District Administration, a leading publication for education leaders in public K-12 districts, has recognized Artificial-Intelligence-powered digital assistant, Merlyn, from Merlyn Mind, as the Future Learning Technology winner of the 2023 Top EdTech Products Awards in the startup business category. The Top EdTech Products Awards spotlight the newest and most innovative solutions helping district leaders and teachers meet the ever-evolving technology needs of their schools.
By helping teachers quickly and naturally control the classroom technology they already know and love, Merlyn gives teachers what they want most—freedom to teach and more time for students. Merlyn seamlessly integrates into existing classroom ed-tech like Promethean’s ActivPanel, and automates everyday workflows so teachers can focus more attention on students. Symphony Classroom, Merlyn’s AI hub, combines hardware, AI services, and software to support teachers. Merlyn Mind and Promethean, the exclusive licensed U.S. distributor of Symphony Classroom and Merlyn, are committed to creating solutions to streamline the workflow for teachers.
According to Merlyn co-founder and CEO Satya Nitta, a typical teacher uses 20 to 30 digital applications, sites, and tech services in a day. “We expect teachers to be superhuman, juggling all the apps and devices in their classroom while at the same time creating an engaging learning environment,” says Nitta. “With Merlyn, we give teachers AI superpowers to control their classroom tech naturally and instantly from anywhere in the room. That way, they can maintain the flow of class, increase engagement, and drive successful learning outcomes.”
Artificial intelligence is changing the way we live, work, and play, but has been markedly absent from education. Global corporate investment in AI reached $93 billion in 2021 in industries including automotive, food service, entertainment, and health care, to name a few. AI has been making inroads everywhere except in the 35 million classrooms around the world, until now.
“The last decade has been head-spinning in the evolution of AI,” says Nitta. “Deep learning as a field is really coming of age, advancing language understanding, speech recognition, image recognition, and these days, helping generate language. These all have incredible potential. We see ourselves as translators to bring these thrilling advancements to education to help teachers and students.”
Merlyn is already helping teachers manage their classrooms from coast to coast in the United States and in select schools in the United Kingdom. After piloting Merlyn throughout its rural North Carolina district, Caldwell County Schools (CCS) are now adding Merlyn to an additional 50 classrooms. Katie Elliott, principal at CCS’s Hudson Middle School, has seen Merlyn ease the cognitive load on her teachers. “The logistical hurdles of the modern classroom fade away when a teacher can just use their voice to seamlessly move from activity to activity,” she said.
Anna Bruton, a teacher at Lower Creek Elementary, agrees, and said, “it’s the best piece of instructional technology we’ve ever been given.”
The winners of the Top EdTech Products of the Year will be announced at an awards ceremony on Wednesday, January 25, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. CT on the stage in booth #4000 at FETC in New Orleans.
Learn more about Promethean and Merlyn Mind here.