CoTeach

Global EdTech solutions are not trickling down to schools and students in developing regions because teachers are not formally trained to innovate with technology. As of the 2023 UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report, only 50% of countries in the world have standards in developing teacher ICT skills. Due to this phenomenon, distribution bottlenecks occur for EdTech--which affects students from low-poverty areas the most, especially those in developing countries such as the Philippines where 9 out of 10 students below age 10 cannot read simple texts.

The existence of a learning crisis in developing regions, which was greatly exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic learning losses, is an urgent signal that solutions need to be delivered quickly and efficiently inside classrooms who are affected by this crisis the most. The need for quick, efficient and scalable solutions require innovative solutions such as EdTech tools and innovative programs. The EdTech ecosystem is rapidly growing and is expected to become a $404B market by 2025--signaling a market opportunity for schools to match the pace of this growth in order to maximize innovations in education designed to impact student outcomes.

CoTeach is a User Management System that specializes in integrating technology-based education products in schools through offering technology skills certifications and innovation coaching for teachers. Compared with traditional Customer Management Systems, CoTeach highlights the innovation experience as a value-add for teachers through credentialing and reduces the administrative work of learning how to use new products through coaching. It also offers granular insights and analytics for EdTech companies who wish to distribute their products to hard-to-access schools in the world.

The solution is designed for teachers to help them navigate through the digital transformation process currently being experienced in schools, as a response to pandemic-related shifts to online learning and the emergence of AI in learning.With CoTeach, teachers are able to learn new skills needed to succeed in modern classrooms, without feeling alienated by AI and EdTech.

On the EdTech-side, I am targeting small-medium size EdTech companies working in language and math subjects, who lack the tools and skills to successfully integrate their products inside schools. These EdTech companies are typically run by small teams who do not have core competencies in teacher training and are preparing for their next growth stage.

I experienced the problem I am solving first-hand when I worked in an education conglomerate serving 60,000 learners, 800 faculty in 5 private schools in the Philippines. On the management level, partnerships with advanced technologies and innovative programs that could elevate learning experiences and increase pathways for economic mobility of students were welcomed. However, getting teachers to utilize and adopt these solutions in the classrooms were bigger unexpected hurdles learned in the implementation process.

After delving deeper into this problem through interviews and research, I found that ensuring successful implementation of new solutions inside classrooms required teacher coaching and reskilling.

I am currently operating as a lone founder but have and advisory management team who are experienced in Customer Success for EdTech companies and versed in the regulatory and legal policies in building startups; and a Philippine-based training team who are trained teachers experienced in shaping teaching cultures in the Philippines through communities of practice. 

We are currently in the prototype stage and have designed a Minimum Viable Experiment where we are training 30 teachers in the Philippines on Digital Transformation, utilizing tools and services from our EdTech partners as an example; and offering product analytics on how these tools are used on the ground.

Our goal is to increase the range of our services to the greater Southeast Asia region (Indonesia, Malaysia) where we see cultural and economic similarities. We are applying to Solve in order to increase the range of our testing in these areas, while growing our solution in the Philippine market.

I am also currently searching for a technical advisor/co-founder who is interested to work with our team to develop a product roadmap for the User Management System, based on the data and intelligence we are currently acquiring through the prototype.

Our solution is built on the principle that teachers are active partners in the development of tools that benefit learners and classrooms. Teachers are key drivers of change and are pivotal influencers in a learner's life. With CoTeach, teachers are able to participate in the rapidly evolving EdTech/AI space and also gain an opporunity to upskill (and possibly earn) from growth and innovation currently being experienced in this space.

Schools  in developing countries, with less resources are experiencing slower rates of innovation in their organizations because of low-skilled teacher workforces. Based on interviews–while school administrators are often open to working with technologists to innovate and digitally transform organizations, teachers are unprepared to meet the skill requirements to execute this task–widening the learning gap between rich and poor school communities.

The digital transformation of the modern teaching workforce will increase the pace of innovation inside schools. Speeding up innovation in education will help trickle down existing solutions in EdTech to schools who are most affected by the ongoing learning crisis.

We are currently focused on building a portfolio of EdTech companies working on Math and Reading solutions. These solutions are ones who are most likely to have a global scale due to the nature of their solution.

Furthermore, our goal is to bridge the literacy gap in these 2 core subject areas for pre-K and K12, increasing the literacy rate in our service areas in these 2 subject areas. 

The core technology that powers the solution is a big data - using information to drive product design and sales for EdTech companies and creating transformative experiences for teachers in classrooms.

We are utilizing a hybrid model where we wish to build a customer management system to productize the solution and accumulate data, while engaging teachers on the ground through teacher innovation partners who can train teachers.

1. Bea Carag - Founder - Full-time

2. Anuj Agrawal - Finance & Strategy Advisor - Part-time

3. Anna Feiss - Operations & Tech Advisor - Part-time

4. Raquel Cabrieto - Training Partner - Philippines - Part-time

5. Sarah Gellor -  Training Partner - Philippines - Part-time

1. Bea Carag - Founder - Full-time - 6 months

2. Anuj Agrawal - Finance & Strategy Advisor - Part-time - 4 months

3. Anna Feiss - Operations & Tech Advisor - Part-time - 4 months

4. Raquel Cabrieto - Training Partner - Philippines - Part-time - 1 month

5. Sarah Gellor -  Training Partner - Philippines - Part-time - 1 month

Acknowledging that representation of trained teachers in building tech solutions, my team comprises of mostly trained teachers who have taught in different capacities in education, have different experiences that led them to teaching and come from different walks of life.

We are united by a desire to uplift communities rooted in poverty (all of us in the team are familiar with and have worked with these communities) through identifying root cause problems and solving said problems through sustainable systems.

My training partners are colleagues I have worked with when I began my career as a community organizer for a political non-profit in the Philippines and my advisors are current classmates in my graduate program in PennGSE.

I welcome everyone who share in our vision and those who appreciate the bottom-up approach we are using to build this venture.

The CoTeach Business Model has 3 revenue drivers:

1) Consultancy Projects

CoTeach advises startups who wish the work with CoTeach school partners.

2) Subscription

EdTech companies can choose from 2 subscription plans from CoTeach which has the following functions:

1) Basic Plan

● Access to CoTeach Basic Digital Course

● Custom Dashboard

● 50 student capacity

● Minimum subscription term: 12 months

2) Enterprise Plan

● Access to CoTeach Basic Digital Course

● Custom Module Creation

● Custom Dashboard

● 51-100 student capacity

● Minimum subscription term: 12 months

3) API revenue

We are currently being sustained by grants and consulting revenue.

We are currently searching for techincal partners who can help support the development of our product roadmap aimed at building a Customer Management System and an API in order to scale the solution and drive profitability.