Olof Westerstahl

Today we’re publishing the Owl Ventures 2025 Education Outcomes Report — a look at the measurable impact education technology is having around the world. As we accelerate investment in the most promising founders, we're incredibly proud of the results: our portfolio now supports 100+ companies, collectively reaching 760M+ people in 241 countries and serving thousands of K–12 schools, higher education institutions, and employers. Each number carries tremendous weight — these are learners, teachers, and organizations whose outcomes are changing because of thoughtful product design and evidence-based implementation. Inside the report you’ll find: - Data on reach and adoption across markets and segments. - Case studies of effective interventions and scaling strategies. - Lessons for founders, operators, and institutional partners on driving measurable outcomes. Special thanks to Malvika Bhagwat, Shreyaa Khemka, Regina Lombardo, and Mohor Mukherjee for leading the effort on creating the report!

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The Rural Engagement Workshop for Academic Faculty is a powerful example of how UGA carries out its land-grant and sea-grant mission by connecting academic expertise with communities across Georgia to address real-world challenges. Through the workshop, faculty from across disciplines learn how to build meaningful partnerships with rural communities, translating research into practical solutions that improve quality of life. Whether focused on health care, economic development, agriculture or community well-being, participants are developing collaborative projects grounded in listening, trust and engagement. What makes this program especially impactful is its interdisciplinary approach. Faculty work alongside UGA Public Service and Outreach units, UGA Cooperative Extension and community partners to better understand local needs and help create sustainable solutions. This workshop reflects the best of what UGA can be: a university that not only generates knowledge, but also applies it in partnership with communities to strengthen the state we serve. Through initiatives like this, UGA continues to expand the reach and impact of its public service mission across rural Georgia. Read what the 2026 cohort members said about their experience. #UGAserves https://lnkd.in/eM7wEwHs

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Higher Education's focus on student outcomes is a mandate for its existence. However, for too long, much of the academy has missed the most significant strategic lever to improve quality outcomes: its faculty. This new study demonstrates the efficacy of having ACUE Certified Faculty in front of students, helping them truly succeed.

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We're so excited to share that our new book, Activate Math, is officially published with ASCD, and available for pre-order at Barnes & Noble and Amazon 📘✨ Written by Suzy Koontz, Founder of Math & Movement, and Kirby Schoephoerster, Program Director at the National Math Foundation, Activate Math brings together years of research and experience with movement-based learning. Math is often a stressful and discouraging subject for young students. But movement is an effective way to overcome anxiety and boost learning comprehension. Koontz and Schoephoerster share why movement works and how to integrate movement-based learning with mathematics concepts in K-8 classrooms. The book includes a comprehensive appendix of activities ready for educators to use right away. If you're looking to increase student engagement, support struggling learners, and make math fun, this is a must-read for you. Preorder now! On Barnes & Noble: https://lnkd.in/eDnEqW6W On Amazon: https://lnkd.in/e5cpQNpG #mathandmovement #kinestheticlearning #movementbasedlearning #activelearning #mathengagement

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🚀 Preparing Tomorrow’s Leaders Starts with Signature Skills 🚀 Thrilled to see innovative momentum in higher education; where the focus goes beyond content and into capability. At American Public University System (APUS), we have embedded three Signature Skills into core courses across all programs — skills that are critical in today’s fast-changing world and workforce: ⭐ Digital Literacy ⭐ Critical Thinking ⭐ Growth Mindset Why this matters: 🔹 Digital Literacy equips learners to confidently use modern technologies, responsibly engage with AI, and discern quality information. 🔹 Critical Thinking empowers them to analyze objectively, challenge assumptions, and solve complex problems with clarity. 🔹 Growth Mindset cultivates resilience, adaptability, and a hunger for lifelong learning. Essential traits in dynamic careers. According to recent employer insights, 94% believe universities should prepare a skilled workforce...and 93% say critical thinking is paramount. This shift isn’t just about what students know, it’s about what they can do WITH what they know. Application is key! 📌 Proud to see higher ed evolving to meet real world needs. Building not just knowledge, but capability. At American Public University and American Military University we are THRILLED to be leaning into the future! Full PR, here: https://lnkd.in/gauda25x #HigherEd #WorkforceDevelopment #Skills #DigitalLiteracy #CriticalThinking #GrowthMindset #FutureOfWork #APUSProud #AMU4Life #APU4Life

