Where the Startups Start: Teachers College Presents its First Edtech Innovation Award Competition

Student-designed education technology projects—comprising apps, platforms, Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality— will be pitched to a prestigious panel of judges at Teachers College’s inaugural EdTech Innovation Award Competition, an interactive showcase and pitch event to be held on Wednesday, December 13 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the College’s new Camilla & George Smith Learning Theater, a state-of-the-art, multimedia facility in the Gottesman Libraries, 525 West 120th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, Manhattan.

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The inaugural EdTech Innovation Award Competition celebrates excellence in student innovation in learning, design, research, and technology. It is part of the TC EdTech Initiative to develop high-quality educational technology products based on research.
 
“Teachers College has long been a leader in developing and assessing new, high-quality education technology that has been proven by research to be effective,” says President Susan Fuhrman, who has been a driving force behind the EdTech Initiative and the competition. “Our students add a wealth of knowledge, experience, skill and ideas to the $10 billion education technology market.”
 
The project teams include a total of 70 Teachers College students, as well as students from the Columbia University Business School, Columbia School of International and Public Affairs, the School of Visual Arts, Parsons School of Design, and the Stern School of Business at New York University. Each team created education technology applications or projects based on existing research. Each project is designed to be tested for effectiveness on an ongoing basis.
 
The student group with the best project – to be chosen by a panel of faculty, student and industry judges, including representatives from Digital Promise, Education Development Center, Inc., Whiteboard Advisors, the Robin Hood Foundation, and the American Museum of Natural History – will receive grant money and mentoring services if they choose to turn the project into a real company. (The list of judges may change.)
 

EVENT: 
Teachers College Inaugural EdTech Innovation Award Competition

DATE:  
Wednesday, December 13, 2017

TIME:
6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

SCHEDULE:
6 p.m.: Doors Open
6 p.m. - 7 p.m.: Interactive EdTech Design Experience 
7 p.m.- 8 p.m.: EdTech Pitch Competition and Award Ceremony
8 p.m. - 9 p.m.: Reception and networking
 
LOCATION:
Camilla & George Smith Learning Theater
                Gottesman Libraries
Teachers College, Columbia University
                525 West 120th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue
Manhattan
 

Members of the media wising to attend are requested to RSVP to a media contact above.
Examples of projects (not all will be displayed at the showcase event) include:
 

• Tuition “$eed,” a mobile app that helps low-income prospective college students raise money for expenses outside of tuition
• Smooth Moves, a mobile dance learning platform with augmented reality technology allowing the learner to see choreography from all angles
• Linkar, a web-based network designed for Indonesians who have advanced degrees from outside the country to share knowledge and connect with mentors
  

• EmQuo, which uses artificial intelligence to teach emotional intelligence;
• MindSlam, a web platform for high school-aged communities to have meaningful conversations about news and civics;
• LoveBirds, a foreign-language acquisition tool for couples and families;
• Math Heroes, which uses manipulatives and augmented reality to help struggling middle- and high-school students understand algebra;
• Original Kids, an educational platform that helps children and adults learn together and develop the emotional intelligence, self-awareness, original thinking and resilience;
• BestFit, a mobile app to help traditionally disenfranchised students explore the college-going process through play and social media;
• ReBuild, a gamified mobile platform that engages at-risk, first-generation high school students in social awareness curriculum both inside and
• outside of the classroom;
• Eu Ensino, an online video platform with strategies and tips to help teachers in Brazil tackle challenges in behavior and classroom management and share their difficulties;
• CU Events, a platform to help Columbia University students, faculty, and alumni find events, create events, participate in events, and even rate events;
• To Be With You, an Alternative Reality game that provides a pet-raising experience and psychological benefits for people who are depressed about being pet-less.