Please join the MIT Alumni Club of Northern California as we welcome Melissa Nobles, Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) at MIT; Philip Oreopoulos, Faculty Co-Chair of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) Education Sector; and Vincent Quan, Policy Manager of J-PAL’s Education, Technology, and Opportunity Initiative to discuss the current state of and future directions for education technology research.

• How can rigorous research and evidence influence the adoption of education technology?
• What are the new frontiers for education technology research?
• What are the barriers to scaling up truly effective education technologies? How do we overcome these barriers?
• How do we ensure that education technology reduces—rather than widens—existing inequities in educational outcomes?

As a research center committed to advancing policy through rigorous research, J-PAL North America seeks the thought leadership of MIT alumni to help address these critical challenges.

Based at MIT’s Department of Economics, J-PAL North America aims to identify what works in improving the lives of people experiencing poverty. Established in 2013, J-PAL North America and its network of more than 170 academic researchers evaluate programs and policies across critical policy areas like education, health care, criminal justice, and workforce development. Beyond generating high-quality research, J-PAL's team of experienced policy staff works to ensure that evidence translates to policies that meaningfully improve lives.

In 2018, J-PAL launched the Education, Technology, and Opportunity Initiative, which aims to harness technology's potential to transform learning for children, particularly for our most disadvantaged learners. The initiative will spur critical new research to help us understand how and when technology should be used for learning, with the ultimate goal of scaling up innovative programs that truly work.