Zach Sims is the co-founder of Codecademy (http://www.codecademy.com), a program I was recently informed of by one of my students. His co-founder is Ryan Bubinsky. Codecademy provides free online lessons that teach programming. Zach observed that there was a lack of programmers in the United States, and during his experience as an employee with GroupMe […]
Continue reading Founder Parade: Zach Sims, Codecademy Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Bryan Falcon, Allen Angell and Reynard Hilman are founders of Haiku Learning Management System. Haiku provides a mean of managing curricular content in an online environment that could be used for both blended or virtual classrooms. Their service packages are geared towards both school districts and individual teachers. This system includes features such as website […]
Continue reading Harmonious Simplicity of Haiku LMS Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
HI everyone. Sorry about the lateness of this post, but I’ve been out of the country for a few days. I originally had intended to do John Baker of D2L, but someone had done that already so I chose to do Stephen Baker. Please see below for my introduction. Jody PS ***Full disclosure: […]
Continue reading HI everyone. Sorry about the lateness of… Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Jody,
A very informative post! My daughter took a course through VHS to help her accelerate her high school education (she graduated more than a semester early and gained early admission to university). She and I really liked the self-paced nature of the course and the flexible start dates.
Deborah
I’m glad to hear that you both enjoyed the course and the school! I have had so many positive experiences since being a part of the school in 2009.
Jody,
I completely understand your challenges. I am trying really hard to push it so that I am not posting last minute, but my week simply would not allow it now that my tutoring students are getting closer to their final exams. Hopefully we will both find our balance soon!
It is cool that you are working for VHS right now! I have heard much about this program, and has been quite interested in it as some of my tutoring students have a very difficult time in traditional schooling, which I think would definitely be a great thing for them to gain that flexibility in VHS. (as well, Deborah’s comment about her daughter is really helping to push me towards looking into this type of schooling further as a possibility and recommendation to my own students).
I think the thing that I find most interesting from your post is how this venture started off rather slowly. In terms of entrepreneurship (which I have none of, at least I do not really believe so quite yet and is hoping to gain more of) I think patience was the key learning here. VHS started rather slowly. It surprised me how long it took for the program to pick up.
If you do not mind, how do you feel working for VHS right now?
Sherman
I really enjoy working with VHS. Not only does it supplement my income, it gives me an opportunity to meet and work with students from all over the world. For example, many of my students are at the Canadian School in Singapore. Since one of my courses was designed by me, it gives me an opportunity to tweak my lessons for day school too. I wouldn’t change it for the world.
That’s great to hear that you are enjoying your work at VHS. I think this experience through working with students from other parts of the world also create a more global view of how learning is established and viewed. It is interesting how this venture is bringing the worlds together not just for students but also for teachers.
Thank you for sharing your story 🙂
Sherman
Great post Jody!
In your post you mentioned that Stephen Baker believes that “not all kids do well in a traditional classroom setting. ” And I agree on this, I find that online learning can be more beneficial to students who are less assertive, as in a traditional classroom setting they may be too shy to raise their own voice or question feeling pressured by those who are more assertive and aggressive. Hence, through virtual classroom settings, they will feel less pressured and intimidated to post, comment and question.
Karon
Hi Jody!
What a success story! We need more inovative teachers like Stephen Baker who believe there are many ways to learn . . . particularly in high school I think it is important to offer different learning options!
Kudos on your post Jody – it shows that you are enthusiastic about and proud of VHS and rightly so!
Marie-France
Thanks Jody for this wonderful posting. i really enjoyed learning more about Virtual High School. I had no idea that such an institution had existed, and more importantly, offer such high quality instruction. From the look of the syllabi, this is an exceptionally well organized institution. What I find most impressive is that VHS is moving back from the digital to the physical by renovating an old hotel to create a presence in the community. This is an important step to realizing its place as an educational institution. Well done VHS!
Allan
I was lucky enough to visit the building on the weekend of the 26th of May. It is very impressive!
What an interesting experience for you Jody. It was so interesting to read the genesis of this venture – impressive growth which to me demonstrates the forward thinking of Stephen Baker to establish something that addresses such a demand for alternative ways to learn and teach.
I am assuming that d2l will perfect the media environment for VHS’s version 2.0 🙂
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Leonora
About Infinite Campus: “Infinite Campus is focused on delivering an innovative, evolving student information system (SIS) that K12 districts, regions, and states across the United States rely on today and into the future to effectively collect and manage student data.” About Charlie Kratsch: Charlie Kratsch is the founder and CEO of this web-based student information […]
Continue reading Infinite Campus – Founder and CEO: Charlie Kratsch Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Hi Lisa,
I think that you are raising a very valid concern, one that I question about my own background as well! So many of the successful ventures seem to be led by those with a direct background in IT that is seems as though they are required. At the same time, however, it seems common for these IT experts to partner with an educator, which is where I can take some comfort (I fit in!). I think that there needs to be a balance between education and IT in order to create something truly successful in this field.