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As a CEI Fellow at Goizueta, Vidhi Tiwary 27BBA gained hands-on exposure to Atlanta’s startup ecosystem through her work with TiE Atlanta Angels, evaluating early-stage ventures and learning how investors assess risk and growth. Here, she reflects on how the experience shaped her perspective on entrepreneurship and how The Roberto C. Goizueta Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation supports students pursuing bold ideas. Read more: https://bit.ly/4lcmsnT #EmoryInnovates

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Nearly 1,000 Carolina students are now taking courses through the UNC School of Civic Life and Leadership (SCiLL) — up from just 85 students in Fall 2024. This week, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced that SCiLL will become the university’s 15th independent school. The growth reflects something larger happening in higher education: students are hungry for serious conversation, civil disagreement, open inquiry, and the study of democratic citizenship. Civic education invites students to wrestle with competing visions of a meaningful life and a good society — and to navigate those differences with wisdom, courage, and intellectual humility. In doing so, it prepares them for life in a pluralistic American democracy. We are deeply grateful to the extraordinary students, faculty, staff, alumni, and supporters who have helped build SCiLL — and excited for what comes next. Learn more in the slides below. Media coverage in the comments. Special thanks to Devin D. (UNC Student Body President), Erskine Bowles (UNC ’67), ruth wisse (Harvard), and Mark Harrison (Oxford) for contributing their voices to this milestone moment and to Magnus Egerstedt and Chancellor Lee Harriss Roberts for their support and leadership. #HigherEducation #CivicLife #UNC #Leadership #CivilDiscourse #OpenInquiry

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18 #UNC student startups in artificial intelligence, digital innovation and health tech have been awarded 1789 Student Venture Fund awards. The winning ventures received $27,000 in combined support during a highly competitive award cycle. The fund, which is managed by Innovate Carolina and made possible by a UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School entrepreneurship course, provides early seed dollars to help Carolina students advance their earliest-stage ventures. Discover the winners https://unc.live/4sbB3Tk

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The UNC Odum Institute for Research in Social Science is helping The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers integrate AI into social science, health, and data science research, responsibly and effectively. Free expert consultations on AI for survey design, qualitative/quantitative analysis, statistical modeling, study design, and more. Plus training opportunities with global methodological experts. Over 100 years of methodological expertise meeting cutting-edge AI technology. UNC Research Check out OdumAI: https://lnkd.in/eb4nDVX7 https://lnkd.in/eb4nDVX7

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Really enjoyed this conversation with Elizabeth Gonzalez, PhD. She asked exactly the right questions — and pushed me to articulate why stacking is harder than the policy conversation often assumes, what learners actually expect from credentials, and what meaningful state action looks like when you center both individual and community value.

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Julia Meyerson and AZ Leads are recruiting visionary school leaders for a residency program in Phoenix to found AI-native public schools. The program includes paid planning/runway time. I have learned so much working alongside Julia and her team for the past 5+ years, and I could not be more excited for this program! https://lnkd.in/gqWYwNid

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Council of Independent Colleges President's Institute Reflection Two leaders. Two very different institutions. The same market reality named from opposite ends. One leader who happened to visit from a flagship institution, spoke with confidence about scale. About the ability to design and deliver deeply personal, high-impact experiences, even with "love," at a scale and within budgets other, less resourced institutions can’t imagine. And how that capability is shaping who wins students. Another leader named the flip side with equal clarity. That her real competitors are no longer peer private institutions, but large, well-positioned, well-branded universities that have learned how to turn scale into advantage, and that meeting that challenge requires a different level of resolve. Taken together, they point to changes we don’t talk about enough. This isn’t just enrollment pressure. The ground underneath higher ed has been shifting for decades and the results are market share and market position shifts. And, it’s about how student expectations are being reset by institutions that can deliver experience, previously the purview of smaller, private institutions, at scale. What stayed with me was the posture. One emboldened by her institution's current reality. The other clear and wanting to boldly take on the challenge for her institution. We’ve been talking about and solving for this market shift since 2019. What’s changing now is how openly presidents we're working with are naming it and how deliberately they’re choosing to respond. Jim R. Patricia Maben

