Edtech Insiders

Send us a textIn 2022, Heather Combs was appointed CEO of StraighterLine, one of edtech’s fastest growing companies and the leading provider of high-quality, affordable, online courses that helps learners earn college credit and meet their professional goals. Heather has led the company through its first acquisition of ChildCare Education Institute, one of the largest online training providers for early childhood education professionals. This acquisition is the company’s first step to significantly expand its course offerings and grow the company.Heather brings more than two decades of experience in scaling high-growth companies. Before StraighterLine, she served as chief commercial officer and chief operations officer of the digital product development company 3Pillar Global, where she led operations, marketing, and strategic growth initiatives. Before 3Pillar, she led revenue strategy and product management as the chief business development officer at the HR Certification Institute, was the chief sales officer at Hanover Research, and spent 13 years at Corporate Executive Board, business advisory firm that was acquired by Gartner in 2017.Heather was named a  2018 “female disrupter” of the software development world by Medium and is dedicated to women in leadership. She is a founding member of Chief, a network to connect and support women executive leaders, and a member of the advisory council for STEM for HER, an organization that empowers girls and young women to pursue education and careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.StraighterLine provides high quality, low cost online courses that prepare students for success. StraighterLine combines a $99 a month course subscription with guaranteed credit pathways to accredited degree programs to save up to 60% on the total cost of a degree. Recommended Resources:Using ROI for Strategic Planning of Online Education by Kathleen Ives and Debroah SeymourWhat We're Reading by Whiteboard AdvisorsJeff Selingo booksEdTech Thoughts by Matthew TowerOther Notes:StraighterLine gets to the point where they can offer "courses for credit" not "accredited courses". Technically their courses are not "accredited" but they transfer for college credit at accredited institutions.Get ready to explore the future of education! Join Edtech Insiders for a virtual conference featuring 30+ of the top voices shaping the future of Al + Education. A full day of keynote speakers, panel discussions, and networking!Register now here: AI+EDU Virtual Conference

Guests Dr. Deepak and Maria Walley of Prof Jim discuss AI achieving parity with human instructors, the rise of AI edtech companies, Course Hero's AI Academy, the popularity of ChatGPT in schools, declining college interest among Gen Z, the charade of 'test-optional' admissions, funding for special education solutions, AI transforming educational content into interactive videos, the B2B model in edtech, and the importance of patents in the industry.

Send us a textMarco DeRossi is the CEO and founder of WeSchool, a leading Italian EdTech startupFounded in 2016, WeSchool is an online collaborative learning platform that is designed to be easy to use- it already enables 1.7 million students and 230.000 teachers to amplify their learning experience by leveraging digital tools.WeSchool recently closed a 6.4M€ Series A funding round to scale their technology and enter new markets.Recommended Resources:Visible Learning by John Hattie

Send us a textIn this episode of Week in Edtech, Ben and Alex discuss:1. Edtech Investment CoolingEdTech investment cooling in 2023 but growth outlook remains strongIt’s been a bumpy 6 months for Edtech — are smoother roads ahead?2. K12: Private Schools, School Choice and ESAs + Edtech vs. BurnoutPrivate School Choice is Booming. Here’s What It Means for Education CompaniesFlorida teachers are worried new policies could get them fired — or even criminally chargedNew Survey: Majority of Teachers Cite Edtech as Key to Supporting Diverse Learners While Reducing Workloads3. HE: Online Here to Stay, Legacy Admissions on the Chopping Block?Lawmakers urge Education Department to help end legacy and donor admissions Public Higher Education Is Becoming More and More InequitableTwo-thirds of colleges are adding online programs, survey finds4. AI BeatCode.org, ETS, ISTE, and Khan Academy Launch Free AI Professional Learning for TeachersWho Should Be Regulating AI Classroom Tools?5. Rounds and M & AClassWallet Closes $95 MillionSchoolStatus Announces Acquisition of ClassTag

Dr. Satya Nitta, CEO of Merlyn Mind, discusses purpose-driven AI for education. Topics include: his professional journey and interest in AI for Education, Merlin Assistant, concerns about generative AI, and the transformative impact of AI and ed tech in education.

