Find Ed Tech accelerators!

Hello!

I’ve compiled a list of accelerators I’m going to apply. I can’t decide if I should find developers and designers before or try to convince them that it’s something I need to do while in a accelerator?
I really think that I need someone who is either as passionate about digital education or wants to challenge themselves by building a totally new platform. Cause I can’t pay anything now, hmm…BUT IF SOMEONE IS INTERESTED, LET ME KNOW!

Back to accelerators, I have some favourites but any of these would be awesome to get in.

 Emerge Education – Emerge Education is a 3-month, London-based accelerator programme for startups intending to improve educational outcomes worldwide.

 Kaplan EdTech Accelerator – The Kaplan EdTech Accelerator, powered by Techstars​,​ is a three-month intensive, mentor-driven, deep immersion program for twelve education technology startups.

 1776 – Is more of a platform rather than accelerator, 1776 wants to help startups to reinvent the world by connecting the hottest startups with the resources they need to excel.

  Startl – is a accelerator program that was active in 2013 for ed tech companies in early stages. I’m looking into if it still going on.

 Y Combinator – This one is famous. Y Combinator provides seed funding for startups. Seed funding is the earliest stage of venture funding.

 Socratic Labs – Accelerator + community + campus in NYC focused on educational technology entrepreneurship.

 LearnLaunchX – LEARNLAUNCHX grows great education and learning companies. Based in Boston, a world education capital, LearnLaunchX  provides select companies with seed funding, a place to work, an unmatched team of mentors with deep domain experience and strategic relationships, a cohort of fellow entrepreneurs and a structured development program.

 BeeSpace –Beespace is a nonprofit incubator, helping to identify and launch the next generation of innovation nonprofits. 

Now, I have to prepare a really good presentation/website/video and also set some legal stuff.
Some things to do during this month that now we officially started school again, is to tie up my Google Analytics repeat learning and Photoshop learning. Instead start learning more about After Effects and this course by Copenhagen Business School in Social Entrepreneurship.

Am I alive?

Hello!

Yes, I am. I have taken a long pause from this to redefine and do other things. I’m not letting it go, I just needed some time to 1. just be, 2. find internships, and 3. work a lot.  I’ve been working a lot to have a little pile of cash that I can use during my internship hence I’m still not taking a student loan.
The internship period starts soon and I still haven’t found one yet, so it is slightly unnerving but I don’t really want to stop being picky yet. I want to either end up in another digital education start up. Or gain some startup experience, alternative experience a company with a well grown culture. Preferably in NYC. Preferably only in NYC. I have this pesky NYC longing.

Anyway. When it comes to the process of disrupting sex ed in school, I am thinking of applying to accelerators/incubators after the internship period and graduation at Hyper.
I have a couple that I think are appropriate. So the next step is to understand the process of those and this article by Steli Efti breaks it down nicely:

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET INTO A TOP STARTUP ACCELERATOR—AND MORE.

Basically, find people that have been through the accelerator you are interested in and contact them nicely to find out how it was. Be super prepared for the interview and try to show results already. If you do get in, that’s where the journey actually starts for real.

I did try out just to see some of the process by very spontaneous apply to 500startups. I just happened to see on Twitter that they were looking for lgbtq founders and it was on the last application day. And it was very thorough, a lot of questions about things I haven’t yet thought of. So even if it was a half ass application I did notes on what do I need to be able to answer in future applications.

Other plans, now that my computer is back, I am going to continue to blog on all my outlets and also learn more about building up a social presence where hopefully me being me will work, so keeping on being transparent.  Also keep learning more about this wonderful world that I found through Hyper and sharpening up some skills through the digital platforms to understand their inner workings.

Alrighty !

Some pictures if you fancy!

Here are couple pictures from these weeks. It all started nicely in a “corner office” that I build at Hyper, but then we got all cramped together on one floor, so I’ve been moving around and basically not even being that much in school but being at coffee places, home, etc.

Some Hypers that came by, and all of us during the investor/entrepreneur session.

Kicke aka Kickestarter.

Jim, a CEO in the making.

Anders aka the Wikipedia or Anders Analytics.

Anna Omdstedt Lindgren, CEO of Meduniverse.

Digital Data Strategist’14 at Hyper Island.

Maria from STING explains the investor ecosystem.

I was also attending The Next Chapter that was held at the Modern Museum, where I got a peek of how the publishers are dealing with the digital disruption, while we were also contributing to their social media discussion during the conference. I tweeted a lot until I got a coffee overdose and that day did not end on a good note for me..unfortunately.

