Startup + Research collaboration leads to higher quality EdTech
Edurio teams up with UCL Institute of Education
It seems like every day there is a new classroom tech tool introduced. While technology is undoubtedly changing the way teachers are teaching and the way learners are learning, how can we be absolutely sure that it’s having a positive impact? Working with academic researchers to validate these products helps us ensure we are truly improving the quality of education for students and empowering teachers and school leaders with the tools they need.
EdTech + Research
We have been talking a lot lately about the importance of research in education and specifically when it comes to validating the effectiveness of new educational materials and technologies. We were reminded at Bett Show last month that the industry is growing rapidly and the choice of EdTech products available can be overwhelming.
In order to ensure that EdTech products and services have the greatest impact on teaching and learning, it is important to create a ‘golden triangle’ between teachers and learners, educational technology companies and educational technology researchers. This should be centred around evidence and effectiveness. Collaborations that bring educational stakeholders, researchers and the EdTech companies together are the only way to secure a high quality of education by creating the best research-informed EdTech.
Measuring quality of education is at the heart of what we do at Edurio and therefore ensuring that our surveys and learning and teaching analytics tools are reliable and academically rigorous is of utmost importance. That is why we have teamed up with Prof. Rose Luckin and Dr. Mutlu Cukurova and their colleagues at the University College London Institute of Education to take things to the next level. We believe that this collaboration will translate education research into Edurio products and services.
Our commitment to creating quality EdTech products and services is two-fold. First, we are raising the standards for ourselves, and then we’d like to raise them for everyone else.
Step 1: Improve Edurio
We will be working with UCL Institute of Education towards a few different goals over the next two years. First and foremost, if we want to effectively measure education quality, we need to know exactly what that entails. Preliminary research has set us on the right track, but in order to provide educators with the insights they need, we must have a proven framework on which to base both survey questions and analytical tools.
As we learn more about what makes schools more effective, we’ll also be investigating how people reach new insights with the help of data visualisations and how we can support them in reaching insights into school effectiveness.
From there, we will move on to advancing the survey design and data collection as well as the analytical capabilities of the platform.
Our current feedback analysis allows users to compare and filter, guiding them to interesting insights — this is a great first step, but we have set our ambitions much higher. We want to streamline the process of asking questions in a survey, organising data, analysing that data to turn it into information and converting that information into valuable knowledge. Educators need knowledge about their practices, not the simple presentation of data. And by taking Edurio’s analytical capabilities to the next level, we aim to bring them much closer to that knowledge.
Step 2: Help EdTech companies create better products using Edurio
Once we know exactly what needs to be measured and how best to present information so that it leads to deeper understanding, we can help raise the bar for quality in education and educational technologies.
For EdTech companies, as with Edurio, creating a top-notch product requires investigation of existing evidence from Education Sciences literature as well as thorough user experience research and rigorous iterative evaluation cycles.
This is where we aim to serve a greater purpose in bringing together academic research and EdTech product development. Edurio will not only be used to get feedback from students, families and teachers to inform education policy and leadership decisions — but also to get feedback from them as users of educational technology.
Higher Standards for the Education Industry
You wouldn’t take medicine that wasn’t proven to cure your symptoms without setting off negative side-effects. You wouldn’t eat anything that didn’t meet required health standards. You wouldn’t buy a new car that didn’t have the crash test results to back up its safety promises.
What are the standards for technology being brought into classrooms?
We can be easily excited and impressed by beautiful, fun, new technology. But when it comes to education, we must keep in mind that having a positive impact on teaching and learning comes first. As EdTech providers, we should be pushing each other to create better products and one of the best ways to achieve that is to encourage collaboration with academic researchers and stakeholders in education.
By taking the time to develop better tools with the help of qualified researchers, we can not only assure educators, parents and students of the benefits of using new technology but also set a higher standard for future educational materials.
Want to stay updated on the progress and results of our research collaboration? Follow this publication and @eduriocom on Twitter.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 SME programme for open and disruptive innovation under grant agreement №733984.
