“EdTech demands technical know-how but also creativity. And I am very proud that Europe is willing to lead in this field”,
Said Maria Gabriel

Here’s what else Maria Gabriel shares in an article for Delano about EdTech.

In 2021, Europe was one of the fastest growing regions on the global EdTech scene. It was the year in which the first so-called EdTech unicorn emerged, a private company with a valuation exceeding $1bn. And by mid-2022, the total investment has reached more than $7.5bn.

EdTech demands technical know-how but also creativity. And I am very proud that Europe is willing to lead in this field.

The EdTech sector has also proven how solidary and values-driven a business they are: During the pandemic, companies opened their EdTech services free of charge to learners, teachers and educational staff. They did so again for Ukrainian refugees. The New Ukrainian School Hub, which gives access to education resources for displaced learners, is an EU co-funded initiative that I stand strongly behind.

And still, EdTech faces a number of challenges to consolidate its position in the evolving digital education ecosystem in the EU. Fragmentation across national markets and cultures, or difficulties to build effective partnerships with ministries, schools and universities are only some of the hurdles EU EdTech entrepreneurs face today.

Time to deliver on bold vision

In July 2021, I set up a group of European EdTech companies to understand the industry and its needs better. During roundtable discussions, we exchanged thoughts on experiences since the pandemic, on the state of EdTech in the EU and on possible avenues for further cooperation.

The outcome was a common vision the sector created for its future, presented during the first Digital Education Stakeholder Forum I hosted in March 2022. It is a bold vision. And I believe that now is the moment for the sector to act upon this vision and deliver.

The first and crucial step is to prove to those teachers and learners who still doubt the quality of many EdTech solutions. EdTech tools are not an extension of entertainment software. Pedagogy and learners’ needs come before commercial success. They can lead to better education processes and outcomes, they truly can prepare learners for success in our digitalised world.

While I am a strong believer in the potential of EdTech, I do not expect this young sector to complete its journey alone. As outlined in our Digital Education Action Plan, driving European digital education forward should not happen in isolation. We need everyone to be on board and we need a high-performing digital education ecosystem.

That is why I decided to continue the roundtable discussions with European EdTech with a third meeting on 8 November. For the first time, we addressed the topics of quality assurance and effective public-private partnerships, and how we can tackle these challenges together.

Let me share some of my takeaways.

First, when developing their tools, many European EdTech companies assess schools’ official curricula to see how they can best support the attainment of learning objectives through their tools. This is very smart and welcome. But to close the loop it is then important that EdTech companies also follow up on the impact of their tools. Have they been as effective as hoped? This can be assessed through graduate tracking, and by collaborating with research institutions on measuring the learning outcomes in the long-term.

Second, extra efforts are necessary to ensure good and smooth cooperation between public education systems and private companies, especially when they are start-ups or SMEs. Both sides can benefit greatly from working together, but I realise that it is still a bit unusual. Things have simply never been done this way. I am confident that over time, we will be able to build an environment of trust, transparency and innovation.

Funding programmes

And we are not starting from scratch. Good practices such as joint creation, continuous collaboration, and procurement targeted at EdTech startups already exist. They pave the way to expanding cooperation and building partnerships.

It is clear, addressing these topics is essential to move forward and I welcome the commitment of the EdTech companies I met. The success stories are already there, but I have understood that we need a more coordinated and ambitious approach.

And I am committed to help.

We have various funding programmes in the EU that offer opportunities to the EdTech sector. With Erasmus+, the EU flagship programme for education, we will support the sector as of 2023 with funding opportunities to EdTech projects that form effective public-private partnerships. And Horizon Europe, for example, proposes funding the sector to take its solutions even further through the European Innovation Council and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.

The journey of Education Technology is only starting. And I am very much looking forward to being there along the way, offer support and admire how their creative and entrepreneurial spirit will drive the journey of education towards quality and inclusion for all in a not-so-distant future.

The newly launched Robotics Expedition Kit provides a hands-on experience for kids who are interested in building robots, using their own imagination. The two kinetic creations – the Walker ambulatory (quadruped), and the Rover, an omnidirectional (3-roller), give kids an opportunity to search for inspiration from the world around them in order to come up with design ideas for the robots. 

The browser-based Make platform is available free of charge and it is compatible with Chromebooks as well as other computers. Its story-telling based lessons’ aim is to motivate children to use the hands-on building process rather than just relying on a theoretical approach. 

Piper is suitable for everyone – from people who are just interested and are making their first steps in coding to advanced users who are aware of robotics and coding. 

With all its interactive virtual representations, translations of Google Blockly code to text-based Circuit Python, and more, Piper Make is designed to let anyone learn the basics of hardware and coding. 

The Piper Make Starter Kits includes 4 Servo Motors, 2 Servo Wheels with Tires Ultrasonic Range Finder, 13 Laser Cut, Laser Etched Wood pieces, 3D Printed Sensor holder, Screwdriver, and jumper wires and the Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller.  

