In a survey by PBS, teachers reported that technology is beneficial in the classroom because it enables them to reinforce and expand on content (74 percent), motivate students to learn (74 percent), and respond to a variety of learning styles (73 percent). In Arizona, the edtech ecosystem is exploding with over 40 companies that have generated over 1,000 jobs and captured over $100 million in capital in the last few years.
For teachers and students, there are new solutions that can help streamline processes, facilitate learning, and more, that is being developed in Arizona. Check out these top 10 edtech companies that are thriving in the desert.
CampusLogic
This startup is the first student financial aid self-service platform. This tool helps students by simplifying financial aid forms by streamlining and personalizing the forms and helps administrators of institutions get financial aid insights instantly about their student population and modernize award letters.
Edupoint
This company is the creator of the industry-leading Synergy Education Platform for K-12 student information and learning management. The Platform unites distinct K-12 data management functions in one fully-integrated solution, creating systemwide data connections that help improve administrative processes and learning outcomes without the hassle of third-party system integrations.
Synergy offers school districts and service centers comprehensive functionality with fewer software licenses, fewer vendors, and a single point of contact to get support for everything. One great function of Edupoint is that it’s accessible on mobile, furthering its reach through ease of accessibility.
Parchment
This edtech company enables students to easily send their academic credentials from their school to future employers. With one place to collect all of the credentials they earn, it’s simple to send official transcripts, diplomas or certificates to destinations around the globe. Since 2003, their platform has helped millions of people and thousands of schools and universities exchange more than 20 million transcripts and other credentials globally.
NoteBowl
Considered the next generation of social learning, Notebowl helps teachers interact organically with their students with fewer emails. It helps them create quizzes, grade assignments, broadcast lectures, organizing groups, and more, with ease through their own homepage.
EdGenuity
This company, ran by educators, works to improve student outcomes. It offers over 200 core, AP, honors, and extra curricular courses in its curriculum for middle and high school students that are based on research and are Common Core, NGSS, and state-standards aligned. In 2017, they launched the Upsmart Test Readiness solution, a supplemental test readiness program designed to help students in grades 6-8 demonstrate mastery in math and English language arts. To date, the company has served well over two million students.
Picmonic
Picmonic is a research proven audiovisual mnemonic tool that helps students retain and recall information. The Picmonic founders and at the time medical students recognized that learning through photos and pictures helps with retention and their test scores. As a result, they began to pair drawings with story and audio, put it online to create the ultimate studying system and began to build a company.
Picmonic expanded from science for medical students to K-12 topics, test prep, a variety of college subjects, and more. They also launched a public beta where the community can develop their own mnemonics.
Picmonic mnemonic for Penicillin = Pencil-Villan
Proctorio
After watching the trends in student test scores worsen when using human-proctored remote exams, Proctorio revolutionized remote proctored exams. This software is an automated remote proctor that provides a scalable, cost-effective solution to validating student identities and activity during online exams. It assures teachers that the student is the one taking the test and confirms their online activity during the exam. Proctorio has the goal to better higher education worldwide and decrease costs for schools.
Stormwind
StormWind brings a live, Hollywood-HD quality experience to the world of e-learning. Their technology creates and delivers interactive online training that is personal and engaging. They offer individual IT courses such as enterprise Linux, cybersecurity and Windows Server, for an affordable price. User testimonies boast of Stormwind’s courses being a sound investment and well worth their time.
Strongmind
This edtech company developed 6th-12th grade digital curriculum delivered through a state-of-the-art online classroom/Learning Management System (LMS). Its curriculum engages students with relevant content delivered through interactive formats and immersive mediums that resonate with today’s digital native learners and designed to bring key concepts to life and help students master critical skills.
Unicon
This company is a leading IT consulting, services, and support provider specializing in open source for the education technology market. Recently, they announced that it has joined the Instructure Partner Program as an Instructure Certified Partner. Instructure is a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology company that developed the Canvas learning management system (LMS). They have provided clients with ‘best-fit’ solutions to solve business challenges for the last 20 years.