Social Entrepreneurship and Ed-Tech: What you need to know before getting involved
I'm passionate about education technology, and ensuring that it has impactful implementation in the developing process and developing world. Many people are turning to education technology as a work-around for social impact and change, but it is important to involve key stakeholders along the way. Given that, I wanted to write this post about my experiences and provide some recommendations for those getting involved in ed-tech.
I come from a background as a teacher and former robotics coach, where I got to see first-hand the demand for STEM instruction and the use that technology plays in classrooms. In robotics, I saw a lot of students try to join the club solely to learn coding--there was that much of a demand. I started to think about ways to engage these students and train them--a lot of which involved online videos, tutorials, and programs that could facilitate their learning outside of school and the robotics program.
Through a teacher-exchange experience in Singapore, I got to see high-tech classrooms and online capabilities. Their administrators touted these as a critical reason for their continued success on international tests. However, they additionally stressed the importance of correct tech management and policies. This gave me ideas of ways engage students in and outside of the classroom, and the tools that ed-tech can provide.
With that background, I got involved in the International Education Policy and Management program at Peabody. The guiding question for much of my coursework and experiences has been: what impact can technology have for education, and what policies and management practices need to be in place to support success and benefit for students and teachers? With that in mind, I did a lot of research here at Vanderbilt about means of success for those programs, what type of ed-tech programs and models are out there, and what policies have been put in place that have led to success.
From that experience, I got involved with an organization founded by a fellow Peabody grad, James Nardella, called the Lwala Community Alliance (LCA). Most of the work that they do has been through community healthcare work and programs, but they have started working on an e-Reader program recently in rural Kenyan upper primary schools. My job role over the summer gave me a lot of practical experience and perspective, and highlighted initiatives that can lead to success.
To start, evaluation of the program so far has shown that the e-Readers have made significant contributions to academic achievement and literacy as compared to students in similar schools that don't have e-Readers. I don't want to downplay this, but the ed-tech here has worked! However, key initiatives played a role in that success--teachers and students were trained in the use of the devices, and ongoing IT support was provided to schools for the e-Readers. Also, LCA gathered feedback through staff interviews and observations to inform ways that the program can be improved or challenges that can be addressed.
Some challenges may seem obvious given the developing environment, but others are not as clear. The primary challenge was consistent power--with frequent outages, e-Readers may not have their charge for an entire class, and teachers would have to adjust as necessary. Additionally, some course books were not available--while e-Readers such as Kindles have a dictionary feature, there wouldn't be one for Kiswahili. Without internet access, those definitions could not be looked up either. Also, while teachers and students may be versed on how to use the e-Readers, classroom culture does change with the introduction of technology. Hence, issues such as staying on task with e-Readers and multi-tasking notes with an e-Reader and pencil/paper can be a bit more difficult to adjust to. Likewise, teachers need to be versed in how to help students on devices, and managing ways to engage students with issues for classroom management. Finally, data collection on use--i.e. what classes are e-Readers used for, which grades, how long, which teachers, etc.--requires a different set of "buy-in" to the importance of data and analysis for outcomes.
That issue, in particular, is huge for many people operating in the developing world. The whole "monitoring and evaluation" process can be a little more difficult with paper surveys or informal interviews. There's a big difference in terms of ed-tech for the classroom and tech that is used for education management, where there is a critical need in terms of culture and training for use.
That's where social entrepreneurship can be impactful, and why TFC plays an important part in recognition. One of the big aspects of TFC that has guided me here at Vanderbilt is engaging with social entrepreneurship models--how can we ensure that people "buy-in" to the management model and data collection? What lies out there that people are already involved in? TFC has provided a lot of connections for me in that department, and advice on career paths that can address this critical issue of data management and technology with education in the developing world. Through TFC guidance, I now have a clearer picture of how these programs can effectively be implemented, and ways business models can help that.
Here's my big take-aways for anyone wanting to get involved in ed-tech, specifically through the lens of social entrepreneurship.
Engage your stakeholders prior to and throughout the development process! This isn't just donors, but ask teachers and administrators what would work for their classroom. If we're talking about a software, think about your AGILE development process.
What kind of technology is needed and best for your program? Ed-tech can be management software, e-Readers, Youtube videos, or a whole wide variety of media.
Think infrastructure. In the case that power does go out--what policy or plan is in place both in the classroom to support teachers and at large to support the school and program?
Encourage a culture that adopts data and analysis for continual monitoring and evaluation of both the product and the program. Who collects data? What motivation do teachers and/or administrators have to support data collection? How can that benefit our clients or teachers?
Provide ongoing professional development and opportunities to teachers and administrators regarding not just the technology but its actual use in the schools and classrooms.
Depending on where your mind is--product management, project management, developer, user experience, etc., I think that you will have success if you keep these things in mind.