Digital Promise

Last updated

Digital Promise, also known as the National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies, is a non-profit organization originated by the U.S. Congress as part of the 2008 re-authorization of the Higher Education Opportunity Act. Its mission is to spur innovation in education to improve the opportunity to learn for all Americans.

Contents

Digital Promise is an independent, bipartisan nonprofit, signed into law by President George W. Bush and launched in September 2011 by President Barack Obama. Initial board members were appointed by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, whose department provided start-up funds and support with the goal of "supporting a comprehensive research and development program to harness the increasing capacity of advanced information and digital technologies to improve all levels of learning and education, formal and informal, in order to provide Americans with the knowledge and skills needed to compete in the global economy."[ citation needed ]

Logo Masthead of the Congressionally authorized nonprofit organization "Digital Promise" Digital-Promise-logo 800x200.png
Logo Masthead of the Congressionally authorized nonprofit organization "Digital Promise"

History

More than a decade ago, the Carnegie Corporation of New York joined with the Century Foundation to launch the Digital Promise Project, an initiative to recommend policies that could harness breakthrough technologies to advance the public good. Project co-chairs, former FCC Chairman Newton N. Minow and former NBC News and PBS President Lawrence K. Grossman, published their project recommendations in a book titled A Digital Gift to the Nation.

At the request of Congress, the Digital Promise Project, in partnership with the Federation of American Scientists, developed a road map for transforming teaching and learning with technology in the digital age. This road map was the basis for Section 802 of the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act, authorizing the National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies, also known as Digital Promise.

Digital Promise's Initiatives

League of Innovative Schools

In 2011, Digital Promise launched the League of Innovative Schools, a national coalition of school superintendents. The League represents a wide array of school districts—large and small, urban and rural, low-income and middle-class. Overall, it consists of 93 districts and education agencies across 33 states. [1] By working together on shared priorities and partnering with entrepreneurs, researchers, and education leaders, League districts are pioneering innovative learning and leadership practices.

Funding

Digital Promise was launched with public and private funding from sources including the U.S. Department of Education, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and its range of corporate partners. [2]

Related Research Articles

Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science School for computer science in the United States

The School of Computer Science (SCS) at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US is a school for computer science established in 1988. It has been consistently ranked among the top computer science programs over the decades. As of 2010 U.S. News & World Report ranks the graduate program as tied for 1st with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and University of California, Berkeley. It is ranked 1st in the United States on Computer Science Open Rankings, which combines scores from multiple independent rankings.

Graduate Center, CUNY Doctoral-granting institution of the CUNY

The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the City University of New York (CUNY) system, The CUNY Graduate Center is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity". The school is situated in the landmark B. Altman and Company Building at 365 Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, opposite the Empire State Building. The CUNY Graduate Center has 4,600 students, 31 doctoral programs, 14 master's programs, and 30 research centers and institutes. A core faculty of approximately 140 is supplemented by over 1,800 additional faculty members drawn from throughout CUNY's eleven senior colleges and New York City's cultural and scientific institutions.

Bob Wise American politician (born 1948)

Robert Ellsworth Wise Jr. is an American politician who served as the 33rd Governor of West Virginia from 2001 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, Wise also served in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 until 2001. In 2005 Wise became the president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, a nonprofit organization that focuses on reforming the nation's high schools. In 2015, North Carolina State University honored Wise with the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation's Friday Medal which recognizes significant, distinguished and enduring contributions to education through advocating innovation, advancing education and imparting inspiration.

Carnegie Corporation of New York United States trust

The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establish institutions that include the United States National Research Council, what was then the Russian Research Center at Harvard University, the Carnegie libraries and the Children's Television Workshop. It also for many years generously funded Carnegie's other philanthropic organizations, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT), and the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS). According to the OECD, Carnegie Corporation of New York’s financing for 2019 development increased by 27% to US$24 million.

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT) is a U.S.-based education policy and research center. It was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of the United States Congress. Among its most notable accomplishments are the development of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA), the Flexner Report on medical education, the Carnegie Unit, the Educational Testing Service, and the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

American Society for Engineering Education US professional organization for engineering education

The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) is a non-profit member association, founded in 1893, dedicated to promoting and improving engineering and engineering technology education. The purpose of ASEE is the advancement of education in all of its functions which pertain to engineering and allied branches of science and technology, including the processes of teaching and learning, counseling, research, extension services and public relations. ASEE administers the engineering technology honor society Tau Alpha Pi.

