Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

These Education Startups Are All Business

The pandemic forced the greatest beta test in education history—billions of students pushed home and online. And while there were obvious devastating effects with which we are still coming to terms, there were also plenty of innovations that sprung from the experience. Many of those ideas and techniques are reflected in this year’s crop of finalists for the Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition (EBPC) according to John Gamba, Penn GSE’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence. 

Catalyst @ Penn GSE—a global center for education innovation at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE)—and the Michael and Lori Milken Family Foundation announced the selections this week. The finalists’ ventures are focused on some of the biggest challenges in education, including college access and persistence, social-emotional learning, literacy, adaptive learning, and more. 

Considered the most prestigious and well-funded competition of its kind, the EBPC attracts innovative education ventures from around the world. To date, the EBPC has awarded over $1.8 million dollars in cash and prizes. Winners and finalists have gone on to secure more than $180 million in funding.…Read More

Edalex selected for the HolonIQ 2022 ANZ EdTech 50

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA, / EINPresswire.com/ —  Edalex, the EdTech company that unleashes the power of skills data, digital assets, and personal credentials, are thrilled to be included in HolonIQ’s 2022 Australia & New Zealand EdTech 50 – for the third year in a row! The 2022 Australia & New Zealand EdTech 50 is an annual list of the most promising EdTech startups from Australia and New Zealand, selected from more than 750 candidates.

HolonIQ is an industry leading market intelligence platform that provides data and analysis of developments in the global education market, providing updates and commentary on companies, countries and industries and how their innovation activities form patterns and trends in the market.

“We are beyond pleased to be recognised for the third year running as one of the most promising EdTech startups in the region by HolonIQ,” said Dan McFadyen, Managing Director of Edalex. “We feel that this continuing recognition is reflective of the large strides made by our team in placing the learner at the centre, fostering cross-sector collaboration, and introducing enhanced features and services that more directly meet their needs as the skills ecosystem continues to evolve,” he continued.…Read More

New Dept. of Education guide lists the kinds of tools ed tech needs

Educators, developers, and startups are urged to take notice of the biggest education gaps

edtech-guideThe Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology (OET) has released a new guide for developers, startups, and entrepreneurs in the ed-tech space, written with help from educators, researchers, and others in the industry. The goal is to help entrepreneurs apply technology to solve real, persistent problems in education

The Ed Tech Developer’s Guide: A Primer for Developers, Startups and Entrepreneurs is free, and addresses key questions about the education ecosystem and highlights critical needs and opportunities to develop digital tools and apps for learning.

“Technology makes it possible for us to create a different dynamic between a teacher and a classroom full of students. It can open up limitless new ways to engage kids, support teachers and bring parents into the learning process,” Duncan said recently at the ASU+GSV Summit 2015 in Phoenix. “We need tools designed to help students discover who they are and what they care about, and tools that create portals to a larger world that, in the past, would have remained out of reach for far too many students.”

Next page: What tools does education need?

Focus areas for new ed tech tools, according to the guide, include: mastery of academic skills, foster and measure non-cognitive skills, embed formative assessments, engage families, support college and career exploration, provide job-embedded professional development, improve educator productivity, increase access for all students and close achievement gaps.…Read More

Can startups disrupt the slow-moving education market?

Every year, schools spend billions of dollars on supplies and instructional materials and staff, Mind/Shift reports. A lot of that money flows to a few textbook publishers that create content, test-prep, even the tests themselves. Now, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in Silicon Valley are looking for ways to disrupt this market, revolutionize schools with technological innovation and make some money. “Everybody’s waiting for the Facebook of education to come along,” said Trace Urdan, research analyst with Wells Fargo. He’s been watching the education market for 15 years, working with institutional investors to predict the right bets. “The biggest mistake I see, and have seen for a while in this space, is investors and entrepreneurs thinking things will happen a lot more quickly than they do,” Urdan said…

Read more

…Read More