It has been a while since I had time to share news of developments on here, after 3 years of testing and re-testing a system that now delivers excellent Microlearning tools in the EdTech sector across K-12 Schools, Colleges and Universities, it is with great pleasure and rapturous drum solos I present Blending Education LLC.
As digital access has grown across the USA and Europe over the past decade, technology has become more widely embedded in education at school, work and home. Just ask Alexa if you don’t believe me.
During a three year beta-testing period in a respected Russell Group University, Blending Education LLC has seized this opportunity to build an incredible array of thousands of peer reviewed and resourceful tools, and is leading the way in Microlearning; Blended and Personalised Learning Systems across Science, Mathematics, Humanities and Social Sciences. With many more subjects to follow quite soon.
Recognising the large school, college and university market now beginning to engage with high digital penetration, we are seeing an over due trend in institutions becoming connected to EdTech in one way or another. Just spending a week at BETT 2018 in January earlier this year opened our eyes to the 800+ companies exhibiting with us and over 40 presentations from Education leaders from around the world; it proves that the market is saturated and fiercely competitive, but moreover that our products and services are clearly attracting international recognition.
With contracts confirmed and a growing connection in the state and private scholastic sectors, it is a colossal move in the right direction for such a young international business.
Something we look forward to immersing ourselves in at ISTE 2018, in Chicago in June.
Having devices and broadband as standard in a vast majority of classrooms gives teachers the chance to take advantage of new learning tools, well designed systems and resources that reinforce what teachers do best and ultimately what this generation of students (and their families) demand.
High school, college and university systems can also act as a fertile ground for EdTech entrepreneurs. For example, university students and professors increasingly prefer blended learning experiences – where learning is delivered via a combination of in person / class time and remote digital methods.
Although the education publishing industry has taken some serious knocks over the past couple of years, for example – established academic and educational resource leaders such as Pearson, recently having to sell off large departments and recognise that online and OER are becoming much more attractive than expensive and outmoded textbooks and coursework – they have in turn, inspired many global collaborators and entrepreneurs to create tools and resourceful systems that work towards removing the pain points and frustrations of contemporary education and research techniques.
This is primarily what supported our determination in identifying the needs of both academics and students. Fundamentally, creating thousands of digital tools to successfully harness the demand for content driven resources in one easy to use online library has been at the core for our EdTech startup.
Similarly, the decision to research and develop our products and services in the UK – the digital marketing hub of Europe, allowed us to consider the importance of establishing a global business.
Having our development hub and distribution centre in the USA and a presence in both territories, we decided to start the year by establishing a company built on a direct-to-consumer model and can leverage local expertise to build best-in-class microlearning systems, identifying the most efficient channels to acquire customers and scale over time.
With this, we are over-joyed to announce our partnership today with The State Education Technology Directors Association (SETDA), the principal membership association representing the U.S. state and territorial digital learning leaders.
Being part of the sixth successful cohort of innovators from across the nation is a tangible high point of our formative years, the challenge of being selected out of this fiercely fought application is worthy of it’s own article.
We will be therefore attending the Association’s AGM and Emerging Technologies Forum next month in Chicago, Illinois where we will be privileged to present and network our business and services to the great and the good of US Education Leaders. My excitement is growing and so is the interest in our Microlearning products.
We are very much looking forward to working with education technology leaders to explore ways that Microlearning, a way of delivering content in small, manageable units, can open up new possibilities for personalising learning for each student and for us, create a deeper awareness of how people learn in this century.
The partnership with SETDA announced today will open up new opportunities for us to share more broadly the student benefits from micro and blended learning.
Like all global businesses, the best EdTech startups will need to expand internationally regardless of where they start out. Because the UK has some similarity to other large English-speaking markets – (distributed decision making in schools, similar purchasing power from consumers, large global corporate players), products developed in the US and the distribution techniques developed for the world are more likely to be portable to either market.
This is not to say that internationalisation is easy. Many companies, both established and startup, have floundered on the road to global conquest. That said, the rewards for companies that can make the transition are huge. We have successfully mapped out a system that will allow us engagement at a national level and offer opportunities to further engage with international customers.
The social impact of our business is key to our ongoing development and further understanding of how we can adapt to suit the needs of every student. Our Microlearning systems have allowed students to learn at their own pace, anywhere, anytime, on any digital device. This supports the teaching staff in many ways and effectively reinforces what they plan for each year.
The US has just short of 130,000 schools and 4,500 universities with similar levels of digital adoption. The EU has 40% more school students and a similar number of universities to the US, making it a huge, if more fragmented market opportunity for education innovation. With its strong tech economy, high demand for tech skills and quality broadband infrastructure the UK, Europe and the US makes a great launching point for Blending Education LLC looking to go in both directions across the Atlantic and into Australasia.
EdTech may still be at a relatively early stage compared to other more established tech sectors, but it has a clear opportunity to take a responsible role, leveraging its considerable strengths to lead the charge in permeating the global market. Its reputation for supporting higher education, a high digital penetration across all territories, strong local industry partners and powerful global position make it a contender to be the leader in fulfilling this sector’s specific Tech potential. One that we feel privileged to be part of.
Scientia potentia est
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