Digital Promise Resource Repository
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Expected and Emerging Requirements for Digital Learning Platforms as Research Infrastructure
(SEERNet, Digital Promise, 2025-01) Roschelle, Jeremy; Wortman, Amanda; Pautz Stephenson, Stefani
Digital learning platforms (DLPs) can transform educational research by serving as infrastructure that bridges the gap between practice and research. This white paper examines the progress of DLPs in SEERNet, a multi-year initiative funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), which aims to advance research infrastructure. Through coordinated efforts among platform developers, researchers, and practitioners, SEERNet members have addressed both expected and emerging challenges. The paper seeks to support others who are seeking to share platform data with researchers by clarifying the range of requirements. Some requirements were expected; others were emergent. Expected requirements, such as enhancing platform data capabilities, enabling experimental research designs, and protecting data privacy, have focused on technical improvements to support scalable and rigorous research. Emerging needs included the creation of standardized workflows, development of researcher outreach strategies, and establishment of templates for institutional review board (IRB) approvals and data-sharing agreements. In addition, fostering a peer review community attuned to the unique affordances and constraints of DLP-based research has emerged as a shared priority. This working paper reflects on lessons learned from SEERNet’s efforts, highlighting innovations in data documentation, experimental workflows, and collaborative relationship building.
Designing for Education with Artificial Intelligence: An Essential Guide for Developers
(Office of Educational Technology, 2024-07) Office of Educational Technology
Today and in the future, a growing array of Artificial Intelligence (AI) models and capabilities will be incorporated into the products that specifically serve educational settings. The U.S. Department of Education is committed to encouraging innovative advances in educational technology to improve teaching and learning across the nation’s education systems and to supporting developers as they create products and services using AI for the educational market.
Building on the Department’s prior report, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning: Insights and Recommendations, this guide seeks to inform product leads and their teams of innovators, designers, developers, customer-facing staff, and legal teams as they work toward safety, security, and trust while creating AI products and services for use in education. This landscape is broader than those building large language models (LLMs) or deploying chatbots; it includes all the ways existing and emerging AI capabilities can be used to further shared educational goals.
Empowering Education Leaders: A Toolkit for Safe, Ethical, and Equitable AI Integration
(Office of Educational Technology, 2024-10) Office of Educational Technology
In October 2023, President Biden issued a landmark Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence to ensure America leads the way in mitigating risks of AI so that the opportunities for innovation can be realized. The Executive Order specifically directed the Secretary of Education to develop an AI toolkit to support education leaders in navigating AI adoption while ensuring student protection, especially for vulnerable and historically underserved populations.
This relevant, user-friendly resource was developed through engagement with educators, community members and technology leaders and is shaped by the real-world challenges faced by schools and districts of all sizes. Whether an education leader is at the beginning stages of AI adoption or is already exploring its applications, this toolkit offers critical guidance to support the intentional use of AI in education across ten key modules—from federal policies to pressing educational issues, including privacy, data security, civil rights, and digital equity.
Advancing Digital Equity for All: Community-Based Recommendations for Developing Effective Digital Equity Plans to Close the Digital Divide and Enable Technology-Empowered Learning
(Office of Educational Technology, 2022-09) Office of Educational Technology
In spring 2022, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology (OET) committed to advancing digital equity through the Digital Equity Education Roundtables (DEER) Initiative. Through DEER, OET hosted a series of national conversations with leaders from community-based organizations, as well as families and learners furthest from digital opportunities. The “Advancing Digital Equity for All” resource illuminates insights from these conversation to highlight the barriers faced by learner communities and promising solutions for increasing access to technology for learning.
The historic federal investments authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act offer critical opportunities for broadband planning that can identify and equitably address the various availability, affordability, and adoption challenges described. Using this guidance resource as a starting point, it is essential that leaders collaborate with those most impacted by the digital divide to develop comprehensive digital equity plans that outline strategies to meet the needs of learners, their families/caregivers, and communities effectively and sustainably.
Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning
(Office of Educational Technology, 2023-05) Office of Educational Technology
The U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology’s policy report, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning: Insights and Recommendations, addresses the clear need for sharing knowledge, engaging educators, and refining technology plans and policies for artificial intelligence (AI) use in education. The report describes AI as a rapidly-advancing set of technologies for recognizing patterns in data and automating actions, and guides educators in understanding what these emerging technologies can do to advance educational goals—while evaluating and limiting key risks.