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Emily Pascual is a New York native currently living in Miami who is pioneering education technology in order to help the modern teacher go paperless through digital technology.
She enjoys researching, learning, and experimenting in the kitchen to come up with new delicious recipes.
The education industry has been stagnate for quite some time and is primed as the next big industry to face disruption as new education technology emerges.
I got a chance to sit with this Future Shark and learn all about her.
Here we go !
What is your favorite quote?
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone”
My mom loves this quote and now I do too.
It keeps me pushing myself to find a new mountain to climb, and to embrace vulnerability as a part of growth.
What are you working on?
Edtech apps. I am the User Experience and User Interface Designer for educational games at Genius Plaza. My favorite mediums are virtual, augmented, and mixed reality. The education apps I work on range from PreK-12th grade and are all bilingual. Our newest app, Genius Plaza just launched free eBooks teaching math, language arts, science, and STEAM lessons. Additionally, there is access to educational videos and some are 360° videos (how cool?!)
My favorite part of this app is that you can make your own video or eBook and share it with a global classroom.
I am helping organize the Reality Virtually AR/VR Hackathon, hosted at MIT Media Labs October 9-11 2017.
Last year it broke a world record as the largest hackathon of its kind !
We want to see new voices in tech, hobbyist, and skillsets ranging from the traditional engineers to designers.
How did you get into EdTech Games?
I started in marketing. There I shared our education platform’s games with educators, parents, and students. I enjoyed growing our community and understanding what makes a teacher’s life easier with the aid of technology.
After traveling and speaking with thousands of teachers, I found one common thread:
They all want to engage students.
Helping students and teachers collaborate in the digital space is so fulfilling. I started designing virtual reality games last year as a hobby and now I am working on Genius Plaza apps for the classroom, making sure our games foster active learning. It’s not the a typical career path but it feels like a natural progression for me.
What’s your dream with your company?
To spark a love of learning in the students who use our platform and games and to give teachers a reliable tool for their classroom. If the students who use our apps walk away from the experience with an excitement to learn more, that is what success looks like to me.
A passion for education is invaluable and when students feel empowered, they will want to achieve in and outside of the classroom.
Now here’s the straight value ! . . .
What is best entrepreneurship advice that you can share:
Not knowing never means unworthy. Curiosity is the best advantage you can give yourself. If you are interested, what you need to know will be fun to learn about and people will love to hear you speak to it. Listen to that curiosity, and let it guide you.
Teach us something you know that can useful to us:
Are you worried about pitching in person or not sure how to interact at an expo with passerby’s? Here’s my advice from my last year on the road at trade shows. If you have a list of talking points you know inside and out, that’s wonderful but only three points might relate to a customer.
Remember the may be thinking about the next meal or overwhelmed by aisles of vendors. You already know your product features, just focus on the individual. Ask questions before you give solutions. Find out if your product fits them and not the other way around.
Active listening, before you dive into pitching yields better quality leads, deeper conversations, and opens yourself up to connections that may turn out to be more valuable than a single sale.
What’s something new you’ve learned in the past month?
Voiceover and character narration UI/UX. Audio UI/UX is so exciting! I found that it requires you to think about your users a way that is completely different.
Character narration audio not only has to tell a compelling story, but it must also assist users of different skill levels to a degree that is satisfying to the player and useful without being overbearing.
Make a conscious effort to think about different users and especially the ones who struggle with technology created better, more inclusive products.
Where do you see yourself and your product in a couple years?
I am devoted to producing immersive educational experiences. I want to bring high quality AR/VR and MX content to schools and students around the world.
I want see generation of leaders to have access to emerging technologies and inspire them to build their own worlds, apps, and solutions.
Get in Contact with Emily here:
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Emily shared incredible perspective on utilizing virtual reality and the digital world to enhance education. I am very much looking forward to keeping up with all of her progress as she continues to pioneer education technology.
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