Feb 5, 2020
This week on the podcast, the Getting Smart team is talking about the past and future of EdTech with Larry Berger!
After his Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, Larry Berger served as a Whitehouse Fellow working on educational technology at NASA. In 2000, he co-founded Wireless Generation, an early leader in reading assessment. After being acquired in 2010, the company then became Amplify. And just five years ago, after a spinout, the company became a leader in digital K-8 English, math, and science curriculum.
Tune in as Larry describes the history and the future of education technology, shares the mission and the work that they’re doing at Amplify, and highlights many of the important factors in EdTech today!
Key Takeaways:
[:07] About today’s episode.
[:43] Tom Vander Ark welcomes Larry Berger to the podcast.
[:51] Larry speaks about why he studied English at Yale University.
[1:21] Larry shares how he is still involved in poetry to this day.
[1:55] Larry speaks a bit about his favorite poems and poets.
[2:29] Fastforward to the origin story of Wireless Generation, Larry speaks about what his inspiration was for his career in EdTech.
[4:05] Tom and Larry paint a picture of what EdTech looked like around the time he started his company, Wireless Generation.
[5:37] Larry speaks about the initial ideas that inspired the creation of Wireless Generation.
[9:40] How Larry and his co-founder financed the growth of the company and got it off the ground.
[12:20] Would it be correct to say that Wireless Generation quickly became a leader in formative assessment in the early 2000s?
[15:18] Fastforward to 2010, Larry speaks about an offer that they couldn’t refuse as a company.
[17:31] How the acquisition afforded Wireless Generation to be able to conduct research and development at an entirely new level.
[19:11] About Wireless Generation’s pivot to digital.
[20:12] Larry speaks about the transition from Wireless Generation to Amplify.
[22:53] Larry gives his thoughts on the EdTech landscape today and the shift from print to digital.
[28:33] Larry gives his take on those who feel that learner experience is the core design principle.
[30:05] Larry speaks about what it is that he does these days at Amplify!
[32:35] What’s on the roadmap for Amplify in the next year or two?
[35:45] Tom tests Larry with an impossibly difficult lightning round of questions!
[43:44] Tom thanks Larry for all the work he’s doing and for joining the Getting Smart podcast!
Mentioned in This Episode:
Getting Smart Ep. 239: “Jo Boaler on the Limitless Mind and Learning Math That Matters”
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