The Inventorium

Online curriculum delivered through smartphone technology to upskill 15-18 year olds for employability and positive life outcomes, powering them to have a voice in creating their future(s), delivered in collaboration with local partners, schools and corporations.

In Western countries over 20% of youths are dropping out of school.  This is even higher for rural, regional and disadvantaged populations.  For those who do complete, they are not being motivated by their school learning and are becoming disengaged from education and their futures.  In less developed countries not everyone has access to education and hence the issue is not dropout but opportunity; but even then, the curriculum is not fit for purpose in preparing youths for economically viable futures. The Inventorium aims for everyone to complete so that they are self-employable and capable of achieving personal economic sustainability.

Over 20% of youths in Western countries are dropping out of high school without completing.  Why?  The education system is not relevant nor fit for purpose. The Inventorium is systemically different.  It is student centered and needs driven (they choose what to learn and when, not a school teacher), they go at their own pace (not the pace of the lowest common denominator in the classroom), they engage with others outside their local community (rather than simply with those in their classroom), and the curriculum is co-created with industry partners to address the requirements of the future of work.   

The ultimate target is 15-18 year olds who will benefit by having more choice and control in their future, rather than falling into an accidental career, or a life of dependency on the State; hence the second beneficiaries are the government, tax payer and society who will benefit from these teenagers ultimately contributing to the economy rather than drawing from it; third beneficiaries are the families of the teenagers who will become re-engaged with their children’s learning and futures; fourth are the schools, teachers and partners who will benefit from having a curriculum that is fit for purpose to facilitate.

Membership numbers and re-enrolment numbers - 15-18 year olds engaged in the curriculum

Number of members engaged who had previously dropped out of school - Economic benefit

Number of schools utilising the curriculum in-house - School and partner benefit

Our solution delivers curriculum through the smartphone (or laptop if preferred) and is supported by a closed social media platform.  Ultimately anyone anywhere can use it and work with other teenagers to complete the curriculum.  It can also be adopted and delivered within schools, community groups or other providers if a group of people wish to engage collectively. Everyone is offered the same base experience in the curriculum and it is tailored to the individuals needs, choices and pace of learning.  It is not school, institution or government dependent; it is student-centered, technology enabled learning.

The technology is student-centered – it allows the student to select learning options, is non-linear, linked to a gamified reward system, flowing out to LinkedIn (or other appropriate online professional platforms) – and delivered to the technology extension of most teenagers hands - their mobile phones.  It also has a closed social media channel to support the learning conversations but extend them beyond the immediate group in the students location or vicinity.  In the longer term we hope for graduates of The Inventorium to continue as mentors to individuals and sponsors of Courage Quests.  

It will be deployed through a mobile phone combining an LMS, bespoke gamification program, and GradChat social media platform.  The business model is one of membership, with individual, school and corporate membership available.  The Inventorium has been constituted as a social enterprise with a minimum of 75% of operating profits funding scholarships, Courage Quest activity, and further development of the curriculum as new needs emerge.  We are seeking to fund the venture through those that can afford to pay membership supporting the scholarhips of those that cannot afford to pay. We are open to discuss other options.

The business model is that of a social enterprise.  We break-even at 1000 members and 10 corporates, or 2000 individual members.  A minimum of 75% of operating profit is committed to being circulated back into the business. At least 50% goes into a trust fund that covers the costs of scholarships and supporting the Courage Quests.  25% will be invested in further curriculum design and build each year, and the remaining 25% can be spent as we choose, for example, translating into another language, supporting overseas deployment, etc.  Because we only offer curriculum and no face to face delivery, our operating costs are relatively low.  The curriculum can be completed fully at a distance without any face to face support.

Firstly, we need initial membership sales to generate funds to meet our operating costs and the development costs of the base curriculum to launch.  We are therefore launching an Indiegogo campaign to advance sell membership for 2018 which also gives access to the Beta product for the remainder of 2017.  Secondly, we need support scaling the technology to ensure factors such as low bandwith do not impact on the user experience.  Thirdly, we need a broad range of industry partners to engage in conversations with us about the future of work and contribute to sponsored Courage Quests and curriculum development.  

We operate a collaborative business model.  Every provider/solution already in the Education field is welcome to join us, offer something within our provision, and we will refer members back to them if they want more.  Our aim is for this to be available to everyone around the world who wants it/needs it.  The Solve community could both accelerate and magnify the impact of this collaborative venture.  We appreciate the enormity of what we are trying to do and how under-prepared we are to be leading this.  But someone had to start somewhere.  Now we’ve proved the concept, we want help. 

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We have a business model that allows us to collaborate with everyone and as such, no competitors.