Digital Opportunity Investment Trust (DOIT) is a proposal to create a United States federal trust to distribute, for educational purposes, funds to be raised by public auctions of licenses to use radio frequency bands.

Commission on the Future of Higher Education

The formation of a Commission on the Future of Higher Education, also known as the Spellings Commission, was announced on September 19, 2005, by U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. The nineteen-member commission was charged with recommending a national strategy for reforming post-secondary education, with a particular focus on how well colleges and universities are preparing students for the 21st-century workplace, as well as a secondary focus on how well high schools are preparing the students for post-secondary education. In the report, released on September 26, 2006, the Commission focuses on four key areas: access, affordability, the standards of quality in instruction, and the accountability of institutions of higher learning to their constituencies. After the report's publication, implementation of its recommendations was the responsibility of U.S. Under Secretary of Education, Sara Martinez Tucker.

The Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL) was established on March 1, 1999 under the Provost Office at Columbia University. The mission of the Center was to enhance teaching and learning through the purposeful use of technology and new media. CCNMTL staff worked closely with faculty partners to provide support ranging from the construction of course websites to the development of elaborate custom-made projects. CCNMTL used the design research methodology, an iterative cycle of discovery, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. CCNMTL was part of Columbia's Information Services Division, which included the Columbia University Library System.

Michael Wesch American anthropologist

Michael Lee Wesch is Professor of Cultural Anthropology and a University Distinguished Teaching Scholar at Kansas State University. Wesch's work also includes media ecology and the emerging field of digital ethnography, where he studies the effect of new media on human interaction.

The America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act of 2007 or America COMPETES Act was authored by Bart Gordon and signed by President George W. Bush; it became law on August 9, 2007. This was an act "[t]o invest in innovation through research and development, and to improve the competitiveness of the United States".

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan research and innovation group founded by Sesame Workshop to advance children's literacy skills and foster innovation in children's learning through digital media.

Paul Kim (academic)

Paul Kim is currently a Korean-American Chief Technology Officer and Associate Dean at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and has held this position since 2001.

The Partnerships Advancing Library Media (PALM) Center is a research institute at Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. The center was established as a joint effort of the FSU Learning Systems Institute, College of Communication and Information and the College of Education. The Center engages in research and evaluation focused on school librarians ranging from large-scale surveys and evaluation of program implementation, to case studies of school libraries.

Daniel E. Atkins III is the W. K. Kellogg Professor of Community Informatics at University of Michigan.

The TUMO Center for Creative Technologies is a free education program for teenagers ages 12-18 specializing in technology and design, with education being provided at various TUMO centers and hubs.

The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is an American independent, nonprofit organization. It works with libraries, cultural institutions, and higher learning communities on developing strategies to improve research, teaching, and learning environments. It is based in Alexandria, VA, United States. CLIR is supported primarily by annual dues from its over 180 sponsoring institutions and 190 DLF members, and by foundation grants and individual donations.

Kenneth Komoski was an educational advocate, nonprofit executive, and former teacher. He died November 15, 2017, aged 89. Komoski served as head of the Center for Programmed Instruction and the Educational Products Information Exchange Institute. In 1964, Life Magazine named him to their list of Young Leaders of the Big Breakthrough. The magazine noted that he "was among the first to explore the new field of education by teaching-machines, such as keyboard devices, microfilm, and computers". Several years later, Komoski coined the term "learner verification and revision" for formative evaluation and modification of instructional materials. His work in educational technology led the International Society for Performance Improvement to award him their Honorary Lifetime Member Award in 1979.

Uganda National Entrepreneurship Development Institute

The Uganda National Entrepreneurship Development Institute (UNEDI) is a privately owned national resource development institution in Uganda whose focus area is entrepreneurship education, training and research. The institute provides training techniques, faculty support, consultancy, research as well as teaching and development of entrepreneurship training materials.

Farnam Jahanian American computer scientist

Farnam Jahanian is an Iranian-American computer scientist, entrepreneur, and higher education leader. He serves as the 10th president of Carnegie Mellon University.

References

  1. "League of Innovative Schools". Digital Promise.
  2. Brainard, Jeffrey (August 20, 2008). "New High-Tech Teaching Center, Pushed by Congress, Lacks Funds". Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on August 25, 2008. Retrieved August 29, 2008.