Back to school 3.0: edtech startups putting innovation to work for students

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that forced schools around the world to close, the importance of accelerating classroom digitisation has been at the forefront of the education debate. According to a study by Epson’s EDU2030 programme, 64% of teachers ranked digitisation as the biggest challenge they face. In another report, conducted by the consultancy Ipsos for Telefónica, 88% of teachers surveyed said that using technology for teaching makes it possible to access a greater number of educational resources.

Innovation has the potential to make enormous strides towards achieving SDG 4 of the 2030 Agenda, quality education, by transforming learning tools, methodologies and channels of access. Several edtech startups are revolutionising the way students at all levels of education approach each new academic year to make the back-to-school process simpler, more automated and powered by collective intelligence.

The rules of the game have changed: digitisation and smart learning

The image we have in our heads of the back-to-school season may not match the reality of today’s educational landscape. For starters, students no longer start the new school year armed with just pens and notebooks but are increasingly relying on the support of digital technologies both in and out of the classroom. According to data from the European Commission’s ‘Education and Training Monitor‘, by 2020, 100% of schools in Spain had an internet connection, 60% of classrooms had interactive digital systems, and 45% of schools had virtual learning environments. New technologies such as generative artificial intelligence, with ChatGPT leading the way, also provide students with new (albeit controversial, due to concerns about authorship) tools.

Besides, many of the students getting “back to school” are adults: the latest figures from Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) indicate that 12.7% of men and 16% of women between 25 and 64 years of age in Spain received some kind of education in 2021. And we could also broaden our conception of students to include those sitting competitive examinations, who will number almost 7 million in 2023.

Edtech innovation has addressed the specific needs of the competitive exam candidates: the startup GoKoan, for example, offers a proprietary learning method that allows students to optimise their study time thanks to intelligent planning. “GoKoan isn’t an online academy for competitive exams”, explains the company’s CEO and founder, Clara Torrijos. “It’s an e-learning technology company that puts artificial intelligence and science at the service of learning and teaching”.

Accessibility, at the core of edtech innovation

Innovation is a powerful tool for promoting not only better-quality education, but also a more equal one. “Online education and digital resources are democratising access to education. Students can now access courses and materials from anywhere, which offers flexibility”, Torrijos explains. Her own entrepreneurial venture is grounded in this ambition: when she decided to take the competitive examination, she recalls, none of the courses on the market suited her financial needs, her availability (she had two young children) or her long-term requirements.

Edtech entrepreneurship also focuses on solving educational deficiencies or shortcomings in the general population, such as mathematical skills. Here we find solutions like Smartick, an online method to promote reading and maths comprehension in children and adolescents at home; and Innovamat, which has developed a maths curriculum proposal for students that has already been adopted by more than 2,100 schools. “What we do is build knowledge based on hands-on material, experimentation and classroom discussion”, explains Ramón Álvarez, head of strategy at Innovamat. A commitment that could have far-reaching repercussions by encouraging access to the STEM field. “There is a social issue, not only in terms of school education, which is the fear of mathematics: many people have chosen their professional and academic future by trying to avoid it”, he says. “If we can reduce this fear in students, they will have fewer barriers to choosing science careers”.

Edtech innovation opens the door to the widespread use of digital content, but also to tools to encourage its adoption. Such is the case of iLovePDF, a website that makes it possible to work with PDF files and other formats, and which has some 2.5 million registered students. The platform offers a year’s free access to anyone who registers using their school email address, explains Juan Eduardo Eguiguren, iLovePDF’s Chief Business Officer. “We already have more than 90 million users every month and process 30,000 files per minute”, he says, an entirely organic growth driven by a simple recipe for success: detecting and responding to a need. “With innovation, we are giving everyone, from students to governments and educational centres, access to a tool that makes it easier to work day-to-day with a standard such as PDF”.

The evolving future of education (and the role of the entrepreneurial ecosystem)

The education sector can no longer be separated from innovation and digitisation, which will set the course for education together with edtech entrepreneurship. Experts have identified several key trends in this field:

• Lifelong and continuing education. Technological disruption and macroeconomic changes mean that we are all increasingly becoming long-term learners. “Lifelong learning and professional development are essential if you want to keep up with the evolving demands of the job market”, says GoKoan’s Clara Torrijos. Edtech innovation not only supports students, but also teachers and families: “We need to support, train and empower teachers”, explains Innovamat’s Ramón Álvarez.

• Forward-looking. Edtech innovation seeks to revolutionise the very paradigm of education. But, this is a long-distance race, says Álvarez, who underscores how important it is for the sector’s startups to partner with investors who are aligned with this long-term vision. Along the same lines, the CEO of Gokoan notes that “profits don’t come as fast as they can in other sectors, and this doesn’t always suit every VC”.
• Personalisation. “Technology is letting educators tailor to the individual needs of students. Using AI and data analytics, we can identify each student’s strengths and weaknesses, which makes it easier to tailor content”, notes GoKoan’s CEO. “Everyone will learn at their own level, at their own pace”, iLovePDF’s CBO Juan Eduardo Eguiguren predicts.  Not only learning, “but also assessment will be increasingly personalized”, adds Ramón Álvarez.

• Innovation (in the broadest sense)… Digitalisation is just part of the enormous structural change that edtech entrepreneurship is bringing to the classroom. “The biggest innovation is in teaching, in the way we learn, not in the format”, explains Álvarez, who also mentions “a macro-trend towards skills-based learning”. Torrijos agrees: “Education is moving towards fostering skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, effective communication and collaboration, which are fundamental for success in an increasingly interconnected and complex society”.
• …But above all, technological. “Virtual and augmented reality are opening up new possibilities in education by delivering immersive experiences”, says Clara Torrijos. And technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning “can improve teaching efficiency and offer more personalised experiences”, she points out. iLovePDF’s Eguiguren also notes the potential that technology like generative artificial intelligence has to boost the adaptability and accessibility of knowledge.

So let’s rethink that back-to-school mental image, and instead imagine students of all ages and all levels, in and out of the classroom, equipped not only with new technologies but also, and perhaps more importantly, with innovative learning methodologies that are more efficient, equitable and geared towards the 3.0 world.