The pain test – Identify Your Assumptions

Am I trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist? Am I answering a question no one asked?

At Edstartup 101 we have to test our idea to find out how much we really understand the problem and if we are be able to point to evidence that supports us.

This is the first of two posts. In “Identify Your Assumptions” I will write down my assumptions to be compared with reality on the next post.

The problem

There is a population segment that for different reasons (economic, social occupational, geographic location, time, etc.) hasn’t been able to start, continue or finish their education. This condition prevents them to obtain a better job and improve their life quality.

My Assumptions

1) What causes the problem?
After applying the 4 why analysis I found the several causes to  the problem:

• The current learning centers do not target this population

• Most of the learning center with night and weekend classes are private and their fees are  high.

• The public universities require full time to study. The members of this population have  to work full time (even more), have young children, etc.

• They live far from learning centers.

• They have no enough preparation to be self learners.

• The actual resources are not adapted to the Latin American reality. Most of them are for English speakers.

• The actual curriculum don’t supply skilled workers for the employees.

I also  found a cycle. For example:

The members of this population can not study in a public learning center.

Why?
They don’t have no enough time to study.

Why?
They have work full time or have to have more than one job.

Why?
They don’t earn enough.

Why?
They don’t have the preparation to find a better job.

Why?
They don’t have no enough time to study.

2) Think about the people with the problem. What are they currently doing, or willing to do, to solve it?

Some of them are making an effort to study using distance learning, a private institute or some universities that are not that expensive. Some others are taking online education, usually the those who speak English.

Most of them are not doing anything.  They are disappointed about education and think about it as an expense (either in time or in money) they are not willing to do. I recognize this is a challenge. There must be another incentive beyond the learning for the pleasure of learning. For this reason there should be companies that back up the process offering job opportunities as return of the investment.

3) What are all of the current solutions to the problem?
All the partial solutions are too many to enlist here. Some of them are:

• INA (National institute for learning) http://www.ina.ac.cr/
• Cursera  www.coursera.org
• Udacy http://www.udacity.com/
• CapaciNet http://www.capacinet.gob.mx/
• Khan Academy http://www.khanacademy.org/
• Aula Fácil http://www.aulafacil.com/
• Aula Clic http://www.aulaclic.es
• Emagister http://www.emagister.com

4) Why aren’t the current solutions good enough?
All the listed solutions are great institutions, but they fall in one or more th

• The materials are in English
• The selection process is bureaucratic  and the curriculum is too long. (this is the case of INA)
• They are are not adapted to the latin american reality
• You must be a self learner.

5) How long has it been a problem?
As long as there have been an education.

6) How easily could something change to make the problem go away?
I don’t think the problem could be eradicated. As the world changes at full speed. all we need to run in order to catch up with it  and there will always be people who is left behind. My proposal is just a small boat in a great sea.

Please, tell me what you think. Am I leaving something out? Do you have a different point of view?

 

My idea

I have never imagined that writing down the storm of ideas I have on my head would be so hard. After investigating some of the educational needs in Costa Rica and my own space, as it is very different and much limited than the space we researched on las week, I came with this proposal.

1- A three to four sentence summary of your idea

An organization that brings an educational offer in Spanish for a population segment that for diverse reasons hasn’t been able to begin, continue or finish its education.

The courses will be taught by expert tutors in the field using the Teaching for Understanding methodology.

The organization will focus on distance learning using an LMS and will guarantee personalized instruction and the interactivity between teacher and student and the student with its peers.

2- What problem does your idea solve?

There is a population segment that for different reasons (economic, social occupational, geographic location, time, etc.) hasn’t been able to start, continue or finish their education. This condition prevents them to obtain a better job and improve their life quality.

Although there are many educational resources for English speakers, there are almost not open courses online in Spanish for the population the organization targets. The courses available don´t do not have any tutor, neither evaluation, nor any kind of interactivity between pairs. Those courses are designed for self-learners only.

In the other side, many companies in Costa Rica are looking for workers that are able to demonstrate their skills, beyond the certification, as those certifications not always validate the real qualities of the future worker.

3- How does your idea fix the problem?

An organization that offers high quality online instruction, free or at a very low cost, in Spanish and that understands the culture and needs of Latin Americans (my focus is first in Costa Rica), will serve as a bridge for this population in order to find better jobs and improve the life quality.

4- Why do you want to fix the problem?

Even though I have a Computer degree issued by a University, most of my instruction has been self-learned.  Right now I work as a Webmaster in a local newspaper thanks to all the courses I have been able to receive online. All these courses have been taught in English.  There is a lot of people in Latin America that don’t speak English, are not self-learners, or both; I want to give them the chances I had.

Again, I hope you have understood my English. If you have any suggestion or comment, either on my idea or on my writing, please, leave a comment. I will appreciate it.

 

The Ed Tech Startup Space

In programming in order to create better systems, which are user focused, we must sit in the users chair, understand their needs, learn what are her problems and find with her wich is the best way to solve them.

If you want to create an Ed Tech Startup you will need to immerse yourself in the market too, sit on th teacher chair, on the student chair and on the administrator chair too. The Ed Tech Startup Space is vast and full of great companies, trends and innovations and we must know who they are and what they are doing.

Here are only a few examples of companies that are taking the challenge and trying to do something for the educational community:

The Ed Tech Startup Space on Prezi

As I said those are only few examples of a lot of companies, organizations and individuals. There are several sites you should follow to keep up to date:

• EdSurge
• Education Week
• eSchool News
• eLearn Magazine
• Edchat
• Education next
• Edutopia

Great resources on twitter:

• @DiscoveryEd
• @TimesEducation
• @EducationNext
• @EducationSector
• @edutopia
• @verenanz
• @ShellTerrell
• @EdSurge
•  @educationweek
• @ocwnews
• @marinandres (This is me. I am not a great resource, not even a resource, but I would like to see you on Twiiter)

If you tought those are  enough to take half of your day, I have news for you. If you plan to have an Ed Tech Startup you will probably want to learn about Web design, Web programming, SEO, analytics, mobile education, Web standards and accessibility. I don´t mean to scare you, you don´t need to be an expert in all these areas, but you should learn the basics, so you can plan your strategy with the techies.

¿Are there any resources we must follow? ¿What would you add? ¿What would you take out from the list?