Department of Education
Higher Education Supplement to the National Education Technology Plan
A supplement to the 2016 National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) which builds on the principles described in each of the NETP’s five sections—learning, teaching, leadership, assessment, and infrastructure—and examines them in the context of higher education. The supplement embraces the themes of lifelong learning, equity, and accessibility and supports the NETP’s assertion that technology must serve the needs of a diverse group of students seeking access to high-quality postsecondary learning experiences, especially those students from diverse socioeconomic and racial backgrounds, students with disabilities, first-generation students, and working learners at varying life stages – all with differing educational goals, but who all share the desire to obtain a postsecondary credential.
Guidance for Schools Issued on How to Keep Parents Better Informed on the Data They Collect on Students
The Department of Education announced new guidance for schools and districts on how to keep parents and students better informed about what student data is collected and how it is used.
The new guidance recommends that schools and districts provide parents with information, such as:
- What information are you collecting about students?
- Why are you collecting this information?
- How is the information protected?
- Do you share any personal information with third parties? If so, with whom and for what purpose(s)?
- Who should parents contact if they have questions about your data practice
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How Can the Department of Education Increase Innovation, Transparency and Access to Data?
Despite the growing amount of information about higher education, many students and families still need access to clear, helpful resources to make informed decisions about going to -- and paying for -- college.
President Barack Obama has called for innovation in college access, including by making sure all students have easy-to-understand information. Now, the US Department of Education needs your input on specific ways that we can increase innovation, transparency, and access to data. In particular, we are interested in how APIs (application programming interfaces, which are a set of software instructions and standards that allow machine-to-machine communication) could make our data and processes more open and efficient.
So we need you -- student advocates, designers, developers, and others -- to weigh in on a Request for Information (RFI) on how the Department could use APIs to increase access to higher education data or financial aid programs. There may be ways that Department forms -- like the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) -- or information-gathering processes could be made easier for students by incorporating the use of APIs. We invite the best and most creative thinking on specific ways that Department of Education APIs could be used to improve outcomes for students.
[Soo is a senior policy advisor at the US Department of Education]