The Next Big Startup Incubators? Schools

In the past, education has been one of the slowest moving industries around. If you go into a classroom today, not only will it look very similar to the classrooms you sat in as kids, but it looks pretty much the same as the classrooms your parents sat in. But things are changing. Teachers, administrators, and students are adopting new technologies that allow students to learn just as much outside of the classroom. Students are feeling the competitive pressure for college acceptances and scholarships, so parents are paying for tutors,  academic camps, and learning apps more than ever. This is why education is the a huge growth area for tech startups.

Too many of these startups, though, don't really understand education. Just because you were a student, and your learned stuff, doesn't mean you know how students learn stuff. Teachers do. And too many of these tech startups and their investors are on a short timeline, forcing them to develop quick-fix educational apps that don't make a meaningful difference for students. You know who has patience for a long-term project? Teachers do. You know who is sits on a wealth of untapped startup potential? Teachers do.

A school is the perfect place to create education technology that will make a meaningful difference for students around the world and generate a tremendous revenue stream. I first had this thought I was developing Clickademics Essay Engine, our web app that helps students write essays at home. I wished that I were still teaching in the classroom, where I would have access to resources, students, and other teachers. 

Let me back up a moment. For those who don't know, a business incubator is a place that helps startups get off the ground. They provide cheap office space, legal advice, support services, IT, and even a small amount of capital (like an angel investor or venture capitalist). All of the things that medium-sized businesses have but startups do not. In exchange, the incubator often asks for a share of the company. Now, the staff at a school may not be able to give much business advice, but they have plenty that a startup needs to get going. Here are some advantages and disadvantages of a school partnering with a tech startup. The largest hurdle is that the people in that school need to stop thinking like a school and start thinking like a VC. 

Here are the advantages:

• Schools are packed with education experts that understand their target market better than anyone. The average teacher has had hundreds of students come through her classroom so she understand the way students learn as well as the way their parents think. Oh, and many of them have masters' degrees. Teachers are the best source of ideas for new products. They regularly meet before or after school and even spend whole days on professional development, all of which are the perfect environment for brainstorming sessions.
• Schools are packed with technology. Most schools have dozens of computers, have access to web servers, and staff their own IT departments. Much of the infrastructure is in place. There are no professional developers on campus, but most high schools have computer science classes with students who code and are looking for ways to earn a little spending money or add projects to their portfolios before applying to college. If a school were to develop an education tech product, it would need to hire professional developers, but students would be able to help supplement the work cheaply.
• Schools are packed with beta-testers. Once teachers dream up an idea and a demo is built, the product can be constantly tested with their own students. It is easy to get their subjective feedback when they complain during homeroom, and the objective results of the product can be tracked through the student's class grades and standardized tests. The means of data collection and feedback are already in place and paid for.
• Schools have access to capital. Sort of. Everyone says that schools have no money, but that means different things to different people. Does a school have money to hire five new teachers permanently? No, but many schools can hire a couple of developers for a short-term project. In addition, there are grants, both small and large, just for schools, often reserved for technology purposes. Many schools also have access to fund raising events, local businesses, and concerned parents who would be very interested in donating money for a project that could both improve learning for the current students and create a future revenue stream that will help students in the future. It's like building a football field that could be acquired by a competitor at a 10x ROI. 
• Schools are good at spreading the word. Marketing a product developed in-part by a school would easy. It would get attention from the press, the parents would tell their friends, and the staff would be able to share the news at conferences, on blogs, and in teacher newsletters. Having a school behind the startup would give it instant credibility with other schools around the country.

Here are the disadvantages:

• The school culture. School administrators are used to thinking within their budget constraints and are often skeptical of profit and risk. A project like this would require leadership that is forward thinking, entrepreneurial, and willing to work hard now for results several years down the road.
• Non-profit status. All of this may not be possible in the average public school, though a small public school district hoping to distinguish itself may be interested in trying it. A private school with committed parents and donors would be the best bet, though private schools tend to have much smaller enrollment and budgets than their public school equivalents. The relationship between the non-profit school and the entrepreneurial venture would have to be set up carefully to avoid legal issues later, but I have heard from lawyer friends that it is entirely possible.
• Work. Any teacher who is motivated enough to contribute to an education startup is already overworked. The very thing that makes these teachers qualified for a project like this is what has already lead them to volunteer to coach, attend conferences, write blogs, help students after school, and read education books in addition to lesson planning and grading. How can you enlist the busiest people to work more? Do the bulk of the work during summer vacation. Cancel summer school, send the students to the school across town, and convert the school computer lab to a tech startup. 

