2019's most recommended ed tech companies to watch
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The document discusses the evolving landscape of education technology (edtech) and highlights various innovative companies that are redefining traditional learning methods. Companies like anak2u, codespark, etutorworld, route2work, and others are making significant strides in early education, coding, online tutoring, and career development by leveraging advanced technologies. The article aims to showcase the most recommended edtech companies of 2019 and their impactful approaches to enhance the educational experience.
2019's most recommended ed tech companies to watch
- 1. www.insightssuccess.com 2019 | Volume-9 | Issue-4 EdTech Companies
- 4. The Changing Roads of Education Editor’s Desk www.insightssuccess.com 2019 | Volume-9 | Issue-4 EdTech Companies Technology and the discipline of education have been treading on parallel roads, ceaselessly progressing and transcending into notions that now hold the potential to change the very definition of human evolution. There have been numerous avenues in the field of education which have provided a path for innovative organizations to tap into a superfluous proportion of resources, which in turn aided the conception of revolutionary platforms and technologies. A plethora of eLearning platforms have been on the rise, catering to newer generations of young learners and aspiring professionals. From cloud based learning systems to customized content approaches, eLearning platforms have striven to deliver top-notch quality offerings, in lieu of the traditional learning culture and teaching methods. Taking into consideration this transformation of the education sector, for the better, we at Insights Success, in our journey to seek 2019’s Most Recommended EdTech Companies To Watch, have come across a few significant organizations that have leveraged every opportunity in this domain. The companies that have been featured in this edition include: Anak2U, a simple school management system for childcare and early education centres to track a child’s
- 5. learning in class and report it to parents. The company revolutionizes the way a report is generated, firstly by making it digital, and then enhancing it by providing recommendation activities to parents, that are auto-generated by the system to ensure that children’s learning does not stop at school. codeSpark, a venture backed edtech company behind codeSpark Academy, the world’s #1 coding platform for kids ages 4- 10. Using a proprietary “no words” interface, codeSpark has introduced more than 30 million kids to coding in just four years. codeSpark was inspired by co-founder Grant Hosford’s young daughters, who wanted to know how computers work. Kids use codeSpark Academy to design and code over 27,000 video games and interactive stories every day. EtutorWorld which is a leading EdTech company delivering world-class online tutoring services for K-12 and Test Prep. The organization’s mission is to provide top-notch tutoring services combined with affordability and convenience, making it the most sought-after e-learning platform across US and other countries globally. route2work is a social impact business and a full-service education, qualifications and careers provider. Its primary focus is to get talent into work and in accelerating the careers of those already in work by offering world-class digitized content with vendor-based qualifications, that is industry-standard, and leads to interviews & career progression with their employment partners. TeenEinstein is a technology company focused on enhancing Math education for kids in United States and worldwide. The company’s AI is being used as the tool in knowledge dissemination by the STEM leaders. Also working towards world’s first high caliber STEM University with access to one all, across the globe, TeenEinstein’s endeavor is to take the STEM education to one and all and make it interesting and that leads to lots of innovation and benefits to the common man. TinyTap is an award-winning educational platform, that enables limitless learning for children by giving them access to over 150,000 interactive games created by top educators worldwide. The platform empowers teachers to easily create educational games or activities for their students and allows them to share these games for free or as premium content in the TinyTap marketplace app and web portal. A few other companies that are worth a mention pertaining to their work in the EdTech sphere are, Versado Training, Tyler Technologies, MaxBrain, and DavtonLearn. Also make sure to flip through articles from top industry experts and by our in-house editorial team to receive a brief taste of the sector and be au fait with the know hows. Bon appétit! Abhishaj Sajeev Abhishaj Sajeev
- 6. eTutorWorld Changing the Face of Online Education Globally 20 route2work Creating Pathways towards a World of Opportunity 22 Anak2U Reforming Education One Child at a Time Anak2U Reforming Education One Child at a Time 10 codeSpark Turning Programming into Play! 12
- 7. TeenEinstein A Global Approach to Enhance STEM Education 28 TinyTap Limitless Interactive Learning for Kids Worldwide 30 Contents LEADERSHIP THOUGHT Leveraging the Potential of Gaming into Education EDITOR’S PICK Changing Paradigms of the Traditional Education System 16 Article CXO Standpoint 24
- 9. [email protected] September, 2019 Circulation Manager Tanaji Research Analyst Eric Smith Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Anish MillerSenior Editor Sophie, Brad, SapnaBusiness Development Executives Managing Editor Upama, Ryan Sherin RodricksBusiness Development Manager Abhishaj Sajeev Contributing Writers Art & Design Head Amol Kamble Art & Design Assistant Priyanka Rajage Visualiser David King Paul BelinCo-designer Art & Picture Editor Deepanjali Jena Marketing Manager Jennifer Winget Technical Consultants Pratiksha, Aditya, David Technical Head Jacob Smile Assistant Technical Head SME-SMO Executives Gemson, Uma, Manoj Digital Marketing Manager Alina Sege Assistant Digital Marketing Manager Prashant Chevale Copyright © 2019 Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd., All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Insights Success. Reprint rights remain solely with Insights Success. Follow us on : www.facebook.com/insightssuccess/ www.twitter.com/insightssuccess Corporate Ofce Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - (614)-602-1754 Email: [email protected] For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.com We are also available on : RNI No.: MAHENG/2018/75953 Sales Executives Alice, Judy, Anna Amar Sawant
