How EdTech is Changing Educational Activities
EdTech is a short form for Education Technology, an aspect of technology engaging in development of application of software, hardware, and processes in education.
To put in another way, “EdTech is a study and ethical practice for facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.”
Appealing to sound like a specialized niche, the potential implications of EdTech are momentous and displaying an impact on various segments of the population.
From the beginning of the so-called EdTech industry, it has made a tremendous effect on education from the method of teaching to the way learners absorb the knowledge. Step-by step, the Internet has become an accessible knowledge base to anyone who want to learn anything.
However, the replacement of teachers at school cannot be made. Education Technology is basically a mean to maximize to productivity of teaching and learning by assisting teaching activities and boosting students’ engagement with visual, and vibration, which is entirely opposite from traditional methods.
In 2014, the Software & Information Industry Association claimed: “There is a high desire for more technology integration and need for more support at all education levels.” Recognizing the command of the public, many startups have shown interest in this unique way of honing the power of the Internet for educational purpose. Huge capital has been invested in this developing EdTech market with $9.5 billion in 2017 and is anticipated to reach approximately $129 billion by 2020.
To survive and thrive in the current cutthroat competition, startups are required to introduce high-quality products at the right time to win customers’ trust and loyalty.
Out of thousand EdTech startups cross the world, 9 outstanding, innovative, and fast-growing ventures are listed below.
1. Coursera
Coursera is known as the world’s largest online learning platform for higher education. This startup partners with 170 top universities and industry educators from all over the world to offer courses. It is currently used by over 35 million learners worldwide with the aim of achieving their career goals. The platform “Coursera for Business” are being used by over 1,400 companies for internal training.
Coursera is funded by 18 investors with 6 lead investors are leading venture capital firms as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Enterprise Associates, GSV Capital, International Finance Corporation, Laureate Education Inc., and Learn Capital. This Silicon Valley – based startup has raised a total of $313.1 million in funding.
2. Knewton
Knewton use adaptive learning platform that can customize lessons base on their competence. This technology is described as a highly sophisticated personal tutor with detailed feedback after every evaluation to help students with knowledge gaps that they encounter. This New York – based startup is currently in partnership with more than 250 U.S colleges and having a 15 million strong user base.
Knewton is funded by 24 investors with 7 lead investors, and it has raised a total of $182.3 million in funding.
3. Simplilearn
Simplilearn is one of the leading names in the EdTech market. With a resource of over 400 courses including cyber security, cloud computing, project management, digital marketing, data science, etc., the startup has helped more than 1 million professionals around the world to advance in their careers.
Simplilearn is funded by 4 investors with the total raise of $31 million in funding.
4. Coorpacademy
Coorpacademy has been recognized widely as a useful upskilling tool as well as a solution for time-saving and cost-effective internal training. Offering gamification of training, this subscription-based service creates an effective competitive learning process. With more than 800,000 courses in 19 different languages, the software gives its users freedom of choice.
Another plus point for Coorpacademy is that it has created a business model that put both the company and its users in a win-win situation. Users can upload custom courses over the platform that are available to other students. The profit generated from these courses is then split between two sides.
Coorpacademy is funded by 4 investors with the total raise of $15.1 million in funding.
5. Photomath
Since its first landed in 2014, Photomath has always been on of the most installed apps, over 100 million times, and is still appealing students looking for an easy way to learn math. This app uses camera to detect and develop proper solutions for students’ math problem of varied difficulty, both typing and handwriting one.
This Silicon Valley – based startup is funded by 3 investors with 1 lead investors, and it has raised a total of $6 million in funding.
6. CodeMonkey
Experimenting CodeMonkey, children will learn to code in real programming languages with its game-based teaching environment. CodeMonkey is made up of a team of experts in technology, gaming and pedagogy with the aim of delivering fun, educative content to millions of users all over the world. The company is also introducing most cutting-edge computer programs, which parents, teachers and students can all participate in.
CodeMonkey is funded by 6 investors with 1 lead investors, and it has raised a total of $2.2 million in funding.
7. ClassTag
ClassTag focuses on helping students beyond their everyday study. This platform gives a hand on organizing the class’ activities, as well as regular individualized parents-teacher communication.
This New York – based startup is funded by 6 investors with 4 lead investors, and it has raised a total of $2 million in funding.
8. HelpHub
HelpHub is a real-time open market connecting students and tutors anytime, anywhere. It enables students to connect with expert in over 500 subjects, from over 50 countries. The company helps in creating connection between tutors and learners via video, phone, in person, and from their devices.
This Canadian company is funded by 2 investors and it has raised a total of $250 thousand in funding.
The status quo
Startups like these are just a taste of what’s out there. Clearly, education is the section that have benefited tremendously from technological advancement. With ear-catching jingles, and eye-taking display, EdTech software and apps are gaining traction from users internationally. To go along with the crowd, many colleges and universities have started adopting adaptive learning, virtual reality to boost the educational experience. By creating common platforms between learners and tutors, publishing valuable resources, and available test prep at low price, these startups are gradually democratizing education. Thus, step-by-step EdTech is reshaping the future of education.
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