Meet Jim Goodell, QIP Senior Analyst
Jim Goodell wears many hats as QIP’s Senior Analyst. Foremost among them is his role supporting the Common Education Data Standards (CEDS), an education data management initiative that aims to streamline the understanding of data across early learning, K-12, and postsecondary education systems.
“Data standards are really important because there are things that stakeholders just can’t do with data if there aren’t standards,” Jim said. In this case, the stakeholders include technically trained people who develop data systems and people, such as policymakers, who “just want to know the answers to questions that the data can provide,” he said.
Jim’s work includes supporting the technical development of data standards, working with other data standards organizations, and representing CEDS at conferences and other events.
Jim’s CEDS work focuses on the data dictionary—how data are defined and what values can be found in the data. Other data standards focus on packaging data and communications protocols for moving data between systems.
“Part of my job is to keep an eye on what different organizations are developing for standards and try to keep everyone working together,” Jim said.
When he started at QIP in 2011, he said, there were various data standards organizations that were not working together. “We are in a better place as an ecosystem right now because the data standards organizations are working together,” he said.
The impact of his work is Jim’s driving force. “I enjoy that the work that we’re doing is making a difference for millions of students,” he said.
Previously employed for 12 years by the Center for Educational Leadership and Technology, Jim worked with state education agencies and school districts to help them improve operationally and, therefore, their services for students.
“What we do contributes to a larger purpose—data-driven improvement of education systems—so that all students can reach their potential, so that everyone, especially those with at-risk characteristics, have paths to opportunity they might not otherwise have,” Jim said.
In addition to his role with CEDS, Jim works with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, facilitating the Data and Technology Standards Network launched under its T3 Innovation Network. As part of his work with CEDS, he has participated in the work of many standards organizations, including Access 4 Learning, Learning Resource Metadata Initiative/Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, HR Open Standards Consortium, IMS Global Learning Consortium, Medbiquitous, Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council, the World-Wide Web Consortium (w3c), and the IEEE Standards Association, the organization behind WiFi standards. He also serves as vice chair of the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee, which develops internationally recognized technical standards, recommended practices, and guides for learning technology. He also is a member of the steering committee for IEEE ICICLE, a volunteer professional organization committed to the development of learning engineering as a profession and an academic discipline, and chairman of the IEEE Adaptive Instructional System Interoperability Standards workgroup and the IEEE Competency Data Standards Working Group.
As if all that isn’t enough, Jim also is writing a book, “Learning Engineering Toolkit.”
“‘Learning engineering’ is a term that has existed for more than 50 years, but it's just in the past few years being developed into a professional practice and a process that can be used to improve learning for all ages and in all contexts,” he said.
Learning engineering is defined as a process and practice that applies the learning sciences using human-centered engineering design methodologies and data-informed decision-making to support learners and their development.
“The book is intended to be a reference for practitioners, a textbook for a university course, or a self-study guide. A tool section is intended to be something that's really practical that people in teams that are doing learning engineering can put to use over and over again as they do their work,” Jim said.
Jim and more than 20 contributing authors used true stories of teams using learning engineering in various contexts, such as learning games for 2- to 4-year-old children from Age of Learning, language learning apps from Duolingo, health care training and primary school transportation solutions developed in West African countries, data instrumentation and sophisticated artificially intelligent training simulators used by the U.S. military, and other stories applicable to corporate training and higher education contexts.
At QIP, Jim said, he enjoys the emphasis the company places on a healthy work-life balance and working with the rest of the staff. “QIP has some great people,” he said, “talented people that are great to work with.”
He also said the company culture and the fact that it always has been a virtual company meant that it was not a big challenge when clients shifted to remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read Jim's blog posts:
Why Engineering is Needed for Scale
Education and Career Pathways: Data Standards
Education and Career Pathways: Maps for Learning and Job Success
