{"id":2239,"date":"2015-11-20T12:30:54","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T17:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\/"},"modified":"2015-11-20T12:30:54","modified_gmt":"2015-11-20T17:30:54","slug":"knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"KnowRe’s data-driven adaptive learning tools for teachers and kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past ten years, slews of new companies have promised to revolutionize the way that kids learn and teachers teach. If data collection and analytics technologies can shift paradigms in industries like transportation, manufacturing, and media\u2014the argument goes\u2014why shouldn\u2019t they do the same for education? iPads flowed into classrooms and learning management systems (LMS) multiplied, vied, and died. Many products seek to take offline teaching tools and put them online, to take the hassle out of recording grades and tracking attendance. And some of the most ambitious are seeking to reinvent the way an individual learns\u2014to get inside the heads of students.<\/p>\n

Among them, KnowRe<\/a> has emerged as a tenacious and creative player, using systematic data collection and analysis to drive \u201cadaptive learning\u201d through its math instruction products.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Data in math instruction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Teaching math skills to kids is messy. When a child attempts to solve an algebra problem, say 3x2<\/sup>=114, she is in effect performing a number of different small operations (some sequential and some simultaneous). When the student arrives at an answer, whether right or wrong, she may have taken several paths to get there\u2014some of which are more effective than others. There essentially are, for each problem, dozens of ways to get the wrong answer and a few ways to get the right one. The student can mess up the order of operations. She can mess up the division. She can mess up the exponent. Or she can do all three of those steps correctly and then miscopy one digit in the final step. What a bummer.<\/p>\n

This is why, when we were kids, our teachers always forced us to \u201cshow our work\u201d\u2014so that they could collect data on where we were failing and how well we understood the intermediary steps. The problem, of course, is that it takes tons of time and effort to look through every student\u2019s work, assess areas of strength and weakness, and then prescribe the corresponding practice in a systematic way. And it\u2019s really easy to get it wrong. Enter KnowRe.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Value creation and capture<\/strong><\/p>\n

The KnowRe founders realized that every problem solving attempt, for every student, could be a rich source of data to determine real underlying understanding and needs. The algebra problem above can be broken down into its component operations and placed alongside other problems that have the same operations (or, even better, one different operation). This allows for nearly endless systematic comparison and controlled experimentation. Put hundreds of problem attempts together, with systematic variations, and it\u2019s possible to draw statistically significant conclusions about the cause of right or wrong answers for a student or class. If a kid consistently gets exponents wrong, he should get more practice with exponents, not with division.<\/p>\n

In KnowRe\u2019s early days, the team spent months on end codifying hundreds of math problems, breaking down the component parts and classifying how the pieces fit together. Armed with a huge library of problems, they built an automated product that presents students with lessons that adapt to build the right skills. They recently added handwriting recognition technology to their products, expanding the data they can collect. The more problems a student completes, and the more of their work they \u201cshow,\u201d the more KnowRe (and the teacher) knows. Using the data wisely allows teachers, schools, and districts to improve outcomes, which improves their funding and creates huge value. Teachers can better tell what they are doing right and wrong. KnowRe currently charges the schools to license the tools, which integrate with the existing grading and LMSs the teachers currently use. Eventually they may offer the product direct to parents.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Differentiation and future prospects<\/strong><\/p>\n

KnowRe has differentiated itself from competitors by taking \u201cadaptive learning\u201d further than other companies can. While it\u2019s relatively easy to classify the difficulty of a problem, it\u2019s much more challenging to create an operations-based taxonomy like KnowRe has done. They have a huge head start in doing so, and are likely better equipped than anyone else to continue to grow the library.<\/p>\n

The long term question remains as to whether or not KnowRe will be able to continue to scale its library of math problems efficiently, and whether it will be able to expand into trickier math disciplines (e.g. calculus). However, in the short and mid-term, there are plenty of schools with young kids who are struggling to learn basic math, and the more data KnowRe collects, the stronger they become. The task at hand, therefore, is to knock its early school launches out of the park, prove the value, and keep the data flowing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KnowRe uses bite-sized behavioral data to help kids learn math and help teachers step up their game<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":2240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[130,29,655,776,651],"class_list":["post-2239","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behavioral-data","category-big-data","category-data","category-data-analytics","category-education"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/assignment\/data-driven-value-creation-value-capture-and-operating-models\/","yoast_head":"\nKnowRe's data-driven adaptive learning tools for teachers and kids - Digital Innovation and Transformation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"KnowRe's data-driven adaptive learning tools for teachers and kids - Digital Innovation and Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"KnowRe uses bite-sized behavioral data to help kids learn math and help teachers step up their game\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Digital Innovation and Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/11\/knowre_200_logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\\\/\",\"name\":\"KnowRe's data-driven adaptive learning tools for teachers and kids - Digital Innovation and Transformation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/knowre_200_logo.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-20T17:30:54+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/knowre_200_logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/knowre_200_logo.png\",\"width\":200,\"height\":200},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Submissions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"KnowRe’s data-driven adaptive learning tools for teachers and kids\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/\",\"name\":\"Digital Innovation and Transformation\",\"description\":\"MBA Student Perspectives\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"性视界Action\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"KnowRe's data-driven adaptive learning tools for teachers and kids - Digital Innovation and Transformation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"KnowRe's data-driven adaptive learning tools for teachers and kids - Digital Innovation and Transformation","og_description":"KnowRe uses bite-sized behavioral data to help kids learn math and help teachers step up their game","og_url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\/","og_site_name":"Digital Innovation and Transformation","og_image":[{"width":200,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/11\/knowre_200_logo.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\/","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\/","name":"KnowRe's data-driven adaptive learning tools for teachers and kids - Digital Innovation and Transformation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/11\/knowre_200_logo.png","datePublished":"2015-11-20T17:30:54+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/11\/knowre_200_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/11\/knowre_200_logo.png","width":200,"height":200},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/knowres-data-driven-adaptive-learning-tools-for-teachers-and-kids\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Submissions","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"KnowRe’s data-driven adaptive learning tools for teachers and kids"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/#website","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/","name":"Digital Innovation and Transformation","description":"MBA Student Perspectives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"性视界Action","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/2239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/hck-submission"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/2239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}