AK: Where do you see the biggest market gaps in educational technology?
PW: If you look at so-called educational products, the majority are high in entertainment value and so really fall into children’s media. Another category is what we call Brussels sprouts: very learning-rich, lots of drill and kill and flashcards. It’s like taking your medication. And a third category is more like “edutainment” or what I call the chocolate-covered broccoli. They try to make learning fun by wrapping games or interactive activities around it, to sugarcoat things that are still pretty boring. That’s the market, those are the product categories, up until a few years ago.
Today, the Internet, mobile devices, digital media, and virtual world simulations have matured to a point where there are interesting emerging markets and product categories that are not your traditional edutainment or Brussels sprouts. Those emerging markets include referenceware, simulations and virtual worlds, and mobile learning.
