Cultivating a generation of education innovators activating learning science
Prior to attending Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE), Aditya Vishwanath, PhD ‘23, was an engineer. While working on virtual reality (VR) learning tools at Google, he grew increasingly concerned that companies and districts were dropping edtech into classrooms like “a cool new hammer” without teachers ever being involved. The tools, which didn’t necessarily solve real problems of teaching and learning and were difficult to implement, would then sit in the corner of the classroom, collecting dust.
During his second year at Stanford, where he studied learning science and technology design, he co-founded Inspirit, a startup that combines VR and AR technology with research-based instructional practices in STEM education.
“I wanted to address this topic through the lens of the learning sciences, and be the bridge between cutting edge academic research and a solution,” he said. During his time at Stanford, where he was also a Knight-Hennessy Scholar, he found resources across campus to support his entrepreneurial journey. Vishwanath took courses on learning design at the GSE in order to craft a research-backed product; cultivated mentors in Stanford Accelerator for Learning Faculty Affiliates Roy Pea and Jeremy Bailenson; and received a seed grant to design effective Virtual Field Trips (VFTs) alongside Pea, a project that became his dissertation research and directly informed the design of Inspirit.
While a Stanford doctoral student, Aditya Vishwanath launched a venture using learning science to design virtual reality tools for classrooms. (Photo: Courtesy Aditya Vishwanath.)
However, Vishwanath found that he had to seek out these support systems on his own, and opportunities to connect and build community with fellow education founders were few and far between. While Stanford offers many entrepreneurship opportunities, few were connected to education and to what works in learning.
That is changing, thanks to a new program of the Accelerator, a university-wide initiative that works to accelerate solutions to pressing challenges facing learners. What had previously been a loose collection of opportunities for budding education innovators across campus has now become a burgeoning community with a plethora of resources to facilitate their journey.
Exploring entrepreneurship and learning science
Starting this Fall, the newly launched Education Entrepreneurship Hub will engage students from across Stanford with education, connection, and immersion opportunities to integrate insights from learning science into their entrepreneurial endeavors. The hub supports Stanford students and recent alumni who want to build new organizations, be intrapreneurs within an existing organization, or innovate in other ways, across the for-profit and nonprofit spectrum.
The Education Entrepreneurship Hub will include a mentorship program connecting students to industry experts, a database of learning and funding opportunities, events, and a collection of profiles of diverse alumni entrepreneurs. The Learning Design Challenge, the Accelerator’s existing flagship education entrepreneurship program for students under the direction of Keith Bowen, PhD ‘20, will become a part of the new hub.
Students pitch their projects at the Learning Design Challenge pitch day in Spring 2024. (Photo: Joe Sherman)
Angela Chen, MA ‘23, the senior project manager at the Accelerator who helps launch new programs, developed the hub with input from students, alumni, faculty, and staff across campus. She also drew upon her own experience as a student interested in education entrepreneurship after having built her own venture prior to graduate school.
“Many Stanford students are curious about education innovation and want to learn the basics and explore. Others already have an entrepreneurial idea to address a pain point they experienced as a teacher or a student, and are looking for opportunities to accelerate their idea and bring it to the next level,” she said. “Both groups can find value in the hub’s programming.”
What binds the emerging entrepreneurs, Chen added, is, “we’ve all been through the education system and feel an impetus to change it for the better.”
The hub aims to help students integrate insights from the learning sciences into their entrepreneurial endeavors. “Stanford is an entrepreneurially robust campus, but most opportunities for students are industry-agnostic,” said Chen, highlighting programs like the Threshold Venture Fellowship in the School of Engineering, the Botha-Chan Innovation Program at the Graduate School of Business, and student-run Cardinal Ventures. Chen drew inspiration from conversations with each of these groups, as well as the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and the Center for Social Innovation, who remain close collaborators with the hub.
While a student, Chen was one of the first non-engineering students to be selected as a Threshold Venture Fellow and one of the first non-business students to be awarded the Botha-Chan Innovation Grant. She found it challenging to find information and mentors specific to education, where users are learners and pilots take place in classrooms. Now, Stanford students who want to pursue education innovation will have a place to go specifically built for them.
The hub is designed to be inclusive and accessible, contributing to the development of evidence-based innovations in education at large. Programming is open to students across Stanford’s seven schools, including undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students, and any student can join the hub by filling out an interest form. The hub also includes public resources that may be useful for recent alumni entrepreneurs. The program works with the career development and alumni relations teams at the GSE and with education and entrepreneurship initiatives across Stanford to bring the best programming to students.
Students listen to a panel about careers in education entrepreneurship at the 2023 Accelerate Edtech Impact Summit. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)
“Stanford is at its core a transformational institution,” said Chen. “Our goal is to cultivate a generation of education innovators who think about learning science and equity and access.”
Vishwanath’s company, Inspirit, now four years since its founding, is being used in hundreds of districts across the United States and globally. The product includes an end-to-end toolkit for integrating immersive learning into existing lessons and curriculum; an expansive library of lessons in history, math, science, and career education; and lesson options that work on VR headsets or in a Chromebook browser, expanding accessibility to classrooms where purchasing expensive headsets isn’t feasible.
“Entrepreneurship is painful, hard, and I don’t recommend it,” joked Vishwanath, who will be serving as a hub mentor, offering insights to students. “But if you truly care about a problem you want to solve, it is one of the most powerful ways to filter through the noise and have an impact.”
Faculty mentioned in this article: Roy Pea , Jeremy Bailenson
