Dive Brief:
- Clayton Christensen Institute co-founder and blended learning advocate Michael B. Horn is set to head the Robin Hood Education + Technology Fund, a $25 million fund aimed at using tech to improve learning for low-income New York students.
- Robin Hood, the Overdeck Family Foundation, and the Siegal Family Endowment will work together to manage and distribute the fund, which "seeks to unlock the potential of technology to advance achievement for low-income students," Yahoo Finance reports.
- The fund's board includes chairmen from Two Sigma Investments, the dean and vice provost of Cornell Tech, and top Google executive Eric Schmidt.
Dive Insight:
Horn isn't new to tech, or to applying Silicon Valley concepts like innovative disruption to education reform and policy. Three years ago, he addressed EduCause 2012 with a speech on five ways online learning is disrupting education, addressing issues like the diversity of student needs.
"I actually think in many cases it [MOOCs, or massive open online courses] will be a bigger impact on K-12 than higher education, particularly in advanced placement courses and so forth," he said. "I think it's going to be a massive disruption of AP courses, because if you can get a credit from MIT for physics or a 5 on the AP physics course, which one is going to be more valuable? And I suspect that the MOOCs will be more affordable."
Though it's too soon to tell exactly what kind of strategy the new fund will take, the collaborative effort is certainly one to watch.
