The Learning Innovation Hub (iHub) aims to increase the number of effective innovations in the classroom and improve student achievement.

Entrepreneurs, educators, researchers, and investors come together via iHub to pilot innovative products that enhance STEM education. iHub was created by the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, in partnership with NewSchools Venture Fund.

According to this EdSurge article, “By systemically convening business, nonprofit and educational communities to improve product efficacy, [iHub] facilitates a rapid cycle feedback loop that increases the number of effective innovations in the classroom and ultimately improves student achievement.”

To obtain feedback, iHub used a product evaluation rubric developed by WestEd. Metrics examined included how satisfied students and teachers were with the product, how easy they were to incorporate in the classroom, and whether students achieved the intended objective of the lesson.

After working with more than 50 teachers and 10 companies, the Silicon Valley Education Foundation is moving from helping companies get feedback to actually demonstrating “efficacy.”

Understanding efficacy can be like aiming at a moving target, says WestEd’s Neal Finkelstein, quoted in the EdSurge article. “You have to be really careful about getting the right measurement, with the right intent,” he says. For example, if a tool aims to drive student achievement by getting students “excited” about science, then it doesn’t make sense to run a pre- and post-test.

A more nuanced way to measure efficacy is to judge how well a product works with a select group of students (rather than with everyone), according to Finkelstein. For example, games may be more effective with one student subgroup than another.

Read the EdSurge article.

WestEd also is cited in this related EdSurge article, “How We Can Define and Improve EdTech Product Efficacy.”