My invitation to you: Become one of the first to test TheEverLearner.com 2.0

Dear PE colleagues,

I'm truly excited to hit publish on this week's post. Below, you will read about an opportunity to become a beta tester of the new TheEverLearner.com platform (we call it TEL 2.0), which we are launching in the coming months to the PE sector.

TEL 2.0 is, in many ways, my life's work. It's the product of an epic journey from PE teacher to Head of PE to accidental business owner and now to being a software designer for education. You see, when I launched myPEexam.org back in 2014 and then TheEverLearner.com in 2018 (TEL 1.0), I honestly didn't know what the destination would be. But today, writing this blog post, I am in a position to invite a limited number of PE departments to be amongst the first to use TEL 2.0, a project that I have been imagining and designing for the past 10 years. I honestly didn't know if this day would ever come. We have a wonderful platform already in TEL 1.0, and it is tempting simply to carry on as we were. But TEL 2.0 takes everything good about TEL 1.0 and amplifies it many times over. I just had to build it.

My heart and my soul are in this new platform. It is designed to be everything that teaching and learning should be: real, intuitive, detailed, personalised and meaningful. It is designed to be everything that an online platform should be in the late 2020s and beyond, and it is the direct result of the learnings I have derived from being a PE teacher and, more recently, from all of our customers around the world. I am so deeply proud to be bringing it to you, and I want you to be amongst the first to experience it.
What can I promise? Well, I have a philosophy about this new platform. PE teachers and students must never experience "nowness": that flat feeling of "I've seen this before". Instead, TEL 2.0 is designed to give you two feelings at the same time.

The first is a sense of the timeless: learning as it should be. Teaching that is truly targeted at understanding. Learning features that truly target the ways human beings learn and remember. Real exam practice with real feedback. Software tools that truly work within schools and colleges. The second is a sense of tomorrow: hyper-futurism. Technology that feels ahead of anything you've used before. The cutting edge of technology in education, as I believe it should be.

I want TEL 2.0 to live exactly where the two overlap.

TEL 2.0 is not just another learning platform. My ambition is for it to become the world's leading platform for teaching and learning within schools and colleges, and our beta testers, all PE teachers and students, will be amongst the first to experience it.

What we're inviting you to do

Let's be clear about what beta testing is, and what it isn't.

It is a test of the software. We want to know whether TEL 2.0 works the way teachers and students need it to work: whether it's intuitive, whether anything breaks, whether anything confuses, and whether it feels like the future.

It isn't a test of your course. Our courses are being moved across to TEL 2.0 separately, so the content you see during testing may not match the course you teach. That's fine. We're asking you to judge the platform, not the content.

Testing runs in three short rounds:

• Round 1, week commencing Monday, 2nd November: Learning

• Round 2, week commencing Monday, 9th November: Exams

• Round 3, week commencing Monday, 30th November: AI and insight

Each round asks for about one hour from one PE teacher and up to 10 of your students. We'll provide dedicated test accounts, so nobody uses their real account, and afterwards you'll tell us what you found through a short feedback form.

One hour per round. That's it.

Why we need PE teachers in the room

Here's the thing: the people who use education software every day are rarely the people asked to shape it. If you've ever been handed a new system in September and told to make it work, you'll know exactly what I mean.

I didn't want TEL 2.0 to be like that. Every design decision so far has come from what PE teachers and students have told us. Beta testing is the final, and most important, version of that conversation. Before anyone else sees TEL 2.0, I want PE teachers and their students to use it, push it and tell us honestly where it falls short.

Now, I am not claiming the platform will be perfect when you first log in. That's the point of a beta. You will find things we've missed. When you do, we'll fix them before launch, and every department that uses TEL 2.0 afterwards will benefit from what you told us.
For Heads of PE, I know how manic the autumn term is. That's why we've kept the commitment small: an hour per round, accounts set up for you, and a short form at the end. No new systems to roll out across your department and no disruption to your current teaching.

What you'll receive

Our beta testers will receive three things:

• A "you said, we did" summary. After testing, we'll show you exactly which pieces of your feedback changed the platform. You won't be shouting into the void.

• A named TEL 2.0 Beta Tester certificate for the teacher who leads testing, for your professional development record.

• A first look at launch. You'll see TEL 2.0 before anyone else, and with your permission we'll thank you by name when it launches.

If you're not the Head of PE but this has caught your eye, please share it with your Head of Department. Helping shape a platform that teachers across the country will use is a genuine contribution to our profession, and it's exactly the kind of thing that deserves to sit on your CV.

Your current account carries on as normal. For our current subscribers, a reassurance. TEL 1.0 carries on exactly as it does now while this beta testing is taking place. Testing takes place in separate test accounts, so nothing touches your real classes, your students or your data.

Frequently asked questions

Who can apply?

PE departments in schools and colleges, both current TEL subscribers and departments new to TheEverLearner.com. Places are limited, and most are reserved for current subscribers.

What will it involve?

Three rounds of about one hour each, for one PE teacher and up to ten students, using test accounts we provide. After each round, you complete a short feedback form. We'd love testers to complete all three rounds, but if your department can only manage one or two, you're still very welcome to apply.

Will it affect our current TEL account?

No. Your current account carries on exactly as now.

Will our students' real data be used?

No. Students use dedicated test accounts, not their own. We'll ask you to confirm that your school is happy for students to take part.

Can we test our own course?

Not yet. This is a test of the software, not of individual courses, which are moving to TEL 2.0 separately.

When will we hear whether we have a place?

We'll confirm places shortly after applications close on Wednesday 21st October, in good time before testing begins on 2nd November.

How to apply

Places are limited, so please apply by Wednesday 21st October using the form here: Register for TEL 2.0 beta testing. Watch this space for news of TEL 2.0 as launch approaches!

TEL 2.0 has been 10 years in the imagining. The final step before launch belongs, quite rightly, to the PE teachers and students it was built for.

When I write posts like this, I feel a mixture of excitement and nerves. Opening something you've poured yourself into is never easy. But I can't think of better people to open it to.

Thank you for reading. I'd be grateful if you'd consider applying to be part of our TEL 2.0 beta testing, or if you’d share this with a colleague who might.

Have a lovely week.

James