We have heard a lot of talk over the last year about whether or not we are in a technology bubble on the verge of bursting. Startup incubators are popping up right and left offering new technology companies money, advice, space, and contacts to get their new businesses up and running. Some will make it and some will fail. But, the “bubble” we are so cautious about appears to be shifting instead of popping.
There is a trend in which incubators are specializing and focusing on specific industries. We ran an article on Imagine K12 back in May, an incubator focused on education-oriented startups. This past month we saw the incubator front and center at the San Francisco Disrupt. Although none of their startups won, some of them are noteworthy and destined to help change the face of education and the way our kids learn. Let’s look at a few of them.
All 10 imagineK12’s startups gave mini presentations of their product. The first was Goalbook. The business aims to provide every student with a personalized learning plan. Goalbook uses social networking tools to improve the network between educators, administrators and parents. A database of goals and strategies is used to create a recommendation “engine” for helping students.
Next to present was Formative Learning. It provides an avenue for educators to keep up to date on training. The company hopes to put teacher training in a single location, where everything is done in a universally-understood way. The data can then be used to recommend courses, videos, and other tools to improve teaching.
Remind101 is a potentially very effective tool for teachers to communicate with parents and students. It uses a texting application that allows teachers to send text messages to students and parents is a secure environment.
Tutorcloud explained how their startup will reinvent tutoring by using college students. The program uses the Facebook connect API to match students to tutors by not only the subject to be tutored, but common interest, thus creating a relationship and bond between the two. The tutoring occurs via video chat with a shared whiteboard space.
BrainNook is aimed at elementary students. They offer educational, online games geared at teaching arithmetic, spelling and more. They envision teachers not only using it in the classroom, but assigning it for home use as extra credit and make- up work.
Eduvant helps schools organize the tremendous amount of data they are required to keep to stay compliant with state and federal laws. Eduvant integrates this data into a single platform. They help put all kinds of data and analytics in one place with quick, browser-based access.
ClassConnect takes the already used online teaching tools to the next level. There are a number of services available to teachers for various in-class tasks like putting together quizzes, distributing work and resources, and receiving homework online. Unfortunately, they lack connectivity, and one useful tool may not communicate to another, or it may require extra work on the part of the teacher. ClassConnect wants to offer a one-size-fits-all package that lets teachers create lectures, test and assess students, and manage class content. They also made a rich lecture presentation tool that lets students interact with the content.”
Educreations educated the crowd on their simple, online service that allows users to draw, type and upload external content that is shared in a single place.
11 Learning tackles the textbook industry, not just at the secondary level, but higher education as well. Because the system of working for years on a single large volume is inefficient and expensive, 11 Learning has created a platform where authors can create and edit textbooks and publish them for less.
Finally, ClassDojo got their turn and explained how their online gold star system works. Created to help teachers control behavior in the classroom, ClassDojo enables the teacher to give students points and badges via a web or smartphone app and share that information with their parents.
Some of the startups in this Imaginationk12 class are right on point, offering useful technology to better and advance classrooms for our children. Some are not so advanced. But, the important factor with this unique incubator is that it is there to promote and create companies that are thinking of education, which is one of the most important industries there is.