So if your kid’s school has extra office space and a couple thousand dollars to spare, propose that they spin off an education technology company. It would be a lot better than spending that money on a bunch of iPads.

We Already Have the Platform: It's the Classroom

It is an exciting time in education technology. I see announcements for new ed-tech startups every week. Most of them have clever names, most of them have slick websites, and most of them are worthless.

And that is because most tech startups in education are platforms: they gather course material from others and deliver it to the individual or the classroom. Making platforms is easy because you write the code and wait for others to fill your library with content and wait for customers to flock to your site. The problem is that we don't need any of them because the classroom is the original platform and still the best.

Though some of these course delivery sites are great for adult learners who want to take a Stanford computer science course from home, we at Clickademics care about students K-college. These kids don't want to watch a professor online to improve their mind, they just want to pass math class. The best person to recommend educational material is the teacher who knows the student's ability and the requirements of the class. The teacher can recommend online material faster and better than any algorithm.

The other problem with online platforms is that there just isn't enough quality content. If you ever browse the course offerings of these platforms, you see the same things:

• Slideshows made ten years ago, mostly with text. It's basically a textbook in Powerpoint.
• Upper-division university courses where a professor parked a handycam in the back of the classroom.
• How-to videos that help you learn to cook or care for your parrot.

You know what is sorely lacking? Lessons on grammar, biology, history, study skills - topics that real students have to know for school. They are lacking because they are boring and incredibly hard to make - for most people. We love our work at Clickademics because we enjoy creating these lessons. After years in the classroom, we know how much students need help with core concepts, so we are energized to make content that students need.

Our first offering, Essay Engine™, teaches students expository writing, something every student needs in almost every class. It was challenging to create since every video lesson is a mini-movie, but it solves a real world problem: how can a student get help on an essay at 9:30 the night before it's due? 

So let teachers recommend online lessons. All this education startup energy should go into building great content. Of course, the people that are best at creating content that really helps students learn - teachers.

First Day of School Vol. 3 - Waste Less Time in Class

Since I left the classroom, I have created Clickademics, a website where we film great teachers giving their most helpful lessons. One of my early observations was that each lesson only takes 5-9 minutes. I have filmed many of the lessons that I have filmed myself were ones for which I had devoted a whole class period, but they still only took 5-9 minutes on film because I could carefully choose my words and include the best examples. So if the lesson only takes 10 minutes of a class, what happens during the other 30 minutes?

Too much of the class day is spent on tasks of little academic value. Quieting down the class, making announcements, collecting papers, quieting down the class, passing out papers, answering questions, and quieting down the class. Instead of making yourself do all of the work, show the students how to take care of it themselves by establishing a routine. If every student knows what to do when class starts, where to turn in papers, where to find answers, then they don't need to slow down class asking you, and you are no longer a bottle neck. But these routines have to start on day one.

I recommend that you imagine all of the tasks that happen regularly in a classroom. Then think of an efficient way to do each task and never deviate. Students should be using their problem solving on class projects, not finding the stapler. They should use their questions on clarifying the material in class, not asking when homework is due. Here are some suggestions:

