Ten concrete action items for entrepreneurs preparing to launch ventures in the adult learning market¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The guide's Getting Started section distills its advice into ten action items for the next 30 days: establish your mission, study the market, develop a high-quality product that meets the needs of adult learners, understand the regulatory and funding environment, create hassle-free purchasing models, define and market your value propositions, obtain proof of impact, attend state and national conferences, take an adult education course, and join the Digital Promise community. On efficacy it states that "Proof of efficacy is critical in education technology" and entrepreneurs need to prove their solution results in substantive learning gains to sustain funding.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Entrepreneurs should establish partnerships with instructors and learning providers to pilot tools and collect data on learners' progress

Constraints¶

• The guide notes entrepreneurs face a lengthy sales cycle even in adult learning, making streamlined, clear, affordable licensing an important value proposition

Target Learners¶

• low-skilled adult learners in the United States

Target Learning Goals¶

• improved adult basic education, ESL, and workforce readiness outcomes through better-designed ed-tech ventures

Related Strategies¶

• Design adult learning products with short lessons, visualizations, mobile-first simplicity, and contextualized content integrating basic and job skills
• Sell to consortia and groups of institutions with flexible licensing to ease buying and expand access for small providers
• Sell to consortia of adult education providers and encourage institutions to buy technology together to lower cost and risk

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Amber Laxton, Mike Berlin, Patti Constantakis, Ph.D. (2017). Accelerating Change: A Guide to the Adult Learning Ed-Tech Market. Digital Promise. https://digitalpromise.dspacedirect.org/items/d14be2b4-b279-4e5a-8e24-81eec9e16509