WASHINGTON, July 25,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Tools Competition—the
world's largest edtech competition—has announced more than
$8 million in awards to teams
developing learning tools that promise to transform education
worldwide.
The Tools Competition is a multi-million
dollar funding opportunity for edtech innovators worldwide.
The Tools Competition is a multi-million dollar funding
opportunity for edtech innovation that leverages digital
technology, big data, and learning science to meet the urgent needs
of learners. In all, 50 winners from 18 countries will receive more
than $8 million to reach an estimated
24 million learners around the globe.
Winning ideas range from AI-powered simulators for
teachers-in-training, to support chatbots that help prevent student
dropouts, to expanded data sets for researchers studying what works
in education. Notable ideas receiving awards today include:
- Yiya AirScience: an edtech solution that promotes
problem-solving and creativity skills in under-resourced Ugandan
youth by leveraging keypad phones to teach STEM content.
- Handwritten Math Benchmark for LLMs: a dataset that will use
multimodal visual LLMs to diagnose and provide feedback on
handwritten student math work, ultimately improving the
capabilities of multimodal models.
- Bookbot: Reading Coach for Early Grades: a reading
instructional platform that uses real-time conversational features
to nurture children's critical thinking, social, emotional, and
communication skills.
- Wingspans: an AI powered career navigation platform that
leverages storytelling to educate adult learners on career pathways
and translates their previous experience into tangible skills
applicable to high-growth careers.
- FIND-C: a video instructional coaching platform that reinforces
responsive interactions with students, thereby improving outcomes
in language development, social-emotional development, and
literacy.
- HVAC Hero: an adaptive, simulation-based platform aimed at
widening access to high-quality skilled trades by training and
expanding pathways into the HVAC workforce.
A complete list of winners can be found here.
Additionally, the Tools Competition partnered with OpenAI to
offer the OpenAI Learning Impact Prize for teams using the power of
AI to accelerate educational progress, particularly in underserved
communities. The KOBI team was named the winner of this prize and
will receive an additional $100,000
to enhance reading skills for children with dyslexia, as well as
API credits and technical guidance from the OpenAI team.
"Winners are demonstrating the power of advanced technology to
accelerate learning and are working with researchers to scale their
impact for the benefit of the field at large," said Kumar Garg, President at Renaissance
Philanthropy and a founding sponsor of the Tools Competition.
This year's competition generated nearly 2,000 submissions from
92 countries, with the winners hailing from institutions and
organizations across all continents. This is the fourth cycle of
the Tools Competition. To date, the competition has awarded
$17.5 million to 130 edtech
innovators.
The 2024 Tools Competition was run with support from:
Renaissance Philanthropy, Griffin Catalyst, Walton Family
Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Siegel Family
Endowment, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),
Ballmer Group, Calbright College, Axim Collaborative, Jacobs
Foundation, Endless Network, and OpenAI.
The competition is administered by The Learning Agency and
Georgia State University.
The next cycle will launch in September
2024. To learn more, join the mailing list here.
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SOURCE Tools Competition