My year in 2017 – The Edtech Podcast

I’ve always enjoyed the reflective part of the day and year: The “5pm slot” and the Autumn season. And I predict this means I will enjoy my 60s/70s as well, if I get that far!

With this spirit of reflection it’s time for me to look back over 2017 with The Edtech Podcast, inspired by a similar post this time last year. This article then sets out some 2018 goals and ways I’d love for you to get involved!

What did 2017 look like?

2017 has been a whirlwind.

• We ramped up our listener downloads to 1500+ a week, all fully compliant to new IAB podcasting standards. The last 3 weeks have all shown 1,700 downloads.
• We launched our first two podcast series: The ASU GSV Summit Series and the Pearson Future Tech for Education Series
• We became more international than ever with 141 countries listening in, up from 109
• Guests included the first female Edtech “Unicorn” from China, plus an award winning primary school curriculum leader from our local, School21
• We celebrated our 1st birthday party and nailed some of our 2016 goals, namely hitting 100,000 downloads for year end 2017 and launching our website which includes a book club and events page
• We were also lucky to get a shout-out in Forbes, among earlier trends articles in Education Technology (pages 55-59 and see end of this post), Innovate My School, and Navitas Ventures
• We hit 100 episodes of The Edtech Podcast and launched our 12 days of…Digital Leadership campaign!
• We had personal messages of encouragement from the CEO of Edsurge and tweets from the CEO of Pearson
• We welcomed two international interns (Liz and Marina) who picked up some social media skills and shared insights with us about Valencia and Philadelphia!

What does 2018 have in store?

In 2018, The Edtech Podcast will launch a festival (and we’d love for you to come), will document more international episodes via China, Australia and/or the African continent, and will work on more series commissions. We also introduce guest episodes for the first time, launch the local chapter of Edtech Women UK and we are working on joining podcasts on Spotify. More on 2018 below…

Shout out to all of the listeners!

At the time of writing we have 3 weeks left to meet our 100,000 downloads target and we are currently on 98, 276 downloads.

Given our weekly downloads – and even allowing for a mince-pie induced audio slow down – it looks like we should hit our target!

Top episodes in 2017 have included:

• #75 – LIVE podcast from London Edtech Week 
• #72 – literacy, language, culture and innovation
• #47 Dyslexia & Technology with Dr Kate Saunders of the British Dyslexia Association and Mike Tholfsen, Microsoft

A massive thank you to all the amazing guests over the past 100 episodes. We’ve loved your book recommendations, your swearing or endearing comments, your shout-outs and your points of view.

Thank you for all the feedback in 2017:

Very much enjoyed the last series of EDtech Podcast Sophie. I found each episode so useful, reflecting precisely the education trends and user expectations I am finding in my own work. Congratulations! Here’s to the next series – Duncan Frith

“I love the edtech podcast! It’s a fabulous resource that keeps all of us in the know. Sophie presents balanced views on issues that challenge all of us in edtech and seeks input from industry experts across the globe. It’s important to know what is happening outside of your country and region and the edtech podcast is a great tool for enabling this.” – Angela O’Sullivan

The feedback about Saturday has been amazing and many people said how great the panel session was. Thank you so much for coming all the way up and supporting us. It means SO MUCH!!!! – Kirsty Tonks

Please keep all the feedback coming. We try and incorporate as much as possible and it helps us keep the show focused:

1. Add your own review on iTunes here
2. Leave a voicemail and we will include it in the next show!

Listener coverage by geography:

Our top downloads continue to come from the UK, US and Australia, although we have now had a total of 141 countries ever listen in (up from 109 in 2016). Amazing!

Top Ten Countries by Download Numbers:

1. United Kingdom
2. United States
3. Australia
4. Kenya
5. Ireland
6. Canada
7. Germany
8. China
9. France
10. Spain

Series Launches

We recorded at many events this year, including Bett, SXSWedu, ASU GSV Summit, London Edtech Week, WomenED West Midlands, and Innovate Edtech. Many of these orgs form part of our excellent international media partners who help to get word out about the podcast and connect the ecosystem. A huge thank you to them!

In 2017, along with takeovers and event recaps we launched two new series:

1. The ASU GSV Summit Series

2. The Pearson Future Tech for Education Series

Support

 

 

 

 

 

As ever, a huge thank you to our sponsors and patrons in 2017, without which The Edtech Podcast would not be able to exist and develop. In no particular order (and shoot me if I have left anyone off)…

Lego, Pearson, Maplesoft, ASU GSV Summit,QFI, Michelson Runway and 20MM Foundation, Class Central, Ed Academy,iClassics Collection, Unio by Harness, Cooley LLP, Full Fabric, Innovate Edtech, Japan Prize 2017, Glisser Edu, Wibbu, Disney Circle, Kubo Robot, Microsoft, Primo Toys and Joanne Zhang, Chantal Schoenbaechler, Dhawal Shah, and Rachel Doyle.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Without your support the idea of The Edtech Podcast could not have grown from an idea into a weekly reality!

