Publication
Building blocks for flexible education
Do you want to work on making education more flexible? And actually develop flexible education within your institution? This publication
29 August 2022
Do you want your higher education institution or startup to collaborate and look at the possibilities within education in a new way? Read more about the Startup in Residence EdTech programme.
In 2022, the working group EdTech for educational innovation will launch Startup in Residence (SiR) EdTech – a programme for universities of applied sciences and universities that want to collaborate with startups on challenges within education, where educational technology offers a possible solution. The SiR programme supports, facilitates and enables cooperation between educational institutions and innovative startups.
Why participate?
On Thursday October 20th, the working group will festively launch the first edition of Startup in Residence EdTech. Together with the participating institutions, startups and partners, they will officially launch the programme. Will you be there? Then sign up now. Want to know more about the kick-off programme? Then take a look here.
Seven universities (of applied sciences) formulated their challenges in cooperation with the EdTech working group. These vary from the development of an online environment for information provision regarding the (re)design of blended education to a solution for more efficient assessment with large groups of students. You can read a short summary of each challenge here. The detailed version of each challenge can be found here.
The application deadline for startups has passed in the meantime. The working group will start with matching the right startup to one of the challenges.
The challenge of Utrecht University of Applied Sciences is all about improving collaboration in a cloud environment between students. In addition to 24/7 access to this cloud, this must also be done safely. Unburdening the teachers is also an important spearhead.
The question/challenge to startups
Contribute to a solution where students are able to work collaboratively in a cloud environment they have continuous access to and gives them the opportunity to safely practice in a realistic environment.
Utrecht University of Applied Sciences and The Hague University of Applied Sciences are joining forces for this challenge in order to enable lecturers and students to develop and implement cyber security education in co-creation. There is a need for a digital solution that can be deployed across the sector. When thinking of a solution, it is important for institutions to have ownership and control over the learning experience.
The question/challenge to startups
Develop or contribute to a digital solution that enables teachers and students sector-wide to develop and implement cybersecurity education in co-creation.
University of Utrecht developed various transdisciplinary education initiatives, where students collaborate with researchers, companies and social partners work together to find solutions to complex issues as part of their education program. Currently, it is difficult for the initiators of this type of education and social organisations and companies to find each other. In this project, the University of Utrecht asks the help from startups to simplify the process with the help of EdTech.
The question/challenge to startups
Develop a solution that enables the connection between external partners and challenge-based learning initiatives within the Utrecht University to link societal challenges to multidisciplinary student teams.
The Hague University of Applied Sciences aims to develop highly qualitative, activating education by using blended learning design. Therefore, The Hague University of Applied Sciences – in collaboration with Avans University of Applied Sciences – is looking for an online environment where lecturers can (re)design blended education using a database full of good examples and supporting information.
The question/challenge to startups
Develop an online environment that supports teachers in designing blended learning with the help of a database of supporting information.
Receiving responses to an evaluation is a challenge, also in education. Every educational institution benefits from completed student evaluations on the instructor(s) and course concerned. The challenge facing Tilburg University is to increase the response rates in order to improve the quality of education, based on feedback. The goal is to motivate both student and instructor to take an evaluation seriously.
The question/challenge to startups
Contribute to the increase of response rates to acceptable levels of course and teacher evaluations to gather usable feedback and data which can be used to improve the quality of education.
How can an lecturer efficiently assess open-ended questions among large numbers of students without losing the opportunity for feedback and the quality of the assessment? Tilburg Law School is looking for a technical solution to this challenge. Research has already been carried out into this, and various ideas have been put forward. Can an algorithm in combination with rubrics offer a solution? Or can specific coding help with assessment?
The question/challenge to startups
Contribute to a solution with which lecturers can efficiently mark open questions for exams with very large quantities of students without losing the quality of the grading and the feedback possibilities it offers.
The VU Amsterdam is looking for a solution where students are coached on academic writing skills throughout their studies. Monitoring and the possibility of making adjustments are important for this. The aim is to achieve this without requiring extra time from lecturers.
The question/challenge to startups
Contribute to a solution that coaches students on academic writing skills throughout their studies so that they can develop their skills to reach the desired level of academic writing.
Startup in Residence (SiR) is a proven method to connect public organisations with innovative companies, including startups. Besides the ambition to stimulate cooperation, the programme aims to tackle challenges facing education and develop innovative solutions for them. The focus of this programme is on applications of EdTech in higher education.
