The Importance of Building a Capacity for Evidence as a Solutions Provider
It’s no secret that the use of edtech in schools is constantly evolving and impacting the way students learn and educators teach. With digital learning tools continuing to be a major factor in K-12 education, effectively demonstrating what's working for students and teachers is critical.
In this webinar, our team discussed this topic from the perspective of two solution providers – they shared thoughts on modernizing learning by building evidence into their everyday operations, and how they partner with LearnPlatform by Instructure to add capacity for ongoing research.
The panelists, Sunil Gunderia, Chief Innovation Officer and Head of Mastery & Adaptive Product at Age of Learning, and Sana Gabula, Chief of Staff at Formative, discussed how evidence is experiencing a renewed focus in product development. Both agreed that evidence is foundational for seeing better student outcomes, and that advancing these outcomes and increasing proficiency is what makes evidence increasingly valuable.
“As a solution provider, how do you prove that your product works? You provide evidence that it has impact. Students, teachers and districts must benefit from what is brought to the market.”
— Sunil Gunderia, Chief Innovation Officer and Head of Mastery & Adaptive Product at Age of Learning
Gabula shares the same sentiments and emphasized the importance of research. Evidence discovered through rapid-cycle evaluations and educator feedback serves as foundational aspects for conversations and decision making that benefit students and educators. At Formative, Gabula views the value of evidence as an effort starting in the developmental stages of a product. It involves all members of her team to create meaningful implementations and should be iterated on over time.
“Every company has a mission and a purpose, and some want to change the world. But to be able to point to how that is actually happening is incredibly powerful.”
— Sana Gabula, Chief of Staff at Formative
While Gunderia’s team at Age of Learning focuses heavily on engaging learners and how students learn, gathering evidence involves and impacts many stakeholders, including teachers, families and education leaders. Effective learning solutions are multidimensional, so gathering and sharing evidence openly leads to more informed decisions that, ultimately, benefit teaching and learning.
“When you build a case, you build a story, but it doesn’t end there – it comes up with the next question. That question evolves to more questions and conversations. Data as a tool for decision making works best as part of ongoing conversations and relationships.”
— Sana Gabula
The LearnPlatform research team approaches their work with solution providers like these from a place of neutrality. As the entire U.S. education system works together to modernize learning environments, the need for actionable, practical and trustworthy evidence is critical. Determining when and how solutions are working in varied contexts is critical to inform decision making at every level. It’s also important that the information, analysis and findings are trustworthy and reliable.
Our team is helping bridge providers and K-12 education organizations to ensure that results are accessible and actionable. While both traditional and more modern research methods contribute valuable evidence, our rapid evaluation approach offers a modernized and efficient approach to gathering evidence, allowing for quicker analysis, reporting and action. This way, both solution providers and districts can more easily build this formative process into their standard practices.
Watch the on-demand webinar and explore our evidence services for solution providers here.
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