#4: Interview with David Giron - Codam College

Ruben Timmerman is the founder behind Springest. Springest was established in Amsterdam in 2008 by CEO Ruben Timmerman. Springest is an independent comparison website for training programmes and courses. Springest is active in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, The UK and Sweden. We talk about the story of Springest, how Ruben went international with Springiest and we talk about the M&A with Studytube, who bought Springest back in February 2022.

Jan-Willem Huisman is the founder behind IJsfontein. IJsfontein makes media interactive with a focus on playful learning. Started in 1997. Their projects have objectives ranging from creating awareness to education and from training to educational entertainment. Think, for instance, of a serious game as a training tool for (medical) staff, interactive exhibits and apps for museums or a cross platform digital method for primary education. We discuss the importance of playful learning, gamification and the possibilities of EdTech and much more. 

Edwin van Rest is the Co-founder & CEO of Studyportals. Founded in 2009 in Eindhoven. Studyportals is the international study choice platform, helping students to find and compare their study options across borders. With over 200,000 published courses from over 3,700 participating HE institutions and over 36 million users, Studyportals is a leading information source for study seekers. We discuss the story of Studyportals, the trends in EdTech in higher education, giving people study opportunities and much more. 

Ewoud de Kok is CEO & Co-founder of FeedbackFruits. FeedbackFruits co-creates pedagogical tools that drive student engagement and collaboration with leading higher education institutions. Founded in 2012 in Delft and spin-off from the YesDelf Incubator. We discuss the story of FeedbackFruits, the internationalisation, the opportunities for edtech in higher education and much more. 

Talia Kolodny is Director of Partnerships at Engageli. Engageli is a digital learning platform for higher education. We discuss the future of digital learning, active learning and engaging learning where we are moving into a hybrid world. 

Gijs Gootjes is the Co-founder & Head of Organization & Strategy at the Digital Society School Amsterdam, which is part of the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam. We discuss the impact of technology on our society, Edtech for social change, the opportunities of beyond blended learning, digital twin and much more.

David Giron is the Director at Codam College in Amsterdam. Codam Coding College is the only peer-to-peer coding institution in the Netherlands, with a world-class curriculum empowering the next leading generation of tech talent.

Andre Haardt is the Founder of Squla, also known as Furturewhiz, the parent company of Squla, WRTS and Scoya, leading brands across K12 in the Netherlands, Germany and Poland. We discuss how he got started with Squla, including his learnings how to involve schools and parents in Squla’s model. Furthermore he shares his point of view on edtech SaaS platforms as an impact investor.

Dimitrios Vlachopoulos is Program Manager, Educational Technology for Social Change at the Digital Society School, which is part of the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam. We talk about online learning, blended learning, learning analytics and much more.