NON-PROFIT TO CROWDSOURCE ON-THE-GROUND ED TECH EFFECTIVENESS

When Consumer Reports wants to know how well a new car is holding up, it heads into the crowds to ask drivers’ opinions about their vehicles. That form of crowdsourcing is now infiltrating education with the launch of a new non-profit organization that will call on teachers and school leaders to document how well their education technology works for them in their schools and classrooms. In exchange, the contributors will receive money and tech support.

That’s the idea behind the Jefferson Education Exchange (JEX), an initiative underway by Bart Epstein, the former head of the Jefferson Education Accelerator, and the University of Virginia Curry School of Education, with support from many other organizations. The goal: to crowdsource educator insights to improve ed tech buying and implementation. Seed funding for JEX has come from Strada Education Network and the Curry School Foundation.