“If an education system is broken, it means you won’t be able to find adequate talent for the longer term. So at the end of the day, they’re the ones that are going to benefit from innovation in education.” – Allison Baum, Asia based EdTech investor
EdTech seems to take a lead in the education sector; take a look at these edtech startups, based in Tokyo.
1) Eigooo
Eigooo, a Tokyo-based startup, aims to help Japanese, English learners who feel too shy to practice the language with strangers, through a text chat app. Eigooo lets students and teachers communicate via text chat. Teachers can correct spelling and grammar directly in the app.
‘Eigooo does not want to compete with classic language schools but rather sees itself as a supplement to other ways of learning English.’
2) Smart Education
It is a Tokyo based developer of educational apps for young children.
According to Smart Education, “In the education scene, the reality is that the proper and effective use of the method has not yet been established. There possibility is heading, in order to derive the solution, we are promoting a business on the theme “
The company provides educational content that utilize the smartphone and tablet terminal.
3) Mana.bo
Tokyo-based educational startup, Mana.bo provides online lessons. The company’s founder and CEO, Katsuhito Mihashi, experienced that there was a loss when dealing with students who want to understand a question without being physically in front of the teacher, and to fill that gap, he created Mana.bo.
Students simply take a photo of a problem and send it to available tutors, who receive a notification on their mobile device. Tutors check the problem and let the student know they’re available to help. Once the student selects a tutor a voice or text chat can be initiated with a virtual whiteboard. Handwriting strokes appear on the student’s smartphone, tablet, or PC screen in real time.
The company is also working on what it calls a “mass equation analysis engine” to save lessons for future use. This technology will allow Mana.bo tutors to reuse tutoring information for future lessons.
TECHINASIA reports about how ‘Mana.bo wants to shake up to the Japanese cram school industry with online tutoring.’ To read, click here.
4) AOI-ZEMI
AOI-ZEMI, one of the online tutoring schools offers online live classes. These online lessons are distributed at certain times in the late afternoon and can be watched anytime for free using a smartphone. Except live classes they do have a vast database of more than 4,000 videos.
The tool enables displaying of video, textbooks, and comments at the same time and so is promising for enhancing a sense of immersion for the students. In addition, students from high-ranking universities such as Tokyo University serve as personal tutors and answer each student’s questions and consult with them.
The new advanced course, SACLASS, which started from April 2015, is an iPad exclusive course for junior high school students who are aiming at entering high-ranking public high schools. (SACLASS classes are only available on iPad.)
5) Anki-Master
Anki Master, which was released on March 2nd, 2015, is a free app developed by Tatsuya Hirose, an app developer with a master’s degree in Engineering from the University of Tokyo to help students memorize learning material. Hirose developed this app to help those who are studying for exams or certifications.
On the Anki Master website, efficient and effective memorizing methods are introduced by the developer based on his own studying method for the University of Tokyo exam. It makes memorizing more pleasant and easy. To read more about the app. click here.
Are you an education entrepreneur from Tokyo? Or are you an educator from Tokyo who loves integrating technology in the classroom? Do share with us the edtech startups and products that you are aware of in the comment box.
