January 2013

According to a new CB Insights on mergers and acquisitions in 2012, education technology was by no means the top industry by deal volume — that honor goes to web and mobile commerce — but given all the investor money entering the sector, we thought it might be interesting to take a look at the top companies responsible for exits.

According to the research firm, there were 48 ed tech deals in 2012, down slightly from 51 in 2011. John Wiley & Sons, the 200-year-old publisher, was the most active buyer, acquiring three companies. Publishing giant Pearson, learning management system Blackboard and private equity firm Vista Equity Partners each bought up two companies. The biggest ed tech deals of the year were Pearson’s $650 million purchase of Embanet Compass, which provides online learning services to colleges and universities.

Consumers wary of doling out personal information online can soon start looking for a "Fair Data" designation on their favorite websites. On January 28, designated Data Privacy Day, a new benchmark was announced for the treatment of personal information. The Market Research Society (MRS), a U.K.-based research and business intelligence organization, has laid out a set of 10 principles that would earn an organization the distinction of using the Fair Data logo. According to CIO.com, organizations that wish to display the logo must get explicit consent for any data they collect, impose data security, use data exclusively in the manner specified and grant consumers access to any data it holds. Third parties that could potentially access the data must meet these same requirements.

Many federal agencies are moving quickly to implement telework programs to help cut costs, increase productivity and improve employee work-life balance. Still, the means to achieve those goals are extending beyond just telework, so much so that the leading public-private organization for federal telework is rebranding itself under a new name. Telework Exchange announced that it has refreshed its name and expanded its mission to include mobile IT discussions across the federal government. Under its new name -- Mobile Work Exchange -- the organization will continue longstanding initiatives like Telework Work and expand its town hall meetings and educational courses.

Education is a prerequisite to using information and communication technologies (ICT) — and in return, these same technologies can facilitate learning processes, taking education beyond classrooms as we know them.

A Technology Watch report “,” published by ITU in September 2012, surveys emerging technologies, which, if applied in an educational context, will contribute to more efficient and more affordable education and training for all. For a number of years now, standardization bodies have been defining standards and guidelines for ICT-enhanced distance-learning. Their output is taken up in this report with a view to exploring and identifying new applications and directions for this work. Education is a fundamental human right for everyone. It is critical to our development as individuals and societies, and it helps pave the way to a successful and productive future. Universal primary education is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (“Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling”).