Episode description

Anna Murphy knows a thing or two about EdTech. After completing an internship in the EdTech marketing environment, she realized this sector needed a boost. As a result, she founded The EdTech Incubator, which helps “make education your competitive advantage.” In this episode of Voices of eLearning, Murphy sits down with hosts JW Marshall and Leena M. Saleh to discuss the teacher crisis.

Murphy began by talking about how she found her passion for EdTech, “Every single day I am getting to connect with teachers.” There is value, she said, in hiring people with education backgrounds in EdTech companies and one of the main reasons there is a teacher crisis right now is, in Murphy’s words, “I think there’s a general lack of respect towards teachers…I think that teachers are realizing that they can go elsewhere, be paid their worth, be treated like an adult, and be able to provide for their families better, be able to provide for themselves, and also be able to grow...”

Co-host Saleh remarked that there is a, “Lack of support for teachers structurally all-around…teachers just don’t feel respected.” Murphy agreed.

The pandemic opened teacher’s eyes to what else is out there in the education community outside of the classroom. Murphy remarked on how many teachers are feeling the brunt of public anger on political issues in the classroom, which led to a breaking point, “It’s a broken system and no one should feel like they have to stay.”

One piece of advice Murphy gives in breaking out into EdTech, is to work smarter and not harder, “There’s a lot of noise out there…it’s about working strategically…look for the voices of people who have done it and lean on them.” Murphy highlighted the importance and value in building new skills.

Murphy said that understanding exactly what you want to do, researching those positions, and listening to the people in your life for advice is the first big step into reaching out to new heights in the EdTech community. It’s just a matter of getting started.