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- 12. Reforming Education One Child at a Time The inclusion of various innovative technologies within the domain of education has given comprehensive development a brief push towards expanding its potential. Education and technology when conjoined, while the necessity for ever-long progress plays the catalyst, makes learning more powerful. On similar terms, Anak2U, an easy all- inclusive solution has been designed for teachers and parents when managing children’s day to day activities in Early Education centers. Founded in 2019, Anak2U, literally meaning Children to You, starts as a simple school management system for childcare and early education centres to track a child’s learning in class and reported to parents. The company revolutionizes the way a report is generated, firstly by making it digital, and then enhancing it by providing recommendation activities to parents, that are auto-generated by the system to ensure that children’s learning does not stop at school. Anak2U’s initial early adopter provided a feedback that the primary problem which the school faces is time constraint. This has been evident because during school period, they need to give all the time to supervise each of the children. In this case, Anak2U, decreases the time to create a report from 30 minutes for one class to 5 minutes, allowing the teacher to focus on the children and activities in class. Another problem that Anak2U addresses, is the time consumed to create quality resources based on learning and children’s milestones. However, this requires time and analysis, as teachers need to spend time to appropriately craft quality resources, and supposed to have it personalized to the class and children’s learning capability. The company has partnered up with resources provider, child care specialist and universities to help and build digital and physical resources. It also aims to enhance different learning and development milestones. All these activities and resources are tagged on different skills, teachers can use the resources provided in class or parents can also use it as follow up activities at home. Anak2U is the only solution in the market that has a milestone tracker for Islamic curriculum, and linking it to the resources that the company built in- house or has curated from partners. It uses analytics to retrieve data from the digital reporting and a child’s activities to perform data analysis and push the right follow up activities to the parents. This is important for the company as it is moving towards personalized learning in early education. Moving forward, Anak2U will be delivering tailor made resources based on children’s capability. The Team Anak2U’s onset towards a global ascendance is helmed by Wan Muzaffar Wan Hashim, the CEO and |September2019|10
- 13. Anak2U was built to enhance the communication between school and parents, and revolutionize the current child report card system. Wan Muzaffar Wan Hashim Co-founder & CEO Co-founder of Anak2U. He holds a Diplome Ingenieur (Master) in Telecommunication from IMT Lille Douai France and Master’s in Global E-Business from University Lille 1. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, he was a trainer, and has conducted digital training around the region including in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Maldives and Sri Lanka. He also regularly participates in delivering multiple digital project in Malaysia used in the region in multiple domains, from startup to corporate projects including OTT product, Astro Go, travel and loyalty industries such as AirAsiaBig and Firefly mobile app. Together with two other co-founders, Aniq Aiman Imran and Mohamad Faizal Razak, each having strength in Operation and Technology, Anak2U was built to enhance the communication between school and parent, and revolutionize the current child report card system. Sustaining Competency When asked on how the company aims to sustain its competition, considering the ever-competitive market, the CEO says, “The growth in technology gives a lot of opportunity in Ed Tech market, especially in Islamic market where a lot of domains are still open for grab, and can be tapped into. From speech recognition, text recognition, the market is wide open and we plan to explore the digital resources incorporating this technology in them.” The team at Anak2U hopes to be able to build world-class solutions, with world class curriculum and able to reach its audience through them. “When we find the right formula, we could grow the solution beyond early education, to the primary and secondary school vertical as well,” he adds. Overcoming Hurdles Some of the challenges Anak2U faces as a startup are, to break through the current compiling crowded space, evaluating the software products without testing them with students, and the learning curve to use the software. The company provides onsite training to help and introduce the software to teachers and parents, and will be inventing an effective way to educate and adjust the application and system everywhere. Pricing is also an issue as the company constantly tackles the problem for the entire ecosystem and some early education centers in the region may also have a budget constraint, making Anak2U to come out with different solutions and packages to different target market. Anak2U will continue to invest in strengthening its main milestone tracking app, as well as the digital resources so that it will be widely used in the market. The company’s aim is to make Anak2U the main reference for parent and teacher in Islamic world. “ “ 2019'S MOST RECOMMENDED EdTechCOMPANIES TO WATCH 11| |September2019
