On Wednesday, 26 October, qomenius co-founder Niels Pflaeging delivered one of his highly energetic keynotes on the EdTech Next Summit's main stage, in the city of Bielefeld. While the industry event featured much startup pride and also some self-praise by Venture Capitalists, Niels chose to talk about learning theory and about how EdTech can increase learning and its impact further. His topic: The EdTech Triad of tech, didactics & content - and what this triad means for the EdTech market and its start-ups.
"The future of EdTech," Niels said in a follow-up interview, "lies not in the latest gadgets like AR/VR and the metaverse, or in producing better LMS, but in marrying tech, content and didactics. It is learning method combined with great content, not fancy tech, that connects learner's interest with our products."
Niels added: "Our industry is thriving, but it is also still very immature. We are in love with the technological possibilities and hypnotized by the market's dynamics. But the reality is also that we have not improved learning results much, in most fields of learning. Take corporate learning: Employees and managers are still bored to death by learning formats and corporate learning offerings. Executives and HR in large firms are still spending most of their money on trainings, courses and LMS - with meager results. In order to change that, we must step up as EdTech providers, and offer solutions that dramatically increase knowledge, insight and achievement of mastery, while also improving human connection within organizations."
"At qomenius, we believe that only superior learning method, or didactics, can produce such next-level results. Which is why we opted for developing a social, or cohort-based approach to learning. An approach that relies on small groups learning together in live online session. An approach that is based on invitation, not coercing learners. That is rhythmic, not sporadic. And one that is based on intense conversation, or discourse among learners - not teaching. Overall, qomenius didactics do neither resemble classroom training, nor individual, app-based learning. And while such approaches also have their role to play in workplace learning, we believe that the focus should be elsewhere: In highly social approaches - not teaching or cramming."
Check out the full set of slides from Niels Pflaegings keynote at EdTech Next, Bielefeld: