Thought Leaders in Online Education: Dror Ben Naim, CEO of Smart Sparrow (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: What are the emerging trends in the space and what are the open problems? If you were starting a company today, where would you start one?

Dror Ben Naim: I’m a CEO of a company and I’ve got lot of people working for me. They would be very unhappy to hear that their CEO is starting another company!

Sramana Mitra: That’s not the question. The question is pointers for young entrepreneurs.

Dror Ben Naim: If I had to open another company, it would probably be the same company. In terms of what’s interesting in the market, that is a definition of what the market is. There’s a big trend in EdTech to evolve talent. They’re moving from K12 and higher education to corporate training. We call that space talent tech. The thinking there that might be penetrating the public education systems is harder. Maybe a lot of attention is paid to the corporate education space. There’s definitely a problem there.

The fact that you need to keep learning all the time and absorb changes poses a real problem for the economy at large. Obviously, people keep learning post their formal education. There’s a broad area of problems. That is an interesting space. I would encourage people who are interested in education technology to look into that space – lifelong learning. Another area which is interesting is online program managers (OPM) which is a company that helps schools move online.

There’s research that shows that 95% of universities will launch online programs by 2020. That’s going to be quite messy and a highly competitive space. Providers will need to compete ferociously over students. That means that there will be appetite for solutions that will help institutions differentiate themselves in not only acquisitions but also in the delivery of value. I would also look at that problem space. How can we help schools differentiate in a globally-digital education market space.

Sramana Mitra: There is one trend question that I’m going to ask you. If I’m at school, why would I want instructors to custom design instructions and not buy a personalized instruction software? Let’s say we’re talking third grade mathematics. Third grade mathematics is third grade mathematics. It’s not hugely different from one school to the other. Why do I pay for instructional design for third grade mathematics.

Dror Ben Naim: I don’t think every school should design their own third-grade mathematics courseware. Smart Sparrow is a courseware design and development platform. Who are we selling it to? We are selling it to courseware designers and developers. Who are those people? They don’t typically exist in run-of-the-mill schools. Those organizations don’t design their own digital courseware. They do exist in universities and higher education providers. Some of them reside inside teams in learning and development in corporations. Of course, publishers.

I’m not saying that the vision is that every teacher would design their own stuff. It doesn’t make sense. Nor does it guarantee quality. I am saying that there is going to be a growing competition in digital curriculum products. There is a growing number of people who are able to offer differentiated products that are more personalized, more engaging, smarter, and richer. This market overall will start competing on quality which is a very important change.

Sramana Mitra: Got it. Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Thought Leaders in Online Education: Dror Ben Naim, CEO of Smart Sparrow
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