Interesting read and summary for someone looking at the landscape from outside the space. As a parent of young children, I wonder how we can create the right incentives for edutainment companies. Success in entertainment/media is eyeballs and time spent with content. I'd argue that would be the incorrect measure of success here. In fact, more learning in less time would seemingly be the goal.
How can we incentivize innovation (and let's be honest, monetization) around learning outcomes? A product that can measure my children's progress is a product that will get my dollars.
The biggest challenge with efficacy and learning outcomes is that it's alway nuanced and a bit complicated. I've always thought there should be a more public guide -- like a consumer digest -- for parents and educators to be able to evaluate and browse more efficacious products. Part of the reason it's been more difficult in the past is that the tech wasn't as good so the assessment wasn't build into the product but that's now changing. However it's still at early days. How old are your kids? One product I'd check out is Bamboo Learning for early literacy - it's an iPad app. Super well designed with great co-founders - one is a long time educator and the other was the VP of Amazon Alexa. The future can't come soon enough.
Thank you for this detailed analysis Katelyn. Most of the elements might be true for all countries and not just the US.
Would the assumption be correct that the analysis is more geared towards K12 school districts in the US and hence discusses the structured learning pathways there?
I think you might agree that edutainment might be equally if not more important for learning skills such as financial literacy, life skills, skills in general, assessments of skills including things such as driving skills.
K12 is often easier to analyze because it's contained and visible. Adult / life long learning it's just as relevant but can take so many shapes and the outcomes aren't as definite.
Totally agree with you that the life skills you mention are just as important and relevant. There are so many tiktoks and youtubes for adults.
Thank you for your response Katelyn. Yes agree with your perspective on the K12 space.
On the life-skills part, I do feel that financial literacy is a very large space and something that gaming tech can cover much better than other L&D pathways. Those at the bottom of the pyramid need these skills desperately and gaming tech can take the "literacy angle" out of it. A game like PubG was played by even those who were illiterate. I often think about a fund that supports financial literacy initiatives/projects/startups globally.
It's possible. I've just never seen anyone make money on financial literacy despite seeing many products.
The reality is people don't want to learn about finances until they have something to transact immediately (e.g., a mortgage) and even then they are easily overwhelmed. And the system feeds on misinformation and making things complicated.
I feel the best we can do as a society is ensure we have a few banking institutions that can truly be trusted to do what is best for their community. Maybe a player like Thrivent has done it https://www.thrivent.com/. Clearly Wells Fargo has failed.
Thank you for sharing information about Thrivent. Yes values based work seems like the only way. I have been trying to figure out how to get more education and workforce companies educated about becoming B-corps. It feels like they have a good ecosystem going. It would be great to get your take.
Interesting read and summary for someone looking at the landscape from outside the space. As a parent of young children, I wonder how we can create the right incentives for edutainment companies. Success in entertainment/media is eyeballs and time spent with content. I'd argue that would be the incorrect measure of success here. In fact, more learning in less time would seemingly be the goal.
How can we incentivize innovation (and let's be honest, monetization) around learning outcomes? A product that can measure my children's progress is a product that will get my dollars.
The biggest challenge with efficacy and learning outcomes is that it's alway nuanced and a bit complicated. I've always thought there should be a more public guide -- like a consumer digest -- for parents and educators to be able to evaluate and browse more efficacious products. Part of the reason it's been more difficult in the past is that the tech wasn't as good so the assessment wasn't build into the product but that's now changing. However it's still at early days. How old are your kids? One product I'd check out is Bamboo Learning for early literacy - it's an iPad app. Super well designed with great co-founders - one is a long time educator and the other was the VP of Amazon Alexa. The future can't come soon enough.
Thank you for this detailed analysis Katelyn. Most of the elements might be true for all countries and not just the US.
Would the assumption be correct that the analysis is more geared towards K12 school districts in the US and hence discusses the structured learning pathways there?
I think you might agree that edutainment might be equally if not more important for learning skills such as financial literacy, life skills, skills in general, assessments of skills including things such as driving skills.
Akhil Kishore
Partner - GIA ADVISORS
Thanks, Akhil!
K12 is often easier to analyze because it's contained and visible. Adult / life long learning it's just as relevant but can take so many shapes and the outcomes aren't as definite.
Totally agree with you that the life skills you mention are just as important and relevant. There are so many tiktoks and youtubes for adults.
Thank you for your response Katelyn. Yes agree with your perspective on the K12 space.
On the life-skills part, I do feel that financial literacy is a very large space and something that gaming tech can cover much better than other L&D pathways. Those at the bottom of the pyramid need these skills desperately and gaming tech can take the "literacy angle" out of it. A game like PubG was played by even those who were illiterate. I often think about a fund that supports financial literacy initiatives/projects/startups globally.
It's possible. I've just never seen anyone make money on financial literacy despite seeing many products.
The reality is people don't want to learn about finances until they have something to transact immediately (e.g., a mortgage) and even then they are easily overwhelmed. And the system feeds on misinformation and making things complicated.
I feel the best we can do as a society is ensure we have a few banking institutions that can truly be trusted to do what is best for their community. Maybe a player like Thrivent has done it https://www.thrivent.com/. Clearly Wells Fargo has failed.
Thank you for sharing information about Thrivent. Yes values based work seems like the only way. I have been trying to figure out how to get more education and workforce companies educated about becoming B-corps. It feels like they have a good ecosystem going. It would be great to get your take.
Also you might be already aware > https://www.legendsoflearning.com/blog/legends-of-learning-gets-the-ultimate-power-up-5-million-in-seed-round-funding-led-by-konvoy-ventures/
Great read! And thanks for the shoutout! 😇
Is "capturing learners into flow" the way one is supposed to get into flow? Just because edutainment is "a hit" does not mean it is healthy.