- 14. Turning Programming into Play! In today’s technology driven era, education companies are developing increasingly user friendly tools for creating a positive impact in classroom. These digital initiatives deliver a significant impact on kids by offering them highly accessible learning platforms. As more educational programs turn digital, teachers are finding that blending technology into the learning experience provides a unique and innovative classroom experience. One of the companies leading this new movement is codeSpark, the creator of educational software and games for children ages 4-12. In an interview with Insights Success, , CEO andGrant Hosford Co-founder of codeSpark, sheds light on the company’s cutting-edge solutions which are enriching the education sector. Considering these innovative and inspiring aspects, Insights Success recognizes codeSpark as one of the 10 Most Innovative EdTech Solution Providers 2019. Below are highlights from the interview conducted between Grant and Insights Success: Give a brief overview of your company. codeSpark is the venture backed edtech company behind codeSpark Academy, the world’s #1 coding platform for kids ages 4-10. Using a proprietary “no words” interface, codeSpark has introduced more than 30 million kids ages 4 to 10 to coding in just four years. codeSpark was inspired by co-founder Grant Hosford’s young daughters, who wanted to know how computers work. Kids use codeSpark Academy to design and code over 35,000 video games and interactive stories every day! Tell us about your company’s products and services. codeSpark Academy is the #1 kids coding platform in the world and the top grossing coding platform of any kind on iOS. Kids ages 4-10 use codeSpark academy to learn fundamental computer science concepts. They put those concepts to work designing and programming their own video games and interactive stories. codeSpark is used at home and in schools. Over 60,000 K-5 teachers use codeSpark Academy in their classroom to teach computer science. The platform is free for public schools and libraries while home users can purchase full access via a subscription. Our product team adds new content and features to codeSpark Academy every 3-4 weeks. Our app has been downloaded over 12 million times and has been used by 30 million kids around the world. We are very proud that 53% of codeSpark’s users are girls, the highest percentage on any coding platform we know of. How services offered by your company are designed to give access to right technology at right time? Teachers, parents and kids can access codeSpark Academy at any time on iOS, Android, Amazon Devices and the Web. The product has been tested with thousands of kids in the 4-10 age group and has 4.6 stars out of 5 on iOS. What are the innovative approaches are adapted by the company to improve the quality of solutions? Our proprietary “no words” interface makes our app highly accessible for |September2019|12
- 15. We teach young kids about computer science and give them the power to create remarkable video games and interactive stories. Grant Hosford Co-founder & CEO many different types of learners. In addition our focus on creativity has allowed a generation to understand the power of computer science for problem solving. Kids learn from and, are inspired by, other kid creators. Where does company name see itself in the long run and/or what are its future goals? codeSpark wants to introduce every child in the world to the power of digital creation. We intend to be the digital version of LEGO for this generation. About the Leader Grant Hosford is the Co-founder and had the original idea for codeSpark. He is an experienced entrepreneur who has spent the last 20 years building successful digital businesses in Seattle and Los Angeles. Grant has deep expertise in new product launches, has lived on 4 continents and comes from a family of educators. He’s a husband, father of three kids, coaches girls soccer and rides bikes often. He thought computer science should be taught throughout a child’s K-12 career, just like English and Math. He and Co-founder Joe Shochet have also focused on letting kids be creative with code. They believe deeply that computer science is a tool for problem solving and creative expression and wanted to allow young kids to experience the thrill of creating something from your imagination. Grant speaks regularly about closing access gaps in STEM education for girls. Testimonials from codeSpark Clients “I love CodeSpark! I’ve used it for two years now, and it has definitely helped my students think about problems chronologically, and has helped them visualize much more than before. They understand trial and error and can plan ahead. Thank you, CodeSpark!.” - Becky M., K-5 STEM Teacher, Illinois “My students absolutely love Codespark. This year after using Codespark I could see a huge improvement in my students’ understanding of basic programming skills, problem solving skills and their use of computer science vocabulary.”- Amanda Cox, First Grade Teacher, KY “I’m 8 years old and I’ve been using this app for 8 months. This is the best game ever!! I like to make games!! I think you will too!!” - Dana H, kid “My 6 year old absolutely LOVES The Foos and as a programmer, I am impressed with how well it’s showing her the rudiments of procedural problem solving in the most fun possible way!.” - Justin, parent “ “ 2019'S MOST RECOMMENDED EdTechCOMPANIES TO WATCH 13| |September2019
- 19. What drives the EdTech Sector? When the need for something becomes essential, you are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it, which is absolutely true in the context of EdTech field. Most of the EdTech companies are the brainchild of innovative minds and incredible ideas of the talented folks. They have had the sole intent to make a constructive change in the traditional education system with advanced and hi-tech solutions, they developed. Many a time, students, as well as teachers, find the traditional education system monotonous and disinteresting, which affects the overall development and productivity of pupils, who are in fact much more capable of grasping and learning, if engaged appropriately. If the learning is a stressful process, it hampers motivation and quality of education. It is said that a person can easily grasp and recall visual things than just theory. The various subjects like mathematics, biology, chemistry, art, etc. have become fun to learn and easy to comprehend with the advanced interactive and thought-provoking learning solutions provided by the EdTech companies, which makes it more effective for pupils in long