From Educator to Edtech Leader | Brett Roer, Outlier.org
In this episode of Build Momentum, we are joined by Brett Roer. Brett is the high school strategic partner lead for Outlier, an organization that’s setting out to create the world's best for-credit, university-level online courses—and offer them at a fraction of the cost of a traditional college or university. Brett spent 16 years empowering public high school students as an educator in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx prior to joining Outlier.
Some Questions I Ask:
- Would you start off by sharing more about your background as an educator and what led to your transition to edtech? (1:41)
- How did you end up at Outlier? (4:53)
- What are the differences between working in edtech and education? (6:55)
- What was your biggest takeaway from this year’s ASU-GSV Summit? (11:08)
- How have you been able to navigate this new edtech world so seamlessly? And what is your advice for other companies and leaders and founders and CEOs looking to do the same? (13:12)
- What final advice do you have? (19:37)
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
- Bret Roer’s background in education (1:49)
- About Brett and Outlier (5:06)
- His transition from the education space to edtech (7:06)
- His biggest takeaway from the ASU-GSV Summit (11:29)
- How to successfully navigate the edtech world (13:52)
- Final advice (19:51)
Quotes:
“Find your tribe, find your allies, find the people that recognize something in you that you don't even know you have, and keep learning from them.”
“Ultimately, [the edtech side] is very similar to education. We're partners. We're here to help students succeed. And in this exact instance, we're here to help school leaders and educators succeed. So that's really the biggest takeaway. The titles are different, but the same mindset, mentality, and quality of human beings is similar.”
“Probably one of the biggest fears that I have as both an educator and in my new role in edtech is that it's so easy to revert to what was comfortable. But it was obvious that comfortable wasn't working for so many different demographics in education, and that to go back would be a true loss on top of all the other suffering that people endured the past few years. There is a pathway forward, and we need to be brave and work together to meet it.”
“Build relationships, and the partnerships will come. The relationships are what matter now, and what will make you able to multiply those relationships into tangible partnerships. So that is step one. Do not pitch. Build trusting relationships. And if you're authentic about it, those other partnerships will come. Patience is difficult in this because educators and people in my field of edtech, we want results. We’re success- and result-oriented people.
“I want high school students to experience this nationwide. It's not about the sale, it's about the experience and exposure for high school students. I don't want another year or two to wait for that student. So I have to temper my love for bringing this to students with knowing that is going to come in due course if you can build trusting relationships with innovative educators.”
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