From Standards to Global Impact: 1EdTech’s CEO Curtiss Barnes’ on the Vision of a Trusted Education Ecosystem

Thanks, Curtiss, for joining the EdTech Mentor. We're honored to have you, and I'm sure this will be an engaging conversation. Let’s start with your background and what led you to your current role.

Thanks for having me. I'm delighted to be here, following in the footsteps of others connected to 1EdTech. I grew up as a military kid; my dad was in the US Air Force as a linguist, and I spent most of my childhood in West Berlin, Germany. College wasn’t an obvious path for my family, but scholarships helped me pursue higher education, studying philanthropy as an undergrad in economics. This led me to work in university advancement, which began my commitment to the education sector. My early career included opening a West Coast office for the Wharton School, which sparked my journey into edtech, driven by a deep mission for the field.

What are the major differences you see between the time you attended college and today?

Technology has drastically changed things. When I was in college, computing was becoming normalized, but I was running regression analyses overnight on a VAX machine with minimal file size capacity. Today, the power in our smartphones surpasses that. Technology has transformed how institutions operate, how education is delivered, and the tools learners use to advance. Another key change is the rethinking of business models by educational institutions, addressing demographic challenges and shifting consumer expectations, like the role of higher education and alternative learning paths.

Looking 20 years ahead, how do you see higher education evolving in the US?

I believe we’ll continue to see changes among the 4,000 post-secondary institutions. Some smaller ones will close due to scalability issues, while elite institutions will maintain their status. Alternative credentials will become more mainstream, emphasizing employability and skills beyond academic achievements. This shift includes stackable and verifiable credentials that institutions and employers will need to standardize and validate. The demographic profile of students is also changing—most learners are now older adults with jobs and families, not just 18-year-olds.

And what about K-12 education in 20 years?

I'm a big advocate for public K-12 education, though I think it’s underfunded. Educators do heroic work with limited support. I’m hopeful about the future, especially as many countries and US states focus on equity and access. The goal is to give every student the same opportunities, regardless of where they live. Improving portability for students across states is essential, given the transient nature of the US population. Like higher education, K-12 will increasingly emphasize skill development and alternative pathways, preparing students for future careers.

One thing that is certain for both K-12 and higher education is that technology will continue to play a major role in our educational systems. Technology will also continue to evolve, bringing with it new benefits and challenges. Taking on those challenges is easier when all stakeholders collaborate on finding solutions that benefit everyone, especially learners. That’s what we continue to see at 1EdTech.

Are policymakers globally informed about these needs and challenges? Sometimes it’s hard to connect policy with technical realities.

It varies. While some ministers and policymakers are more political appointees, the most effective ones are often committed bureaucrats who know the sector well. I’ve been privileged to meet well-informed leaders all over the world. But the challenges are complex and multi-faceted. At 1EdTech, our role is to help solve non-differentiating technical issues that hinder innovation. We're also expanding our efforts to influence policy and provide education and awareness to facilitate these solutions.

Great, Curtiss. We’ll definitely cover that topic, but first, I'd like to touch on your career. Can you tell us about your time at Oracle, specifically in your role in industry product strategy? What did your day-to-day look like? What kind of meetings and sources did you engage with?

It was an unusual time because Oracle had just acquired PeopleSoft. Oracle was established in the ERP space but lacked a full student information system, which was still in its early stages with a few adopters influencing its design. PeopleSoft, on the other hand, brought around 1,000 enterprise customers, many using a mix of PeopleSoft and Oracle products. After the acquisition, which was somewhat contentious, my main task was reassuring customers of Oracle’s commitment to their future. The 2005-2006 period was particularly quiet in the ERP market as people awaited what would happen next. My days involved internal advocacy and external customer support, building trust, and strategic planning. We focused on understanding the US market’s needs, like financial aid and new market opportunities, including supporting shifts in places like Hong Kong. Day-to-day, I was inspecting markets, identifying customer needs, and prioritizing strategies to optimize resources and returns.

Was your experience at Pearson different from that?

Yes, it was a completely different environment. At Oracle, I primarily engaged with CIOs and occasionally CFOs, with limited contact with the academic side. My challenge was steering Oracle’s focus towards the learning mission, beyond enrollment and financial aid. Pearson was an opportunity to lead product innovation focused on pedagogy. However, I found myself overseeing a broad portfolio of technologies that had been managed in silos. Pearson’s structure, with separate imprints for different disciplines like science and humanities, made it difficult to standardize experiences. We discovered that, despite the perception that disciplines were vastly different, the actual needs varied by only about 10-15%. My role involved rationalizing the portfolio, creating a unified brand identity, and streamlining student experiences. One of my proudest moments was launching Revel, which focused on student engagement and continuous formative assessment through multimedia and interactive content.

Those experiences seem to have set you up well for your current role. Can you explain, in non-technical terms, why 1EdTech is important for educators and learners?

I found it fitting to join 1EdTech as CEO, considering my long history with the organization, having served on its board during my time at Oracle and Cengage. 1EdTech is unique in advancing multiple standards that drive measurable improvement in the education sector. For example, LTI has fueled innovation and enabled new organizations to enter the market. From a non-technical perspective, our work reduces the cost of doing business by standardizing how commercial products integrate into educational ecosystems. By making entry easier and aligning tools with market needs, we support educators with a broader range of instructional tools and help learners by facilitating better access. This cycle of reduced costs, enhanced product fit, and continuous innovation is at the heart of our mission and impact.