Dave , Tracy, Kelly & me, representing Hyper Island.

Darja Isaksson, Ziggy Creative Colony had a really nice flowing presentation with good mix of insights and metaphors but I also appreciated her choice of footwear.

Lastly, our school is next to a wonderful art school called Konstfack.
They held their graduation exhibition, which I really recommend if you find yourself in Stockholm during late spring.
But my camera died so I don’t have enough pictures, so I mixed in the CMO Summit I attended. It was hosted by Webbdagarna together with Hyper Island. I found 2 speakers were interesting for me: Mikael Ahlström, Britny and also the new CMO at Microsoft, Karin Zingmark.

Most exciting thought was the fact that self driving cars are going to be released in Gothenburg very very soon, as Mikael told us.

Anyways, let me know if pictures are interesting or if vlog is better to follow the process! Thanks!

 

Reflection time again..

The rise of digital education

“Lifelong learning has moved from a buzzword to reality, yet colleges still think of higher education as something that happens at one time in a person’s life, in one place.
For colleges to prove the lifetime value of their expensive style of education in a world of increasing options, they need to start extending different styles of learning, to different segments of students, beyond commencement day.”

Several different options have risen as an alternative to the traditional colleges and universities. Self-learned has never rang so true as now.
The options are digital platforms that are accessible and easy to use when you have the time, you can decide exactly what you want to learn and stop it anytime you want without getting a hefty student loan as a memory.

It’s a good step from the “one school fits all” formula but does require discipline and a change of perspective to realise that lifelong learning is the official way to learn and prosper in a world that will crave you to acquire new skills on a reoccurring basis.

BUT
Would it not be wonderful if the public schools became a place where you start off and learn lifelong soft skills, among them sexuality and intimacy and expressing feelings, and all the hard skills where learned only when needed, like stated in “To Reach the New Market for Education, Colleges Have Some Learning to Do“, in just-in-time education.
I think I could go for trying that new form of educating.

Until then, here are some examples of the platforms:

Lynda.com is an online learning company that helps anyone learn software, design, and business skills to achieve their personal and professional goals. With a lynda.com subscription, members receive unlimited access to a vast library of high quality, current, and engaging video tutorials. New courses and topics are added every week at no extra cost. We carefully select the world’s top experts who are the best in their field, passionate about their subject matter, and know how to teach.  – Around 4 million students, yep.

Coursera is an education platform that partners with top universities and organizations worldwide, to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free.
We envision a future where everyone has access to a world-class education. We aim to empower people with education that will improve their lives, the lives of their families, and the communities they live in.  – Around 7 million students, yep.

Khan Academy is an organization on a mission. We’re a not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere. All of the site’s resources are available to anyone. It doesn’t matter if you are a student, teacher, home-schooler, principal, adult returning to the classroom after 20 years, or a friendly alien just trying to get a leg up in earthly biology.
Khan Academy’s materials and resources are available to you completely free of charge.
Around 10 million students, yep.

At General Assembly, we are creating a global community of individuals empowered to pursue work they love, by offering full-time immersive programs, long-form courses, and classes and workshops on the most relevant skills of the 21st century – from web development and user experience design, to business fundamentals, to data science, to product management and digital marketing.

Established in early 2011 as an innovative community in New York City for entrepreneurs and startup companies, General Assembly is an educational institution that transforms thinkers into creators through education in technology, business and design at nine campuses across four continents. – Startup with around 100 000 students and counting.

Skillshare is an online learning community to master real-world skills through
project-based classes. Our mission is simple: provide universal access to high-quality learning. – Startup with around 45 000 students and counting.

Today, 3 million students in 190+ countries are taking online courses on Udemy. They’re learning Programming, Yoga, Design, Photography, Spanish, Marketing, Guitar, Finance, Cake Decorating, and so much more.

More than 16,000 courses (in 10 different languages!) have been published in our marketplace. Each course is designed & taught by an expert instructor and hundreds of new courses are published every month.

More:
http://www.codecademy.com/
http://www.saylor.org/
http://sxswedu.com/

 

Google enters the education race.

I salute this one.
It requires of course access to computers so it’s not for every school yet. But in some schools in Sweden that is totally possible, even if it affects some things, such as insurance and safety issues. But we are heading that direction anyway so why not prepare in advance? When it comes to the privacy of the users, Google says:
“Like the rest of our Apps for Education services, Classroom contains no ads, never uses your content or student data for advertising purposes, and is free for schools.”

