impactful edtech: the role of evidence in education businesses
DESCRIPTION
Edtech entrepreneurs need to focus on building a successful business AND improving student learning. This deck will help edtech entrepreneurs learn how to differentiate from the competition by proving their impact on positive learning outcomes.TRANSCRIPT
Impactful EdTech Rethinking the role of evidence in education businesses
@simonbreakspear www.simonbreakspear.com
Simon BreakspearFounder and CEO of LearnLabs!!Simon Breakspear is recognised internationally as a leading thinker on the future of learning and educational innovation. Simon is the founder and CEO of LearnLabs, a global learning strategy and design agency, that helps school, system, policy and business leaders design and deliver high-impact strategies to enable 21st Century learning at scale. He has worked with and spoken to leaders across Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the UK, Europe, Canada, Israel, Hong Kong and India. !!As a passionate educator and learning strategist, Simon works on systemic challenges in education reform and redesign. He also advises EdTech start-ups around the globe that are seeking to develop disruptive education models to improve the quality and equity of student learning. Simon holds a first class honours degree in Psychology, a Bachelor of Teaching, a MSc. in Comparative and International Education from the University of Oxford, and is a PhD Candidate at the University of Cambridge. He was a Gates Scholar at the University of Cambridge, and Commonwealth Scholar at the University of Oxford
www.simonbreakspear.com!www.learnlabs.com!www.zaya.org!
Rethink the role of Evidence
Why focus on impact evidence?
Why is user feedback
important but insufficient?
Scared Straight Programme
The Importance of Evidence of Impact
80 to 14,000
From good intentions to real impact.
“What is clear is that no technology has an impact on learning in its own right; rather its impact depends upon
the way in which it is used.” !
NESTA, 2012 “Decoding learning: The proof promise and potential of digital education.” p9
Michael Fullan!
Wrong Drivers for School reform
No one can do your thinking for you
Clarity Follows Activity
Why are you here?
Profitable Business or/and
Improve Learning or/and
Transform Learning
Extrac'ng*efficiencies*and*diminishing*returns*
Educa'onal*pioneers*design,*develop*and*prove*new*models.**
S"curve(1(Educa-on(1.0(
S"curve(2(Educa-on(2.0(
New*models*are*taken*to*scale**
Focus*of**LEARNSHIFT*
Learning*Outpu
ts*
Applied*Effort**
How far do you want to push learning?
Whose Problem are you solving
The one question to ask teachers: What time did you have lunch today?
What are the challenges !teachers face?
Stop ‘pitching’ and start listening
What are the top 2 concerns of a typical
school principal
#1. There is an OpportunityDo well by doing good.
‘Big’ For-Profit Education
“Who owns American public education? Until a decade ago, we might have answered: the public. Or the states. Or the local school boards.
Now, the likely answer is: the U.S. Department of Education. Or the Gates Foundation, which seems to own the U.S. Department of Education.
But there may be another answer (this is not a multiple-choice test, and there is more than one right answer): Pearson, the megalith corporation that produces curriculum, textbooks, tests, owns the company that accredits teachers (EdTPA), owns an online charter corporation (Connections Academy), and owns the GED.” Diane Ravitch
The critique heats up
Efficacy as an USP
Does learner impact really matter if the
client buys it? !
!
Do Well By Doing
Good
Sell
!
#2. ‘Double’ LeanEdTech start-ups are running two lean experiments at the same time. Iterating on a a business model and a learning model.
Business Model
Learning Model
Profitability !
Business Model !
User/Rev. Metrics !
!
Impact !
Learning Model !
Learning Metrics !
!
AND
The ‘Double’ Lean Start-up Approach
EdTech Business models can be
particularly difficult to crack
Apply Existing Education Evidence Base
+
‘Learning Models’ are as Complex as Business Models
What does this data tell us...? So What?
Using Data to Make decisions
#3. Know the target outcomes & metricsBe very clear on what outcomes you are trying to improve through solving your identified problem.
Cognitive!Interpersonal!Intrapersonal
21st Century Skills: 3 Domains
National Research Council (2012). Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century
Choose the 1 metric that matters
Learning
1. Describe the exact skill behaviour or mindset your product or service aims to improve.!!
2. Who is your target group?!!
3. Do you have a way of measuring the intended outcome?
Are you collecting this data?
#4. Apply what we already know about powerful learningFocus first on ALIGNMENT with the current evidence base on effective learning.
Design for Deep Learning
!
Under what conditions does learning flourish?
!
!
Designed for Deep learning
Learning by Design
Innovating Learning is a Design Science
Developing new ecosystems of learning
We know more about learning
than ever before
Design Principles
6 ELEMENTS 1.Student-owned
2.Growth-focused
3.Connected
4.Integrated
5.Applied
6.Collaborative !
OECD, Innovative Learning Environments Project
7 Principles 1. Learner have to be at the center of what happens in the classroom 2. Learning is a social practice & can’t happen alone 3. Emotions are an integral part of learning 4. Learners are different 5. Students need to be stretched, but not too much 6. Assessment should be for learning, not of learning 7. Learning needs to be connected across disciplines
How can the learning sciences inform the design of 21st century learning environments?
What is your learning model? What system is it functioning in?
Draw it.
What evidence have you built into this
design?
What other factors is the impact of your
product/service dependent on?
You need to build capacity
#5. Get on the path to generating evidence of educational impact
Do effective learning programs work like
Aspirin?
What Works to
What is working, for whom, when and
where Generalise through fit
Proof Or
Path
Evidence Journey