Can you describe briefly what NewSchool does?
We provide educational strategy consulting and work with all the components of the helix of knowledge: education, research and business. We streamline practical workshops for educators and trainers, both open and in-house. We connect the dots to make the best of two worlds in the field of education – research and business.
What type of services do you offer?
1. We offer customized courses for educational institutions in student-centered education, leadership, project management (including applying for EU), digital re-skilling, and experiential learning.
2. We facilitate bespoke development and through our partner in Romania we have additional capacity to manage larger projects.
3. We offer a three-day workshop for educators developed by Kaospilot Learning Design Agency, where we explore experiential ways of learning, and change educators’ role from delivering information to inspiring, facilitating, and designing for creativity, innovation and risk in education.
4. We participate in a range of projects, partnering with Erasmus+, Teach for Romania, SIU, BTO, UiB, and Oslo Edtech Cluster.
What do you want to change?
Our vision for schools is more learning from experience and less learning from books/ebooks. More learning with tools then from tools. More learning from team/peers, and less teaching. More «entrepreneurial» schools, and proper tools to navigate that constructive chaos.
Why did you choose edtech?
As an education enthusiast with a knack for facilitating and designing for creativity, it was a natural step. Edtech touches upon all of my passions, while the startup scene reflects my entrepreneurial spirit. Being able to help shape and positively impact the learning process with my unique skillset is rewarding, to say the least.
What do you see as the biggest challenge in this market?
Well, edtech is continuously evolving and changing, which means you need to stay on top of trends and be adaptable. Moreover, there is this idea that devices or tools will somehow displace the role of teachers. We believe that keeping pedagogy at the forefront should always take precedent. Align products with students needs and leverage technology after pedagogy has been mastered.
What is your next big step or ambition?
We have been working with over 175 teachers and school inspectors from Romania over the past few months, in a partnership under the EEA grants, facilitating workshops and inspiring them to become change agents where they work. Our ambition is to do more of that: building networks of change agents in schools, and streamlining practical arenas where teachers can learn from each other.
In what way has being a member of Oslo Edtech Cluster made a difference for you?
Having a supportive network of collaborators has been invaluable. It’s inspiring to gain new perspectives and rub elbows with committed and creative individuals who devote their time and talents to improving learning.
How many employees do you have?
Currently, we are a team of two employees, and a board of 5 resourceful directors.
Which stage would you say your company is at? Growth? Well established?
We are slowly growing, I would say on the path to creating a name for our agency. Exploring new opportunities and nurturing our long-standing relationships that will help accelerate NewSchool to becoming well-established are both priorities.