Learning Innovation

Do you work in ed tech higher ed sales? My goal in this post is to start a discussion, with the result of the larger IHE community gaining a better understanding of the world of an ed tech sales professional. I'll describe what I think I know about the life of sales professional in education technology, and you tell us where I get it wrong or right.

The "Kindle Run" does not exist. This is my pitch to Bezos and Amazon.

The learning management system (LMS) has become our academic Rorschach test. We all see different things when looking at the same LMS platforms.

I asked Devin Knighton, director of public relations for Instructure Canvas, for a timeline of the company's major milestones and sales partnerships. Devin also indicated that the next milestone will be learning analytics, coming in Q1 of 2012.

The next ed tech challenge is enable the creation of new campus revenues. How can campus information technology leaders get in front of strategic efforts to simultaneously raise revenues, lower costs, and increase quality? How does ed tech become a driver of growth?

You love books. I love books. Neither of us has much time. How can we read more?

Chuck Severance wrote such an amazing "push back" (in comments) to my piece on Sakai (and D2L) biases that I wanted to re-publish it in full (see below).

One of the great things about our ed tech world is how our people sometimes move back-and-forth between academic and company gigs. If you want to sell, serve, or code for a higher ed customer then the best prep is have come from that world. If you want to evaluate vendors, negotiate contracts, and engage in meaningful partnerships with companies then having worked in the corporate sector will be your best education.