Nordic EdTech News #19 : 2020-05-18
Your Week 19 & 20 update from the Nordic & Baltic EdTech ecosystems
With schools beginning to reopen, attention is now focusing on the pandemic’s long-term impact on education systems. There’s no shortage of optimistic speculation from experts, investors (and here) and others who expect the pandemic experience to transform education and individual EdTech products. Certainly the clear feedback from learners (Link, Link) is that they’re not looking to return to normal, ‘new’ or otherwise.
In fact the Nordic EdTech market is already responding to the significant changes that the pandemic has caused. In response to the rising use of digital content, the Norwegian government has committed an additional 140m NOK in such resources (Nor, Nor) It’s also apparent that the funding landscape remains in rude health, with last week’s news that School Day had raised €1.1m in a seed round led by Sparkmind.vc (Link). (For other startups seeking funding, check out the Startup Capital online matchmaking event on 18th June.)
Last week’s financial literacy PISA test results contained great news for our region’s four participing countries with Estonia and Finland taking the top two spots, with Latvia and Lithuania both in the top 10. (Link) Finally, it was great to see so many Nordic and Baltic EdTechs recognised in the 2020 EdTech Awards (Link).
Stay healthy and with best regards, Jonathan
News from Denmark
How Danish schools returned effectively and safely. (Link, Link)
Great example of how to use digital resources in teaching Chinese. (Den, Eng)
Eduflow offer compelling thoughts on how to fix online learning (Link) and detail how Saturdays.AI use their solution. (Link)
Skoleliv reports on Gyldendal Education’s survey of primary school teachers and their thoughts on teaching technology. (Den, Eng)
How Kubo Robotics can add value to maker spaces in schools. (Link)
Paul Ramchandani, LEGO professor of play at the University of Cambridge, suggests how to make home schooling work. (Link)
Anders Holch Povlsen takes over Lix Technologies. (Den, Eng)
News from Estonia
The virtual EdTech X Summit included the success story of Estonian education and highlighted 6 Estonian EdTech startups. (Link)
Mait Müntel and Lisa Ockinga of Lingvist feature in Tech.eu’s future of education podcast. (Link)
Recording of this week’s fascinating webinar on how to start an education startup in Estonia here.
News from Finland
Arkki shortlisted for the WISE 2020 Global Education Awards. Congrats! (Link, Link)
HEI Schools launch HEI Schools Home to help parents teaching children at home. (Link)
Kide Science sign first deal in Taiwan with Starlight Education Group. (Link)
New Nordic School detail work in India (Link) and release results of global parent survey. (Link)
School Day develop social and emotional learning / wellbeing course with Microsoft. (Link)
ThingLink and the University of Helsinki agree multi-year partnership. (Link)
The University of Turku’s research demonstrates how Finnish teachers are leveraging digital teaching tools while schools are closed. (Link)
News from Iceland
ICYMI - How Kara Connect are supporting student wellbeing during the crisis. (Link)
Further details emerge of online and live Utís events. (Ice)
News from Latvia
As part of the CrisisLab programme, students from 17 Latvian universities and colleges presented responses to the Covid-19 crisis. (Lat)
Exonicus develop virtual training scenarios for doctors aimed at reducing spread of Covid-19. (Link)
New teacher recruitment campaign launches #Mācītspēks. (Lat, Eng)
‘Your Class’ educational resources used by Latvians in over 70 countries. (Lat, Eng)
News from Lithuania
New survey shows significant increase in parental engagement in education and increased use of educational platforms during the pandemic. (Lith, Eng)
Masters studies announced for teachers and school leaders. (Lith, Eng)
News from Norway
Diku stress the importance of networks to share high quality digital learning resources. (Nor, Eng)
University of Southern Denmark select itslearning as its LMS. (Link)
Kahoot! start 2020 with a strong Q1 (Link) and announce Kahoot! EDU Summit on June 17. (Link)
Lær Kidsa Koding launch new YouTube channel. (Link)
No Isolation featured in a CNBC report on tackling loneliness. (Link)
My Norwegian isn’t good enough to understand this podcast on digital education, but a great line-up of contributors nonetheless! (Link)
Skooler demonstrates how it can supports strong communication during distance learning (Link) and announces new toolbox feature. (Link)
News from Sweden
Admentum and Skolon announce integration agreement (Swe, Eng) as SLI Education announce SLI Play will also be available through Skolon. (Swe, Eng)
Liber and Lexplore begin collaboration (Swe, Eng) as Liber launch Liber Blended helping customers to buy both print and digital materials. (Swe, Eng)
How Microsoft helped Stockholm schools to switch to online learning. (Swe, Eng)
If you missed the Skola Hemma’s conference on the future of education, you can see it all here.
Snabbfoting forge partnership with Australia’s GO1. (Link)
Latest update from Swedish Edtech Industry on Covid-19 response. (Swe, Eng)
Teachers’ Union expresses concern that distance learning is increasing inequality between students. (Swe, Eng)
Thanks for reading and see you again on 1st June!
Many thanks, Jonathan
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with a friend or five! Please send them here to sign up - https://nordicedtech.substack.com