If you’d like to support The Edtech Podcast in 2018 we would love to hear from you!

1. To review the 2018 podcast schedule, events and series sponsorship and advertising opportunities contact us here. We are taking bookings for 2018 now.
2. To join others as a patron for The Edtech Podcast click here
3. If you have other ideas on ways you’d like to support let’s share a call or a coffee

The Edtech Podcast Festival 2018

In 2017, we ran a few LIVE podcasts and a few meet-ups which followed other international pop-up events that went well at Web Summit and beyond. The feedback from these events was always positive, and so it made sense to create a physical manifestation of our mission “to improve the dialogue between “ed” and “tech” for better innovation”. Hence, why we are launching The Edtech Podcast Festival in 2018. Here’s the description:

The Edtech Podcast is launching a  one-day festival on September 22nd in London, set-up to “improve the dialogue between “ed” and “tech” for better innovation. The event takes place at  Plexal, an award-winning innovation centre in East London. UCL Robotics are one of the many tenants. There will be plenary talks, live podcasts, and the ethos of the event is on interactivity, with a series of workshops for  educators and  edtech companies.

The aim is to offer impactful professional development experiences, for example on analysing data, on flipped classrooms, on 21c skills or what does AI mean for me and my students? There will also be a chance to offer edtech companies real-time feedback on their ideas.

Some “under-the-radar” developments with the festival:

United Learning, GLF, Samuel Academy Research School, Shireland Collegiate Academy and The Research Schools Network, School 21 and Voice 21 all signed up as festival partners. We have a venue, first sponsor, and some other developments to reveal in 2018.

Register early

If you’d like to register before the festival is officially open for registration, you can do so here. There are a limited number of passes available before March 2018.

If you’d like to give a workshop suggestion, talk about supporting the festival, or know how to register a group, contact us here

Me

So aside from some edtech trends for 2017 (see below), that just leaves me to update on…me. I’ve been doing a bit of advisory work, and I’m just getting started mentoring for the Girls Network, Educate and The Real World Learning Programme at School 21. My big reveal, however, was going to be along the lines of… In 2017 I have been busy incubating my own latest project – a new baby! (Hilarious!)

However, sadder times prevailed. I am not writing this to be an “over-sharer” but because a) many of you would have known I was pregnant & big as a house (!) and will see me in January at Bett or similar and b) a % of you may be suffering something similar or know someone who is and I hope that in some small way this might help.

At 37 weeks my Husband and I lost our little girl, who was born on Saturday 2nd December and called Nell Bailey. She was beautiful and we will forever be grateful for meeting her. (She looked like our three year old when he was a baby). However, we recently found out that she was suffering from several serious brain abnormalities including, but not limited to, Lissencephaly and Subcortical Band Heretopia. Essentially, the brain cells did not travel to where they needed to get to and she did not live.

Apart from being incredibly sad, this experience has made me grateful for so many things. For her never suffering pain, for my husband, my little boy, our friends and family, ALL OF YOU, the wonderful midwifery team at Homerton Hospital and the people behind SANDS. Nell was very adventurous, having already been swimming in the sea, travelled to Norway, Finland, Denmark, Utah, France and Portugal and kicked me during many a panel discussion. I wanted to “pushy-mum” her into being a kick-@$$ woman in tech, the Arts, whatever she fancied. If you’re feeling generous or this strikes a nerve Sands are running this appeal…

I look forward to seeing many of you in January, and I’m looking forward to all sorts of new adventures in 2018, with a renewed sense of gratitude for everything that is precious. It’s also reminded me that behind everyone’s day-to-day lies a series of trials and tribulations we often don’t know about. Here is to 2018. There is lots of fun to be had and I thank you all for your amazing support to date and beyond. Special people x

Edtech Trends 2017

Phew. That was a bit emosh.

If you’d like to see my thoughts on edtech trends in 2017 click the below for the full article…

That’s all for now folks

I wish you all the very best time with your friends and family over the next few weeks. Eat, Drink and Be Merry! Where ever you may be. If you’d like some additional ways to keep in touch with what’s going on at The Edtech Podcast, please check out the below.

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Best wishes to end 2017,

Sophie