Contribute

Guidelines for Guest Columnists and Contributors

EdScoop welcomes qualified guest columns, comments and news tips from executives and experts in the K-12 and higher education technology community.

If you or a member of your organization is interested in contributing a column or other content to EdScoop, here are some guidelines to keep in mind:

Our Focus:

EdScoop delivers breaking news and original analysis for and about K-12 and higher education technology decision makers. Our staff reporters and editors focus primarily on how K-12 and university education leaders are acquiring, developing and using technology in the classroom and on campus.

We also report on the intersection of federal, state and local education policies that affect the adoption of education technology. And we report on technology developments that are likely to have an impact on the billions of dollars schools and universities spend annually on IT.

Contributed Articles

We prefer guest columns and commentary articles from current or recent school administrators, technology specialists or thought leaders familiar with the issues facing educators surrounding the use of technology in schools and universities. Additionally, we look for op-ed columns that:

• Address issues and pain points relevant to educators and administrators on matters of technology policy, procurement, management, innovation, workforce, or IT evolution.
• Provide new, insightful or enlightening perspective, not just opinions, and which help advance or stimulate community discussion on a given topic.
• Are original in nature, haven’t been published elsewhere and which follow our writing guidelines.

Education leaders or technology experts wishing to contribute a commentary article for publication on EdScoop should send an email to EdScoop in care of Wyatt Kash, wyatt.kash@ScoopNewsGroup.com, proposing in a couple of paragraphs what they wish to write about – and why they believe their article would be of compelling interest to our readers.

The articles of guest columnists will feature the author’s byline, a thumbnail photograph and links to a brief biographic profile on EdScoop and to the writer’s social media and email contacts.

All contributed articles are subject to editing and review by EdScoop’s editorial staff and upon publication, become the copyrighted property of EdScoop, its parent, Scoop News Group and its affiliated properties.

Guest Contributor Writing Guidelines

Once we’ve agreed to proceed with a contributed article, here are some additional guidelines to keep in mind:

• Keep it relevant to our audience. EdScoop reaches top education and IT leaders, including executives in the IT industry. Keep their missions and management needs in mind as your put your opinion column together.
• Focus on a single topic and get to the point. Readers are busy and will decide within seconds whether to keep reading or not. Tell readers quickly what you are writing about, why they should care and your conclusion on the matter, ideally in 600 to 750 words.
• Say something fresh or new. EdScoop endeavors to give our readers new and distinctive insights and perspectives they haven’t already seen in other media outlets. So try to bring a fresh, even contrarian perspective to what you write.
• Write in your voice. Contributed articles should read like an essay or opinion column, not a white paper or a commercial pitch. Provide perspective, insight and a distinct point of view.
• Provide concrete, real-world examples. Illustrate your point(s) with specific examples. Avoid generalities. The more you can share examples drawn from your own or our readers’ professional experiences, the more readers can relate to your message.
• Be practical. Be accurate. What actions can or should readers take away? What are the specific lessons to be learned? Don’t just theorize. Be accurate with your facts.
• Write about technology, policy or process challenges and mistakes, not just successes. Our readers live in the same imperfect world you do and will respect your opinion more if you share the lessons learned from mistakes as well as successes.
• (For vendors): Avoid a sales pitch. Articles may address common problems and suggest categorical solutions, but avoid statements like “…and here’s how our product can help.”

EdScoop’s editorial staff will review your completed article, provide feedback and recommended edits, and give contributors a chance to approve final changes prior to publication.

News Tips

If you have credible and verifiable information about changes in policies, personnel, procurements, or decisions regarding the use of IT at state and local government agencies, please contact Emily Tate, at emily.tate@ScoopNewsGroup.com. We will consider not-for-attribution and background-only information if necessary and agreed upon upfront.

Comments

Readers are encouraged to add their perspective and comments to our articles, using the commenting section below each story. Readers must register initially with our third-party comments application provider, Disqus, but may chose whatever display name they wish. All comments come immediately to the attention of our editors, who review and approve comments before publishing them.

For more information, contact Emily Tate, at emily.tate@ScoopNewsGroup.com.