96: Empowering Education: Safeguarding Student Well-Being with Linewize - An Interview with Harrison Parker, EVP of Linewize North America

Holly Owens (00:02):

Hello and welcome to another fantastic episode of Edup Ed Tech. My name is Holly Owens and I'm your host. And today we are super excited because we have a returning vendor, but a new guest with us. We have Harrison Parker, who is the executive Vice President of Linewize North America with us. Harrison,

Harrison Parker (00:28):

Welcome on in. Great to be here with you. Excited to do this episode with you today.

Holly Owens (00:34):

I'm excited that we are finally able to align schedules. I know different things happen, people are busy, but we're here and we're going to talk about all things Linewize. But since this is your first time on the show, we definitely want you to share your journey with the audience. So tell us how did you get in the space involved with Linewize? Tell us your story. Yeah,

Harrison Parker (00:54):

I would love to. Mine is quite different, I would imagine from others that got into the EdTech space. Mine actually revolves around world language, oddly enough. So growing up I was super interested in world languages, learned a lot in Spanish and Latin and French. And actually, if you remember a lot of the ads that probably inundated us in the early two thousands via TV or through the radio with Rosetta Stone in particular. Yes, I was drawn in to using them for French. And after I used them for French, I thought, why not apply to the company? It seems like they're doing great. And I was able to learn a language relatively quickly. It took a lot of hours, but why not apply for a position for my first one out of school? And I was accepted into a role, an entry level role, just in a sales position, working with school systems, working with Rosetta Stone to push out their software to students across the country. And so that's how I got into the education space and K 12 EdTech in general. And so like I said, probably a different entrance than most into this field, but You'd be

Holly Owens (02:18):

Surprised if you listen to other episodes, people's journeys are not linear into this space or they didn't say, I'm going to be an ed tech entrepreneur or VP when I grow up. It's really, there's a lot of unique experiences for sure.

Harrison Parker (02:30):

And I think that's what makes it really nice is that we're able to combine a lot of different ideas and help move the needle for kids ultimately. But yeah, so I started out there and was quickly out of that traditional sales role into working with some of the largest districts in the country. We called that a strategic accounts role. And the neat thing about that was I was exposed to the product, I was exposed to the end users a lot. I spent many hours onsite with these larger districts in their implementation of our language software at the time. And so that's where I got to learn a lot of the ins and outs of how school districts work and also how software is used to support children and K 12 learners. And so from there, I quickly switched to a startup and they reached out to me just given my experience in the field. I was in the DC metro area. So not only was I in the startup world, but also exposed to a lot of the policy makers and folks trying to drive policy. So I spent over a decade in DC and loved the area. I'm

Holly Owens (03:36):

From Maryland,

Harrison Parker (03:37):

Whereabouts Holly,

Holly Owens (03:39):

Southern Maryland is where I grew up, but I lived outside the Baltimore area for quite a While.

Harrison Parker (03:45):

Great. Well, that's one of the districts. And Baltimore County. Baltimore City, I spent a lot of time working with them implementing for not only world languages but E L L students. And yeah, it was great. So at the startup, which was focused on classroom management technology, that was really the growth of what we know now as blended learning with students using part of their instructional time with devices or online software and curriculum. And our focus there was to really curb the distractions that came up and make sure that they were getting most of the tools that I was implementing years earlier with world languages. And I saw that as a huge need with visiting the schools. And 80% of the students were good. They had Rosetta Stone popped up on their desktops or laptops. Oh, CD rom. Yeah. And then there's the other 10 or 20% that maybe they were off task.

(04:44):

And so with that in mind and the influx of devices into the school systems, initially iPads and then Chromebooks and laptops, our goal there at that company, Netra for classroom management, was to empower teachers to be able to keep students on task. And so I was there for seven years and then just over two years ago acquired by Linewize, so had the opportunity to take that company from just a concept all the way to being acquired was just an amazing experience and super thankful for the people that I worked with there. And then also our early adopters of the software and those that are still using that product to this day, almost 10 years. So yeah, here we are at Lion Wise now, and we're focused on a lot of the same efforts that I was before at Net Ruff and keeping students on task, but maybe more importantly is protecting them both mentally and physically from any of the interactions they have with devices or outcomes from spending too much time online or running into those risks that are introduced in an online world.

