{"id":6657,"date":"2017-10-09T10:44:24","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T09:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=6657"},"modified":"2017-10-31T10:22:14","modified_gmt":"2017-10-31T10:22:14","slug":"how-and-why-should-learning-technologists-engage-with-start-ups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2017\/10\/how-and-why-should-learning-technologists-engage-with-start-ups\/","title":{"rendered":"How and why should Learning Technologists engage with start-ups?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A conversation between Anders Krohn, CEO at Aula Education, and Dr Maren Deepwell, CEO at ALT.<\/i><\/p>\n

At the recent ALT Annual Conference in Liverpool we started a conversation about how Learning Technologists can engage with start-ups and we quickly came across a whole range of barriers that stand in the way. The way in which colleges and universities procure, implement and develop their use of technology for learning, teaching and assessment doesn\u2019t easily align with working with small, agile businesses just getting started at the cutting edge of innovation.<\/p>\n

Anders suggested that together, with contributions from ALT Members, we could draw up a guide that helps bridge the gap and provide a starting point for working together. Here is what we are thinking we\u2019d like to achieve:<\/p>\n

MD: <\/i>Anders, tell us what are the key reasons why ALT Members should engage with start-ups. What in your experience are some of the biggest benefits?<\/p>\n

AK: <\/i>The main reason educational institutions in general can benefit from working with start-ups is that start-ups are defined by their ability to have a laser sharp focus on solving a specific problem and quickly iterate to ensure the product fits the reality of the first users\/partners\/clients. That means the first adopters can have a huge influence on ensuring that a product adapts to their specific needs and problems.<\/p>\n

For the learning technologist community this is an interesting opportunity because there are clear synergies in terms of start-ups giving e-learning\/TEL teams \u2018digital super powers\u2019 and e-learning\/TEL teams providing start-ups with pedagogical knowledge and feedback from years of experience working with educators.<\/p>\n

MD: <\/i>\u00a0We have been working with start-ups in a number of ways in recent years including having a launchpad exhibition zone for start-ups at our Annual Conference; we promote initiatives like Bett Futures and we also have active engagement with consortia like Edmix. In my view professional bodies like ALT form an important network via which innovators and developers can engage with professionals who have a wealth of experience in research and practice. What made you engage with the ALT community?<\/p>\n

AK:<\/i> Most of the institutions we have been in touch with or are working with are very active in the ALT community, so it was a natural place for us to get product feedback, learn more about institution-specific innovation initiatives and find partner institutions.<\/p>\n

I think what is particularly interesting about ALT is that it bridges the \u2018human\u2019 part with the \u2018tech\u2019 part and enables us to understand the actual problems educational institutions have (funnily enough writing \u2018innovation\u2019 into their education strategies is not one of them :-) ). For example, I participated in Dave White, Peter Bryant and Donna Lanclos\u2019 session ‘Hack your way to influencing pedagogical and technological strategy’ at the ALT conference. When you spend all your waking hours thinking about how to place the buttons in the right position (the most exciting part of my job) in order to enable people to drive pedagogical change, engaging in those communities is very rewarding.<\/p>\n

MD: <\/i>\u00a0It was your idea that we could produce a guide for how Learning Technologists can engage with start-ups. Tell us more about what you\u2019ll be contributing and your thinking behind it.<\/p>\n

AK:<\/i> Over the past year I\u2019ve had some fantastic experiences working with educators, learning technologists, CIOs and decision-makers at universities. However, I\u2019ve also had some surprising experiences where it is clear that there\u2019s a disconnect between educational institutions and start-ups.<\/p>\n

I think learning technologists can play an important role in bridging the disconnect and I think building that bridge starts with being more transparent and having some very very practical guidelines on \u2018how universities can get to work with start-ups\u2019 and \u2018how universities should work with start-ups\u2019 as well as the other way around.<\/p>\n

For example I imagine the guide(s): Covering specific advice<\/i> such as: If you want to work with start-ups ensure that your institution doesn\u2019t put prohibitively high revenue requirements into the procurement documents.<\/p>\n

Covering general strategic advice<\/i> to enhance the strategic position of e-learning\/TEL teams in working with start-ups such as: Raising to the PVC\/DVC\/Dean that it would make sense to allocate discretionary funds and approve a standard set of data requirement terms that allows learning technologists to run small pilots without having to go through the full procurement shabang. There\u2019s sometimes a tendency to make small decisions big and big decisions small, which is a barrier to innovation. ‘We definitely need a Shanghai campus ASAP because Coursera, but God forbid that that browser extension doesn\u2019t pass through our SSO-accessed bicentennial HEFCE-reviewed third party security assessment brand review committee.’<\/p>\n

And then topped up with all the cute examples<\/i> that make all of it worth it:<\/p>\n