THIS WEEK WE ARE HIGHLIGHTING TWO OF THE COMPANIES REVOLUTIONISING EDUCATION IN THE NETHERLANDS 🏫 🏫 🏫
Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, education technology has been transformed. The introduction of social distancing measures has generated unprecedented demand for tech-led remote teaching solutions. Globally, EdTech startups surpassed their total VC tally for 2019 by April in 2020, and EdTech investment forecasts are now predicted to reach $87b by 2030; almost triple the investment of the prior decade. Research from PUBLIC shows that the Netherlands has an enormous opportunity in EdTech, with an annual government technology spend in the sector at around €750m per annum.
PROCTOREXAM - CASE STUDY - EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENTS IN REMOTE SETTINGS
The Coronavirus pandemic has significantly disrupted the traditional format of school assessments. ProctorExam is the largest European provider of online examination software, allowing students to be assessed in remote settings.
ProctorExam is a web-based SaaS platform, which can run as a stand alone experience or embedded within an existing assessment environment. Compatible with Linux, Mac and Windows, ProctorExam enables schools to assess candidates using remote tests with their own equipment. They have partnered with a wide range of secondary schools in The Netherlands, as well as institutions of higher education, such as the University of Amsterdam. It also has international partners in Germany, Paris, Canada and Belgium.
EdTech has experienced a period of rapid sector-wide growth in 2020, and ProctorExam has capitalised on this trend. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19, the company’s customer base has grown from 43 to 136 clients, while the total number of exams taken on its platform has increased by 6,400% The company has also helped digitise educational services outside of academic settings, and is working with the German Civil Aviation Authority to provide the online examinations for drone owners, following recent changes to German law.
CASE STUDY - LESSONUP - OPEN SOURCE EDUCATIONAL CONTENT
LessonUp is the largest educational platform in The Netherlands and is used for digital teaching and learning by thousands of teachers in primary and secondary education
LessonUp is a subscription-based platform for teachers to create lessons using video, images and quizzes. This allows schools to take advantage of a ‘virtual classroom, which can be accessed by students on their smartphones, laptops or tablets, without the need for accounts. The company has expanded across The Netherlands by partnering with FutureNL to provide teachers and resources with the resources to improve the digital skills of Dutch students.
During the coronavirus pandemic, LessonUp’s offering has taken on new importance. The company has helped to meet the increased need for online remote teaching by offering its LessonUP PRO platform for free for up to 30 days, where teachers have access to testing/assignment features and student reports. If they don’t renew after 30 days, teachers still have a free account! The platform can also onboard entire schools in only a few hours: online classes are provided through standard video-calling programmes, creating a 'digiboard' which students access on the lessonup.app via a lesson-specific code. LessonUp also offers schools a range of different licenses: it’s most developed offering - the School Complete License - starts at €890 per year and allows schools to create a single school-wide lesson portfolio.
In two years, the platform has compiled a collection of over 600,000 lessons that are used directly in the classroom by a community of 100,000 teachers and 500 schools, with more than 40 channels involved! In November 2019, the company raised a £350k funding round, providing the runway to expand its platform beyond The Netherlands.