Facebook signed a partnership with a top-level public school, what is its aim?

We announced that Facebook that develops SNS has signed a three-year partnership with the U.S. public school. The Verge reports on the details of how it worked with educational projects in collaboration with public schools, and what Facebook aims for, its details.

Introducing Facebook and Summit's K-12 Education Project | Facebook Newsroom
http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2015/09/introducing-facebook-and-summits-k-12-education-project/

Inside Facebook's plan to build a better school | The Verge
http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/3/9252845/facebook-education-software-plp-summit

Facebook has partnered with 11 public schools in the United StatesSummit Public Schoolsis. Summit Public Schools is a school with over 100% of graduates who have passed at least one university in a four-year college, far exceeding the average of the whole American, 28%.


According to Summit Public Schools, the university passing rate of the school is overwhelmingly high thanks to the educational program "Personalized Learning". Summit Public Schools 'daily curriculum focuses on students' learning by themselves, unlike the traditional style of teaching by class.

For example, in the first hour, a class called "Project Time" where students make a team consisting of several people and proceed with group projects, was held for 30 minutes in the second hour. And at the third hour, a student called "Personalized Learning Time" has a curriculum that students can study general subjects such as mathematics and chemistry. In the time of Personalized Learning Time, students use a Chromebook instead of textbooks to search for free learning courses published on the Internet, and students learn classes by teachers taking a class It is totally different from the style of. These student-led classes raised the quality of the school and Summit High School in Redwood City, California was named Best School for Fiscal 2003.

The current situation of students' actual choice of classes and classes in which classrooms was managed by using third party software, but all work was done by only one engineer I heard she was appointed. It seemed to be difficult to manage student trends by just one person, so software processing speed is too slow, students need to operate multiple accounts to log in to the Chromebook used for class, various A problem occurred.

Facebook also had great interest in Summit Public Schools's achievements and the proactive introduction of IT tools, as Mark Zuckerburg CEO was looking at education as part of community service projects. And in the early winter of 2014, Facebook sent eight engineers to Summit Public Schools and announced a project to back up the software department of the school. The sent engineers stayed on Facebook and decided to proceed with the project in a manner separate from the company's business.

After that, Facebook developed a software called "Personalized Learning Platform (PLP)" with the project with Summit Public Schools. PLP is an overview of the annual curriculum, a calendar for students to manage classes and study time, software that can manage materials and tests used in classes at once. After the introduction, the students got high evaluations such as "they can work faster and faster than before" and "pretty easy to use".


One of the aims that Facebook has partnered with Summit Public Schools is PLP. Facebook announces a partnership with the school and announces that PLP will be released to all public schools in the United States free of charge at the same time. The pilot program of PLP has already been distributed to 20 schools and operation is in operation.

So what comes to mind is what Facebook is planning to partner with Summit Public Schools. According to The Verge of IT related media, "Facebook is not only wanting to raise the level of education in the United States but also that he feels the possibility of a new business in the education field" By involvement, education related startups will feel a threat. "


Also, as PLP's system is being developed by Facebook, there is concern that if Facebook will resolve partnership in the future some problems may arise. Not only Facebook but GoogleGoogle Classroom"We are starting services like the control center of the lesson, and attention will gather in the future as to how the efforts of huge IT companies will have on American education.