Finding Meaning in the Age of AI
The rise of AI-powered technologies (e.g. ChatGPT) has triggered a series of transformations that have impacted both our personal and professional lives. But the transformations that come with the advent of AI are far from being only economical: for many people, work is more than a job. As shown in a McKinsey research, “70% of employees […]
Eliminating Tech Barriers for an Equitable Education
2020: A student treks for nearly an hour up a mountain to access WiFi strong enough to submit their modules. 2015: A photo goes viral of a child completing their homework while using the light of a McDonald’s drive-through. Two stories, five years apart. In the frothing wake of the pandemic, the Philippine education system has only proved […]
Six Procurement and Retention Lessons for EdTech Companies
According to a 2020 report by HolonIQ, the total global EdTech expenditure is expected to reach $404B by 2025 representing a 16.3% CAGR, or 2.5x growth, between 2019-2025. Part of this market acceleration is a reflection of a significant ‘infrastructure catch-up’, as well as a huge increase in student populations within developing countries. With that […]
The Journey of Building Partnerships with K-12 Schools in MENA
School ecosystems are not new to us. As co-founders, and mid-career professionals, we bring more than 50 years of experience in the education space, from teaching to policy, research to implementation. It is this profound understanding of how schools work that has helped us as entrepreneurs to build partnerships with over 65 schools in 7 […]
Edtech Market Entry Strategies: India
At the beginning of 2020, the edtech market found itself at a turning point. There had already been huge leaps forward in education technology, and investment-led interest had naturally followed, with $1.7 billion raised in 2019 alone. There was no going back now; edtech had made an indelible mark on classrooms around the world and […]
Why Computers Can Never Replace Schools
The evidence of dramatic change is all around us and it’s happening at an exponential speed. The Fourth Industrial Revolution with its ubiquitous, mobile supercomputing, self-learning software, and self-driving cars brings opportunities to imagine innovative leaps for humanity. Who will be leading these ideas? Those who are confident to use their imagination, to think outside of silos, and who […]
Building an Edtech Ecosystem in Times of Uncertainty
The disruption: The global COVID-19 crisis has been a catalyst for disruption in all parts of the edtech space. Edtech providers suddenly found themselves as a key player in building and maintaining the global learning infrastructure. While teachers, students, and educational management in many senses had to reinvent the wheel, skeptics of digitalization in education […]
Traditional Higher Education has lost its way. Missionless and Visionless, it is time for Massive Distributed Teaching & Learning
We have a crisis in Higher Education that is not a recent phenomenon. It has been here quite a while. Pre-COVID19, we in the wealthier parts of the world were satisfied that only 7% of the world’s population has ever been to college, despite a college education being a prerequisite in many advanced parts of […]
After Covid-19, Will Chinese Education Achieve Artificial Intelligence?
EdTech and China’s Left-Behind Kids China has 69 million “left behind” rural children. They are left behind literally because their parents work as migrants in wealthy cities, which do not permit non-residents to attend public schools. They are also left behind figuratively because as China’s economy roars ahead their future is uncertain. Rural schools do […]
Why Impact Research Is Important in EdTech
In 2012 I taught a 5th-grade class in a Finnish public school. During a mathematics lesson, we were doing a project about fractions and one group was creating a presentation about note lengths in music. I helped them to use the Garage Band music application to explore the topic and sent them to work in […]