Women Are The Driving Force Behind EdTech
On the internet, you can find anything from the best marketing agency down to how to program your own drone. This online platform is a treasure trove of information dissemination, and developers have begun capitalizing on this opportunity to start a global movement on education technology, which will grow to an invaluable industry.
In China alone, edtech was valued at $1.2 billion from foreign investors back in 2016 and the industry was expected to grow by 20% annually. The country has big plans to modernize the face of education and the government was prepared to invest $30 billion by the year 2020.
Teachers to the rescue
Long gone are the days of the technology industry being dominated by men. Women have been taking the helm and delivering education to the masses. A primary school teacher who was questioning how to adapt technology for the classroom soon found herself creating a resource center for teachers called Twinkl. It provides support for homeschooling parents and offers tips on how to educate their children.
The platform has come a very long way for a small town teacher in the UK. She explains that “we have more than 625,000 resources on our website, ranging from interactive presentations to applications that use augmented reality”.
Another teacher who recently made a deal with the Belgian government to make her software available in 700 schools is Priya Lakhani. She created an AI-powered learning platform which is now “everywhere from leading British independent schools to Lebanese schools educating large numbers of Syrian refugees”.
Upskilling through online platforms
One of the most notable female representatives of the edtech sector and “unicorn” startups is founder of Coursera and professor at Stanford, Daphne Koller. Her education platform is now valued at over $1 billion, after 7 years in the making, giving rise to the idea of upskilling online.
Another notable edtech startup (which has since been acquired by LinkedIn) is Lynda. Sold to the professional networking site for $1.5 billion, the online software training website provides learning resources for professionals who are looking to upskill.
Education giving women the foothold they need
Historically, women are more involved in education and are often met with many challenges in the technology sector. However, this surge of education technology is finally giving women the foothold they need in order to penetrate the technology sector. Since it is crucial to the success of edtech that teachers remain involved, women are not going anywhere in this industry.
From being ostracized to being celebrated, education technology is truly opening the doors to all and everyone is able to benefit from it. Students are rewarded with knowledge whereas teachers and entrepreneurs are able to offer up their ideas and innovation and put them into practical platforms that can be used by all.
