It is perhaps no surprise that some of the most interesting education technology efforts emerge from universities.

The flip side of the curse of the familiar coin is that when edtech developers do create novel learning environments that offer the promise of substantially changing learners’ experiences, many learners will find these environments confusing and teachers will find them difficult to adopt.

The curse of the familiar poses a two-sided dilemma: reproduce the ordinary and get adoption but not change, or attempt to do something different and either confuse your intended audience or have them take your novel approach and transform it into something conventional. Venture-backed education technology efforts over the last decade have overwhelmingly chosen the former.

The curse of the familiar emerges from trying to use technology alone to change schooling. Schools, with their innate complexity and conservatism, domesticate new technologies into existing routines rather than being disrupted by new technologies. For anyone hoping to substantially change teaching and learning through technology, the most promising way of passing through these thickets is to prioritize systems change alongside technology adoption. And the most important stakeholders in educational change are teachers. What’s needed to encourage the design, transmission, and adoption of new ideas is a large, thriving community of teachers who are committed to progressive pedagogical change and designers who are excited about seeing this community as partners.