David Tucker is an educator with over 11 years of experience teaching students of a range of ages and learning styles.
The different learning styles, along with his own experiences as a student struggling through an at-times inaccessible teaching system led him to begin innovating new ways to change the industry.
After applying for Hub Adelaide’s Spark Program last Winter, supported by Venture Dorm, Renewal SA, and Hub Adelaide, David has found new confidence, connections, and opportunities for Skoolcraft. His successes include being voted People’s Choice at the eNVIe awards and winning the opportunity to travel to South by South West in the United States this year.
How Skoolcraft is changing Australian education
When he began investigating different ways to teach and identified concentration issues had by many, he decided to focus on engagement.
“As an educator, I noticed over the years that teachers are finding it harder to engage students.”
After researching different authors and schools of thought in the education field, David Tucker focussed in on his main goal of changing education styles to engage a generation who has grown up with technology embedded in their lives.
Stepping away from the traditional lecture model of teaching, David instead used gamification to engage his students, incorporating the curriculum into the game.
“I saw a huge transformation in engagement and passion, and the only shift was changing the way I was teaching.”
Seeing that nothing existed offering what he needed to help with his final goal, David started trying his hand at creating his own platform, developing quests and games that aligned with Australian curriculum.
After playing the game of David’s design, based on content that sat in the curriculum, his students’ recall of the topics was improved, and so was their approach and passion towards subjects.
There are multiple groups worldwide working on different elements and changing education in different ways, offering gamified language courses and extracurriculars, but David is taking on the challenge from the perspective of the teacher and trying to engage the students.
His next goal is helping educators around the world achieve the same results and to help students be enthusiastic and excited about learning.
The right Spark for Skoolcraft
After a colleague introduced him to the Hub Adelaide Spark program, he researched the coworking space and the effect it’s had on South Australia’s businesses, helping them collaborate and grow and bringing people on similar business journeys together.
“I decided to apply for the Spark program, and it’s been amazing. It’s opened a thousand doors for me.”
After beginning the program through the 2019 Winter selection, David has found investors, tech partners, and collaboration opportunities through working with Venture Dorm, Renewal SA, Hub Adelaide, and his fellow Spark participants.
By using his opportunities and time in the Venture Dorm Pre Accelerator Program, David has brought Skoolcraft into its next stage of development and the buzz around his business is more than justified.
After being chosen as the winner of the eNVIe People’s Choice Award, he has a new appreciation for the demand for an idea like Skoolcraft and will reach new markets and opportunities with his growing networks and upcoming meetings with Google and Microsoft in the United States.
“It started off as a dream, and through being in the Spark program it has become a bigger business idea and taken on a life of its own.“