run. According to a recent study, a drastic difference was observed in the students from elementary to high-school in terms of productivity, who went through the digital and interactive learning process. Another important factor is “student to teacher ratio.” Most of the developed and less populated countries have an adequate student to teacher ratio in schools and colleges. However, it’s a completely different picture in developing, underdeveloped and densely populated countries, where the education sector is in grim condition due to the lack of teachers and inadequate learning facilities. The quality of education is also compromised due to government inactions and apathy. EdTech companies are playing an extremely crucial role in these countries by imparting education and providing much-needed learning infrastructure to the masses in a very minimal budget and time. Learn on the Go For almost past 100 years or so, we have been following a learning model (especially elementary to high school level) where, a teacher or professor stands at the front of the classroom explaining ideas, writing on the board, while students sit and listen with the learning materials being mostly physical textbooks. EDITOR’S PICK 17|September2019|
- 20. Now, however, in the digital realm, EdTech has transformed the conventional notion of a classroom. The availability of low-cost and high-speed internet has made it possible for EdTech to reach a wider and vast section of the population. Students are using laptops and tablets to learn various aspects of the curriculum through digital media, and teachers find it more appealing to elucidate different facets of their subjects. Many schools and colleges have in fact implemented BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies for students’ convenience. This digital learning content is more up-to-date and comprehensive in nature, which allows the pupils to explore and learn at their own pace. It can be altered and customized as per the learners’ need at any point in time. Hence it gives liberty to schools and colleges to easily adapt and embrace this digital technology. Distance education is just a click away today; one can pursue the interesting courses from miles away sitting in another city or country altogether, thanks to e-learning programs offered by several institutions across the globe. It saves huge time and money for the individual, which couldn’t be possible within the traditional education system. EdTech tools offer a very high level of user engagement and learning. Teachers and Educational institutions leverage the EdTech tools to practically and smartly access a student’s progress. Instead of waiting for exam results to disclose a student’s development in a particular subject, one can use EdTech tools to monitor their performance on day-to-day basis. It offers you ways to track a student’s performance by going through his scores, classroom attendance, and participation and then come up with a plan to work on the weak areas. Every society is divided into different strata. Some belong to the privileged class and some to moderate and some to underprivileged class. According to UNESCO report, approx. thirty-five percent of world’s illiterate population lives in India, which is quite alarming. Due to the advent of EdTech companies, the situation is changing gradually, as an underprivileged class has now access to digital education with the help NGOs and civil societies. The country’s progress and development rely on its younger generation, & hence it has to be well-educated and literate. EdTech, the Future of Education Edtech is poised to be the biggest and possibly the most profitable digitalized sector in the future. This sector possesses huge potential and offers you a plethora of tools and options to learn, unlike the partial knowledge offered by cumbersome and relatively expensive textbooks. Since all students don’t have the same learning proficiency, one can personalize these EdTech tools according to one’s needs. The steep rise in the cost of a high-school & college education coupled with the competitive job market has allowed EdTech companies to increasingly grow its reach to the masses. From companies providing education via video conferencing and to using neuroscience for personalizing learning experience, Edtech sector is growing rapidly in size and revenue. EdTech is assumed to be the next FinTech. |September2019|18
- 22. Changing the Face of Online Education Globally The ascension of a digital- learning era has emancipated us from the shortcomings within traditional education, and has also established an ease in accessing content that we prefer most. Education, over the years, has given heed to the necessity of evolving with this paradigm shift in user preference. The advent and gradual upheaval of the discipline of education has evidently conceived a few innovative organizations which have taken the e-learning market by storm. One prominent name among these organizations is eTutorWorld. Founded in 2008, eTutorWorld is leading EdTech company delivering world-class online tutoring services for K-12 and Test Prep. The organization’s mission is to provide top-notch tutoring services combined with affordability and convenience, making it the most sought after e-learning platform across US and other countries globally. In an interview with Insights Success, Mukul Agrawal, the Co-Founder and CEO of eTutorWorld, shares his views regarding the organization, its offerings and his foresight regarding the company. Below are the details of interview between Insights Success and Mukul. With regards to your organization’s profound industry experience, how do you think the EdTech market has evolved and what can be expected in the forthcoming years? The EdTech market has evolved from various dimensions in the last few years and will continue to do so. What started as an experiment in education delivery is now being transformed by a new breed of technology entrepreneurs. Every field of education is being disrupted through technology. Some of those are schools, colleges, private tutoring, content, trainings etc. Just as technology, and particularly the digital era, has disrupted and improved most major segments of world economy, education in the same way is undergoing a tech revolution. It is about applying digital technology