The Education Industry Investment Forum is in Research Mode

I'm Doug Crets, your conference director for the 11th Annual Education Industry Investment Forum, to be held again in 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona.

You can look forward to constant updates on this site, as well as interviews, trends pieces and, when the conference starts in March 2009, a live blogging from the Biltmore Resort & Spa, the home of the Education Industry Investment Forum, March 9-11.

Join us on this blog. Leave your comments and tell me what you would like to see here. You can write me emails at dcrets [at] iirusa dot com.

I want to hear from you. You know better than I do the trends that move investment in post secondary and K-12 private education. And you know the up and coming services and innovation companies that are changing the industry, from publishing to content management and campus management.

NCLB Increasing in Visibility

As the Democratic Convention gets going, experts on NCLB are finding more and more to talk about.

No Child Left Behind is becoming a more important discussion point in the run-up to the election, as next year is the planned reauthorization of the law that frames accountability standards for K12 public and private education.

Association of Educational Publishers is Blogging

You can find their website here.


The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP), is the national non-profit association for educational publishers and service providers. They are using the blog to maintain a conversation about the role that publishing plays in the digital economy. They have thus far concluded that their are no "definitive" answers to the questions that have risen from the implementation of this transformative medium into the publishing culture.

The basic buzz says that we are now seeing a peak in the threat to the publishing world, and that we will see the greatest change now. I hope to share a few words with you from a discussion with Cheryl Gaynor,the CEO of the Association of Educational Publishers, so stay tuned.

Rita Ferrandino at the Democratic Convention

Rita Ferrandino, a self-styled activist and an investor in education, is blogging live from the floor of the Democratic Convention.

So far her blog includes video reactions from delegates and interviews with attendees and speakers at the convention.

Main points so far:

Criticism of NCLB
The presence of New Leaders for New Schools at the opening night of the convention.

And a one on one with Senator John Kerry, from Massachusetts.

The Oldest Living Encyclopedia Works the Social Media

I just talked to Michael Ross, Senior Vice President and Education General Manager at Encyclopedia Brittanica, and was surprised to learn that EB has a blog.

Social networking and social media exists on the oldest English-language encyclopaedia still in print. Pretty cool.

Dr. Kenneth Hartman Sets up Drexel University Online Blog

Update: I found his picture online and put it up. Credit goes to Drexel University Online.

Kenneth Hartman,academic director for Drexel University Online, has set up a blog called e-insights.