Socrates Meets Edtech: 51 Questions that Teach
Earlier this week, NewSchools and Silicon Valley Education Foundation collaborated on launching a new learning innovation zone. Ten companies competed for the chance to run pilots throughout Silicon Valley school districts. They were drilled with dozens of questions from a panel of both educational leaders and business leaders.
One Giant Step Forward for Education
Today, the National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the United States and a political powerhouse, announced a partnership with BetterLesson, an edtech company dedicated to sharing teachers’ best practices and curriculum. The result of this union is the Master Teacher Project, a groundbreaking effort to showcase the brilliant minds of our country’s best teachers. […]
A closer look at K12 edtech venture funding in 2013
Venture investment in K12 education technology was up 6% in 2013 totaling $452 million. Over half of these investments were seed stage transactions mirroring the overall venture trend of increased financing from non-traditional sources (angels, super angels, micro-VC’s, incubators) at the seed stage. The NewSchools Seed Fund led and/or participated in nearly a quarter of […]
Who’s Funding K-12 Edtech?
“What other funders do you recommend?” This is one of the most common questions I get from edtech founders so I have compiled this list to help entrepreneurs navigate the edtech investor landscape and identify potential funders. This list is by no means exhaustive and is aligned to our focus on the U.S. K-12 student population.
ReimaginED: The Future of K12 Education
(link) From TED talk playlists to government speeches, everyone agrees: education is changing. Exactly how, why, or what it all means is still up for debate. Are the low United States PISA scores a sign of stagnation or creativity? Does technology replace or enhance face to face interaction? Are we trying to teach skills, concepts, or learning mindsets? At NewSchools Venture Fund, we’d like to set the stage […]
The NewSchools Notebook: tech, teaching, and inspiration
At NewSchools, we are constantly being exposed to new ideas in education from a variety of sources. Given that we invest in technologies that spread knowledge and education to all, I wanted to start a blog series passing on some of the quotes and intellectual nuggets I encounter to the world. Big Ideas from the […]
“Read, Write, Code” say CodeHS founders and winners of NBC Innovation challenge
In my last year at Stanford I took a class that made me wish I could start all over called CS 106a, Programming Methodology. I learned to code by guiding a robot icon through a grid, and eventually I programmed basic games like hangman and breakout (we even made a rudimentary social network!). I have […]
Helping Children Cope with Technological Change
A recently posted video of a four-year old’s tearful reaction to his father’s upgrade to Apple iOS 7 serves as a reminder that software innovation can affect children psychologically. The 17-second clip leaves much unaddressed: What about the new operating system made it “different” instead of “better”? Could the father have anticipated such a reaction […]
Beyond Data to Insights and Action
“Big Data” has become a buzzword within edtech circles and learning analytics is a Top Edtech Trend driven in part by increased accountability. However, the overwhelming amount of education data can often be inaccessible to those that need it most, educators and school leaders. This may be the reason that only 50% of administrators surveyed by the Center for Digital Education see improved student outcomes from the use of big data.
Book Smarts vs Street Smarts: aka Edtech Founders as Action Researchers
Last week I was in Boston visiting two of our portfolio companies, BetterLesson and Socrative. Spending time with entrepreneurs is, by far, the best part of my job.
I’m always moved by the passion of our entrepreneurs. As always, Ben Berte (Socrative) and Alex Grodd (BetterLesson) left me inspired by their commitment to supporting teachers. However, in this visit, I took away a new appreciation for how technology products are moving beyond just teacher productivity and into deeper issues of instruction and teacher learning.