Skills to the Future, is developing a digital learning platform to help schools to provide supplementary STEM courses in topics where they lack the resources or competence.
We think that our present education could be better. Now the content comes more from looking in the rear mirror, than through the windshield. It should take better account of the constant acceleration of our living environment. We want to help the schools to provide our youth education that trends to the future as much as possible. We cannot exactly tell what skills in 10 years are needed, but we can make good guesses and at least show them in the right direction.
Our obligation is to give our youth a kick and a spark starting to learn new skills for the future.
How we differentiate ourselves from the other course providers? Our pillars 4 are:
#1 The quality of pedagogy first
We align, curate, and orchestrate all our course material to achieve pedagogic competence and meet the quality requirements of the ‘Finnish Education Standards’.
#2 The how: Blended project-based learning with a flipped approach
Digital courses mostly rely only on the delivery of educational material. Our digital platform relies on blended open-ended project-based learning with a flipped approach. That means that also we deliver the educational material online but that’s only one-half of what we do. We also deliver teacher/educator lead workshops, Q&As. We want to ensure that the student really can utilize the information given and convert that to skills by practicing aka by doing homework. Just watching videos and answering some quizzes gives you the illusion you have now learned a skill!
#3 High impact needs high completion rates
By following and complying with the Finnish pedagogical guidelines we aim to raise the completion rate from Udemy like under 10% to over 80%. A raise in engagement is achieved also with help from our 4th pillar.
#4 Co-operating and collaborating with the schools
We aim to co-operate with the schools by trying to include our courses in each school’s learning curricula and embed them in the school’s teaching environment. We also aim to collaborate with schools by co-creating courses on topics they want.
Searching co-workers with a calling
I have been working on this project for a couple of years quite loosely. Soon, when the Helsinki Education Hub starts and opens its doors, we are applying to the EdTech Incubator program. So now is the time to onboard and start the cruise, isn’t it?
A person on my wish list for co-founders and early team members could be:
- a teacher, educator, course builder, or at least be interested in or somewhat familiar with pedagogy. Curating the courses would be one of the tasks
- a tech guy who would run and tackle the Learning Management System or Virtual Learning Environment in all its complexities
- a hacker, data guy, designer, or whoever who would join testing and building the product/service in the right direction and helping it grow
- an audio/video person who would be in building the courses and participating in the marketing activities broadly understood
- a content provider because we are going to build ourselves only some MVP’s
- there are many other jobs and tasks you could do, so practically anyone who is self-motivated is welcomed to join!
My primary target is to have an impact on my activities. Even though money helps in living, I would rather make a ding in the education universe than get wealthy.
I prefer diversity in age, gender, and nationality and I am searching for like-minded people who want to share my calling.
I am not inviting you to join right away. Working as a co-founder is like marriage, you just can’t quit when you feel like it. Therefore, it’s best for both parties just to make a small project together and after the experiment, we know how we like to proceed.
Please contact me markku.porvari@mit.fi or just call +358 40 725 2547.