The Tools Competition has a phased selection process to give competitors the time and support to refine their ideas and build their teams.
Organizers provide support opportunities at all phases of the competition. Proposal teams have many opportunities to hear directly from competition organizers, sponsors, and past winners in order to learn what a strong proposal looks like and ensure they understand where their ideas could best fit into competition objectives.
This post aims to highlight the resources available to competitors to support them in developing the most compelling proposals – as well as several optional external resources for advisory support and programming that can help competitors accelerate their impact.
Competition support opportunities
Competitors cover diverse geographies, focus areas, and types of tools. No one-size-fits-all approach or template will lead to success in the competition. Rather, organizers aim to provide clear guidance that can be applicable to all tools, and case studies are available that emphasize the level of rigor and type of detail that could be most competitive.
Keep an eye out for our support round-up posts (like this one) that detail support opportunities at each phase. We’re eager to see competitors take advantage of these opportunities and will always highlight them in our competition communications – and post recordings, when possible. Core support events include:
- Launch Event. Hosted annually to announce the competition design, these feature competition sponsors and guest speakers discussing high-priority areas that we’re excited to see competitors tackle through their proposals. See the 2025 Launch Event here.
- Info sessions. Hosted at each phase of the competition in multiple time zones and sessions, these dive more deeply into the competition design, process, eligibility, and focus areas, and have an opportunity for live Q&A with organizers.
- Webinars. Designed as a learning opportunity and an opportunity to illuminate competition expectations in key areas. These may reflect a competition priority (e.g., How to Develop Your Learning Engineering Plan; Engaging with End Users; Child Safeguarding) or a specific track with more specific requirements. These events often feature competition sponsors, guest speakers, winner case studies, and live Q&A.
- Office Hours. Drop-in live Q&A with competition organizers hosted at each phase of the competition in multiple time zones and sessions. These group sessions are a great opportunity to also hear and learn from fellow competitors.
- Written guidance. The Tools blog hosts tip sheets, case studies on past winners, and other guidance to help competitors navigate competition requirements, and core objectives like Learning Engineering.
- Technical assistance. Based on competitor feedback and competition objectives, we organize technical assistance to support all competitors in accelerating their work. Past opportunities have focused on areas such as go-to-market strategy, storytelling with data, and developing school partnerships. Note: some of these opportunities are reserved for winners and finalists.
- Researcher database. The competition requires competitors to develop a Learning Engineering plan, including partnerships with researchers external to their team. We curate a global database of researchers with diverse content and technical expertise that competitors can reference to identify aligned potential partners.
- Learning Engineering Google Group. Listserv and community of over 3,500 members of the learning engineering community. Competitors can post updates, seek collaborators, and identify new opportunities. This community is managed by The Learning Agency but is not specific to the Tools Competition.
- Inbox. Our team is available to respond to competitor questions at ToolsCompetition@the-learning-agency.com.
Perhaps most notably to competitors, we’re proud that many in the funding community look to the Tools Competition network as a pulse on the movement of the field, and as a leading network of innovators. Finalists pitch to diverse judging panels with significant representation from the philanthropic community, boosting access to feedback and visibility for their tools. Additionally, we curate reports and content on trends and tools based on unique interests, share new funding opportunities, and make connections to individual competitors at funder requests. This has led to additional funding for competitors, as well as new speaking, programmatic, and visibility opportunities.
Finally, for winners, and select finalists, in addition to these supports, we’ll continue to share opportunities as they arise for boosting visibility for your team (check out this winner feature in USA Today and this one on NBC Nightly News), new funding opportunities, and access to our database of in-kind resources like software credits and free course access.
External support resources
The competition is designed to be inclusive of talent at all levels. Competitors do not need experience in fundraising or to hire external consultants to be successful in the competition.
However, many competitors are also interested in advisory support and accelerator-type programming to build capacity on their teams and develop their ideas. Most frequently, we receive requests for detailed feedback on competitor ideas and support related to proposal or budget writing. While this is out of scope for the competition itself, there are some terrific groups and experts in this space providing this sort of support.
Note that the Tools Competition is not officially partnered with these groups in terms of competition expectations or organizing. They represent a few leading organizations, including those that have worked with Tools Competition competitors in the past.
- International Centre for EdTech Impact. Offers services, free resources, and select pro-bono advisory support from learning scientists focused on evidence-based development of learning technologies.
- Edtech Recharge. Offers services for capacity building, research, and impact; as well as numerous free resources, webinars, and templates supporting strong proposal development.
- RYE Consulting. Offers services and workshops, technical assistance, and regular free webinars focused on building and scaling K-12 edtech businesses, with expertise on US markets.
- Promise Venture Studio. Runs an accelerator program, collaborative, demo series, and other resource, community, and advisory services for teams focused on early childhood education.
The Tools Competition launches annually each Fall and seeks to identify edtech innovation that leverages digital technology, big data, and learning science to meet the urgent needs of learners worldwide.
