How were your classes set up when you were in school? You probably sat at a desk and took notes while listening to a teacher whose lessons were drawn from a combination of books and research. That model remains largely in place today, even when educators attend classes for professional development.
But a Mechanicsburg company called Eduplanet is changing that structure. A model it calls “social learning” combines social media and online teaching, giving teachers and other professionals a chance to interact and learn more from their classmates' experiences.
“The role of the instructor is more of a facilitator,” explains CEO Jeff Colosimo. Eduplanet's dozen workers provide the software platform and design “institutes” on subjects of interest to those who educate kids from kindergarten through high school. Instructors guide online conversation and provide information, ideally fading into the background as students share questions and information with each other, based on their professional experiences.
Eduplanet currently has about 50 clients, mostly school systems and education departments in Middle Atlantic states. The Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern Pennsylvania recently invested $150,000 in the company. Colosimo says his business' main goal for 2012 is to focus on sales and marketing so its customer base can expand nationally and internationally.
Eventually, he sees the social learning model expanding into education as a whole, with teachers using it to instruct their students. Modern students are digital learners and require a different model to be engaged in their learning, he says.
Source: Jeff Colosimo, Eduplanet
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen