EdTech Entrepreneurs: No Straight Line to Success

Barbara (Bobbi) Kurshan, Ed.D., the Executive Director of Academic Innovation and Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education joined me for coffee (play interview below) to discuss entrepreneurship in education. Dr. Kurshan discusses the conundrum of when to seek investors and how the education ecosystem can access the most relevant resources. For additional perspective from Dr. Kurshan check out her blog on Forbes. 

Dr. Kurshan provides executive-level leadership for a series of entrepreneurially-focused programs and efforts, and helps develop new degree and non-degree programs at the Penn Graduate School of Education. She serves as a leader for the annual Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition, bringing over 35 years of experience in education and technology to Penn GSE.

Dr. Kurshan’s career as both an academic and an award-winning entrepreneur is centered on her vision of “what can be,” using technology while supporting the growth of new education companies and developing innovative software products. She began her teaching career at Virginia Tech, where she obtained her doctorate, and was the Director of Academic Computing and Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Hollins College for many years. Dr. Kurshan researched the impact of technology on learning and helped her students explore the applications of technology across the curricula.

As an educational entrepreneur, Dr. Kurshan serves on the boards of several education companies. She developed the first children’s software products for Microsoft, and also created award-winning products for McGraw-Hill, Apple, CCC (Pearson), and others. Previously, she served as President of Educorp Consultants Corporation, providing strategic consulting and seed funding in the areas of education, technology and innovation. While Executive Vice President of WorldSage, a consortium of for-profit higher education institutions in the EU to address education for the 21st century, Dr. Kurshan identified innovative investments in learning institutions. As Executive Director of Curriki, she helped build one of the most innovative and robust global open-source education communities. Additionally, Dr. Kurshan previously served as co-CEO of Core Learning an education investment fund, and as the Chief Academic Officer of bigchalk. 

Interview

Check out our previous CoffeED episode on the Dropout Crisis in the U.S.