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Strengthening Higher Education Together We're thrilled to announce OneHE's collaboration with Adjunctions, the platform dedicated to connecting and supporting adjunct and non-tenured faculty. Our ambition is to address a critical challenge: adjunct and non-tenured faculty make up nearly 70% of the higher education workforce, yet often lack access to training, career development, recognition and community. Together, we're creating a complete ecosystem that: ✅ Streamlines hiring processes for institutions ✅ Expands professional development opportunities ✅ Builds a stronger, more connected adjunct community ✅ Provides micro-credentials and peer support for faculty growth. By integrating OneHE's 450+ expert-ledd microlearning resources with Adjunctions' smart matching platform, we're not just filling positions in institutions, we're building careers, improving learning outcomes and transforming higher education. To find out more talk to Olivia Fleming, OneHE Co-Founder https://lnkd.in/gGgwKhrV or Ian Doyle, Adjunctions Founder, https://bit.ly/3Ks8dwN Join us in creating a sustainable future where adjuncts feel supported, institutions reduce costs, and teaching quality soars. #HigherEducation #FacultyDevelopment #AdjunctFaculty #ProfessionalDevelopment #Teaching #OneHE #Adjunctdevelopment #Teachingcareers

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Some great insights from 2026 EducationDynamics benchmarks report. Two that show how quickly marketing/enrolment is changing: 1) Zero‑click searches from prospective students are becoming the norm as Google answers 78% of education searches with an AI Overview. Almost half of these ending without a click, meaning students may never hit your website. 2) On the enrolment side, 65% of applicants want a decision within a week (and even more remarkable that 37% want one within a day). This speed matters as 72% enroll at the first school that admits them. Even if US data, this is some good context for Canadian universities and colleges working on marketing or enrolment strategies for this year. Check it out (it’s gated but free): https://lnkd.in/gTEjENr4

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Buy Sod/SodStar announces the formation of an innovative sod research and development initiative. The five-year venture features partnerships with North Carolina State University, The University of Georgia and Purdue University > https://lnkd.in/ebGvSsrS

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Coming into #bett2026, one of the core ideas we at EDT&Partners wanted to explore was AI as education infrastructure. The discussion between our founder Pablo Langa and InnovateEDU CEO Erin Mote was a clear-eyed, (and unsurprisingly) no holds barred sharing of insights about what we are seeing globally: a widening gap between AI activity and AI capability in education. While many systems are experimenting with AI tools, far fewer have the underlying conditions to make adoption safe, coherent, and durable. But treating AI as infrastructure is useful here as it helps move the question from: “Which tools should we allow?” to “What needs to be in place for any tool to operate responsibly at scale?” Erin shared her vantage point working with districts and states (and increasingly being called upon to advise by governments beyond the US). Specifically, the challenge isn’t a lack of interest or intent. It’s the absence of foundational systems: clear governance models, decision rights, data and privacy infrastructure, procurement discipline, and the operational capacity for systems, large and small, to manage thousands of AI-enabled products and agents. As Pablo reflected, we see this challenge too, AND we’ve seen this pattern before with cloud and data platforms. Early experimentation without consideration of and building of foundations creates fragmentation and risk; a kind of negative momentum that quickly breaks down trust, rather than the positive, coherent momentum we would want to see. Governance, in this context, isn’t a brake on innovation. It’s the enabling layer that allows systems to move beyond ad hoc pilots (where we've seen a lot of generative AI work in education stall out) toward sustained value. By the way, a related, and equally important, conversation is emerging around learning science, evidence, safety and quality (see for example, the excellent example of the new generative AI product safety standards from England's Department for Education). But in order to meaningfully engage that work, governance and operating capacity also needs to be a priority.

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Virginia Alliance for Semiconductor Technology (VAST) Important Announcement: More details to follow Virginia Tech College of Engineering Virginia Commonwealth University - College of Engineering University of Virginia Research George Mason University Norfolk State University Virginia Tech Innovation and Partnerships Virginia Economic Development Partnership VIPC | Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation

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Eric Tucker and Edward Metz explain how public seed funding, exemplified by SBIR, can effectively scale innovative edtech delivering immense value at minimal cost per user https://lnkd.in/g4Ndzgen

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