Giving Compass" Take:

• The author profiles the most influential changemakers in Edtech in 2018. These entrepreneurs created a variety of tools that utilize technology to promote things like student civic engagement, data security training, and refugee outreach opportunities. 

• How is the influence of technology and social enterprise impacting the education sector? Are we seeing more positive benefits of technological disruption than negative? 

• Read about the latest trends in starting edtech companies. 

Each of these leaders is working in thoughtful and creative ways on the frontlines of some of today’s most pressing issues—from the way we think about learning, AI, and innovation to gun control, refugees, and student privacy.

  • Demitri Hoth: Out of the most harrowing circumstances, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School senior Demitri Hoth emerged as a passionate and dynamic leader for change. Hoth is cofounder and president of Students Speak Up (SSU), a nonprofit formed through the power of technology to promote civic engagement among youth to empower them to speak up to change gun laws.
  • Mursal Hedayat: Mursal Hedayat, multi-award-winning entrepreneur, founder of Chatterbox, and a former refugee to the UK from Afghanistan, advises young entrepreneurs to identify big problems that are worth investing their time and energy in to solve. Hedayat is leading the way in this new genre of social enterprise with Chatterbox, a platform that offers meaningful employment for refugees by connecting their expertise with the global need for language tutors.
  • Amelia Vance: “Probably the biggest thing educators need to know is that humans are the weakest link in data security,” says Amelia Vance, director of education privacy at the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF). The vast majority of breaches are due to accidental and preventable mistakes. “It’s important that everyone who has access to data is trained properly to use and protect it,” Vance says. But as the debates rage, new laws proliferate, and technology continues to advance at breakneck speed, the good news is that there are a ton of resources available for educators.

Read the full article about change agents by Tara Smith at Tech & Learning