How do you measure the success of an innovative learning experience? One of the key indicators is the degree of commitment from learners.
This is obviously true in the classroom and the number of school dropouts reminds us that this is not easy to achieve. This is also true online, and at least as difficult to achieve as the availability of interactive tools doesn’t mean that they are fully used for this purpose.
Over the last few weeks we have been evaluating the hundreds of proposals we received for the first round of the Open Education Challenge. The process is complex, as each of these proposals is evaluated simultaneously by two evaluators. The quality and passion that are present in each proposal is remarkable. Key concepts that I thought were only shared by a few experts are widely spread across this new community of ‘education entrepreneurs’. (more…)
One of the many lessons learnt from the first round of Open Education Challenge applications has to do with our responsibility to sustain and widen an education entrepreneurship community.
Why not exclusively proceed with the selection of the ‘10 best European startups’ and just work with them as planned?
Having received 611 applications has made the OEC much more than a ‘competition’. The 611 entrepreneurs from 74 countries that submitted a project in less than 2 months send a powerful message: education entrepreneurship exists! This powerful movement can’t be seen as an extension of the ‘traditional’ startup incubators. It should be one of the main drivers of change for our education systems.