Liane's evolving curriculum empowers schools to confidently teach computing
iCompute, Liane’s prestige computing curriculum for schools, equips educators with planning, lessons, assessment resources, and all the materials needed to teach computing creatively and with confidence.
1,000s
Teachers impacted
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Lessons & resources
Liane encourages website visitors to start with a free trial. Her signup form is customized to gather all of the information she needs from teachers and schools purchasing her resources.
Highlights
A few takeaways from Liane’s success:
- It's important to clearly communicate how your paid content is more valuable than free alternatives, helping existing and potential customers understand its unique benefits.
- Stay flexible and open to changes in your business, including your pricing model, to help improve customer retention as needed.
- Work smarter, not harder. Utilize online tools to streamline your business operations and achieve your growth goals.
- Embrace the things that make you different and set you apart. Being a pioneer in your area of expertise can inspire and impact the lives of many others in the future.
Meet the founder
Liane O’Kane is a Computer Scientist, Software Engineer, writer, primary school teacher, and the founder of iCompute. Her experience in the classroom drove Liane to address the challenge of teaching computing without adequate teacher training.
Now, her innovative curriculum provides schools with all of the tools they need to teach computing like a specialist. iCompute is recognized as the UK’s first commercial provider of an online computing curriculum and has received many prestigious award nominations. Liane even helped draft the National Curriculum for Computing for the Government! Liane plans to leverage AI for further advancements in teaching and learning.
Interview
Liane shared her membership journey with us. Find out what she had to say in our Q&A.
Which digital product(s) do you sell?
Content library
What is the pain point you solve for your customers?
It is statutory for schools in England & Wales to teach computing from the age of 4. Most teachers have never been trained to teach it. iCompute empowers teachers to deliver a broad, balanced, and challenging computing curriculum, fully matched to the National Curriculum for Computing, like a specialist. We provide planning, lessons, assessment resources, and all the materials schools need to teach computing creatively and with confidence.
What were you doing before your membership business?
Before joining MemberSpace, we provided subscribers access to our resources by digital download using an online password-based system on our website.
What challenges did you have in the early stages of your business? How did you solve those challenges?
In the early stages, our approach to enabling access to our resources lacked security. There was lots of password sharing, and it allowed our users to download too much content at the same time. This meant what they had downloaded quickly went out of date (computing by its nature is a dynamic subject, and we need to change it constantly) but also meant our users believed they didn’t need to subscribe for more than one year as they could, effectively, download everything and keep it forever. This is fundamentally contrary to everything we are trying to teach pupils about computing—(a) its exciting changing nature and (b) responsible digital citizenship.
Were there any keys to success, or big "a-ha!" moments that really elevated the growth of your business?
Our business grew due to our being the first commercial provider of an online computing curriculum in the UK. We were nominated for a number of prestigious awards for innovation and expertise in educational technology and teaching. This promoted our business for us. Our customers are schools. As teachers ourselves, we knew that schools do not respond to advertising and marketing as businesses do. They rely heavily on word of mouth and personal recommendations. The key to growth was getting our product and services known via reputable channels.
I’m iCompute’s author and am well known in the teaching community as a Computer Scientist and a DfE-appointed computing master teacher. I was part of the group responsible for drafting the National Curriculum for Computing for the government. I was funded by the DfE (Department for Education) to train teachers around the UK. My channels in the teaching community and support I provided schools and teachers enabled iCompute to be recognised for quality and expertise. In addition, during the pandemic when schools were closed, we rapidly provided free remote learning resources so that teachers could continue to teach computing throughout closures. Being the first to do so—and getting global recognition for it—helped us grow.
Did you have a social media following or large email list before you started your membership?
No.
How do you market your membership and find new members?
Our customers are teachers and schools. They do not respond to traditional marketing methods. They distrust direct selling. Reputation and recommendation are key to engaging new members. We achieve both by being recognised for innovation with awards, providing access to free teaching resources, and providing excellent advice and support to our members.
Do you spend any money on paid advertisements?
No.
Have you done anything to focus on retention and reduce canceled members?
Budgets are tight for schools in the UK. There is, ostensibly, “free” content available which some schools feel they should try, under pressure from senior management. We try to retain customers by continually adding and updating our content to stay ahead of advances in computing. This differs from competitors, free or otherwise. Their content is static and quickly becomes out of date. The challenge is that our customers often don’t realise the importance or value of this; therefore we change our subscription and pricing model in response where necessary.
What are some of your favorite online tools for running your business?
Our business relies heavily on technology and tools. We use Everweb and WordPress for website development, Canva for creating teacher/pupil support resources, Vyond for making AI-powered pupil/teacher explainer videos, Mailchimp for email campaigns, ChatGPT & SchoolsAI to support curriculum development, and Google Workspace for Education. I am also a software engineer and create digital tools for iCompute (e.g. interactive digital games for pupils or step-by-step coding tutorials).
MemberSpace plays a key role in running our business, managing our users, and delivering our content. Our model differs from many in that individuals do not subscribe to iCompute—schools do. Local authorities often pay for subscriptions for their schools and cannot use credit cards. Each school therefore needs its own plan, which is paid for outside of MemberSpace. We have hundreds of plans! Which makes managing them and our users a challenge. MemberSpace has been great in understanding that there is not a one-size-fits-all customer. They understand the unique requirements of our business and do their best to support us.
Do you have a team helping with your membership business?
Nope, just me!
What's your source of inspiration?
I’m inspired by children: our pupils. Their enthusiasm and thirst for learning! I share it and I want to empower teachers with the knowledge and skills so that they can introduce pupils to innovative thinking in the digital space. I want teachers to be able to embrace new advances and ideas, and not be afraid to look to its potential to enhance and improve teaching and learning.
If you could give your younger self any advice, what would it be?
Not worry that you’re the only woman in your class studying Computer Science at University or the only woman on the project team as a Software Engineer in industry. This will help you inspire more girls to develop a passion for computing in the future when you are a teacher.