It's Time To Give Clever Their Flowers

I watch sports, Stranger Things, and Cobra Kai. That's about it.

Because 90% of the TV media I watch is sports I see a lot of Stephen A. Smith. And when I say a lot, I mean a metric ton of Stephen A. If you don't know him, he's basically the face of ESPN at this point. He's the highest paid, the most recognizable, and without question the most entertaining face on the network. His show, First Take, dominates the airwaves in all of sports media. So when Stephen A. speaks, people listen, even if they don't like what he says.

Recently he's been feuding with a few NBA players over decisions they're making with their contracts, not showing up on time, and missing games without being injured. One argument that he keeps making is this:

"You owe it to those who came before you and paved the way to give them their flowers by showing, the hell, up!" -Stephen A. Smith

He's talking about sports. He's talking about huge contracts. He's talking fan support. But what's really important is that Stephen A Smith is asking players and fans to think about those who laid the foundation for all of the athletes after them. In other words, Michael Jordan, one of the most recognizable sports figures ever, was underpaid most of his career. The way he showed up and played every night, through injury and sickness, paved the way for players to be valued as they are today.

Recently I posted a critique of Edtech as a field. This post was written out of the frustration of hearing that yet another innovative edtech venture was shutting down because they couldn't raise enough capital. It got a lot of eyes and a lot of strong reactions.

One company kept coming up in the comments as a company that was building this the right way. A company that exemplifies edtech built from the classroom by a former teacher to meet a real need that he had while working in a real school with real kids.

That company is one that I have long had lots and lots of love and affection for. That founder is one that I think is one of the best people on planet earth to know. Probably most importantly, that company paved the way for so many other edtech products.

That company is Clever and it's about time that we give them their flowers.

The Story

I'll kick this off by letting my friend Dan Carroll tell you a tad bit about Clever in this short video. You heard it here. He went from teacher to Tech Director to building Clever with Co-Founders Tyler Bosmeny and Rafael Garcia. The three of them combined tech expertise, teaching experience, and expertise and a love of solving this particular problem to build a product that grew FAST.

Clever quickly found itself in the press quite a bit for an edtech product in 2012 or 2015 when it all was still fresh. Clever was in the press for a reason though. It solved a problem, yes, but it actually met a need. Clever did two things for schools that no one had done before.

1) It connected apps with student information systems and district data.

2) It became THE single sign-on platform for teachers and students to access these apps. In other words, Clever made it really easy for learning technology to be accessed quickly in classrooms.

Those two reasons are a major reason why they grew so fast. They are also the foundation that many of us, building edtech today, is standing on.

The paved way

On the Clever website, front, and center, you'll see the words "Unlocking a world of digital learning." That's not an exaggeration. Those words sum up the foundation I'm talking about. Clever actually made learning technology attainable and digestible for teachers and school districts.

Clever gave teachers something valuable back to them. Time. Gamesandlearning.org wrote a great piece on Clever in 2014 estimating that 25.4% of the time in computer labs was lost to troubleshooting student accounts and log-ins. This platform closed that gap for teachers, ultimately giving them back time.

It didn't just save time though. For schools, Clever became a discovery tool as well. It introduced schools to new tech solutions they'd never heard of before AND made it easy for them to obtain that app or software.

Clever was creating new ways and new behaviors in schools. All of a sudden lesson plans could be different. You could use tech that you ordinarily wouldn't because now students could get in and out of the platforms.

The problem was that accessing apps in class was difficult. The real need behind that was that good teaching and learning had to change as learning technology came along. The field just needed a conduit to facilitate the solved problem and the need to be met. That platform was Clever.

Here's what you might not see

You can read a lot about the rise of Clever. Most of what I wrote here you may have experienced or read somewhere else. But there's something that I'm not sure everyone sees about what Clever did to truly be one of those foundational products that made it possible for so many after them to succeed.

Clever changed mindsets.

This isn't something that's easily documented but without a doubt, Clever made school leaders and teachers think differently about what it means to use technology in the classroom. All of a sudden Clever made more edtech solutions available through its platform, created a frictionless way to access that tech, and even started providing resources through their site for integration.

They changed the way teachers and admin thought about tech but they also changed the way the field thought about the sign-on. By doing single sign-on well, Clever sent a gentle signal to other founders telling them that the sign-on process is something that matters. That the sign-on process might be the difference between a district or school adopting or passing on you. They made the field pay attention to the user in a new way.

I can't prove this next statement and am willing to change my mind when the evidence presents itself but Clever was just acquired by Kahoot! and I cannot help but think that's such an interesting acquisition because Kahoot is a tad younger than Clever. It's interesting because Kahoot! found its way into so many classrooms because it was fun and helpful but above all, it was so fast and easy to sign on. Were they watching Clever all along? I think so.

Grab your bouquets

When I wrote this title I meant it. This is the time in the Newsletter when I need you to do something for me. Go to comments and, if you've ever used Clever comment what you love about the product. Comment ways that it has changed your school or your practice as a teacher. If you just learned about Clever comment something you just learned.

It's time to give Clever their flowers.