Holly Owens (05:57):

Absolutely. And I'm really excited to get into what you've all been up to. This is Linewize's third appearance on the show. So you know that we love what you're doing and we're so excited to highlight that. But before we get into the details around that, I want to know from you, you're saying you didn't have a very linear or a normal, if there is one journey into the ed tech space, so coming from you and your vast array of experience, how would you personally define educational technology?

Harrison Parker (06:30):

I think it can be boiled down to simply any interaction with a device. So a computer device, be it online or offline, but any interaction a student has that is enabling them to learn or grow their academic gains through that device, I would consider to be an education technology.

Holly Owens (06:54):

I like it very simple and straight to the point. And obviously the tech part plays a huge role in all that we do. And I won't jump in too much into the AI conversation, but that's definitely something that's starting to shift the landscape as well. Alright, so let's get to it. Let's hear from you about what has Linewize been up to, what are some things that you've been working on and tell us if you want to give us a little synopsis for the listeners who haven't listened to the previous episodes, which I'm going to link to in the show notes so that they can, and then tell us about what you've been up to.

Harrison Parker (07:34):

Sure, that'd be great. And I know we've been on here in the past couple of years, so most of the audience that has been listening in as well aware of, we've been busy through a number of acquisitions. I was part of one of those and subsequently we've had many more. And the end goal of that was really to acquire the best technology and people in the space so that we can start really putting together our goal of protecting children at any interaction they have with a school device or any device, be it at school or at home. And so that's a lot of the work that we've been doing over the last good bit here has been putting the pieces together. So individually a lot of the technology we have is world-class and top in the space. What we've been working hard on doing is putting that in a cohesive manner so that you can work through all of our different suite of products and make sure that you can get the data you need to make really good decisions around how to impact not only that individual student, but potentially a grade A school or an entire district.

(08:42):

One way that we have made this easier for people to understand because we do have so many products now as around a wellbeing Framework. Yeah, you've

Holly Owens (08:50):

Really grown quite a bit since even the initial conversation. It's so much fun to see that as a host.

Harrison Parker (08:57):

It's

Holly Owens (08:58):

Like you make this connection with somebody and they're just growing into this wonderful platform. It's really nice.

Harrison Parker (09:05):

Thanks. Yeah, we're really excited about, we're now over, we are helping over 10% of the students in the US now. So tremendous growth in the last couple of years in particular. But a lot of it I think is around what I would hope a lot of the school districts are really seeing where we're going and they know that they can be with us for the long run, even if they don't adopt all of our products right off the bat, they know that it's kind of a shoe that they can grow into. So with that in mind, to help it make it easier for the audience out there that's listening, I mentioned that we're focused on the wellbeing of a student with their interaction with devices. We're doing that through our wellbeing framework and that's centered around prevention, intervention and education. So if you think about anything, maybe a negative experience or anything that you're trying to guard against, obviously you want to make sure it never happens in the first place.

(10:01):

Well, if it does happen, what do you do in that moment? And then lastly, how do you make sure that it never happens again or doesn't happen again? And that's kind of what this wellbeing framework is around and how our products fit in. So on the prevention side, we have our core product, which is we're kind of our bread and butter where we got our start here in the US with our content filtering solution as well as classroom management. So when you think about it from a teacher perspective or an IT director's lens, when they're looking at that, they're trying to figure out, okay, how do we keep students on task? How do we keep them safe from being exposed to inappropriate content or distracting content? That's where the filter and the classroom management tools come in place. And then we shift gears and we say, okay, you can't be a hundred percent. We try our very best to keep students on task. Teachers do as well. But anything that slips through, how do we engage with that student at that point and make sure that they're okay? They're okay. And that's where you ask anyone in the company. That's probably the two products that we're most excited about. We truly have at times an impact on lives or their mental wellbeing, and that's with our products, pulse and Monitor. Yeah,

Holly Owens (11:18):

Definitely.

