Lock cell service, maintain wireless capability in the classroom @lightspeed #EdTech #mlearning

Went to the Edutech meetup (Meetup.com) at Parisoma last night. This was my third time attending, and the size of the gathering seems to double every time. A mix of edupreneurs, educators, and investors mingled in a small, hot room with poor acoustics and unflagging enthusiasm.

I spoke with three technical founders, each working on separate but similar projects in online test prep. I spoke with two product managers from textbook companies who were there just to get the lay of the land and seemed a bit overwhelmed. I spoke with a rep from University of Phoenix who was there to learn about incentivizing and retaining students (a nice break from what we’ve been hearing about other online education institutions in the news).

Perhaps most interesting was a conversation I had with a woman who has patented a technology that will lock student cell phones in the classroom while still allowing the web capability. Now we’re talkin’! She explained it to me in the loud and crowded room. What I caught was that students would have to register some kind of code with school administrators to be able to bring the phone to school. Walmart was somehow involved and maybe Burger King (just kidding) – sort of.

If this charming woman is really onto something, then couple her technology with something like lightspeed and we have a solution for BYOT. One step closer to my voice recognition controlled infographic holograms.