This is conscious impact as a company, education is a stepping stone for many people. As the little lady in the video mentions, if you are into teaching you should progress.
Sweden, please note.

Read more:
Google debuts Classroom, a free Apps for Education tool to help teachers create and collect assignments

Not all, but freakin a lot !

Notes of an entrepreneur..

We had a good session with a couple entrepreneurs at Hyper Island, thanks to Alfred Ruth, our industry leader. He invited Hjalmar Winbladh, Anna Omstedt Lindgren, Mai-Li Hammargren, Anton Johansson och Ted Valentin.

They are very different people but at the same time the kind of people you’ll see always doing something. Not in fidgety way, but just always..having this drive.

Even if the drive comes from different sources and is in search of different goals, it’s very presently there. It was very giving to listen to their stories and that is something that I found is that the CEOS learn to be skilled storytellers and are opinionated bunch that have no problem with expressing them. A trait I always appreciate. I realised also that it takes time, a startup always takes time and does not end up the way you intended it to be from the beginning!

 

Some notes that were scribbled down:

“Sometimes it’s better to start with finding the right people that you can work with and be with. Start with the people and then the idea.”

“Ask people that want to work with you on thing, WHY? Are they into this because of the idea, or they want to create something or they like you and believe in you? What compels them into being an entrepreneur?”

“The threshold for free work is usually 3 months. After that people are not as focused because other issues need to be attended, like economy.”

“Iterate, iterate, iterate as much as possible before any big release.”

“Just to mention, mobile apps in one of the hardest markets right now. You literally need to be in San Francisco and have good contacts to get it going.”

“Get a revenue stream going as soon as possible and then use those sales and users in you pitch.”

“Investors without entrepreneurial background usually expect a fast growth/revenue after their investment. So f you have an idea that takes time, choose your investors and explain very well why they should stomach the wait.”

“Always over communicate!”

“You will get a No a lot. But every No is attached with a message on why not and you can always take a learning from that.”

“Most of all…Nobody knows exactly why/how they do it, so just keep calm and continue.“

Digital Kids

Why the digital way? Why create an educational platform that is digital?
Except my own experience from the time studying a distance studies or online courses such as Coursera, also my own habit of googling up stuff I need to learn.
I just believed and observe that the same habits are shown by the kids I see around me and on daily basis of commute.
But I did not know for sure until I read the interesting study by .SE.
It’s a study of Swedes and their internet habits year 2013.

Interesting parts that caught my eye:

In Sweden by the age of 2, a stunning 45 % have already used internet.
Often because parents let them use their tablets or smartphones as entertainment.
By the age of 11, 90 % are daily users of the internet and this trend is not only specific for Sweden but is also a global trend, showing that this is one of Internet biggest growing  area of users.

Specifics for each age:
2-6 years – Usage is dominated by video/puzzles/games.
7-11 years – Start to search around internet and check out the social networks.
12-15 years – This is where the internet becomes important even for school work.

About 7 out of 10, start checking internet for facts and information that is related to school at age 12-15. It rises with the older kids and at age 16-19 years, 9 out of 10 do the same fact researching and learning. Even in schools the internet usage has doubled since year 2009. 

So the habits of  the young is to learn in a digital way and first interaction they have is very visual and interactive. Going back to analog is wonderful in it’s way of learning patience but when it comes to such a broad subject as sex and coexistence, it is hard to capture it all in analog way ( I’m not even going into the quality. YET.).
Also they are already going and searching for terms they want to learn anyway and for many the first visual interaction becomes porn.

So why try to prohibit this way of learning and install all these parental systems on the computer, tablet or even phone? Why not rather provide a guidance in a way that is appropriate for a young digital kids habits?

Seriously?

“Progression
It is important to tailor  the learning for the audience. One way to do that is to start from the students’ questions and concerns. There are certain themes within the topic-integrated teaching that recur at different stages and the progression is differently written in  various subjects. Some things need to be discussed continuously with new experiences, new perspectives and deepening knowledge can be consolidated and deepened during school time.” – a part of Skolverket (Educational Department in Sweden) advice on sexual education

Oh. Really? Do you really think that teens want ALL of their teachers to talk about sex during the education and do it in a way that is “tailored” for them? Most adults can’t even speak about sex among themselves, HOW the FUCK are the going to do that in front of a young giggling crowd? Progression is a strong word to use in this scenario.
I’m reading up and getting angry. I feel I might post a rant tomorrow.