The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), an initiative of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, and EdTechXGlobal have launched the first comprehensive global listing of 50 ground-breaking innovators in education technology.
Pioneering educationists Sugata Mitra, Salman Khan and David Braben are among the ‘Makers and Shakers of Education Technology Index’ which celebrates 50 of the most innovative EdTech thought leaders working across four geographical regions: Europe, the Americas, Middle East and North Africa, and Asia.
The 2016 Index honours luminaries who have introduced creative ways of learning through play, construction, or interactive design; using digital technologies and informed by the needs of modern labour markets.
The initial list of ‘Makers and Shakers’ was managed by WISE, and EdTechXGlobal, the organisers of the leading education technology-focused conference EdTechXEurope.
The final list of 50 was selected by 15 members of a global advisory committee, comprised of industry leaders from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google for Education, IDEO, IBIS Capital, Kaizen Private Equity, Learn Capital, LinkedIn, Times Higher Education, and TES Global.
The ‘Makers’ are defined as rising stars of education technology, innovating and pushing boundaries for future success; the ‘Shakers’ are considered to be established leaders in their regions, inspiring worldwide EdTech change.
Stavros N Yiannouka, CEO, WISE, said: “Through this Index, WISE seeks to support creative individuals who are working hard to achieve positive socio-economic impact through education.”
“This is the first Index of its kind to recognise success across four geographical regions, but as the EdTech market grows into a global community, we believe it’s important to champion innovators and leaders regardless of location,” said Benjamin Vedrenne Cloquet, co-founder, EdTechXEurope.
“The global EdTech community is working towards the same goal of improving education and making it more accessible through technology. These thought leaders have all demonstrated their commitment to achieving this goal,” he added.
David Braben, the co-founder of the Raspberry Pi, is an academic whose research claims pupils’ learning can be boosted by seven years just by using the Internet. His pocket-sized programmable computer is being used by millions of students around the world.
Prof Sugata Mitra believes that using the Internet can increase children’s learning far beyond their chronological age. The index also includes Salman Khan – the founder of online education site Khan Academy, which teaches millions around the world.
The WISE and EdTechXGlobal teams preselected 25 names per region for the ‘Makers of Education and Technology’ and the ‘Shakers of Education and Technology’ categories. The role of the Advisory Committee was to score each proposed name based several criteria. A ranking was then generated to list the final 50 ‘Makers and Shakers’.
The advisory committee assessed each proposed name against criteria such as individual vision, disruptive innovation, and impact and contribution to education. Each of the criteria was scored from 1 to 4, with 4 being the highest score.
The criterion for individual vision suggests that the individual demonstrates a powerful and unique vision for the role of technology in education.
Disruptive innovation refers that the initiatives launched by the individual is a creative and disruptive solution to an education challenge, showing innovation in its use of technology, design, methodology and/or practice.