Thanks, Curtiss. That’s a big question, but how do you build awareness among potential or new vendors, including startups, in such a vast ecosystem with so many players, regions, and product categories?

There are a few phases to this. My predecessor, Rob Abel, led the transformation of what was then IMS Global Learning Consortium, which originated in the late 90s as "Instructional Management Systems." This group emerged at the forefront of the LMS market to ensure content portability, saving publishers from creating unique packages for different LMS platforms. Similarly, LMSs needed better interoperability for data input, especially to gain faculty attention and serve as a course hub. Rob advanced the organization with successes like LTI, LIS, and Common Cartridge, earning market trust.

Now, 1EdTech serves as a trusted, neutral hub where different stakeholders collaborate on shared challenges, especially non-differentiating ones. The goal is to "level up" the space, fostering innovation by solving foundational issues that allow new solutions to flourish.

Trust is essential, and we maintain a membership-driven model, which gives the appearance that somemembers have more influence than others. The reality is, we approach the problem with a product management mindset, which means we are market and sector-driven. We're constantly assessing how to include more voices, especially those without extensive resources or technical expertise. Our work is expanding, and we now offer tools like the trusted apps management suite, which catalogs over 12,000 applications with details on certification, data privacy, and accessibility. While parts of this are publicly available, we are a nonprofit and need a sustainable model, so some aspects are subscription-based.

Is it a political environment with power dynamics in managing memberships and influence?

It’s fair to say there is some politics involved, as organizations are run by people with varying motivations. Some see us as transactional or "pay-to-play," and to a degree, they're correct—our model requires funding to remain effective. However, our impact has been substantial, proven by standards that uplift the entire sector. As CEO, I’m focusing on reassessing our membership model and improving the customer experience. I encourage the team to put themselves in our members' shoes to ensure they’re getting tangible value, which includes facilitating tool certification and clarifying its benefits.

How does tool certification work, and what about institutions?

Institutions can build and certify their tools, though it’s less common now as many opt for commercial or open-source solutions. Some networked organizations may seek certification for internal tools. The main value for institutions lies in supplier communication and accessing our catalog data, training, and professional development on standards. We’re continuously evolving to meet ecosystem needs.

For suppliers, the value in certification is added assurance to potential clients that their products meet interoperability standards, and that they are part of a consortium that keeps their technology up to date and can support any technical challenges they may come across, while always keeping the needs of the learner in mind. 

As a marketing firm, I must ask—how do you approach marketing for 1EdTech to attract memberships?

Historically, our approach has leaned more on market presence than traditional marketing. We rely on our members as subject matter experts to speak at conferences and network, building awareness through engagement rather than classic marketing strategies.

So in traditional terms, this is about building networked thought leadership, right? It’s really in line with what you do.

Exactly. We develop thought leadership through white papers, position papers, and practice standards that are less technical and more rubric-based. We cover everything from technical specs—like ensuring data fields translate seamlessly across systems—to implementation fidelity. Thought leadership is essential, but we’re now exploring growth marketing techniques for membership acquisition and retention. We’re implementing organization-wide strategies, which may include integrating our website, CRM, and community site—the commons where we govern workflows and standards—into one unified platform.

Sounds like your work at Pearson.

Exactly. I see 1EdTech as a platform business, connecting parts of the market and offering various products and services. We’re exploring an end-to-end, two-sided market model, which might include a freemium membership to attract new members. We’re considering classic SaaS techniques like marketing-qualified or product-qualified leads to increase membership and enhance value.

We’re doing an EdTech Mentor Startup series, so I have to ask: what’s your value proposition for startups? Any programs targeting that segment?

Great question. We’re refining our strategy for startups and envision a starter kit that includes professional development, testimonials, and technical documentation. This may also include exposure through events and a spotlight platform. Ideally, we’d partner with incubators and funders, who could sponsor startups to join us, making it financially feasible for them to access our resources. This could drive faster, cost-effective innovation, aligning with our mission to accelerate progress.

I see so many startups reinventing the wheel in EdTech, especially when they come from a developer-first approach. It sounds like your platform could really help them.

Exactly. We help newcomers avoid isolation in crafting value propositions and product development. Internationally, 1EdTech standards are gaining traction. For example, LTI—our Learning Tools Interoperability standard—is widely adopted in U.S. higher ed and K-12. We’re currently working with Germany to enable resource search within institutional asset repositories, a project with significant global implications.

Estimating based on school days, student populations, and system usage, we see LTI handling about 100 billion transactions annually, a staggering number that demonstrates its market value. Globally, we have organizations like the 1EdTech Japan Society, operating with a franchise model, and we’re supporting European adoption with projects in Norway and across the EU. The EU’s commitment to community-based, standard-driven initiatives aligns well with our mission.

That’s incredible. What’s your message to the higher ed and EdTech communities?

I’d say, keep watching us, and when you’re ready, join us. We’re a mission-driven organization, not motivated by profit. Our goal is to support the entire sector, and we’re constantly assessing our priorities to make the greatest impact. We welcome feedback to help ensure we’re focused on the areas that will most benefit the community and drive progress.