The period between the closing of December’s conference and the springtime opening of the annual Reimagine Education competition always permits a period of reflection, and a chance to consider how we can best implement the lessons learned over the previous competition/conference cycle. This year has been no different, and the past three months have been spent considering how best to reimagine our own application process.
One of the most encouraging aspects of running this competition is seeing the range and scope of submissions to the competition. Reimagine has attracted applications from startups to established ed tech companies – Duolingo were among last year’s applicants – and from early-stage research to late-stage projects.
It’s become clear to us, as we receive feedback from applicants and consult our own Advisory Board, that our application criteria needed an extra degree of subtlety. Attempting to compare the value of Duolingo – a product with over 100 million users – with a project awaiting its first beta-test was always going to require an adaptive application process.vvvv