The Piper Make Robotics Expedition Kit lets budding technocrats indulge in an interactive and gamified experience in order to make their foray into STEM. It challenges them to improve their real-life problem-solving talents coupled with creative computational thinking, logical reasoning, and better observation skills. 

If you would like to experience the Robotics Expedition Kit, however, you have to take the Starter Kit first. It contains Raspberry Pi Pico, breadboard, LEDs, resistors, switches and wires, which can be used in dozens of other projects on the Piper Make platform. 

There are even five new projects included with the Robotics Kit and the key features are: build your own robots, Piper Make Coding Interface, Raspberry Pi Pico, Chromebook/Classroom Compatibility.

The company plans to strengthen its workforce across markets in India and abroad. The hiring will include young talent in a variety of areas including sales, marketing and departments. Nikhil Mittal, head of growth, Skill-Lync, said:

“With more than 40 masters and more than 100 individual courses, we have significantly seen a high demand for our engineering courses and expect this to continue as edtech is now becoming an essential service.”

The startup ensures a balance between the practical exposure and the fundamental theories. It allows students to work on practical projects with the aid of industry-oriented computational software and tools.

Following the invention of the first digital computer by John Vincent Atanasoff in the 1940s, computer science historian Nathan Ensmenger noted computer coding and programming were perceived as “routine and mechanical” activities, and “jobs for women”. For two decades, female programmers dominated the scene. A notable example is Hedy Lamarr, the Austrian-American actress, who invented the Frequency-hopping spread spectrum used in Bluetooth technology today.

In the 1960s, perception shifts led to increasing numbers of men pursuing computer science studies. According to US federal government data, the proportion of women in computing and mathematical professions reduced to just 27%. More recently, according to UNESCO’s 2017 ground-breaking report, “Cracking the code: Girls’ and women’s education in STEM”, only 3% of global female students in Higher Education chose Information and Communication Technologies studies.

This dramatic decline could be attributed to the home PC as a ’boy’s toy’ in the 1980s, where young boys were often more encouraged to play on computers, while girls were encouraged to undertake less ’scientific’ forms of play. Fast forward to 2021, and this mindset still pervades how we educate and play with younger generations. But change is now upon us.

Creating opportunities for young girls to be exposed to coding and other STEM subjects at a young age is crucial. It promotes gender equality in education and the workplace, but in computer science itself. A digital world comprising algorithms chiefly programmed by males, and with AI techniques becoming more sophisticated, means it is inevitable we will face the problem of unpicking gender-biased coding and programming, in years to come.

Early exposure for girls is critical for future interest and confidence levels, especially in the 9-12 age groups, when early inclinations about future careers start to form. Over recent years, a plethora of public and private programmes, corporate campaigns and investment initiatives encourage more young girls to enter coding at all education levels.

In 2019, the UK Department of Education granted £2.4 million in funding to the ‘Gender Balance in Computing’ research project, a joint initiative from the Raspberry Pi Foundation, STEM Learning, British Computer Society (BCS), Apps for Good and WISE. The objective was trial schemes to improve girls’ participation in computing and to investigate the various barriers preventing girls from studying computer science at school.

Inside and outside school curriculums, a clear barrier is an access to technology and the tools to teach it correctly. However, the pandemic caused global learning to migrate online. EdTech platforms and organisations flourished, offering opportunities to learn to code and brought the subject more into the mainstream – raising awareness levels amongst girls.

As EdTech platforms continue to drive awareness, they use innovative techniques to create a ’gamification’ approach to learning. This helps young students – boys and girls – to learn practical computer skills, whilst also having fun. Keeping it playful and encouraging meaningful learning, is key to keeping girls involved in coding.

Online EdTech platforms also bring fun and educational online coding courses to the home, inspiring young female students to get involved in coding in their leisure time and outside formal school curriculums, while maintaining the essence of play – a win for the parents too. From learning through building apps to developing interactive games, showing young girls practical, achievable applications and the wide range of other coding applications, is crucial to inspiring creativity and ensuring sustained interest into later years. The majority of future jobs will require some sort of proficiency in coding hence, coding must be made relevant to young girls and their dreams and ambitions, whatever they may be.

Offering personalised, one-to-one virtual learning via EdTech platforms can also help break down barriers related to confidence. Removing intimidating comparisons can encourage young girls to learn, study and play at their own pace, boost self-belief, as skills continue to improve.

Where gender diversity is lacking, having inspirational role models is also crucial to inspire young girls to succeed. EdTech platforms and learning institutions are places where young female students can be inspired by leading female teachers in the industry, become more confident, and receive guidance on continuing personal coding journeys.

Getting more young girls into coding and bridging future gender gaps may mean changing the collective tune. Ironically, it includes borrowing some inspiration from the 1940s and appreciating that girls might just benefit in the long run from more targeted screen time, not less.

Founded in 2014, Spayee allows content creators to produce customised courses in the form of audio and video tutorials, PDF documents, quizzes, assignments and live classes.

On the other hand, Graphy was created as a platform for educational content creators to grow their audience, monetise their skills, and host live cohort-based courses.

