IB
A moment with
Who was your favourite teacher?
Why?
My favourite teacher was Mr Tillitson at
Highfield Middle School, who was my
form tutor for Year 5. Mr Tillitson pretty
much enacted the whole story of the
Hobbit to us throughout the year. His
passion and energy, along with his
literary prowess, made a huge impact
on me. He didn’t care about teaching
us “stuff” or assessing us at the end of
the term; instead, he was passionate
about instilling a love for learning in all
of us. As a result of his passion, I am
able to recall his "lessons" from 30+
years ago, vividly!
Who or What inspired you to start
Kinteract?
I was working at Pearson in London
on two major initiatives; first, the
Efficacy Framework that was being
iterated and second reviewing our
EdTech product portfolio as well as
competitors for the new strategy.
Whilst undertaking the above, two
main questions formulated; Why
are most apps in the edtech space
merely presenting academic data for
students with no focus on skills and
competencies; and why are most
of these apps historical recorders in
nature and not making use of data to
inform on future progressive steps?
This inspired me to spend time
researching
and
talking
with
colleagues and teachers. I then got
together with my co-founders, Alex
and Nahiem, to developed Kinteract.
After spending time with educators
in the inception and design phase,
we learnt more about; how EdTech
products are age/stage/curriculum
specific with no portability of the
records moving with students as they
move within the school, let alone
between schools. We also discovered
that the assessment process in schools
is broken and not fit for the 21st
century. In many cases, assessment
was merely a tick box process, and
the data was all over the place. There
was no aggregation and comparison
between stages or assessment types.
Kinteract was developed to ensure
this does not continue to be the case.
Share two major challenges that
you faced when you started. How
did you overcome them?
In the initial stages of introducing
kinteract to schools, we had to work
on shifting the paradigms of teachers.
Teachers were previously trained to use
EdTech tools in one way, at Kinteract,
we were introducing an entirely new
way, so we faced some resistance. I
am happy to say that, in the face of
resistance, we stuck to our plans and
it paid out dividends. We can now
see paradigms shifting, and teachers
are beginning to reap the benefits of
using Kinteract in their schools.
The second challenge, that all three
founders faced, was the fear of
leaving established and well-paying
careers, to enter the unfamiliar
and uncertain startup world. The
transition was interesting, to say the
least, but extremely rewarding thus
far and has enabled us all to grow in
multiple dimensions. In hindsight, it
was the best decision ever and more
importantly, we're just getting started
in delivering our mission to positively
impact the lives of millions of learners.
What are the key things that
every school should know about
how Kinteract can help to make
their processes easier?
First, we offer a product that is agnostic
to age/stage/curricula and thus allows
After the Bell
the teacher to have continuity and
portability of record. Kinteract enables
a holistic view of the student.
We value teacher time and through
3 (that's right just 3) quick workflows;
intelligent curriculum suggestions;
hashtags;
auto-grade
indicators;
data aggregations and iterative
assessments, we save teachers many
hours per week/term/year.
Kinteract provides live feedback. No
one does real-time communication
between teachers, students and
parents the way Kinteract does.
How can schools prepare
students to face the future?
Schools can assist students to
prepare for the future by having a
fluid approach to meeting individual
students’ needs. The child has to
be at the centre of everything the
school does. The job of the school is
to help to create “solid” human beings.
As Dorothy Sayers remarked in her
seminal essay “it’s about the process
of learning and the tools for learning
and that’s where the focus should be”.
What are three fun activities that
you do to relax and take your
mind off work?
I’m a keen sportsman and thus leisure
time is divided between playing golf,
football and archery. I volunteer for
an Oxford-based education charity
where I manage the development of
a handbook on delivering community-
based holistic education.
I am working on overcoming my
phone addiction. Over the next
academic year, I am also focused on
improving my Arabic from basic to at
least intermediate level.
Term 1 Sep - Dec 2019
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