Why Al in Education Needs Standards Interoperability, Context, & Learner Impact

Why AI in Education Needs Standards: Interoperability, Context, and Learner Impact with Michael Feldstein, 1EdTech Chief Strategy Officer; Blaine Helmick, 1EdTech Vice President of Software; and Suzanne Carbonaro, 1EdTech Vice President of Postsecondary Education and Workforce

In this episode of Silver Lining for Learning, we explore how 1EdTech Consortium, a nonprofit, neutral, trusted convener, is working at the intersection of interoperability, data, and artificial intelligence to help education systems better serve its learners with technology. The conversation introduces what 1EdTech is, who it convenes, and why shared interoperability standards—such as Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI)®, learning analytics frameworks, and competency standards like Competencies and Academic Standard Exchange® (CASE®)—are foundational to a connected digital learning ecosystem. Through concrete examples, the episode shows how interoperability standards reduce complexity for institutions and their technology providers while enabling more consistent, meaningful access to learning data.

Artificial Intelligence is an example of a technology in which context and structure matter if AI is to positively impact teaching and learning. Panelists examine how interoperable data pipelines make it possible to use AI for personalization, analytics, and learner-centered insights—without sacrificing trust, transparency, or human judgment. By highlighting 1EdTech’s emerging work in areas like AI-enabled learning analytics and outcomes tracking, the episode emphasizes the opportunity for institutions and technology providers to collaborate in ways that unlock data for learning and research, while keeping learners and educators firmly at the center.

Readings and Resources:
https://www.1edtech.org/program/labs

https://www.imsglobal.org/resource/AI-Generated_Content_Best_Practices/v1p0

https://www.1edtech.org/workstream/analytics

https://www.1edtech.org/standards/ai-rubric

https://www.1edtech.org/about/hed

Episode Guests

Michael Feldstein is the Chief Strategy Officer of 1EdTech. He helps drive the strategic vision and implementation of an open, trusted and innovative ecosystem of interoperable products and digital credentials by identifying needs and collaboratively developing solutions to increase learning impact with the 1EdTech community. Michael brings more than 30 years of educational technology experience to the organization, most recently as CEO of the Empirical Educator Project, Co-Founder of Argos Education, and Chief Accountability Officer of e-Literate.

Blaine Helmick, Vice President of Software at 1EdTech, is an accomplished education technology product director with career expertise creating innovative products, services, and content that reach new markets, bring solid ROI, and add tangible value. Combine a BA in Information Systems and an MA in Instructional Design to conceptualize enterprise technology solutions and drive successful development teams. Contribute technology and educational industry knowledge and collaborate with cross-functional teams to synthesize solutions and deliver emerging technologies.

Suzanne Carbonaro is the vice president for postsecondary education and workforce programs at 1EdTech. In this role she serves as liaison across the education sector to enable discussion and collaboration that helps to foster the use of interoperability standards across digital ecosystems, and their external applications. Suzanne spent much of her career in higher education as a leader of curriculum and assessment, instruction and student success, institutional effectiveness and planning, and accreditation. Over the last five years, Suzanne served as a subject matter expert for two edtech companies and supported the growth of interoperability standards, strategic planning processes, and the Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR) across the colleges and universities she served.

Suzanne’s research interests and publications are in the areas of digital credentials and CLR, high-impact practices, co-curricular assessment, and integrated strategic planning. Previously, Suzanne served as Director of Assessment at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Rider University’s College of Education and Human Services. Through her leadership, these institutions were re-accredited and received recognition for their assessment practices, including the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy 2019 Award for Excellence in Assessment. Suzanne managed New Jersey Department of Education and Janssen Pharmaceuticals grants to advance STEM Education, teacher leadership, recruitment, and retention in NJ public schools. Suzanne currently serves on the Grand Challenges in Assessment, a national collaboration of ten organizations and over 400 higher ed leaders seeking to advance assessment of student learning through discourse, research, and professional learning.

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