Online education is unlikely to ever replace traditional communication with a teacher/professor and there are many reasons for that. However, it’s obvious that we need to constantly implement new technologies to improve our education system and adjust it to modern conditions. New supporting tools have to be used alongside traditional studying, so all children could achieve their potential without being left behind in a tough recruitment market due to their individual features and needs.
So here are 5 edtech companies that really make a difference greatly contributing to education renewal.
1. Newsela
Newsela picks up and publishes daily news articles from trustful sources across several different reading levels for grades 2-12. It also helps students advance their reading and comprehension skills. Articles are grouped by topics, followed with quizzes and can be assigned to particular students by their teacher.
And there is even more: Newsela has launched a Media Literacy Initiative in the partnership with American Press Institute to teach kids distinguish fake news from reports on real events. It appeared the majority of them lack this skill: according to a Stanford Graduate School of Education, 80 percent of middle school students believe that an article with the words “sponsored content” is a real news story.
2. Schoology
Schoology has developed a Learning Management System for K-12 schools and universities aimed at making collaboration in educational institutions easier and more efficient, as well as helping teachers to use individualized approach to their students.
With Schoology’s product, teachers get the ability to assign tasks to students individually, so the latter cannot see each other’s assignments. Students can also choose methods of learning (text, video, audio etc.) based on the way they perceive information. It’s also very user-friendly, so even teachers who are not tech savvy feel comfortable while using it.
This LMS also helps with implementing new, rather complex innovations. For instance, when Fairview School District needed to replace laptops with iPads within 1:1 iPad implementation program, district leaders decided to use Schoology to manage that process. Schoology’s LMS made it a lot easier, as it supported district goals and made communication among stakeholders more efficient and transparent. Now kids from Fairview School District really experience student-centered learning and can study in a more entertaining and interesting way. However, parents also have to learn how they can monitor their kids’ iPads which are unlikely to be used only for studying purposes.
3. Neverware
Schools often face financial difficulties and cannot replace old computers with new ones, and that obviously blocks learning process. Neverware solves this problem in a lot more cheaper way. Its product, CloudReady, an operating system based on Chromium OS can be installed on every computer. It allows to use all the benefits of cloud technology for efficient and fast work and doesn’t require buying new hardware. Moreover, it can be used either in educational institutions or at home, so students from families with low income have the same learning opportunities as their peers.
We all know how negative a human impact on Earth is and how little has been done to eliminate its consequences. At Junior Explorers they aim to make the next generation more responsible, instill love of nature in kids and inspire them to work to save the Earth. It also gives them an opportunity to become an explorer and learn geography, biology and ecology in an interesting and engaging way.
Everything is simple: you purchase an “eco-mission” which is later sent to you by mail and your kid can enjoy learning new things and solving different tasks to find out how to preserve rare and exotic ecosystems.
Junior Explorers also have a blog, which is regularly updated and contains interesting facts about the world of nature.
This company aims to encourage girls of color to become innovators in STEM fields by teaching them how to code, engaging their parents into learning process and providing girls with peer and industry mentors, so they have an example to look up to.
By doing that, the company contributes to solving a big problem that is pretty visible when we look at the facts. In 2015, according to the National Science Foundation, there were only 8% black or African American female workers among women employed in science and engineering-related occupations (compared to 69.1% white female workers). Also, in 2015, according to the American Association of University Women, African-American women represented three percent of the computing workforce and one percent of the engineering workforce.
Black Girls Code’s goal is “to provide African-American youth with the skills to occupy some of the 1.4 million computing job openings expected to be available in the U.S. by 2020, and to train 1 million girls by 2040”. Considering all the efforts already made, it sounds pretty achievable.
As we can see, the edtech market is a fertile field for numerous business ideas. Given the number of problems in education remained unsolved, there will be many startups founded in the next few years.
