looking at new deals, they are focused on down rounds and propping up existing investments. They are also all moving up the deal chain to safer investments than they make in normal times. If you are raising money be aware of this.
  • It is all about being profitable per customer in this market. Hope isn’t a strategy – go get paying customers and drive a lifetime revenue model
  • Focus down on the core of what you have to provide and strip the organization down to doing just that. Have a crystal clear picture of who your customers will be, how they will find the money, and what are the essential features.

The panelists were:

Chris began with an overview of the market trends. Many investors are seeing Education as a safe harbor in a turbulent market, it is seen as relatively recession resistant. He noted that there is a huge capital overhang – investors have lots of funds but are making few investments. In education fundraising is actually up this year but we are seeing deals that are over capitalized. Later on Frank made the case that this is a bad deal from the entrepreneur’s side.

Most investment groups are setting the bar higher for new deals. Investors are looking for $10m Revenue and $2m EBIDTA which leaves out most K-12 Ed-Tech companies. Companies at this size need capital to invest in Sales and Marketing to scale up. Lots of education companies with good products in the last 10 years have failed because they couldn’t get past this hurdle.

His slides include a list of the private equity investors in education and a list of 100 deals that have been done in the education space in the past two years.

Follow below the fold for details on each panelists comments and the audience Q&A.

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NFImageImportThis panel is made up of seasoned veterans of the M&A markets for Education Technology companies. They addressed the K12, Higher Education / Post-secondary, and general M&A climate.

The panelists are:

It is sponsored by Empirical Education.

Key insights:

  • Look to the UK market – it is an 18 month leading indicator of what is going to happen in the US market.
  • Professional Development is now mandatory for all solutions in the UK. Are publishers using this to hold open source at bay or is this a real switch taking place?
  • The US market is contracting – there are fewer strategic buyers because they have all merged and the Private Equity guys are sitting things out for a while.
  • Buyers don’t want to take any risk right now – only companies with proven business models, strong teams, and organic growth need apply.
  • For profit higher ed is growing – the economy is actually helping with this as people look to expand their skill base.
  • Expect to see many buyers looking for bargains over the next couple of years. Don’t expect to see much in the way of IPOs.
  • In K12 multiples are higher (almost double) for companies that have a strong technology component – but it has to be integrated well – it can’t be a bolt on.
  • Multiples are higher for Higher Ed than K12.

For my more free form notes follow below the fold.

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125x125I will be blogging today from the Software Information Industry Association’s Ed Tech Forum 2008. The event is taking place at a monument to mid-20th Century American hegemony – the Princeton Club in New York.

This is the first year they have had a real blogger friendly environment – they have set up a table with power and easy access. The other bloggers here are Annie Teich and Ken Royal. Several of us will also be tweeting the event – look for the tags edtech08 and #etbf.

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DSC01549.jpgWhat do large school districts need from ed-tech providers? Michael Casserly Executive Director of the Council of the Great City Schools spoke at the Software Information Industry Association (SIIA) conference this week in San Francisco. The speech was direct, honest, and well balanced in tackling some difficult issues like NCLB.

Towards the close of the speech he made the following 10 requests of the Ed-Tech community. I’ve added my perspective from the industry’s side of the conversation.

1. Provide tools that build academic vocabulary and develop high order thinking skills. I found this an interesting request given that all the major publishers and several mid and small sized publishers have materials that do all of these things. Either we are not meeting the real need with our products or we are not getting the word out effectively. This should give all of these providers cause to reflect on their offerings and their go-to-market strategies.

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videogames

FETC 2008 starts tomorrow and I’m looking forward to catching up with friends and colleagues from across the Education Technology industry.

I’m participating in a panel discussion on Thursday afternoon about games and education that will balance practitioners with vendors in a discussion about the state of games and learning. From the practitioner side John Rice of the Education Games Research Blog will be there along with Gary Weidenhamer, Education Technology Manager at Palm Beach County District. Dave Martz from Muzzy Lane Software and I will be speaking from the business perspective and Karen Billings from SIIA’s Education Division will be moderating.

The panel runs from 1:50-2:45 PM Thursday in room CS4. Hope to see you there!

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