Harrison Parker (11:19):

And so with Monitor, that's where we're looking for keywords that come up to make sure that if we spot self-harm or any other things that could be dangerous to an individual or multiple students that we get in touch with the school administrators right away. I was just about To ask, I was just about to ask how that communication, I'm

Holly Owens (11:42):

Always interested in the backend and how the communication workflow process, how it just sets something off and then,

Harrison Parker (11:50):

And it comes through to our team. And the neat thing that we do that I think is a huge value add is we know that educators want to do this, but often they look at this and they think it's a huge endeavor. So we take a lot of the weight off their shoulders by having a team of what we call moderators here that review these things that come in these alerts and make sure that it gets the appropriate attention required. Now, sometimes there can be lesser things that come across maybe a student's looking up something inappropriate that we want to let the team know about, or there could be something as severe as a life-threatening situation and those are we, we'll actually make a phone call to their designated contacts. So that's how that product works. And again, like I said, probably the one that we love all our products, but that's the one we all get super passionate about because of the change it can make in addition to Pulse, which is our student wellbeing, once a week check-in to just do exactly what the name says, get a pulse on the student population or an individual student, making sure that they're okay both mentally or physically.

(13:01):

So it's just a quick survey. You may have done those in your past work life. We certainly do those here at our company, just making sure our employees are okay. It's the same concept for students and even staff if they wanted to roll it out that way.

Holly Owens (13:14):

Absolutely. And I love that you're taking that pulse. It's just the world has changed so much for students today. I think that's such an important thing to do, to check on them. And with social media, and no offense, we didn't have that problem in quotes in our day. It's just a lot of different things that they're having to deal with. And I think having a tool such as Pulse and just checking in with them really probably helps figure out, help them solve problems or help them navigate different situations.

Harrison Parker (13:50):

Yeah, a hundred percent. Holly, thank you for teeing it up. It's a nice segue because around social media and post pandemic, that last component that we have of our wellbeing framework is education. And you're seeing tons of chatter about this nationally, right? Social media, the overuse, what is that doing to our children in terms of wellbeing perspective, they were isolated for six months to 18 months, depending on their school systems, not getting the social interactions that they were accustomed to and then spending a lot of their time with devices, which we know can be fantastic for bridging some of the divide and giving students more exposure to academic content at home. But also it comes with it overuse, and we're starting to see that. And so from an education component, we have what we call an online safety hub where parents, students, educators can go to get reviews on certain content. So if they're interested in what is TikTok or what are some of the newer educational or social apps out there, parents can see what's the recommended age, what's the recommended use, what are the gotchas or the things they need to be careful about those different types of tools. So that's something we're really proud. We've got a team of experts in the space that curate that content. And then the last component of education for us is actually enabling parents to manage the devices too.

(15:31):

And around social media, there's some laws coming out from certain states asking social media companies to limit the amount of time students or underage children can spend on those apps or verify that their of age when they consent to sign up for one of those accounts. And what we're excited about is that we can actually empower parents to kind of take that in their own hands so they can manage their students' time on task or time spending time engaging with online material. So as a parent, you can download our app and not only can you manage school issued devices, so those Chromebooks or iPads or laptops that may be going home that are provided by your school district, you can also manage a student's iPhone or Android cell phone or iPad, any of those types of devices all in one place. And so again, when we think about that for us internally, we've centered around it as well, that wellbeing framework one, we're keeping 'em off those distracting sites. Two, we're jumping in when they do manage to get to them. And third, how do we make sure that it doesn't happen again? Well, that's through parent intervention and conversations, equipping them with materials that they can have those talks with their children about what they need to be careful with on the web. When we were

(16:59):

Looking at this, we weren't, you think about an eight, nine year old, 10 year old jumping on the web for the first time and someone reaches out and asks for some information, maybe your address or something. Yeah, sure. Answer the question, Right?

Holly Owens (17:14):

Right.

Harrison Parker (17:14):

Respect

Holly Owens (17:15):

Your elders. You have idea kind of Situation

Harrison Parker (17:16):

That age, how dangerous you are. So some of our educational content is actually geared for students to go through and take that coursework and understand how they need to behave. And also for parents to have those conversations with the children themselves.

Holly Owens (17:31):

Absolutely. And I love all your products and the ones you mentioned and the things that you're doing, and you're doing so much in terms of good and getting those alerts and then involving the school involving to make sure the parents are involved in the situations and maybe those difficult conversations, but things that need to be talked about. So that's one of the reasons I love your product and I'm so glad you came back to share all that with us. So you're doing a lot already. I want to know if there's anything that you can share with the audience that you have upcoming. Don't violate any N D A agreements or things. We don't want you to share things that aren't public knowledge yet, but definitely want to know what's coming up and what they can look forward to.

