Download the A4L-SDPC Quarterly Newsletter, September 2021 >>
Two can become one…
Foreword by Larry Fruth II PhD., CEO/Exec Director, A4L Community
“Connecting and Securing Effective Learning Ecosystems®”. You will be seeing that mantra for the Community a LOT in the coming months. The SIF Specification Project began in 1997 and became the now official Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community non-profit in 2004. Then in 2015, the Community voiced the need to address a pressing real world, on the ground issue not solvable by technical specifications – student privacy and the agreements required for marketplace provider tools. That drove the creation of an A4L Special Interest Group, the Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC). I give you that brief history because we are aware many have not fully grasped the relationship between the A4L Community and the work on the SIF Specification and SDPC. Recently as part of a set of strategic direction setting by the Community’s Management Boards, both the leadership and an engaged outside marketing firm determined it is time to bring the interoperable (“connecting”) and privacy (“securing”) components under the A4L Brand. The Community has already reaped some benefits from this move underway; awareness of technical specifications by LEAs is higher than ever, vendor awareness of the Community’s work is up (SIF is NOT dead), and the awareness that you must address interoperability and privacy together. Oh and did we mention that membership is up 18%! So, look through this Newsletter and see how the various topics connect the dots (communications, membership, projects, etc.) between “connecting and securing” as we collectively address new global challenges in these challenging times. Enjoy and keep up the great work!
MUCH more to come.
Global Community News:
Updated Infrastructure Specification documentation coming soon; Welcome new Members!; Update: Marketing & Communications Plan; Project Team updates
AU Community News:
EduTECH 2021 overview; Save the Date for the AU Community Day; Project Team updates
NA Community News:
North American Data Model development back to normal?; Project Team updates; All about Unity…
Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC) News:
SDPC 2021 Elections; Update: National pK20 Student Data Privacy Symposium; SDPC Resource Registry enhancements; National Research Data Sharing Agreement (NRDPA) update; Project Teams Updates