Expanding into Early Childhood Is Good for Edtech Companies. Is It Good for Kids? – EdSurge
For years, the global learning platform Kahoot has been growing its foothold in the K-12 space through acquisitions and add-ons to its popular quiz platform. On Wednesday, Kahoot expanded its reach even further, launching a product designed specifically for children 2 through 7.
And no, it…….
For years, the global learning platform Kahoot has been growing its foothold in the K-12 space through acquisitions and add-ons to its popular quiz platform. On Wednesday, Kahoot expanded its reach even further, launching a product designed specifically for children 2 through 7.
And no, it’s not more quizzes. Instead, the Norway-based company—which counts Disney as an investor—revealed a new suite of digital games, called Kahoot! Kids, to introduce young children to foundational skills and concepts like social-emotional learning, math and reading.
It’s the latest example of an established K-12 education company moving into the early childhood space. In the last several years, more companies have expanded their existing offerings or launched new apps and features to suit kids as young as 2 or 3.
Whether these executives are seeing dollar signs hovering over the heads of tykes or finally waking up to the wealth of research that exists on the importance of learning and development in the early years, there exists a kind of new energy in this corner of the education market.
“I want to think that it’s a lot of the science over the last 20 years finally convincing organizations,” says Isabelle Hau, an impact investor who studies the field of early childhood. “My perception is [companies] were seeing 0 to 5 as this highly highly fragmented market where they could not build demand for their products or services in a cost-efficient manner. And now, this is getting more and more structured.”
The prospect of national universal preschool and affordable child care on the horizon—both of which will need curriculum and learning tools—certainly isn’t hurting, she adds.
Plus, Hau says, education executives likely want to emulate a model that has worked well in other sectors, “which is to say, ‘Let’s start customers earlier and earlier if possible, so they are used to our solution,’” she says. A company operating only in the K-12 market might conclude it is losing out on entire years of potential business for each child. In that case, why not increase the lifespan of their product?
But to cater to a younger user base, these companies have to make a number of accommodations and adaptations. As the founder and CEO of the tutoring platform Outschool points out, there’s quite a big difference between a 17-year-old user and a 3-year-old user. For starters, most 3-year-olds can’t read.
Tailoring to Tykes
Outschool CEO Amir Nathoo says that his company planned to serve children from ages 5 to 18 when it launched in 2015, through its online courses covering both academic and niche subjects. …….
