"Just as students and teachers took to early productivity tools, we can easily see them becoming part of a new generation of early adopters for software that takes advantage of chat-based conversational interfaces"

"psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan posit in their self-determination theory that humans are intrinsically driven by autonomy, relatedness, and competence—that is, they will continue to learn regardless of any shortcuts thrown their way."

"AI can potentially act as a live tutor for anyone, with humans supplementing the AI to provide in-depth knowledge and emotional and behavioral support."

"With AI, it will become possible to personalize everything from learning modalities and needs (e.g., visual versus text versus audio) to content types (e.g., easily bring in a kid or adult’s favorite character or favorite hobby / genre) to curriculum. It will also be possible to teach one’s skill level and gaps more precisely"

"Historically, students and educators are natural trendsetters when it comes to productivity software. In fact, students and teachers were among the first users of startups like Canva and Qualtrics"

"Today, teachers spend a significant amount of time grading, creating lesson plans, and preparing for their classes. AI, having learned from millions of earlier educational materials, can reduce teachers’ workloads by, among other things, creating drafts of their plans and syllabi. Then, all the teachers need to do is refine and tailor the output for their respective classrooms. By freeing up their time, teachers can now focus on previously “bonus” activities like giving individual students personalized attention."

"Another big area of concern is “truth” in the age of AI. Algorithms are trained on available data, but all this data is currently still subject to  human judgment and human behaviors. This means that societal biases of all kinds—racial, gender-based, and more—get baked into the algorithms and these biases will continue to be amplified."

"a University of Washington study profiled in the WSJ shows 72% of people reading an AI composed news article thought it was credible, despite its facts being incorrect."

"Trust in user-generated content and other non-branded outlets will degrade. On the flip side, audiences may also have blind trust in personalities, brands, and “experts” they already follow and respect."

"Education is a $1.8 trillion-dollar industry in the U.S."

"Nine-year-olds’ math and reading levels have dropped to 20-year lows, and the dip in reading scores is the steepest decline in more than 30 years. Teacher vacancies are reaching crisis levels. Schools are even resorting to bringing back retirees and loosening basic teaching requirements to fill gaps."

"The pandemic catalyzed big shifts at all levels of education, in some cases upending what were previously slow, decade-long trends. Technology adoption in classrooms accelerated; parents pulled their kids out of public schools by the millions after seeing firsthand the inadequacies of our current education system; teens became study influencers on TikTok and made learning cool again (aka studytok); and the government stepped in with hundreds of billions of dollars for public education."

"the pandemic has created a once-in-a-lifetime economic opportunity for early stage companies to reach an eager customer base. The U.S. government’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds (ESSER funds) are the largest one-time infusion of funds in education from the federal government with almost no strings attached."

"In total, the government has allocated ~$190B to schools across three packages. The first tranche of funds must be allocated by this month and the second by September 2023. Most critically, ESSER III, which focuses on academic support and is the largest of the three packages, must be allocated by September 2024. This is a huge amount of money that schools must spend (or lose!) over the next few years, and startups stand to benefit."

"the past two years have brought huge advances in technological adoption, which has traditionally lagged in education, creating new opportunities. This trend will only continue to accelerate."

"Given the speed we now cycle through technology adoption cycles, we all need to learn and adapt to new tools and technologies more frequently and faster than ever. Lifelong learning is now a must have in the workplace."

"Due to increasing teacher shortages, schools are looking to third-party solutions to outsource and supplement their own resources."

"surveys show that 1 in 5 college grads find that college did not adequately prepare them for their first jobs. That’s why supplemental learning to full-time employment has become the new, best “university” for many college students, early and mid-career professionals, and beyond."

"many more public school teachers quit their full-time roles during the pandemic. Parents also became full-time educators in their own right, creating and curating educational content and resources as the pandemic kept schools closed and homeschooling boomed. And student influencers on TikTok teaching everything from STEM to law to studying, productivity and standardized testing tips grew their own followings and community."

"As we enter the third school year of the Covid era, a disturbing new normal is settling over the country. Students continue to be chronically absent; nearly 50,000 Los Angeles public school students failed to show up on the first day of school."

"Technology adoption in classrooms accelerated; parents pulled their kids out of public schools by the millions after seeing firsthand the inadequacies of our current education system; teens became study influencers on TikTok and made learning cool again (aka studytok);"

"But we believe that the Learning Economy is a much broader sector—and one that spans a longer timeframe—than most people think."

"Rather, it encompasses all the different ways we develop as human beings, be it picking up a hobby or learning to be a better boss, parent, or friend."

"Together, these partnerships can deliver the core of any education business: products that either aggregate and deliver content, or products and communities that establish behaviors key to learning such as accountability and consistency."

"Second, the pandemic has created a once-in-a-lifetime economic opportunity for early stage companies to reach an eager customer base."

"Third, Americans across all generations are seeking alternate educational routes."

"Finally, the past two years have brought huge advances in technological adoption, which has traditionally lagged in education, creating new opportunities."

"Lifelong learning is now a must have in the workplace."

"6% of all K–12 teachers have quit their jobs in the last two years, and 55% plan to leave the profession earlier than expected because of the pandemic."

"Companies leveraging ESSER and Title 1 funding as a wedge for K–12 school sales."

"Products that link learning to promotions, new careers, and other direct outcomes."

"Smart software that saves parents from reinventing the wheel or admin drudgery to focus on what’s meaningful."

"They can do this by building automated product features, and leveraging right-sized forms of communication for the specific need (e.g., chats, synchronous or asynchronous video or audio), and a global supply pool of experts."

"Startups taking advantage of increasingly underutilized supply ranging from teachers to homeschooling parents to top students."

"Flock, for example, is a marketplace and community for parents to monetize the homeschooling lesson plans they’ve created."