Michi Ferreol, a driven sociology major from Harvard ’15, talked to WiTech about her former work at Curriculum Associates, and why she believes education and technology are major stakes in making a difference in the 21st century.
Curriculum Associates, a leading education technology company that creates online products that help both kids and teachers, is a company with a mantra that reads, “we answer to school street, not Wall Street”. In line with this, one of the company’s products, i-Ready, is an adaptive test that students can take to prepare for state exams in America.
Michi discovered Curriculum Associates through a friend from college and started working for the company upon graduation. As a member of the business rotation program, she was able to get a “360-view of the company” by working in several departments in three and a half rotations.
The first rotation dealt with account setups and learning about the pain points of consumers. Afterwards, she moved to marketing and creating tests on when to use the Curriculum Associates’ products. Following that was her rotation in the software department, where she learned the coding language Python and was exposed to the “user experience side” of the education tech company. Her last rotation handled professional development, specifically teaching consumers how to use the programs/products.
Through her experiences working in Curriculum Associates, Michi believes that the ongoing partnership of education and technology has led to blended learning–one that’s much different from the typical whiteboard and teacher setup. With the plethora of information and resources available on the internet, Michi said that there is a “personal burden and responsibility” for present generations to use the power and accessibility of technology and education to make a difference in society.
Michi is currently working as a Learning Experience Designer at the African Leadership University (ALU), an institution based in Mauritius that specializes in a leadership curriculum centered on data, systems, and projects.
Photo credit: Fullerton Education Foundation
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