to deliver a new form of learning architecture. An architecture that harnesses the social reach of the internet, which delivers personalized learning and training that can automatically adjust to an individual’s learning competence and which uses big data analysis to understand the most effective ways for learners to progress. In changing the traditional architecture of education, EdTech has the power to create efficiencies, cut costs and enable new levels of standardization and democratized access. It is set to transform the future of how education is resourced, taught, consumed and, ultimately, the results that it can then yield – both for the individual and for society as we continue to build the knowledge economy. What are the benefits gained by your users from your online tutoring services? eTutorWorld is a leading EdTech company providing world-class online tutoring services for K-12 and Test Prep. Personalized LIVE online 1-to-1 tutoring is provided in English, Math and Science for grades 3 to 12. Tutoring services and worksheets are also provided for various test preps such as SCAT, SAT, PSAT, ACT etc. Our users who take our tutoring services or purchase our content, gain the following: a) Personalized 1-to-1 LIVE online tutoring b) Expert qualified and certified teachers c) Learning by Design teaching pedagogy. The teaching plan is customized for each student as per student’s needs and learning abilities d) Holistic learning of concepts and scoring better grades/marks e) Practice worksheets after every session Considering the necessity of adapting to the volatile technological disruptions and/or development of cutting-edge solutions, how does your company sustain its competency in the EdTech market? Sustaining the competency of eTutorWorld in this competitive market is not easy. We follow a very methodical 3-step process to adapt to technological disruptions: • Understand: As a first step, our team always keeps abreast with the latest tech disruptions. It is important to understand them in detail. • Evaluate: This is a critical step, as not all technological disruptions would be applicable for our industry and specifically out company. So, we |September2019|20
- 23. Mukul Agrawal Co-Founder and CEO only pick the ones that are relevant. • Implement: Based on the relevant technologies, we implement them in a phased manner. What obstacles and/or limitation do you face while growing, sustaining or retaining your clientele? Any company that says it does not face any obstacles in acquiring customers has either saturated their market or is not telling the truth. We at eTutorWorld also face many obstacles in acquiring and retaining our customers. Some of them are shared here: • Supply vs Demand: There is always a question on the right balance between supply and demand. When demand exceeds supply, you can lose customers and when it is other way round, it leads to underutilization of supply. In our case also, we do face the same challenge. • Pricing: The pricing of our services is one of the most affordable in the industry. But the critical aspect is to maintain high quality of tutoring services at affordable rates. We have been able to solve this challenge well. • Marketing Spend: We are always presented with the challenge of right marketing spend. For marketing, no budget is enough as there is always scope to increase the budget to acquire/retain customers. One of the challenges that hinders a company’s growth is to acquire the right talent. In a growing company like ours, there is always a need for hiring top-class talent but at a reasonable budget. With a sector like EdTech that has several companies with different kind of services, it is a challenge to hire employees, especially tutors, who have great knowledge and are good with online medium of teaching. What does the future hold for your organization in terms of internal as well as holistic development? The future of eTutorWorld looks very bright with the tutoring services growing across the globe. We are looking to come up with multiple ideas on expansion. There will be new offerings and services around our tutoring and content sale that would be launched in this and next financial year. This would be combined with geographic expansion to multiple countries across the globe. We are also looking to expand our team by hiring more tutors for K12 and Test prep across subjects. This is required as the new academic session 2019-20 is starting and we are expecting a surge in demand. You will also see some technological changes from our end in terms of our platform. So overall, it is a very exciting time ahead for eTutorWorld and we look forward to following our mantra of affordable quality tutoring for everyone. No student should be left behind. About the Leader Mukul Agrawal is the Co-Founder and CEO of Etutorworld. Mukul graduated in Mechanical Engineering from MS University Baroda and MBA from IIM Calcutta. He has 30+ years of experience in global technology companies. He has worked, lived and traveled extensively in Asia, Europe and USA. Prior to Etutorworld, Mukul was Unisys India’s Country Manager and Managing Director. Besides eTutorWorld, Mukul is interested in fostering entrepreneurship and also mentors several education startups. At eTutorWorld, Mukul has been instrumental in conceptualizing and developing an innovative online tutoring platform which serves as the technology backbone for company’s tutoring operations. Mukul is also responsible for setting up the company’s digital, search and social media marketing initiatives and they have become the primary marketing channels for the company. The google search campaigns were fine-tuned by him to successfully attract relevant website customers and convert them to sales, at an acceptable cost. Visit www.etutorworld.com for more information. 2019'S MOST RECOMMENDED EdTechCOMPANIES TO WATCH 21| |September2019
