Experiment Away, but Give Students and Educators a Voice

Welcome to a series of posts that are dedicated to looking beyond the allure of education technology. Here, I examine how educational entrepreneurs promote, implement, and scale innovative digital platforms and mobile devices to engage students and support teachers in authentic learning. In this post, I'm invited to join friend's Matt Candler CEO of 4.0 schools and Tom Vander Ark of  Learn Capital and CEO of  Getting Smart discussion titled "In Education, How Do We Create a Culture of Experimentation" posted via Bright-Medium. Thrilled and honored to join them both in this conversation given I have followed their work for years. Consider me the player who has been on the bench forever, and coach finally puts me in the game with the first string. Practitioner and student voice is so important, I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback, best practices, and ideas. 

This is such an exciting and sensitive discussion. Education is probably one of two sectors (government being the other) that has not made significant changes in the last 50 years. But in the last decade, there have been electrifying conversations about how to best modernize learning environments for teachers and students.

Underlying Matt Candler and Tom Vander Ark’s conversation is an understanding that today’s students need to be taught different skills than those learned by students a generation ago?—?and that the skills they learn should reflect the specific demands that will be placed upon them in a complex, competitive, knowledge-based, information-age, technology-driven economy and society.

Since the emergence of new innovative education platforms and technology-based solutions, teachers and students have been introduced to a plethora of new tools. What actually works? And can we ensure that we are offering appropriate training for teachers and students, so that these tools don’t have a negative impact on teaching or learning?

My colleagues and I at Village Capital source, train, and invest in entrepreneurs solving major global challenges, including education. We hold global workshops for early stage entrepreneurs, not dissimilar to the food truck analogy that Candler used. We also host stakeholder forums, because we believe practitioners and students deserve a seat at table when deciding which devices to incorporate in schools and classrooms.

The crux of our curriculum is to create an open environment where stakeholders can provide candid feedback to our entrepreneurs’ proposed solutions?—?and eventually partner with state departments of education, local school districts, charter schools, or parochial schools.

Another core value we hold is to never consider education platforms and devices as the sole solution. After all, there is not one device that will take the place of a teacher. The teacher will always play the most important role in our children’s education, so we must build around the instructor’s pedagogy. In other words, we try to experiment with and not on students, teachers, and parents.

To this end, it’s vital to ensure classroom teachers receive ongoing training. Too often, teachers lack confidence in their ability to think broadly with technology. Conventional models of professional development, such as workshops and courses, have not been particularly successful in helping teachers to find ways to integrate technology into their instruction. There is often a sense of frustration regarding not knowing how to use technology for instruction and learning.

We have every right to remain concerned about educational experimentation, because there continues to be a overabundance of schools that are not getting the best support. But I feel optimistic that many of those same schools will soon be supported by one of several organizations that are working tirelessly to build 21st century learning environments.

Here are a few of my favorites:

• LEAP Innovations: They bridge the gap between education and innovation for teachers and students from pre-K through college. They help educators develop and implement technology-based personalized learning environments.
• LearnZillion: They offer digital curriculum in line with the Common Core, and also offer a professional development platform for educators and others.
• EdTechTeacher: They provide professional development to teachers who are dedicated to creating innovative learning opportunities for their students, from large school districts to small independent schools.
• Edsurge Tech for School Summit: Their workshops give educators the inside track on emerging tech & trends. They also host small group sessions between EdTech companies and educators, who they match based on district priorities.

Nasir Qadree heads Village Capital’s Education practice globally. Prior to joining Village Capital Nasir served as an Education Pioneer Fellow at the Connecticut State Department of Education, focusing on improving digital learning and infrastructure, as well as creating new strategies to empower teachers and school leaders to improve persistently low-performing schools. Nasir began his career in the financial services industry working for Goldman Sachs and State Street Bank. Nasir has set a goal to run 51 marathons one in each US state including DC, raising scholarship funding of $100k for first generation college students. Nasir holds a Bachelors of Science from Hampton University. Follow Nasir on Twitter, @NasirQadree.