Every fall, SC EdTech hosts South Carolina’s largest educational technology conference. The primary goal of the conference is to bring educators, administrators, technology professionals, college faculty and staff, public and academic librarians, business and industry trainers, industry representatives, and policy makers together to think, discuss, listen, and learn the best strategies to plan for and use educational technology in our schools. We had the amazing opportunity to send Education Analytics’ staff to SC EdTech to connect with school districts, ed tech leaders, and current and potential partner organizations in South Carolina. Here’s what EA staff took away from their time at SC EdTech 2024.
I really enjoyed attending the SC Student Data Conference and SC EdTech conference. While we work very close to districts and the state all year long, it is very valuable to get face-to-face time. This opportunity served two purposes: get feedback on how EA can improve what we offer to districts and recharge by hearing stories about how our products impact the work of districts.
Visiting our district and state partners in South Carolina is a highlight of my year. Each time I've attended the SC EdTech conference, I've been amazed by discussions that cover a wide range of expertise from technical data infrastructure to the design and use of visualizations. Through these discussions, I came out of the conference reminded and rejuvenated by our philosophy that the work only matters to the extent that it supports students.
SC EdTech 2024 provided valuable insight into district practices for data entry and revisioning within their SISs. As a downstream user of South Carolina student data, this deeper understanding not only enhanced my skills as an analyst, but also inspired ideas for processes to better support district users. I left the conference feeling energized by the recent accomplishments in South Carolina and motivated to continue supporting their goals.
It was great to see the momentum building behind the future use of tools built on open standards and interoperability. It was great to spend time with people who are working with these technology tools to make impact in their districts and help them solve problems and hear their thoughts on how the technology can improve to work better for them over time.
The positive energy and momentum I felt at SC EdTech was my biggest takeaway. The journey to execute an Ed-Fi implementation isn't trivial and the South Carolina districts have met and overcome challenges with this transition. There was significant positive body language and comments coming from districts at the SCDE State of the State address. I also witnessed districts coaching up other districts on using the EA tools or explaining the process/workflow. Podium, specifically the Average Daily Membership (ADM) dashboards received praise as this was pivotal for the districts in confirming the accuracy of their 45-day count numbers.
I am incredibly proud of the work we showcased at the South Carolina Student Data Conference, highlighting Podium's journey from its first dashboard, built in partnership with South Carolina districts, to its current capabilities. This collaborative effort reflects EA’s commitment to empowering educators and enabling impactful, data-driven decision-making.