- 24. he EdTech market is Texperiencing a digital revolution: the emergence of millennial and Gen Z talent into the careers market has disrupted the reliance on traditional forms of education. Young people no longer live and learn in the same way, and as a result, education and professional development must adopt a digital edge to surpass the shortcomings of archaic forms of learning. The UK market is stunted by traditional routes to work: college, university, apprenticeships, T-Levels. As a result, they’re falling short when it comes to satisfying the appetite of young learners who want to make the most of on-demand learning which allows them the ability to study on their own terms and achieve a career upon completion. With seminars and lectures largely being classroom based, on a set schedule, this is something structured learning environments simply aren’t accommodating. What’s the solution? Embracing digital education, that leads to real jobs for talent across the UK, is a key step. Education, when combined with technology, provides avenues for students to learn and improve, whilst allowing educators to deliver content effectively. The way we interact with technology is rapidly changing so it’s vital the education system keeps pace with this developing landscape. This is where EdTech comes into focus. EdTech has been embraced by myriad of industry leaders, who themselves are investing in creating needs-suited equipment and contemporary classrooms to provide a forward- thinking and development-focussed environment for education. Allowing flexible options through online learning is just one of EdTech’s many benefits. Few companies can boast the availability of a high-quality e-learning environment that equips its students with career-focussed skills. route2work stands out here: they provide a world-class training environment that allows aspirational students to pursue their dream career. An Insight into route2work route2work is a social impact business and a full-service education, qualifications and careers provider. Its primary focus is to get talent into work and in accelerating the careers of those already in work by offering world-class digitized content with vendor-based qualifications, that is industry-standard, and leads to interviews & career progression with their employment partners. With 60% of its student-base coming from inner-city, disadvantaged backgrounds, they continuously strive to empower talented students, regardless of their socio-economic background. route2work works with brands such as full service career provider, The Training Room (www.thetrainingroom.com), and Digital talent acquisition and talent management business, Infinity Global.IO (www.infinityglobal.io). Driving the Revolution Disrupting the educational environment and making other people’s career aspirations a reality is a challenge, one that, to reach its potential, needs to have an immense amount of focus and ambition behind it. Setting sail to revolutionise the EdTech market is Andrew Powell, Group CEO of route2work. Andrew can relate to the majority of route2work’s student-base: growing up on a run-down council estate in South Wales afforded few career opportunities. At just 16 years old, he joined the military where he served for eleven years, including 5 years with the British Special Forces in conflict zones that included the Gulf War I, the former Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland. Creating Pathways towards a World of Opportunity |September2019|22
- 25. route2work is disrupting the traditional UK educational, talent acquisition and talent management space by offering digitized education and real jobs for eligible candidates across the UK market. Andrew Powell Group CEO Before growing route2work into the forward-thinking EdTech provision it is today, Andrew served as Group Chief Operating Officer at FTSE 250 business Colt Technology Services. His passion for supporting disadvantaged talent into work and his leadership as a service ‘mantra’ continues to enable thousands of talented people to fulfill their career aspirations. Ensuring students are committed to their career development is crucial; in Andrew’s own words: “I have a mantra that is: I don’t care what education, skills or experience you have. I can give you those. What I can’t give you is the right attitude and a work ethic. You have to bring those.” World-Class Technology Solutions Partnering with Tata iON (the educational arm of the TATA group) on a digital technology level, means that route2work can support career development via a dynamic, digital and technologically driven platform. The alliance has been crucial in providing technology at scale across the talent acquisition, talent management, education, qualification and employment space. route2work’s significant Global counterparts are making huge efforts to ensure that its technology offering remains cutting edge and meets the needs of talent in a way that is engaging and universally accessible. Development in Foresight route2work is disrupting the traditional UK educational, talent acquisition and talent management space by offering digitized education and real jobs for eligible candidates across the UK market. It is enabling disadvantaged talent to access careers they never dreamed they could access, with sights set on bringing the positive social impact from accessible professional development to a global stage. Using world- class technology and solutions, it aims to get millions of talented people, globally, into the careers of their dreams. The initial phase of extending outside of the UK market will see route2work launch into the Indian market in September 2019. “ “ 2019'S MOST RECOMMENDED EdTechCOMPANIES TO WATCH 23| |September2019
- 26. Leveraging the Potential of Gaming into Education to build a game that measured up to the experiences I was used to. You don’t play Starcraft, Half-Life, and Diablo without learning a thing or two about fun engagement. And so, Mathbreakers.com, and later SuperMathWorld.com was born. The idea behind these games is simple: Starting from solid, fun mechanics, build a game on top of a solid foundation of math, so that the emergent gameplay is naturally mathematical in nature, while retaining a playfulness that allows you to jump right in without feeling like you’re being tested. In this, we were extremely successful. We actually have many of our customers (parents and teachers) telling us their kids play the game for fun; one parent even commented that their kids would rush through morning chores in order to get more time on the game. Now that’s product success! If you have a kid aged 8 - 12, I encourage you to check out Mathbreakers.com and SuperMathWorld.com -- there are free trials and you may see their attitude change