Tell Me What You Want, What You Really Really Want

Last week I attended the SIIA Ed Tech Business Forum with hundreds of education technology & services providers, funders, marketers, biz-dev people and press. In a keynote speech, Dr. Thomas Houlihan from the Institute for Breakthrough Performance described problems in education as “systems” problems that can’t be solved with a band-aid or one-dimensional change. He also invoked the attendees to take a leadership role.

In another session a panelist remarked that education products and services providers need to ask school administrators and teachers for direction – what do they want? He suggested we build what people ask for…that they know best.

Like “It takes a village to raise a child,” I believe it takes a system to teach a child. Problems with school program implementation are often systems problems. This system includes teachers, books, assessments, policy, administration – all pieces working in concert together. Changing one part of the mix almost never significantly changes the system.

So back to the panelist’s recommendation – should we defer and ask teachers and administrators what they want? Do they know best?

I don’t think so. If you look at all the money that is spent on education, the value ascribed to it, and the tremendous number of vendors who are all too happy to create the products people have asked for, we would certainly by now have the products and services the industry really need if customers could describe what they wanted.

But innovation and major system change hasn’t happened yet. Not even from listening to what administrators and teachers want. We need to be guided by their dreams and the realities of today’s classroom and school and all the components that make up that system, but then we need to be leaders and invent something -- something exciting, fresh and better than what we have been using to date…what we “really, really want.” That’s the job for true industry leaders.
John Stuppy, john@tutorvista.com

Same Race – Better Horse

At first, some innovations are not as cost-effective or fine-tuned as the products or services they replace. Clayton Christianson’s book The Innovators Dilemma pointed out that in the early stages, many innovations are a poor replacement. But then over time…that’s when some innovations shine. Christianson also pointed out that it’s often impossible for existing, entrenched companies to successfully launch innovations. They have too much invested and are set in their ways.

Take a look at online learning. Eleven years ago I started working with one-on-one on-line tutoring over the internet. The idea was a student and tutor would use their computer to talk and interact through a shared virtual whiteboard. At the time, the voice interaction was pretty crummy -- echoes, dropped calls, gaps and delays were common. It wasn’t a pleasant experience and this was despite the fact one had to pay more for the technology infrastructure.

However, look at where things have moved today. Now, the technology used for voice chatting over the internet and sharing a virtual whiteboard is a reliable commodity. It works! And students love the whole platform and thrive on the online experience.

But is it effective? That’s the big question, isn’t it? I did a study of over 500,000 K-12 students who were tutored in reading and math –face to face vs. on-line. The result? There was no difference in effectiveness gains as measured by pre-- vs. post-test growth on standardized tests between the two groups. .

So students getting tutoring via the internet achieved the same gains as those students going to a learning center and meeting with their tutor face to face. This is an encouraging finding for the education technology industry. It suggests you don’t have to sacrifice education results for convenience.

Online tutoring is more convenient and affordable and highly effective . The next stage in the evolution of the industry is to figure out how to take advantages of technology to increase the effectiveness beyond face-to-face tutoring. More on that in an upcoming blog.

Have you taken an online course? Was it engaging? What factors made it relevant and interesting? More or less effective?

John Stuppy, john@tutorvista.com