Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MENTEE (MENTEE - Mastery learning in Europe through Technology Enhanced Education)

Teaser

Education is a key policy component of any European Member State as higher educational attainment improves employability, which in turn reduces poverty. However, Europe still face two main problems in K12 (ages 5 to 18) schooling. First, about 20% of 15-year-old EU citizens...

Summary

Education is a key policy component of any European Member State as higher educational attainment improves employability, which in turn reduces poverty. However, Europe still face two main problems in K12 (ages 5 to 18) schooling. First, about 20% of 15-year-old EU citizens show insufficient abilities in key competences such as reading, mathematics and science. Second, in 2016, 15.2 % of the total European population of 18-to-24-year-olds were early leavers from education.
The European Parliament already tackled this problem and in 2006 issued recommendations on key competences for a lifelong learning. This education paradigm shift from traditional education (based in content knowledge) to competency-based education is spreading slowly in Europe. But its adaptation is not easy: it is extremely demanding for teachers as additional workload is required to convert competency-based curricula into courses with concrete goals, planning of flexible learning paths, formative assessment, and students´ continuous follow-up.
Our project MENTEE proposes the only Learning Management System (LMS) that enables an easy and widespread implementation and management of competency-based education (CBE). MENTEE automatizes implementation of a national, local and school-level competences curricula, linking their goals to the units of learning and activities of pupils. This link allows an easy formative assessment and insights into education performance. MENTEE reduces the teacher workload in administrative tasks by 50%, improves pupils’ performance and parents involvement.
We have set a complete list of future technical and commercial objectives that should position MENTEE as the reference LMS for competency-based education. Initially targeting the K12 education segment, MENTEE is highly scalable ad will allow the rapid implementation of CBE in Europe, which a strategic goal for Europe 2020.

Work performed

Over the course of the Phase I project, we were able to validate the technical feasibility of MENTEE by assessing the remaining technical requirements, as well as the corresponding risks and mitigation measures to be able to take MENTEE from TRL6 to TRL9. We identified the main development areas and set milestones for each one, including calendar and personnel effort.
We also performed a complete Freedom to Operate Analysis through the examination of global patent application databases, which successfully confirmed the innovative and unique characteristics of MENTEE. Additionally, on IPR issues, and given the B2C characteristics of MENTEE, we consider important to protect MENTEE with a trademark to better promote it for our clients and as marketing and commercial tool for our distributors.
The validation of the commercial feasibility involved the analysis of MENTEE´s value chain, identifying the characteristics of the schools, MENTEE´s end-user and customers, and their decision makers. This analysis included extensive research to identify global trends, market opportunities and risks, as well as identify the need for early adopters and business opportunities. The research allowed us to validate the complete commercial feasibility and identify the best approach towards full commercialization after the Phase II project.
Finally, to validate the financial feasibility, we also developed an exhaustive review of future revenues and costs, leading to a conservative sales forecast and ROI analysis for the 3 years following the full commercialization of MENTEE. The analysis includes a deep assessment of commercial risks associated with expanding our geographical markets.

Final results

Even though most of the European Education Community agrees on the benefits of competency-based education, its implementation In Europe is going rather slowly. This is due to several factors: lack of knowledge of a clear methodology to follow; heavier workload for teachers and schoolmasters and a natural resistance to change.
With MENTEE, we introduce an LMS that streamlines CBE by automatizing the curriculum upload and making easier to link planning, assessment and detail and aggregate reports to the required competencies.
MENTEE will allow teachers to save up to 50% of their time spent in planning and assessing tasks, stealing it to teaching time. Furthermore, teachers and schoolmaster will gain a wealth of reports that gives insights on pupils´ performances at detail and aggregate level. Offer as SaaS, MENTEE databases will provide for free a wealth of anonymized data on students´ performance to public education authorities ad research institutions to be able to design optimized education policies.
Finally, MENTEE will be a key product for the expansion of INFOMENTOR Ehf both with direct and indirect sales and according to an ambitious commercial plan.

Website & more info

More info: https://www.infomentor.is/.