from “math sucks/is boring” to “this is amazing and fun” in a matter of minutes (it’s happened many times before). G o outside!” “Read a book!” “Go to bed!” These were some of the common phrases from my childhood, because I had discovered video games, a portal into an amazing dimension where I could explore and use magical powers! As an adult game designer, I thought to myself -- how can I leverage this natural tendency for play to actually teach something useful? We started with mathematics, because it felt easy to turn elementary math concepts like addition and fractions into game mechanics. Many kids will tell you that they HATE math, but, when looked at from the right angle, mathematics is downright beautiful and fun to learn. Edward Frenkel, a famous mathematician from UC Berkeley, is known for saying that if art was taught like math, we’d be told to paint a fence red 1000 times until we got it right. Would it be any surprise if people thought they hated art because it was taught this way? But, this is exactly how math is taught! It doesn’t have to be this way. Leveraging my many years of gaming--ahem, market research--as a child, I worked with my co-founders “ |September2019|24
- 27. However, that’s not the end of the story. It turns out that making a successful business is more than just making an awesome product that your end users love. The remainder of this article will focus on the extreme challenges facing the ed-tech market today. 1. Schools are slow. You won’t see hockey-stick style growth with a product in schools, because the sales cycle can be up to a year. Furthermore, they’re slow to adopt -- in the curve of user adoption, schools tend to lump towards the “late adopters” side. Not good for startup sales. 2. Schools are SLOW. Even after multiple playtests on site that had kids literally screaming about how awesome the experience was, and even after clearly learning fractions from our game, it wasn’t enough. At one playtest an 8-year old boy was using a sword to chop numbers. Half, Fourth -- easy! Just chop the numbers up until you get the right amount. Until he got to 7/8ths -- that was a tricky one. He thinks aloud to himself -- what’s 7/8? It’s.....3 and a half 4ths! Yes, Billy, it is, and congratulations, you’ve achieved a solid understanding of fraction composition. Jo Boaler would be proud. It didn’t matter. Communicating these kinds of results to schools is like trying to talk to a whale about global warming. It’s critical information, but whales are huge and don’t speak your language. 3. Parents are difficult to reach. Every other math app out there -- and there are *thousands* -- claims to be as fun and engaging as ours. I’ve seen enough side-by-side playtests to tell you they’re flat out wrong, and can’t hold a candle to our game. I don’t mind saying it, because it’s really true. But it doesn’t matter. To a parent looking at marketing material, it all seems the same. Standing out is an expensive proposition, one that requires investor backing (or possibly some luck and skill that we missed). But even if you get that part right, there’s even more bad news. 4. The market is tiny. Math apps in the US are valued at about $1.2 billion for parents and teachers. If you don’t know anything about market sizes, I’ll give you two comparisons. Painting residential interiors is upwards of $50 billion. A single metal-scrapping company can be worth $1.2 billion alone -- the industry is worth $500 billion globally. In other words, a $1.2 billion market size simply isn’t big enough for most investors to care. So what’s the future of games in education? There will continue to be innovative and powerful solutions in ed-tech, but they will be small and you’ll have to hunt for them. The market will continue to be saturated by giants fueled by government grants and philanthropy, which makes the gems that startups create harder to find. So the future of games in education is fuzzy, but if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to find the pearls that will make a world of difference to the young learners that find them. Charlie Van Norman Co-founder Mathbreakers LEADERSHIP THOUGHT 25|September2019|
- 30. A Global Approach to Enhance STEM Education With the successive wave of technological advancements, EdTech Market is making rapid strides in AI based technology innovation and adaptation. Founded in 2012 in Santa Clara, CA, TeenEinstein foresees fusion of arts and technology. It is a technology company focused on enhancing STEM education for kids in United States and worldwide. TeenEinstein’s AI is being used as the tool in knowledge dissemination by the STEM leaders. Also working towards world’s first high caliber STEM University with access to one all, across the globe, TeenEinstein’s endeavor is to take the STEM education to one and all and make it interesting and that leads to lots of innovation and benefits to the common man. Extraordinary Clientele Benefits TM TeenEinstein’s Teacher.AI is the great tool in the hands of the STEM gurus that will enhance their effectiveness in STEM knowledge dissemination. TeenEinstein provides AI powered quality STEM education and ably supported by fusion of arts & sciences – the handy tool to help STEM gurus in their knowledge dissemination to American students. Making American students STEM savvy and help facilitate to compete in the global AI economy is the primary mission of the company. Currently its TeenEinstein Apps downloads both in Apple and Google Store are more than 200,000 and the team is working hard towards 1000 downloads per day. All the TeenEinstein Apps are high caliber and distributed freely to enable grade 6 to grade 12 Students to master the subject with ease and simplicity. There are no pop-up advertisements, it’s free of cost and they are providing pristine scholastic material. The Passionate Leader Prabu Govindaraj, the CEO of TeenEinstein is a serial entrepreneur and hands on AI technologist from IIM, Bangalore. He is passionate about the Edtech space. He built a few companies in the initial stage of his career which achieved the heights of success within a short span of time. With his dynamic attitude, Prabu continued to work on AI Analytics making AI faster, cheaper, friendlier and accessible to everyone as the tool in STEM knowledge dissemination and believes in Arts and STEM fusion to succeed in Edtech space. Creating AI driven companies for the benefit of humankind has been his life-long ambition. Overcoming Obstacles throughout the Journey The team at Teen Einstein understands that the global Edtech market is highly fragmented and therefore, the main focus point is primarily the US market. Being local players, the expert team knows the US market to a large extent. Continuous AI innovation and tapping |September2019|28
