Let Information Be Free

Why Going Digital is Essential to Learning

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have dominated the headlines of EdTech in 2013. Everybody has an opinion about their impact, effectiveness, and application. This is, no doubt, a debate the Education/Technology industries should be having. The reach of MOOCs is immense and their potential impact is staggering. Sites/programs like LifehackerU, EdX, Coursera, Lynda, Khan Academy, Udacity, among many others, offer tremendous opportunity for sharing, collaborating, and accessing quality information.

But let’s take a moment to focus on the how rather than the what. MOOCs are here and they will become more prevalent. What we have a say in is how these courses will exist. Companies will try to fit this new approach into old business strategies. They will put countless hours of time and effort into platforms and programs to generate revenue, but what is going on here is much more significant than just business.

Information, more than ever, has more potential to have a lasting impact on society – any society – if and when it is free. Technology can now support mass consumption of top-quality courses to anyone with a smartphone. Learning, pedagogy, and collaborative pursuits will bloom regardless of technology, but we are at a point where a networked classroom can have an impact on all stages of learning. We need to research how to design online classes to best benefit teachers, students, and schools. Then and only then will we begin to unlock the potential that this technology presents.

Now is the time to shape and embrace. What do you think? Care to join us?

(image teachthought.com)

The Case for Technology in the Classroom

We are in the business of designing tools for educators. Our aim is simple: we want to improve the educational experience of students, teachers, and administrators. We aren’t naive in thinking that technology is a magical solution to all the issues that exist in the classroom. We are, however, tireless advocates for innovation, engagement, and self-directed learning.

There are many ways to approach education and we are choosing to focus on helping teachers give faster, smarter feedback to their students. There are many problems with feedback as a process and we believe that introducing a tool that can simplifies this process will have a cascading effect in the classroom. Although our idea involves technology – a mobile app – we do not view it as something prohibitive or constraining. More and more administrations are making a push toward digital record-keeping, course management, and evaluation. It is our hope that this app will help teachers already immersed in technology as much as teachers who are new to it. It is small and simple, yet powerful.

Technology is a tool, and as with all tools, it brings its own conveniences and challenges to users. We want to engage these challenges, have conversations with you about them, and design for all users in order to create a product that’s useful for all rather than some.

Stay tuned for more.

[all images CC license]

Did you Catch the State of the Union?

President Obama talks education at the State of the Union

Did you catch the State of the Union the other night?  The President raised a few themes related to education. In addition to universal pre-school, we were excited to hear about the mention of P-Tech in Brooklyn and the importance of technology in education.

P-Tech is part of a broader movement in education called Early College High Schools.  It is a very interesting experiment.  Currently about 200 schools across the country are implementing some version of the associates degree or college credit upon graduation.

We are big fans of a national conversation happening about this movement and of success stories like P-Tech. As an education tech company we are drawn to and interested in the space between amazing learning and amazing technology.

With examples like P-Tech and the Early College High schools we want to emphasize that technology is not a solution by itself. How you use technology is just as important. What P-Tech is doing is very exciting, but what really makes them remarkable is how they integrate technology into coherent teaching and learning. Tech alone is inert. If you buy a laptop for every student in a classroom, and only 40% get used is that a solution? Moreover, how are the laptops being used and how do you evaluate this technology’s effectiveness?

Learning happens everywhere all the time. Even if technology disappeared, even if schools disappeared, learning goes on. The question for us is: how can we build technology that enhances/maximizes the potential for learning? Maximizing learning does not mean reinventing a system or redefining relationships between teachers and students.

New technologies will come and go. The needs of schools are just as diverse as the students who attend them. We are striving to create tools that engage all users, reach beyond being just a solution, and let learning thrive in all environments.

[image: Getty]

Hello from Cambridge

We are battening down the hatches here in Cambridge as Nemo heads our way, so we thought it might be fun to post a little about Cambridge and the Beehive Collaborative, where Gradeable is based.

Did you know that Kendall Square has more startups per square foot than anywhere else in the world?  That’s why it’s so exciting to be based here.

And we love being part of the Beehive.  There’s always some fierce ping pong action going on, and some friends to play with.

Our designer extraordinaire Mikaila built us a custom, brand new desk this week.  She’s pretty talented with a drill.

Here’s us, hard at work….

At least six startups were formed out of last year’s graduating business school class and are based in here with us.  It’s awesome to be able to walk down the hall and pick the brains of someone who is working on a totally different problem (incredible gift-giving, diabetic foot ulcers, digital art, or at-home physical therapy).  It makes us laugh, keeps us sane and teaches us everything from how to be better ping-pong players to how to be better entrepreneurs.

We’re here as long as it lasts.  Long live the Hive!