Read our Pitch Deck here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XuNUAVjK2oE2wA-H7slfNTvNUTEkillB/view?usp=sharing

How does Teachers Lead Tech work?

Teachers Lead Tech – continuous and personalized learning tool for primary school teachers to bring technology literacy and technology creation to digital and live classrooms worldwide.

Starting in September 2020, Teachers Lead Tech launches with 600 primary school teachers as a continuous personalized learning program to bring technology creation to classrooms through confidence, competence, and content.

We are on a mission to serve 1.000.000 teachers by 2025, impacting 20.000.000 kids.

CONFIDENCE: Continuous learning of the teacher is ensured by a strong mentorship network – mentors meet teachers in online hands-on sessions every two weeks, where they simultaneously practice new tools, concepts, and creative projects, which teachers later apply in classrooms with kids. 

COMPETENCE: Personalized learning path in the tool leads a teacher through learning processes at her own pace. The path will be empowered by machine learning and learning analytics (currently being developed). At the moment, there are two different level paths – for beginners and advanced.

CONTENT: teachers get access to various content materials, which help them learn and are applied in classes (videos, presentations, explanations). Various subjects (maths, languages, arts, etc.) are merged with technology creation practices (programming concepts, 3D modeling, virtual reality, and others). Each lesson and project is based on the method "Understand. Practice. Create".

Why we do it?

Teachers all over the world have been facing challenges to build kids' confidence in ICT skills, while the World Economic Forum says that there will be 133 million new roles created by tech in 2022.

The gap between the technology industry and education systems are widening. Only 15% of school teachers feel confident about using technology as a learning tool in the classroom, while time is the most limiting resource to 77% of teachers who are forced to ‘get through the day’ instead of thinking creatively and prepare innovative learning materials (Microsoft UK study - 2018/2019).

Unfortunately, teachers have had little or no support to adapt and gain future-proof skills.

Our way here...

In 2015, tech creativity academy bit&Byte was founded by Teachers Lead Tech now-founder Monika Katkute. bit&Byte grew by 30-50% annually, attracted major tech companies as partners (Devbridge, Vinted, Oberlo), and now teaches 1000+ kids tech creativity weekly. The academy has reached 20K+ kids through various other projects (e.g.initiated national Hour of Code). 

In 2019, the team received a Google.org grant to create a mentorship program for 1000 primary school teachers to lead them through programming, AI, app development and VR. 

After 3-month program, 91% of participated primary school teachers said they feel confident about their tech creativity skills, 71% already apply content in the classroom and 60% of them say classroom engagement rise because of applied technology creativity. 

The feedback received during the program showed us teachers passion, curiosity and need to continue working with tech creativity:

“Kids see technology beyond social networks and discover it as a tool for creative expression in 2nd grade!”

“Joy of learning becomes available to kids of various learning abilities”

“Kids are highly engaged, solving problems independently and more willing to collaborate"

Yet in order to ensure the growth of confidence, competence and scale, we need to ensure continuous learning for teachers.

So the team started working on a continuous learning program Teachers Lead Tech, merging team's best experience: 

• Innovative content, which comes from the best practice working with kids.
• Strong mentorship and partnership network, established with tech community.
• Engaging, joyous, practical hands-on sessions for teachers at their pace, where mentors help teachers to tame technology creativity tool and merge it with class subjects.
• AI-based personalized learning path for each teacher, to ensure individual pace, growth, class specifics.

Creating opportunities for all: social impact

Teachers Lead Tech is location, gender, race inclusive. We are focused on giving possibilities to enjoy technology creation to teachers and kids of different capacities. Moreover, our solution will close the gender gap in the tech industry by equipping primary school teachers, mostly women, to become role models and science capital builders for all girls in classes at early age to break cultural biases that ICT is not for girls.

Reacting to Covid-19

Reacting to the worldwide quarantine, at the beginning of April 2020 we invited teachers to join Teachers Lead Tech for a month TRIAL – learning experiment.

In two weeks, 70 schools with 400 teachers joined the platform. After the first online session:
86% of respondents said that the content was useful and applicable in classes.
90% said practical online sessions helped them feel more confident to try the content in class.
73% said that the content in the TLT platform is prepared and presented comfortably to be used in classes.