At the SIIA Education Technology Information Network/ETIN annual conference in San Francisco June 10-12, HITN Learning’s General Manager David Rust conducted a panel on Inclusive Brand Marketing, one of several following the conference theme of diversity, equity and inclusion.
SIIA ETIN is the nation’s only association of organizations providing educational technology solutions for schools and learning. Recognizing that public schools surpassed the ethnic/racial “majority minority” point in 2014, Rust—who is also ETIN board member–has co-chaired ETIN’s efforts to help member companies take steps to achieve genuine racial/ethnic inclusion in their products, people and operations. Rust’s comments used the launch of Cleo & Cuquin Family Fun! for Math to demonstrate.
The panel also included HITN Learning’s Vice President, Product Development, Erica Branch-Ridley, who presented examples from Pocoyo Playset, Fred Rogers, The Electric Company, Dora the Explorer and Blue’s Clues drawn from experience with these organizations. Rounding out the panel were CEO/Founder Lynzi Ziegenhagen of Schoolzilla, an Oakland-based company providing tools to interpret student data, and CEO/Co-Founder Steven Wolfe Pereira of Encantos, a Los Angeles-based provider of consumer media brands in education.