The aim of the programme is for educational institutions to work together with innovative companies that develop EdTech solutions in a more demand-driven and co-creation manner. Another aim is for institutions to invest in start-ups with the best innovative ideas so that their prototypes can be developed into successful products that improve education. The institution actively participates in a pilot to refine and finalise the solution. Is this pilot successful, and do both parties want to continue? If so, the institution has the option of acting as a launching customer.
EdTech refers to all technology, both hardware and software, that is made to improve the education given by lecturers and to improve the educational outcomes of students. For this programme, we have slightly broadened this framework. Technology applications that support students in studying outside the classroom, for example, also fall under EdTech in this case.
This programme is suitable for educational institutions that would like to cooperate with (small) innovative companies. The programme is designed to facilitate this in an accessible manner. First of all, the programme will provide clear information and handy checklists to help with the setup. Secondly, complicated tenders and grant applications are made a lot easier, as these are already done prior to the cooperation. In the event of success, it will be possible to proceed immediately with the further implementation and roll-out of the solution. Thirdly, the training and mentoring programme is fully geared to the knowledge and experience needed to make such a partnership a success, so that the educational institution and the startup are both supported.
The duration of the programme is approximately one year, with the first four months of preparation, six months of operation and two months of evaluation. The participating institution reserves €10,000 pilot budget per challenge, plus a budget and staff for attending the training programme, conducting the pilot with the startup and then possibly implementing the solution.
In addition, the institution must provide access to relevant data and contacts to assist the innovative organisation. Furthermore, the institution is part of the mentoring and training programme. And is expected to work closely with the startup to make the programme a success, through experimentation, testing and evaluation.
First of all, the programme team collects challenges from educational institutions. Based on this, a selection is made based on several requirements and preconditions. Next, sessions are planned with the selected challenge holders to make the challenges more specific. After two challenge days, a so-called SiR contract is signed with several challenge holders, which is the start of cooperation and search for innovative organisations that can submit a solution.
Next, the project team starts the tender process based on the challenge description. When this is approved, it will be published and it is time to reach as many startups as possible for possible solutions. After a statutory period during which companies can register, it is time to make a selection of suitable solutions. This process is also structured and predetermined. Has a suitable cooperation partner been found? Then the co-creation process between institution and startup can begin. During the incubation phase, both parties follow a mentoring and training programme focused on specific themes that are relevant during such a process.
Participating institutions: the key to the programme lies with the participating universities of applied sciences and universities that submit a challenge. The first version of SiR EdTech is intended to clarify whether this approach is seen as enrichment by the participating institutions.
EdTech working group for educational innovation: The working group EdTech of the Acceleration Plan is the leader of the programme and, with a project team, will help the institutions formulate challenges to which the startups can respond. This involves a specific challenge with several criteria against which a proposal will be assessed. The project team will also be responsible for recruiting startups and mentors, designing the training programme for the institutions and startups, and then implementing the actual programme, including setting up and supervising the planned pilots.
SURF: SURF will provide support in setting up and supervising the programme to make all the necessary preconditions possible. This will include coordinating the procurement process and directing the right people within SURF.
What results have other Startup in Residence programmes achieved?
Startup in Residence is a proven methodology, developed by the Municipality of Amsterdam, which has already proven successful at several public sector organisations. For example, between 2015-2018 the programme at the Municipality of Amsterdam [1] [Dutch only)] led to a selection of 34 startups and rewarded them with participation in the so-called incubation programme. Of this group, an actual collaboration had been established with 16 of them in various forms of public-private partnerships. The working group EdTech wants to realise this movement within the educational field as well, so that such collaborations grow within this sector as well. For this purpose, the basic aspects of the programme are used, the same steps are followed, and the focus is on potential collaborations for the education sector.
[1] https://startupinresidence.com/amsterdam/media/sites/2/2019/06/Startup_In_Residence_Report_NL.pdf
It is no longer possible to register challenges from higher education institutions, but we are looking into the possibilities for a second edition of SiR EdTech. Do you have a challenge within your educational institution for which EdTech might be a solution and do you want to know more about the possibilities?
Please contact us via edtech@versnellingsplan.nl.
Do you want to stay updated about Startup in Residence EdTech? Leave your e-mail adress and we will send you updates as they come.
Do you have questions about the Startup in Residence programme? Then please contact the working group at edtech@versnellingsplan.nl
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