1. Always have a seating chart. Always.
2. Start every class period with an activity. Post a math problem, short writing assignment, or open ended question on the board each day. When students come to class, have them all open a certain notebook and do the warm up exercise. It will get their brains ready to learn, keep them from being bored, and help start class on time. Periodically, check their notebooks and give credit for keeping up with the exercises.
3. Use mailboxes. As I wrote in an earlier post, creating cereal box mailboxes was one of the best teaching ideas I ever had. If every student has a mailbox in the classroom, you can distribute instructions, hand out announcements, and return graded work without taking any class time. Make it the students' first stop as they arrive in class so that they can pick up everything they need before class starts.
4. Have a system for handing in work. Now, this is a little trickier because your system will depend on your students. If you teach high school, then an "In" box on your desk and a digital drop box on your class website should work fine. High school students should be responsible and self-motivated enough to take care of their own work since they will need to do this in college and the workplace. I, however, taught middle school, and I often had students that skipped work. I also had students who could swear they turned in the work but later found it stuffed in their backpacks. My system - students put the day's work on the corner of their desks as they worked on their warm-up exercises. I would walk through the room and pick up each student's work. If a student did not have the work, I would give him or her a late work receipt, proof for me and a reminder for the student. I could take roll as I walked the class, too.
5. Post the week's work and all upcoming projects clearly. I posted this every Monday and required students to write it all down in a notebook. This can be done more electronically much faster and more efficiently, but students should still get used to using a calendar and To Do list since it will be a useful habit later in life.
6. Use webpages, email, and social media. Offload as much as possible to the web where students can get answers when they need them and parents can know what is happening in class. Since the mid '90s, I had a class website where I posted a homework calendar, instructions for projects, PowerPoint slideshows from my lectures, and helpful lessons. I encouraged students to email me: they could get immediate answers so that they could keep up with their work, I spent less time answering question in class, and quieter students could get equal time as the outgoing students. And since students often asked the same questions, I could copy and paste one answer and use it again. If I were in the class today, I would use a class Facebook page and Twitter to send out reminders, hints, and answers to common questions. A Google calendar that could sync with the students' own calendars could instantly replace the student's paper homework notebook.
7. Have an "Ask Two, Then Me" policy. I was surprised how many student questions were about topics we had already covered. If a student had a question, he or she should ask two neighbors before asking me. This answered most students' questions and did not require me to stop what I was doing.

If you want more hints, check out The New Teacher's Complete Sourcebook - highly rated my other users.

First Day of School Vol. 2 - The Name Game

It was the first day of a new semester, and I did not know where to go. I was taking education classes towards my credential, and I stopped at the reception desk to ask where the class met. There was a man in a sports coat standing nearby, and he said, "You must be Bradley. I'll walk with you to class."

At first, I was stunned. Then, when he introduced himself and told me that he was the professor of the class, I was amazed. When he later told the class how he already knew everyone's names, I was sold.

First, he explained how knowing students' names on the first day of class is incredibly useful. On one hand, it shows that you care about the students as individuals. They are important enough that you already know who they are. On the other hand, it puts them on notice that you are prepared, and you don't mess around. It sets a tone that time is important, and the first day should not be wasted with introductions.

Learning the students' names immediately shows the students that you are nurturing and no-nonsense at the same time.

My professor knew my name because he had memorized everyone's name before class started. He used a mnemonic device. He paired something he knew well, in this case his favorite golf course, with something he did not know, the students' names. It worked well since there were roughly 18 students in the class and 18 holes on the course. He recommend that we pair the known and unknown in a memorable, even silly way. For instance, hole #4 has many sand traps which reminds him of Sandra, or he always plays hole #12 badly which reminds him of the name Bradley. And how did he know my name at the reception desk having never met me? There were only two men in the course, and I did not look like I would be names "Carlos."

So what can you do, especially if you have a lot me students than 18? Make a seating chart for the first day. Don't put the students in alphabetical order, though. Every other teacher does that, and the kids at the end of the alphabet are tired of sitting together in the back. But do make a pattern that you makes sense to you, like shorter names on the left of the room, or names that rhyme nearby. Hint: don't put students with the same name next to each other because it will be hard to call on one and not the other. Study the list of names before the first day of class. It will impress the students when you ask them by name about their day, or you say, "It is time to start, but we seem to be missing Rachel. Has anyone seen her?"

Two more tips: get a copy of last year's yearbook and try to match faces to names. You can even xerox the pages, cut out the faces, and place them on your seating chart. Secondly, don't ask last year's teachers about your new students. If a student earned a bad reputation in the previous class, give him or her a chance to grow up over the summer and have a fresh start. Besides, you'll know who the trouble-makers are in the first two days.

First Day of School Vol. 1 - Self-Assessment

Teaching is an unforgiving profession; mistakes made at the beginning of the year can take months to undo. We need to be thoughtful and deliberate about the impression we give on the first day.

Even though we are in the middle of summer, it is not too early to prepare for school. In fact, if you have some new, exciting things to try, you are going to look forward to school starting again instead of dreading the end of vacation.

First, spend some time thinking about the impression you want to give on the first day. When you students go home, what will they say when their folks ask, "What is your teacher like?" There is not one right answer: you need to match your first impression to your strengths. If you are more professional and no-nonsense, it would not be helpful to seem nurturing and casual on day one. If you have a big heart unlimited patience for your students, don't let anyone tell you, "No smiling until winter break." You and your students will have a miserable Fall.

