Edtech Insiders

Send us a textMelissa Jones leads Technical Programs for Shopify, focused on empowering the Research and Development teams with the technical skill and support they need to be successful. She oversees onboarding, leadership development, communications and early talent initiatives for engineering and the other R&D disciplines. Prior to joining Shopify, Melissa served in leadership roles at General Assembly, Code.org and Adobe. Alison Evans Adnani is the senior program lead for the Dev Degree team at Shopify. Dev Degree is a work-integrated learning program that combines Shopify developer skills with a university degree. She has had a rich career in software development, education and learning. Alison started her technology career as an intern and is a passionate advocate for experiential learning opportunities.Recommended ResourcesWork-integrated learning companies to watch out for:Kibo School (listen to our interview with CEO Ope Bukola here)Multiverse (interview with North America's GM Sophie Ruddock coming soon)AluraPraxis Labs: a New York-based company offering diversity, equity and inclusion training through immersive learning and VRTechKnowCon: an annual conference to bring together peers from various companies to compare notes and share best practices about technical training, documentation, and learning in the workplace, available virtually through a Slack group

Send us a textGuest: Quinn Taber, Founder & CEO @ ImmerseTopics This Week:Politics Heat UpColleges aren’t prepared for Roe’s fallSchools Are Spending Billions on High-Tech Defense for Mass Shootings'Don’t Say Gay’ bills will make it harder for teachers to support studentsThe public cost of private schoolsEducation Department Approves $8 Billion in Public Service Loan ForgivenessISTEA Call For ‘A Major Infusion of Joy’Teachers Are Reminded of the Value They Bring to Ed-Tech CompaniesA Growing Edtech Landscape Class Technologies CEO: 'The education landscape has forever changed'The edtech top 50 — emerging companies for higher educationLayoffs ContinueStartup layoffs – the art of reinvention and a MasterClass in changeFunding + M&ALeap, JobGet, Wilco, Neol, Cinematic Health Education, Kibo SchoolGoGuardian Acquires TutorMe,

Send us a textAndrew Baird is the President & CEO of the global hub of Education For Employment (EFE-Global). Andrew brings to EFE more than twenty-five years of experience in advancing private sector-led strategies to create inclusive employment and livelihoods around the world - including in several countries where EFE operates. He is a strong advocate for women’s economic employment, and promoting entrepreneurship. He co-founded the Global Center for Youth Employment, a membership-based organisation devoted to developing collective solutions to the challenges of youth employment. He has held leadership positions in a range of organisations in the field and home offices of RTI International, Making Cents International, and the Peace Corps. For those interested in engaging with EFE as a mentor, or lending their expertise to the youth EFE serves, reach out at info@efe.org. To discuss edtech solutions to address the youth employment and education challenges faced in the MENA, reach out to abaird@efe.org.Recommended ResourcesMiddle East Focus, a podcast by the Middle East Institute

Send us a textGuest: Victoria Ransom, Founder & Co-President of PrismaTopics This Week:Higher Ed Adapts?Dartmouth College eliminates undergraduate student loans and replaces them with scholarship grantsHigher Ed Invests in Student Success Tech – Is It a ‘New Golden Age’ or Just Vague Talk?McKinsey: Technology is shaping learning in higher educationAmericans support student loan forgiveness, but would rather reign in college costsLivestreaming against a Teacher ShortageGeneral Catalyst Leads $40 Million Investment in Elevate K-12Elevate K-12 to Address Growing National Teacher ShortageUnacademy & UpgradCan Edtech Replace Classroom Teaching?Education Unicorn Upgrad Doubles Valuation With Murdoch FundingPhyllis Lockett on “Ed3”How Web3/Ed3 And Immersive Technologies Signal A New Era For K-12 EducationFundingCoachHub, TestGorilla, VR Pioneer, Prenda, Tango, Velocity Career Labs, Metacrafters.io, Pok Pok

Send us a textPatrick Ward is the Vice President of Marketing at Rootstrap, a digital studio that provides UX/UI design, app and web development and staff augmentation to a variety of companies, including major edtech companies like Masterclass and Emeritus. In this conversation, we’ll talk about the marketing and technology strategies that top edtech companies use to grow, as well as the future of alternative education. Recommended ResourcesSection4 Blog by Professor Scott GallowayEducation IT Reporter by Scott E. Rupp

