LET'S TALK ABOUT: eKool
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
In another blog post, I have already mentioned that there are two e-school solutions in Estonia at the moment. After talking to the founders of Stuudium (click here to read the interview), I met up with Tanel Keres, the CEO of eKool, currently leading the market in e-school solutions.
INTERVIEW
Tanel, I understand that you have only been working at eKool for about a year. Can you nonetheless give us an idea of what triggered the invention of eKool?
It started in 2002 when one private school in Estonia announced its decision to inform parents solely by e-mails. Plus, the idea was to store information of all kinds electronically. Some other schools supported this idea – altogether four schools – and they started working together to create the system. It certainly helped that they received start-up funding from private companies and the state. This is how the first version of eKool was made. Today, eKool is used by 85 per cent of basic and secondary school students and by 75 per cent of these schools.
What were you doing before you became CEO of eKool?
I was a public servant for many, many years. I worked at the ministry of finance, the Tallinn city government, and also at the education department, where I worked for ten years.
So you have an education background?
No, I actually have a financial background. As luck would have it, it was more of a coincidence that I started working at the education department (laughs).
When was this office built?
We actually only moved here two months ago. In fact, we moved around quite a lot in the last years; it is fairly simple to move with a small team. In Tallinn, our office has been in up to seven places, I think.
You said you were a small team. As of now, how many people work at eKool?
Nine.
Do you have different teams working on different projects?
Because there are such few people, we basically work as one team. Of course, everyone has their own tasks, depending on whether you work in marketing or in business development, for instance. But if needed, we can put our backs together and work on one particular project.
Do you plan to expand to other countries?
Yes, definitely. At the moment, we have a pilot project going on in Indonesia, and one school is using eKool in Georgia. However, these are still unclosed leads. In the long run, though, we want to see eKool in other countries, too. If you want to grow as a company, you must not stop at national borders. You have to go beyond.
How did these collaborations happen?
Because we wanted to expand, we looked for good partners abroad. We thought the partners were interesting, asked for a collaboration, and “clicked.” If two parties want to cooperate, it is often very simple. It works in two ways: we actively look for partners, and also get approached by companies from abroad.
Is it not complicated though? Other countries have utterly different school systems.
Absolutely. We know it is a great task. But when it comes down to it, the basic concept is always the same. Every child has parents, every school has teachers. So in that sense, you do not have to reinvent the wheel. Okay, we can discuss about whether the best way to mark a student is by using grades or by using more descriptive statements, for instance. The idea, ultimately, is similar though.
Are there any new features planned?
We are constantly developing the system; which means that more and more features will be added over time. Currently, we are putting an emphasis on the feedback modules that are used by teachers to keep the parents up-to-date.
Last year, you introduced premium options. What kind of benefits can the user expect?
First of all, all the features are for free. You, as a parent, can see the marks of your children; that has not changed. But if you want some extra services concerning data analysis, you can pay for that. For example, you can see the statistics of grades so that you can compare your performance to those of your classmates. Also, you can receive a weekly report that gives information about what has been going on during the week. What is more, parents can get an instant notification if their kid has been absent from school or received a bad grade.
Have you received any criticism for this decision to make some options exclusive? Some might argue that this is a way to foster elitism in schools.
Yes, there was some criticism, but it wasn't overwhelming. Considering the number of our users, it was a marginal percentage that complained.
Telliskivi is also called the “Creative City.” Do you feel it is a good environment for small companies? There are quite a few start-ups around.
To be honest, I cannot say much about that, because we just moved here. But yes, this has played a decisive role in our considerations to move here.
If you could name one of the biggest achievements of eKool, what would it be?
The school dropout rate has been declined by about 80 per cent during the last ten years; which is an impressive number if you think about it. Now, this is not the sole achievement of eKool, but it certainly made a great contribution.
What do you think distinguishes eKool from Stuudium?
The main features are the same.
Do you work together with other start-up companies?
We do have collaborations, yes. But it’s project-based, really.
eKool is often praised as the children’s first contact with ICT. The rationale goes that they learn the handling of digital gadgets using your app.
The great value of ICT is that it helps you get information. So we as a company are proud that our system offers the students a first glimpse into the world of ICT.
As a CEO of an IT company, do you think it’s a good idea that school children learn how to programme, for instance, from an early age on?
Of course. That is actually a very good example of cause and effect. You can see the direct impact of an intervention – the teaching of programming – on the consequence – for instance, a growing number of IT specialists. The beauty of programming, by the way, is that it is similar to mathematics. You either have the right solution, or you don’t. And it is a good way of teaching problem-solving approaches, which can be applied in many different situations.
Since 2014, you offer eKool on smartphones. Do you plan to eventually get rid of the web- based version? It would probably be simpler to do everything using the app.
No, because there is no need. They shouldn't be seen as mutually exclusive; rather, they are complementing each other. There is no competition between the two methods.
How secure is eKool? Students might hack into the teachers’ accounts.
Think about it this way, Loe: everyone can hack into your system as well. So there is not much we can do. We are in touch with Estonian data security agencies. Thus, if there are any major problems, we can consult with them. Until today, however, there have been no severe incidents. What we can do is to tell the teachers that they should always sign out of their accounts after they finish their session. If you don't do that, that’s your problem. We included a mechanism that, when being inactive, you are automatically signed out after a certain amount of minutes.
Some students might not be able to afford a computer or a smartphone. Isn't there a risk that those children are excluded? How do you make sure that everyone, including the less wealthy, benefit from your system? This is an issue that does not only concern eKool specifically, but the idea of “e-Estonia” in general.
Estonia has declared internet access a human right. You are obliged to have an ID card, which gives you internet access anywhere. You can simply go to a library, insert your ID, and get the same benefits anyone else is receiving. So I don't actually see a problem here.
You covered the majority of Estonian high schools. Have you ever thought about “moving to the next level” by offering a university solution?
Universities have their own system, which is prepared by the state itself. The problem is that our system is connecting home and school, while the university system does not include this aspect of “home,” because the parents are not involved; one party is missing. The system for universities merely provides information for students. If we were to move from eKool to eÜlikool (Estonian for “university”), we would have to kill too much of what we cherish. We would lose our focus and hence many features that make a lot of sense.
Tanel, thank you very much for taking the time and all the best for the future!
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