In our recent story “Entrepreneurial ‘boot camp’ reveals ed-tech innovations [1],” we reported on how nearly two dozen people with big ideas for education received business advice as part of Kauffman Labs’ endeavor to spur school innovation.
Participants in the camp unveiled their ideas June 7 at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The 23 people who won a seat in Kauffman’s laboratory out of more than 1,000 applicants are spawning a wealth of ideas to invigorate the way schools work and how to educate children.
Now, Kauffman Labs has released a series of videos on each of the participants and their ideas. (The videos shown here are only a few of the many available at the organization’s website. [2])
Wishbone [3]
Beth Schmidt’s company grew out of her desire as a teacher to help her 10th-graders in South Central Los Angeles. Her company helps connect students with donors, who then help them get into after-school and summer programs and pursue their dreams.
Melissa Pickering of Boston and her growing company enable children to create moving picture lessons.
ChildRoad [5]
Michael Qin and Jerry Huang of Freemont, Calif., had experience in companies such as Google and Unisys. But it was their shared frustration as fathers trying to read with their children that spawned Childroad—a company that uses a Netflix-like format to deliver voiced-over children’s books online.