- 31. At TeenEinstein, we believe thefuture is great, as our AI tool will be in the hands of STEM gurus across America and worldwide. Prabu Govindaraj CEO into unknown areas of AI and beyond AI are the keys to growing, sustaining and retaining clientele. “We believe the company that’s able to continuously innovate on AI and it’s not afraid to go beyond AI to contribute to the STEM dissemination will play a great role in Edtech space”, asserts Prabu, the CEO. The Future Ahead “At TeenEinstein, we believe TeenEinstein’s future is great, as our AI tool will be the tool in the hands of STEM gurus across America and worldwide. Our goal is no child left behind in STEM education and we will take STEM education to one and all at the lowest possible cost and make it easy to master any STEM subject,” concludes the CEO in an ambitious note. “ “ 2019'S MOST RECOMMENDED EdTechCOMPANIES TO WATCH 29| |September2019
- 32. Limitless Interactive Learning for Kids Worldwide The complexity, fragmentation and long sale cycles, made it hard for companies to deploy and sell to the educational systems. Hence, a new era of ed-tech companies dawned, which focused on perfecting the learning experience at home and getting the traditional educational system out of the equation. The recent developments in ed-tech have brought massive changes in the stagnant field of the traditional education system. Enter TinyTap, an award-winning educational platform, that enables limitless learning for children by giving them access to over 150,000 interactive games created by top educators worldwide. The Erudite Leader Yogev Shelly, the Founder, and CEO of TinyTap is a passionate designer and developer with vast experience in application design. He received his B. Des. from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Yogev founded 27dv.com, an Interactive Studio that worked with startups such as JVP, PLYMedia, and Eye-Click. He later joined Rounds.com (acquired by KiK) as the 4th member and worked as a Client Developer and UX Director. In 2012 he founded TinyTap with a passion, as he was looking for an interactive experience for his father who was diagnosed with dementia. The company later changed course by building interactive learning activities for teachers in elementary schools around the world. In 2017 the company pivoted again to its current offering, which gives kids across the world access to an interactive learning experience. The Exclusive Offerings for Customers TinyTap enables limitless learning for kids by offering over 150,000 interactive games tailored by teachers worldwide in a myriad of subjects and in over 24 languages. The platform empowers teachers to easily create educational games or activities for their students and allows them to share these games for free or as premium content in the TinyTap marketplace app and web portal. Parents can subscribe and get unlimited educational games in a large variety of topics like math, ABCs, social skills, nature, to even recycling, and get the best learning experience and education for their kids. By using state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms they can offer kids a unique, optimized learning experience with personalized recommendations based on their level, needs, and interests. In addition, the team, alongside top educators, crafted a unique personalized learning plan for each age group, that gives parents peace of mind that their children will learn what they need to be in the top of their class. |September2019|30
- 33. TinyTap enables limitless learning for kids by offering over 150,000 interactive games handmade by teachers worldwide in a variety of subjects and in over 24 languages. Yogev Shelly Founder & CEO Unlike other solutions, TinyTap is the only interactive cross-language, multiple topics – single subscription app. The app is built for young kids, giving them a safe ad-free environment with curated content and a unique child- friendly navigation, which allows them to play more independently. The app also allows parents to download activities to play offline, the option to assign activities to their child, and a “parents dashboard” where they can track their progress and get personalized reports and recommendations. Strategies for Standing out At TinyTap, they are using technology to continuously move with the changing needs and requirements of the parents and their kids. The latest change in the company’s product-focus and business-model was made in 2017, which dedicates their efforts to fit young children and implement personalized content suggestions as a core part of the TinyTap experience. The company conducts a lot of qualitative and quantitative research to better understand its customers and meet the ever-changing needs in the market. They use their user research to try different experiments to find the best solutions that will meet their customer’s expectations. Surpassing the Odds TinyTap’s users are primarily young children between the ages of 2-8, most of them don’t have a personal device. Thus the company’s biggest challenge is getting the parents encouraged to give their kids’ the device to play and learn. The company sees that its unique interactive learning experience touches a real pain point in the passive screen world and offers a great solution to the increasing amount of parents that are concerned with their kids’ screen time. The Future Ahead In the next few months, TinyTap will continue to perfect its experience in the product with more AI capabilities so that children will have the optimal, more personalized content available to them. The company also plans to expand itself to additional ecosystems and more languages while sustaining its vibrant community of teachers and educators that create new games and activities for the kids every day. www.tinytap.it “ “ 2019'S MOST RECOMMENDED EdTechCOMPANIES TO WATCH 31| |September2019