More on digedu...

Guest post by Donald Davidson, a Chicago school parent.

Digedu is in at least six CPS public schools already (Lane Tech AC, LaSalle II, Hayt, Senn, Lincoln Park HS, Goethe) and also being used at Noble St charters. They provide not only their software, but also lease the hardware (tablets) and provide a fast, dedicated broadband connection that is only available to the classrooms using their software/hardware.

It looks like a common set up in that they pay a teacher to write a curriculum for them as part of a "fellowship" and then in exchange provide the teacher with software/tablets/broadband for their classroom. (e.g. http://mountainloopexpress.com/granite-falls-school-district-news/)  Internet access is so poor in much of CPS, and technology budgets have been so slashed that this is something that teachers are understandably willing to take advantage of.

It is unclear whether teachers retain any IP for lessons that they write themselves as they use digedu's software (whether for the fellowship or afterwards). In addition, digedu is collecting and saving all the data that students create as they use the software; it seems like they are using it for further commercial development purposes. It is questionable whether parents are being notified of this even though COPPA requires it.

Digedu's Manager of Policy and External Relations was working in the Mayor's Office of Public Engagement until this past September: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/seth-berliner/9/89a/94

Howard Tullman was just named the head of 1871, the tech incubator, a month and a half ago: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-11-24/business/ct-biz-1124-confidential-tullman-20131124_1_howard-tullman-chicago-ideas-week-boot-camp

Here's a little pro-disruption, anti-human-teacher's screed he penned during the strike last year: http://www.inc.com/howard-tullman/chicago-teachers-and-entrepreneurs.html

The Tullmans should be pretty set no matter who wins the governorship. Howard threw a fundraiser for Pat Quinn in October: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20131010/BLOGS03/131019986/quinn-draws-techy-crowd-at-schmoozy-fundraiser

I'm pretty sure the "personalized" learning that Matthew Tullman got at his prep school in Colorado meant a low student-teacher ratio, not a low student-tablet ratio. (The current student-teacher ratio there is 7:1. http://www.kentdenver.org/Snapshot2013)