Send us a textGuest Charles Schilling, President, Enterprise Business - US, Europe & Canada @ EmeritusTopics this week:Teacher Shortages at the End of the School YearOverworked and underappreciated, teachers are burning outCardona: Americans Shouldn't be Surprised by Teacher ShortageWork-Based LearningGoogle partners with Figma to bring design tools to student ChromebooksThe Uncertain Pathway from Youth to a Good JobMetaverse/VR?What Will Learning in the Metaverse Look Like?Meet the Metaverse: A New Frontier in Virtual LearningPrescient/Sentient AIGoogle Sidelines Engineer Who Claims Its A.I. Is SentientNo, Google's AI is not sentientStudent Loans and The Value of CollegeU.S. Closer to Canceling All Federal Student Loan Debt? Biden Officials Hint At Another Extension, Potentially Tied To Student Loan ForgivenessStudent-Loan Forgiveness Will Help Narrow America’s Racial Wealth Gap, But Others Call It ‘Costly And Ineffective’As Student Engagement Falls, Colleges Wonder: ‘Are We Part of the Problem?’Funding + M&ACareAcademy, Papercup, Kinside, Cloverleaf, Gomycode, Exprto, Metacrafters.io

Send us a textKavitta Ghai is the Co-Founder and CEO of Nectir, a communication platform for higher ed that uses instant chat to build a community in every class. Kavitta founded Nectir in 2018 during her time as a student at UC Santa Barbara, and has since raised over $2.25M to bring communication infrastructure to every campus and classroom out there. Her goal is to make quality education accessible to every student around the globe.Nectir is a communication platform for higher education that connects the campus by building a virtual community in every classroom. It was built hand in hand with instructors and students to ensure that everyone has exactly what they need to make learning more accessible. With over 100 campuses adopting Nectir in just the last few months, it’s clear that this tool is the future of social education.Recommended Resources"Talk to 10 people every week. Find 10 people who you want to be your customers or your users and just talk to them.  I guarantee you, give it three months, and you will learn so much that you could start 10 companies out of those conversations. That is the best way to break into edtech or any industry that you want."

Send us a textGuest: Philip Cutler, CEO @ PaperTopics This Week:MetaversitiesWith Money From Facebook, 10 Colleges Turn Their Campuses into ‘Metaversities’Guild & OprahGuild Education Reaches $4.4B Valuation As Labor Market Demands Continue – And A Downturn Threat RisesApprenticeshipsMultiverse nabs $220M at a $1.7B valuationSanoma in ItalySanoma acquires Pearson’s local K-12 learning contentBeyond Byju’sPhysicsWallah becomes unicorn with $100M Series ACuemath Doubles its Valuation with $57M fundingScaler readies $50M M&A arsenalMore Funding + M&A! Go1, Edrolo, Ethena, Odilo, Bibliu, Prisms VR, Talently, Kira Learning, Learnoverse, UniApp, & SimplifyServiceNow – Hitch, Riverside Insights – Aperture Education 

Send us a textSarah Toms is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Wharton Interactive. She is a serious games expert and demonstrated thought leader in the educational technology field, fueled by a passion to find and develop innovative ways to make every learning environment active, engaging, more meaningful, and learner-centered.Sarah has built transformative gaming platforms for education from the ground up, like Wharton Interactive’s award winning Alternate Reality Courseware platform. And she and her team are building the most innovative catalog of ARC games-based courses on the planet. Sarah has spent more than twenty years as a leader in the technology sphere, and was an entrepreneur for over a decade, founding companies that built global CRM, product development, productivity management, and financial systems. In addition, Sarah is coauthor of The Customer Centricity Playbook, the Digital Book Awards 2019 Best Business Book. And she is dedicated to supporting women and girls in the technology field, cofounding WIT@Penn, and through her work with the Women in Tech Summit and techgirlz.org. Recommended ResourcesLearn Better: Mastering the Skills for Success in Life, Business, and School, or How to Become an Expert in Just About Anything by Ulrich BoserBeing Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn SchulzPeak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson and Robert Poole

Send us a textTopics This Week:Edtech Funding LandscapeWhy Some Investors Say Edtech ‘Doom and Gloom’ OverhypedUnacademy tells employees to focus on profitability at all costs to ‘survive the winter’College EnrollmentCollege Enrollment Drops, Even as the Pandemic’s Effects EbbCredential Train Is Leaving the Station—Get on BoardIf Students Had Their Way, Hybrid Learning Would Be Here To StayTech as ContentTeaching AI to All StudentsITE and Microsoft Collaborate to Equip over 4,000 Students with Responsible AI SkillsWhy children around the world need crypto educationCode.org to Offer Equity-Minded AP Computer Science Curriculum NationwideIndian Edtech ShrinksByju Raveendran Set to Focus on US Market as India’s EdTech Dries UpByju's to divert focus on global businesses as Indian market is shrinkingThe Curious Case of BYJU's and WhiteHat Jr's Sudden DownfallFunding + M&ASkillePointe secures $2.25M in Series BLearnfully raises $2MSafe School raises $2MZovio sells TutorMe to GoGuardian for $55MRoblox to partner with medically-prescribed video game