Twitter Chat Mentions Outcomes, Mutes Incomes
Insights from Last Night’s #EdsurgeChat
Last night I participated in a twitter chat hosted by 2U, Jeff Selingo, and EdSurge. The twitter chat, which was coined #EdSurgeChat, centered on the topics of learning outcomes, impact in higher education, and how to prepare students for success post-graduation. The folks from 2U reached out to me about the event and since I’m bullish on edtech startups that are helping colleges/universities/companies sculpt more flexible learners, I gladly participated in the conversation.
My goals for the #EdSurgeChat were to a) learn how different stakeholders (teachers, administrators, social entrepreneurs, nonprofit officials etc.) perceived edtech’s impact on student outcomes; b) as in be that “VC” guy who reminds the group that edtech founders are responsible for meeting the outcome standards that are place upon them by their investors (income) and institutional customers (job placement, test scores, etc.); and lastly c) gain insights that I can use to refine my edtech investment thesis and/or that I can share with the founders to make them more equipped to succeed in the market. Reflecting on the twitter chat, there were 3 key insights:
We aren’t preparing students to succeed
The group quickly came to a consensus in the conversation that higher education was not completely preparing students for a successful post-graduation experience. Participants shared many reasons for the lack of student fulfillment but many of the respondents could be bucketed into two buckets: 1) people who think higher education institutions focus on the wrong metrics (job placement, test scores, college admissions) or 2) people who believe the college model is broken and does not reflect the changing world.
We can’t decide the definition of success
Most participants during the chat agreed higher education was not meeting the mark of success. However, there was no consensus on what that illustrious mark was. Some suggested metrics that are difficult to track like happiness, fulfillment, and flexibility, while others reluctantly acknowledged why job placement was a useful performance indicator. Another popular sentiment was that universities should push current metrics further — such as conducting surveys 10, 20 or 30 years out to calculate a student ROI.
We are unclear on Edtech startups role in measuring success
This insight could be a result of few edtech entrepreneurs or operators (other than 2U representatives) participating in the twitter chat. Most educators and administrators felt that universities were limited in their ability to capture data but felt edtech companies could lead the movement. There was dissent (from maybe only me) on whether edtech companies should be responsible for capturing the industries impact on student outcomes. While I think it is important that edtech firms observe how their products impact student outcomes, I reminded the twitter chat that the most important outcomes are those that resonate with their customers and investors (yes I mean income!).
Below are the 6 questions that were asked during the twitter chat and a few responses that stood out to me.
To read the entire #EdSurgeChat click here.
Earnest Sweat is an Entrepreneurial Engineer for Camelback Ventures and an Investor in Residence for Backstage Capital. If you have any questions or requests please connect with Earnest through LinkedIn, Twitter, or AngelList.
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