Harrison Parker (18:20):

Sure. And if you're an educator out there listening and you're going to be in an enough upcoming conference this fall or early spring in 2024 when a lot of those conferences kick up, you'll notice this very wellbeing framework that we've got that you'll see the big picture of that chart and it looks like a circle or a wheel. And then in the center of it is a child. And that's very much our focus. So when you think about the future for us at Linewize, we are totally centered around that student and their interaction with a device. So some of the things you'll see from a product perspective that lean directly on our new framework and methodology is geared toward the student and ensuring that they know those very things. So I already hinted at it a little bit, but we have coursework and course materials that are coming out within the next couple of weeks, so I can go ahead and share that with you all. Maybe by the time this airs, they will be out. Yeah, We're so excited

(19:23):

For some of our classroom management users that'll be directly embedded for them. And you can assign coursework to students. So think about just what I talked about earlier with a student that maybe 7, 8, 9 years old that you're going to have using a device more or using online activities more, you can send them a coursework that they go through and just helps them understand some of the things that they need to think about, be cognizant of when they're on the web for the very first time, or a little bit older age students, how to behave appropriately, what's the right decorum for how you correspond with your friends and avoiding bullying and things like that. So something really, and it's done in a fun way that I think is really engaging for the right age. So we're ecstatic about that being released soon.

Holly Owens (20:18):

Well, thank you for sharing that and I'm glad that the audience, we love to get them excited about things that are coming out. So we're wrapping up here. We've talked about a lot of different things, but I have really two kind of three final questions for you that I want to get your take on. First of all, did we miss anything? Is there anything else that you want to share with the audience? And the last question is is we'd like you to put your fortune teller hat on and tell us what the future of EdTech looks like because we're all looking forward to it. We want to know from experts like you, what is going to be happening. So did we miss anything, Harrison, and what does the future look like?

Harrison Parker (20:58):

The only thing I would say is on the education component of our wellbeing framework, we talked about the parental control app. I've got a lot of friends that are asking about this right now, and I know it's very topical, so it's called custodial. And that parental app can be, you can receive copies of that through your district or individually for yourself if your district is not participating. So I'd encourage you to check it out. It's Q U ss, T O D I O is the name of the app, and you can find that in the store, in the app store or through your District. Definitely put that in the show notes so that people Yeah, that's perfect. And so I know people are looking for something to manage time because kids aren't sleeping, kids are not paying attention to dinner because they're super distracted by that.

(21:52):

So if you're looking for something that will help you manage that, I would encourage you to check it out. And then to your question around the future, looking into the crystal ball here, I would say we had a big shift maybe a decade ago in that 10, 15 years ago that everything was paper-based or traditional textbook, and we swung really quickly to online curriculum and that blended learning model. And now since the pandemic where it was pushed almost a hundred percent due to the restraints we had in terms of social distancing, we're starting to get some negative results out from that. So I would say kind of see that pendulums shift just a little bit and maybe a little bit more balance between online learning and traditional textbook, more interaction with their peers socially. I think there's a good compromise between both. I know they're advocates on both side of those, but I Think why

Holly Owens (22:56):

Does it have to be one or the other?

Harrison Parker (22:57):

I don't Understand. I think you'll find a good balance. Exactly. Yeah.

Holly Owens (23:01):

Yeah, absolutely. I agree with you on that one. And I don't understand this need to want to go back to the traditional sometimes, and we've already done so much great in the online and the digital space and tools like this exists, so why we can definitely have a little great compromise here between the two worlds.

Harrison Parker (23:20):

Yeah, that's the thing I think we want to avoid is swinging back the other way, having another knee-jerk reaction. There's certainly a way to take advantage of online educational apps and curriculum as much as possible, and also giving educators and parents the bounds to manage the time on task and ensure that it's not children's wellbeing.

Holly Owens (23:47):

Absolutely. Harrison, we went through so much in this episode and I so appreciate you coming on first and then by coming back to talk about Linewize and sharing your story. So I can't thank you enough for coming and sharing all this information with our audience. We really, really appreciate it.

Harrison Parker (24:05):

Likewise. It was great to meet you and hope to see you around soon.

Holly Owens (24:08):

Absolutely.

Harrison Parker (24:09):

All right. Thanks Holly.