SNS Project Inkwell, Phase II

If things have been just a wee bit quiet at this site, it is because we at the Beach Palace Hotel had been preparing for the next meeting of Project Inkwell, which has just concluded at Salt Lake’s Grand America Hotel.

This meeting really represented the next phase of Inkwell, essentially going from research and planning into an accelerated, action-oriented posture. New members to the group were recognized, more signed up up during the meetings, and the focus was (internally) on moving from one to five working groups.

The domains of these groups is intended to completely cover the technology issues raised during a redesign of appropriate technology for teaching and learning in K12 (pre university) schools. These domains are:

I. The Teaching and Learning Device, now in Version 2.0.

II. Servers and Infrastructure.

III. Software and Content.

IV. Professsional Development.

V. Business Modeling.

The meeting also included an external focus: Inkwell’s new partnership with the State of Utah, through Governor Jon Huntsman. The Park Cit School District has been selected by both partners as the Phase One site for 1:1 implementation of computing in Utah schools, with Phase II to follow in a larger, statewide implementation.

The group was pleased to hear from Senator Howard Stephenson, Chair of the Education Appropriations Committee, on the State of Technology in Utah, who has shephereded $60 MM in technology purchases through the system last year, and who was working on a $50MM package for the coming year as the meeting took place.

A large group of leaders from the Utah technology landscape joined the Inkwell meeting, including the Park City School Board and its Chair and President, representatives of the Governor’s office, of the State Department of Education, and of various districts around the state.

Participants seemed to universally agree that Inkwell’s Phase Two agenda and style are what was needed at this time. Inkwell was first discussed in my speeches at Seybold San Francisco in 1997, and was launched in 2002/3, long before other charitable / emerging nation laptop efforts. Today Inwkwell remains the only group setting global standards for successful 1:1 implementations.

Project Inkwell will now begin its Certification Program, and is hoping to be able to certify one or more of the devices shown during this meeting, within the next few months.

I would also like to thank Rick Gaisford, from Inkwell and SETDA, for allowing me to say a few words Friday to a separate conference of Utah Technology Leaders. All in all, we’ve had a very effective week in bringing Inkwell to the next level.

Update: Listen to Project Inkwell CEO, Mark Anderson talking with KPLU’s Dave Meyer about Project Inkwell