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Training for parents and teachers is key to success of interactive programme, says Trish Dromey.
With an interactive virtual online world called Desty Island, Mayo technology and training startup Education Desty aims to help young children learn to cope with their feelings and develop emotional resilience.
The virtual island is part of a solution now being offered to parents, educators and schools in the UK and Ireland to promote children’s well being.
“We provide training to teachers, parents and carers to be mentors who accompany children to Desty Island where they learn to deal with core feelings and how to cope in difficult situations,” said company CEO and founder Stephanie O’Malley.
Following the launch on an online training platform earlier this year, Education Desty is now selling to five local authorities in the UK as well as several schools in Ireland.
Ms O’Malley is working on developing new markets in Dubai and Northern Ireland and fundraising for the development of a new product for preschool children.
An educational psychologist who conducted seven years research into the area of emotional intelligence, Ms O’Malley observed that children who needed help in expressing their emotions were frequently not being given the help they needed.
As part of her work on a PhD she piloted a beta version of a software programme in 2015 in the UK.
“This was designed to help children develop problem-solving skills, critical thinking, reflective thinking,” said Ms O’Malley, who was joined by her husband Noel O’Malley in setting up the company.
Operating from their home in Westport, they initially received LEADER support to develop a prototype of the software programme based on Ms O’Malley’s research and findings.
Their first customers were UK local authorities who funded the use of the programme in primary school.
Although Desty Island went online in 2015, Ms O’Malley initially had had to travel to the UK to provide the mentor training.
In 2017, fundraising of €200,000 — half from private investors and half from Enterprise Ireland in High Potential Start Up funding — allowed the company to develop an online platform to deliver the mentor training.
Ms O’Malley says this was a major step towards scaling the company internationally and is allowing Desty to develop sales in the UK and target new markets.
“We are now selling to five local authorities in the UK and aim to sell to a further two by October and to grow the number to 10 by the end of the year.
"In the UK we have already trained 300 mentors and the platform is being used by around 900 children,” she said.
The Irish market accounts for around 10% of sales, where Desty customers include schools in Mayo and Galway, as well as Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Westmeath and Dublin.
Based at the Leeson Enterprise Centre in Westport, the company operates by charging for a mentor training and support package which includes a Desty cuddly toy.
It also charges an annual license fee based on the number of children using the platform.
Currently fundraising for another €300,000, Ms O’Malley now has her sights on the International School market in the Middle East.
International schools are attended by the children of expatriates who she says can benefit from the assistance of the Desty programme in adapting to change and to living in a foreign country.
“There are 200 private schools in Dubai and we are now setting up discussion with a private school network which has 30 schools catering for almost 30,000 students,” she said.
The funding will be used for sales and marketing and also to develop a new product in addition to the one for six to 12-year-olds.
“We hope to pilot a platform for three to six-year-olds in 2019,” said Ms O’Malley.
Next year she plans to recruit four staff and grow the workforce to nine.
“We are well on track to achieve our High Potential Start up target of having a staff of ten and a turnover of €1m by 2020.”
Ms O’Malley says that in selling internationally, Education Desty’s unique selling point is its training.
“We are the only company that provides training and support for mentors in addition to an e-learning platform for the children,” she said.
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Software aims to help teachers plan aspects of the new Junior Cycle, writes Trish Dromey.
Maynooth start-up SchoolWise is confident it will get top marks from schools for new technology designed to make the implementation of the new Junior Cycle as painless as possible.
The performance and learning management platform for secondary schools developed by the three-year-old company is currently being used in over 50 schools around Ireland.
“By the end of this academic year we aim to grow the number to over 120 — we are now actively fundraising and plan to pilot software in UK this academic year and launch in the UK market in the 2020/21 academic year,’’ says company co-founder Leslie Turner.
Explaining that the key change being introduced by Junior Cycle reform is a shift away from a teaching system based on course content to one where the focus is on learning outcomes, he says that the company’s platform allows teachers to plan the curriculum and guides them through the entire process step by step.
The platform also allows for the delivery of lesson plans, for assessment and academic tracking of student performance and enables teachers to meet the new reporting and compliance requirements.
“It ensures that students reach the specified targets set out in the new Junior Cycle” added Mr Turner.
While the platform has been specifically designed to suit the Irish curriculum, the company has already begun making plans to expand in to the UK market.
“We exhibited at BETT, Europe’s largest education technology event last year to test the market. We estimate that only 10% of the platform needs to be adapted to suit the UK curriculum,” he said.
Mr Turner says that educational reform and the adoption of stricter performance and compliance requirements has created a growing demand for this type of technology globally.
Five years ago when Junior Cycle reform was still at the planning stages, Mr Turner and company co-founder Liam Fennelly identified an opportunity to develop the technology which could be used to help implement the changes.
Friends who both had companies providing training and consultancy services, and developing technology solutions for the education sector, the two men decided to team up and set up new company for this purpose.
“We talked to school management, principals and the NCCA — the department of education body responsible for developing the new Junior Cycle and they gave us guidance,” said Mr Turner.
SchoolWise, which according to Mr Turner, was the first Irish company to develop curriculum management software specifically for the Irish education system, was established at MaynoothWorks incubation in February 2015.
Using their own funding, the founders hired a developer and set to work on developing the curriculum planning software, which was piloted at 15 schools around Leinster the following academic year.
“We had assistance from principals and schools to build out the platform and in September 2017 we were ready for launch,’’ said Mr Turner, adding that the company received €50,000 in funding from Enterprise Ireland which helped it employ four additional people bringing the staff size up to seven.
SchoolWise used a combination of mail shots and cold calling to get the attention of school management starting with schools in Leinster before targeting others around the country.
“We sell to schools with 15 students as well as some with over 1,000. Clients include the Presentation College in
Athenry, Sion Hill in Blackrock as well as Gael Colaiste in Limerick,” said Mr Turner.
With the reopening of schools, he says that SchoolWise is now busy training teachers in schools which signed up the platform last year as well as targeting new schools.
CompuB has now become a reseller for the software which is sold on an annual licence to schools based on the number of students.
Talking to potential investors with a view to raising over €750,000, Mr Turner says the company is planning to grow the staff size to 12 over the next 18 months.
“Our aim is to be the dominant player in the Irish market and to get a foothold in the UK market,” he said.
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