Graphy said the acquisition is aimed at strengthening its leadership position in the creator economy. Sumit Jain, co-founder and CEO, Graphy, said:

“Spayee has built a winning proposition for creators. We are confident that having them as part of the Unacademy group will help us explore common synergies and build the world’s largest creator community.” 

Graphy helps creators launch their own online school in under 60 seconds and has over 500 active creators.

Spayee will continue to operate independently. Currently over 2,000 creators and businesses have launched their platforms using Spayee.

In August, Unacademy closed a Series H round of $440 million at a valuation of $3.44 billion.

This education technology market report assesses the role of EdTech technologies in formal education, career instruction and vocational training. The report evaluates a wide variety of digital learning environments with analysis of technologies and solutions including hardware, software, devices and services. The report considers the efficacy of various delivery methods and modalities including customer focused education approaches and the role of evidence-based outcomes.

The report analyzes EdTech solutions including distance learning services, virtual classroom infrastructure, interactive learning and administrative systems. The report evaluates solutions by user type, deployment mode and other critical considerations. Virtual classroom equipment and device analysis includes Computers, Smartphones, Tablets, Virtual Whiteboards, and Web Conferencing related infrastructure. Administrative system analysis includes Training Resource Management Systems, Student Information Systems, Document Management Systems, and Talent Management Systems.

The report evaluates EdTech companies including their strategies, products and services. It also analyzes the role and importance of advanced technologies such as AI and machine learning, robotics, telepresence and holographic delivery systems and user interfaces. The report also assesses the role of software-based solutions like Learning Management Systems, Lecture Capture Systems, Student Information Systems, and others.

The education sector is undergoing a digital revolution and the conventional teaching method is taking a major shifting towards student-centric and more inclusive learning. Educational Technology (EdTech) is the combined use of computer technology and educational theory/practice to facilitate student learning. It creates, uses and manages engineering processes and educational resources to help facilitate learning and academic performance.

EdTech represents the combined use of computer technology and educational theory/practice to facilitate student learning. Educational technology creates, uses and manages technological processes and educational resources to help improve student academic performance. In addition to knowledge drawn from educational practice, educational technology uses networking, education techniques, psychology, sociology, artificial intelligence and IT technology.

Education market researchers HolonIQ reported that edtech companies received $16.1 billion in venture capital in 2020. A recent survey from Brighteye Ventures, Europe’s biggest edtech VC firm, said that European edtech funding is set to surge from $711 million in 2020 to $1.8 billion in 2021.

As part of Tech.eu’s Crossing Borders series on international expansion, we spoke to three European edtech startups about their scale-up stories, how they weathered the pandemic year, and how it has shaped expansion plans looking ahead.

How to game the education landscape

Poland-based learning platform Brainly, for one, has seen its monthly user base surge to 350 million today, from 150 million in 2019. Brainly, which enables students and their parents to get help on study assignments, is available to people from 35 global markets, including the U.S., India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Russia.

Felix Ohswald, cofounder and CEO of GoStudent, said the pandemic was a mixed bag at the start. He said:

“On the teacher side, from one day to another we had 4 times more applications simply because a lot of young people were looking for remote jobs … and providing online teaching is a pretty attractive opportunity.”

However, on the parent side, the team saw a decrease in search volume for tutoring services because there was less pressure in school and fewer regular exams, which in the end made it more expensive for the company to acquire new customers.

Post-pandemic edtech crunch

Vienna, Austria-headquartered GoStudent became Europe’s first edtech unicorn in June 2021, after raising a €205 million ($242.5 million) round that valued the company at €1.4 billion ($1.65 billion). The company is present in more than 15 countries and about to add Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, and Canada in the coming months, as part of its stated ambition to become the world’s No. 1 online school.

Building edtech into the curriculum

As a campus-based business, Ironhack expanded based on factors like the cost of renting teaching space, cost of living in the city, ease of hiring teachers and program managers, and the number of competitors. The competition and astronomical cost of space and living ruled out London, Baqués says.

The Ironhack playbook for assessing potential new markets includes analysis of demand for the types of job positions their graduates are being trained for, including projections on how many web developers, UX designers, and data analysts different cities will likely need in the coming years.

The startup owns the ‘Little Laureates’ brand, under which it runs pre-schools across Eastern India. Tamal Mukherjee, the CEO of Nalanda Learning Systems said:

“We have raised Rs 40 crore from Aavishkaar Capital to fund our drive to expand nationally using digital content. The pandemic has reshaped the education market. While it has accelerated the adoption of education technologies, the benefits have been limited to a small section of the society.”

According to Mukherjee, Nalanda intends to not only ensure sustained learning and development outcomes for children, but also enable the pre-schooling industry to revive and upskill, and provide comprehensive, contemporary and early learning programmes. Ajay Maniar, partner at Aavishkaar Capital added:

“We are extremely excited to continue partnering with Nalanda as it expands its high-quality pedagogy across India through its digital platform. The Nalanda team has shown great dexterity in reimagining the pre-schooling business and have been able to translate their high-quality pedagogy into a highly impactful business proposition for pre-school owners, teachers and parents.”