Send us a textSam Walder is a violinist, computer engineer, and the co-founder and CEO of Trala, which he founded as an undergraduate at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Trala is a tech-powered online music school. Founded in 2017, their mission is to make world-class music education accessible to every single person on Earth.With over 600,000 downloads and violin students in 193+ countries, Trala has received support from top musicians and investors at Duolingo and LinkedIn. Trala closed an $8M Series A in March 2023, putting their total funding at $15M. Recommended Resources:Edtech FoundersNote: While Trala does have an incredible partnership with Joshua Bell, he's not currently a Trala instructor.

Send us a textEdtech Winners of the Summer:- Kahoot! gets $1.72B Buyout- Duolingo continues to beat the market - GoStudent raises $95 (some debt) to expand - Ukraine-based Preply raises $70M (some debt)Edtech Bummers of the Summer:- Paper conducts layoffs - Byju's negative press after board walkouts, despite AI rolloutEdtech Partnerships of the Summer:- Instructure to distribute Khanmigo through Canvas AI App Marketplace- Newsela acquires Formative to expand assessment capabilities- Coursera and UT System launch system wide "Career Academy" microcredentials+ The biggest story in Higher Ed (the end of affirmative action) and K12 (continued backsliding of outcomes in the face of politicization), the AI beat, funding round-up and more!

Send us a textKristina Ishmael is the Deputy Director at the US Office of Educational Technology (which we’ll call the Office of Edtech, or the OET), part of the US DOE. She is an educator, learner, advocate, and agent of change. As the leader of the Office of Ed Tech, she executes the office mission of developing national edtech policy that enables everywhere, all-the-time learning and supports digital equity and opportunity.Before the OET, Kristina was the Sr. Research Fellow on New America’s Teaching, Learning, & Tech team where she advised on the inclusive technology portfolio and incorporated digital equity and culturally responsive and sustaining education.Kristina was also the Digital Learning Specialist for the Nebraska Department of Education where she led professional learning and advocated for school librarians. This experience granted her a unique perspective on leveraging educational technology in urban, suburban, and rural school systems. Kristina started as an early childhood and elementary teacher of emerging bilingual students in Omaha, Nebraska.Recommended Resources:Office of Edtech (OET) official websiteEdTech Evidence Toolkit by OETAI Report by OETNational Educational Technology Plan by OET

Send us a textDr. Martyn Farrows is the CEO of SoapBox Labs, the global leader in voice AI technology for children. Martyn joined SoapBox Labs in 2017 as Chief Operations Officer to lead operations, business development, and strategic partnerships. He was appointed to the CEO role in May 2021. Founded in 2013, SoapBox Labs is an equity-centered, privacy-by-design voice AI company that powers accurate and equitable voice experiences for children of every accent, dialect and stage of development.By the end of June 2023, SoapBox had powered the practice, screening, and assessment tools of over 50 global education companies and delivered more than 80 million learning experiences for young students. SoapBox is the first AI company to be certified for Prioritizing Racial Equity in AI Design by Digital Promise and the Edtech Equity project.Martyn holds a PhD in European Politics and has more than 25 years experience in edtech and AI for children, with a particular focus on data privacy and ethical approaches to leveraging AI in the classroom.Recommended Resources:Soapbox Labs BlogAI in Education by Getting SmartDigital Promise

Send us a textBen Whately is the Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder of Memrise. A psychologist by education, with a Masters in Experimental Psychology from Oxford where he focused on neural networks and computational modeling of human learning, Ben has spent the last 15 years looking at ways to learn and teach languages.While at Oxford, Ben became fascinated by how we learn languages. In the past, he’d always been able to pass language exams, but would find himself totally unable to actually use the language abroad. While studying psychology, he formed a theory for why this is, and Memrise has been a journey of bringing that theory into reality. He believes that people fundamentally learn languages to connect with other people or because they are enamoured of the culture of that language, and Memrise strives to embody this experience of connection.Building on his neuroscience and language acquisition background, Ben pioneered the use of LLMs to create the world’s first AI language partner using GPT-3 technology, Membot. Ben is also a prolific angel investor, investing in and advising more than 50 companies in the UK startup ecosystem, with a focus on AI, machine learning and climate tech.Recommended Resources:Language Learning on Memrise