Before I share any of the lessons I learned from your 14 first days of school, ask yourself how you stand on these topics:

Discipline
Love 'em up, their just kids.....................................................Tough, no-nonsense

Structure
Students are responsible for themselves...................................Strict daily routine

Workload
There's more to education.........................................................Time is short, we have a
than getting through the textbook                                             lot to learn to get to our goal

Focus
Student-centered......................................................................Teacher-centered
It will mean more if they discover it                         I know what lies ahead, and I want to prepare them

There are great teachers at both ends of the spectrum, and many of us try to live in the middle and get the best of each. Give yourself an honest assessment and build a classroom that plays to your strengths and lets the students develop their strengths as well.

By the way, if you have never seen Harry Wong, you are missing out. He is the master at creating a happy, healthy, productive classroom. We watched his video series at a staff in-service, and he really inspired every teacher in the room, especially me.

Rethinking Final Exams

It's Spring time, and while the students think that summer is almost here, you see final exams looming up ahead. Before you make a multiple choice test that covers every topic for the whole year, consider the purpose of a final.

A final exam should assess the student's mastery of the material and readiness to move on to the next class. A final should not be a painful rite of passage. A long test that asks the student to regurgitate information rewards students for cramming facts into their short term memory. Furthermore, some students just take tests well - they have that type of intelligence. Getting an A on a multiple choice does not necessarily mean that the student has fully comprehended the information from the class.

Start by writing down what a student should know at the end of your class. If a successful student were to leave your class, what skills would she master? What skills should she be familiar with? What facts should she know?

Now, think broadly about assessments. What would a student need to do to show that he really learned the important lessons from your course? Perhaps the student could make a movie, a timeline, a mural, a one act play. Consider asking the student to make a Facebook fan page for a person from history, a literary character, an important mathematician, or foreign country. Board games, trivia games, and Jeopardy are all fun ways for students to show off their knowledge. Paired with an essay or some other written portion, you should be able to judge if the student has comprehended the content at least as well as a traditional exam.

When you make a final assessment more authentic, the students will enjoy pouring more effort into it. If you give your students a choice, each one can select a project that fits with his or her learning style. Yes, these projects may take longer to grade, but when have you ever taken the easy way out?

Quick Grading Tip

Every time I collected a set of essays or projects, I always told myself that I would grade them quickly. Once I started, though, I found myself writing a comment here, making a correction there. My drive to help my students told me to give specific help to each student, but the clock told me that I did not have time to spend fifteen minutes on every student's paper and project.

Here is a way to give helpful advice quickly. Use the "Find" and "Replace" function on your computer.

Grading on the computer is terrific because your comments look more professional than writing in red pen. You have a permanent record of comments for later reference or parent conferences. In fact, if a parent emails you with a question about an assignment, you can simply copy and paste the grade and comments into the email.

I have noticed that when grading an assignment, most students seem to make the same mistakes. When writing comments by hand, I seem to write "Avoid Run-On Sentences" or "Remember to Add a Topic Sentence" several times. Instead of writing the same ten comments over and over, I just assign them a number.

Make a list of positive and negative comments that you think that you will write. You may need to skim a few papers first, and you can always add to the list as you grade. Assign each comment a number (a two digit number works best). As you grade the papers or projects, type the number of the comment that fits the paper - I usually like to give one positive comment and two things for the student to work on. When find an unusual project, you might need to type a comment by hand (be sure to only use words and not numbers; I will explain why later.)

At the end of grading, you will have each student's name, a grade, and a few numbers that represent comments on your list. Now is the fun part, highlight the comment numbers and hold down "CTRL" ("CMND" on a Mac) and "h". This is the "find and replace" function. In the field for "find," type the number of the first command, like "50." In the "replace" field, type our the comment, like "Great use of quotes from the text." Now every student who had a "50" next to his or her name has the comment typed out. Do that for all of the codes, and you have specific comments for each student. You can now print them out, cut them into strips, and staple them to the students' papers.

Here are some things to make it work smoothly:

• Do your work in Excel and import your students' names from an electronic copy of your roster.
• If you are using a rubric (and you should be), make a column for each graded item. (Introduction: 8, Organization:10, Spelling and Grammar: 18). As long as the number grade is in its own column, Excel can add up the total grade for you. Again, be sure that the number grades do not conflict with the comment numbers.
• Use two digit numbers - if you use "2" for a comment, you might replace part of "12" by accident.
• If you want to be really fancy, print them on labels and stick them to the paper or project.
• Can families check grades on you school's website? See if there is a field where you can paste a copy of your grade comments.