What is an Education Alliance Finland certification?

Education Alliance Finland will conduct a certification process for 4 participating Innovation Sprint solutions in the Global Victoria EdTech Innovation Alliance. The Quality Certificate for Learning Solutions evaluates product efficacy and demonstrates educational impact.

The process to be selected for the Global Victoria EdTech Innovation Alliance was competitive. Not only did the Sprint objectives need to be clear and actionable, but the products themselves needed to exhibit real learner impact and the potential to take their business another step further.

As a first-of-its-kind initiative in Australia, the Alliance Program activates testbeds; runs efficacy trials of Victorian EdTech products, in Australian and international education settings, in a structured formal framework; and shares the findings with the broader community. 

Four solutions participating in the Alliance will be assessed for a Quality Certificate for Learning Solutions from the Education Alliance Finland. This is one of the leading global certifications in EdTech and a badge worth showcasing to these solutions’ current and prospective partners. 

The four EdTech projects are Cahoot Learning, Maths Pathway, Verso Learning and Ziplet. These solutions are able to undergo this exciting review process due to their pedagogical framework inbuilt into their product.

What is the Education Alliance Finland?
What is the Quality Certificate for Learning Solutions evaluation process?
Which Sprint projects will be reviewed?
Why will the Sprints benefit from this certification?

What is the Education Alliance Finland?

Education Alliance Finland (EAF), based in Helsinki, offers a comprehensive EdTech impact certification based on best practice pedagogical knowledge. Global EdTech industry participants use EAF’s services to ensure their products are independently certified to international standards.

Their evaluations and catalogue of certified EdTech products support schools to discover learning solutions that best fit their curriculum. As an EAF-certified product, EdTech companies are given an added layer of pedagogical relevance.

What is the Quality Certificate for Learning Solutions evaluation process?

The EAF uses a best-practice approach to evaluating and certifying EdTech solutions. Their process has been co-developed with a range of expert academics. 

They evaluate the products based on learning goals, pedagogical approach, and usability. The learning goals are mapped against a myriad of national educational curricula, as well as an internally developed set of essential competencies. 

In assessing the pedagogical approach, the EAF has developed their own framework. There are four concept pairs, in which the product is measured against the spectrum of those pairs: individual vs collaborative; active vs passive; rehearse vs construct; and linear vs non-linear.

Finally, the evaluators look at a crucial, but often overlooked question: is the solution fun and interesting for learners? Interactivity, visual elements, and general usability each play a role in an EdTech solution’s impact.

Which Sprint projects will be reviewed?

Personalisation in Workforce Reskilling: The Efficacy of Cahoot Learning in LATAM

This Sprint explores how the Cahoot Learning platform can create a better learning experience and outcome for workforce reskilling and upskilling. Through a personalised learning experience, the Cahoot Learning solution aims to investigate how their approach can impact learners in the LATAM region. Overseeing and supporting the project is the team from Monash University’s Executive Education Department.

The Cahoot Learning solution is currently being deployed at Monash University in Victoria, and Universidad Anahuac in Mexico.

Personalised, Modular Learning: Assessing How Context Impacts the Delivery of Maths Pathway

This Sprint explores Maths Pathway’s Learning and Teaching model in an international context, to test the extent to which cultural, societal and demographic differences impact the ability to deliver similar learning outcomes in the rest of the world.

The Maths Pathway Learning and Teaching model has been used to lift student outcomes by more than 300 Australian schools. Maths Pathway aims to achieve similar learning gains around the world. 

This solution is currently being deployed at Mill Park Secondary College in Victoria, as well as Port Vila International School in Vanuatu.

Collecting Feedback to Better Support Teachers: Responding to K-12 Student Needs with Verso Learning

This Sprint focuses on how to use the Learning from Students platform to address two significant challenges in K-12 education: how to collect timely, actionable feedback and evidence of impact from the classroom; and how to better support teachers to use that evidence to respond to student needs and make changes to their classroom practice. 

The Learning from Students solution is currently being deployed at Surf Coast Secondary College, Heathmont College, Pascoe Vale Girls’ College, and Brighton Secondary College in Victoria. Internationally, Edgbarrow School in the United Kingdom and Queen Margaret College in New Zealand will trial their model.

Ziplet: How Regular Feedback Can Benefit Teachers and Learners

This Sprint explores how Loop Platform’s Ziplet solution can provide teachers with the tools and support to regularly gather student feedback for a data-informed approach. The aim, through this actionable feedback, is to improve student experience, learning outcomes and teacher practice.

Student feedback is a low cost, high impact approach to improving teaching and learning outcomes. Research suggests best practice feedback is regular and low-touch (small question sets). It helps teachers proactively understand student progress, and captures information less likely to be shared in conventional teacher-to-student settings. Through deploying their Ziplet solution, this project aims to measure its efficacy.

The solution is currently being deployed at Kingsley Park Primary School in Victoria, and Foyle College in the United Kingdom.

Why will the Sprints benefit from this certification?

The participating EdTech companies of the Global Victoria EdTech Innovation Alliance will receive this evaluation report and certification from Education Alliance Finland. As part of this report, solutions receive a pedagogical performance score.

The EAF’s feedback will include the product’s strengths, areas for development, and even feature recommendations. These recommendations are founded in academic expertise and experience, with the intention to further improve the usability of the product.

With this certification, the Sprint companies can use their final score and evaluation in marketing materials. They provide a digital badge and a diploma, as well as suggestions on how to share the news of their certificate. Additionally, those that meet the needed criteria are then listed in the EAF’s catalogue — a respected, reliable source of information for education institutions looking for new EdTech solutions. 

The Global Victoria EdTech Innovation Alliance program is funded by the Victorian Government as part of the $3.6 million International Research Partnerships program under the International Education Short-Term Sector Recovery Plan.

For more information about the initiative visit Global Victoria EdTech Innovation Alliance.