As for what you can come up with, I would hope that is not limited by a lack of IT knowledge. Perhaps it is possible for the non-IT people to imagine something incredible that will be fully realized with the help of a friendly IT partner.
Either way, I think there is still a place for non-IT experts to imagine incredible ventures and to follow through, there just might be a need for support in the process.
Thanks,
-Meggan
Thanks for this comment Meggan,
I am hopeful that me lack of IT knowledge won’t get in my way. I think you’re right that educators do have a place in the entrepreneurial world!
Lisa
HI Lisa .
I appreciate your genuine reflection about the roles on IT and non-IT. This is a question I ask myself very frequently. While I think that the role of the IT person is important to implement a creative idea in a creative way….I think that it’s the qualitative, pedagogically sound content that will prevail and make any venture successful (at least long-term).
Maybe I am too naive but that’s what I like to believe.
Thanks,
Leonora
Shane Hill, Founder and CEO of Skoolbo Skoolbo is a developer of a online educational games that aim to help 4-10 year olds strengthen their core skills in numeracy and literacy. The multi-player games are 3D animation and provide parents and teachers with detailed reports indicating the child’s strengths and weaknesses. Skoolbo claims that […]
Continue reading Skoolbo Founder- Shane Hill Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Very interesting review. My son uses Mathletics at school and loves it. I think it has been very beneficial for him. However, as a member of the Parent Advisory Council (PAC) that paid for the school license, I know how expensive it is. I like the idea of a a free basic level as it gives the students/parents a chance to see what is involved before deciding to pay for it.
I appreciated your comments about the buyer being the end user and the absence of commercial advertising. I think that would be important to many schools and parents.
Janet
Janet,
Good to hear your perspective as a parent and a member of Parent Advisory Council. Thanks. I haven’t used Mathletics, would you say that the they give you a sufficient opportunity to assess the programs value, in the free trial version?
David
Edublogs is a blogging platform for teachers, school districts, educational leaders and students around the globe. It provides a host site that allows users to create custom blog platforms that suit the needs of the user. James Farmer is the Founder and CEO of Edublogs, the company is based out of Melbourne, Australia. While lecturing […]
Continue reading Edublogs & James Farmer Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Interesting! I had no idea that edublogs was based out of Australia… I had just ‘assumed’ that it as a canadian deal. There are several blogs I follow from educators that use this platform, but I had never considered it a ‘venture’ or anything like that. How do they earn income $? I thought this was a free platform, but not sure now… honestly, I suppose I should go back and check it out once again… I think I had created a profile there at on time.
I agree with you that it is a well-recognized treasure trove of educator discussions! You’ve given me the urge to go check it out again!
thanks.
-y
Hey Yves,
Yup and Aussie company! They offer 3 types of memberships: free, pro, and campus. Last year they ran a campaign to keep the advertisers away by aiming to get 1 million blogs posted. They were successful and the site is ad free!
SurfEasy is a new product developed by Chris Houston (based out of Toronto) that provides secure internet access from any computer. They do this via USB stick and a modified version of Firefox providing customers private secure access. With a $59 price tag that allows 2gb per month of user browsing and premium plans […]
Continue reading Chris Houston and Surf Easy Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Disruptive technology indeed! Placing high value on me digital ‘freedom’, this kind of product is quite appealing to me. I would think it also quite appealing tho those wanting to to decide what they wish to access and not be blocked, controlled, etc.
I find this costing somewhat prohibitive for the educational market as ‘starving’ students would most likely forego the additional cost after paying the cell bill, internet access bill, rent, scholastic fees, etc.
I also appreciate your comments on how ‘together’ Mr. Houston and his team seem to be – no doubt they have recognized the controversial impact their product may have… I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for this product and its effects on networks and ‘controlled’ environments. Maybe school boards and enterprises use blacklists to filter out anonymizer sites; this here seems to be a hardware based solution that will be far more difficult to control…
Great post. thanks.
Finally – a Founder and CEO from Canada! The majority of entrepreneurs on that list were from the U.S.! This is such a promising product – but, as you’ve already pointed out, it’s quite costly in an already “starving” educational market! -Lisa
Turning Technologies produces software and hardware for interactive group polling. The main software is powerpoint based and has results/ report management functionality (TurningPoint) and is used in conjunction with a hardware radio frequency device (ResponseCards). The company has expanded its products to include: software that allows polling from pdf, webpages, spreadsheets; LMS integration of student […]
Continue reading Turning Technologies – Mike Broderick Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Hi Denise,
First I have to ask, how did you upload a photograph of the CEO? I tried many times using different techniques, but in the end gave up . . .
According to Mike Broderick, a key ingredient to success as an entrepreneur is that one really has to be convinced in one’s venture for it to fly. This has brought to mind that the CEO’s vision, leadership and charismatic qualties are vital characteristics when launching a venture, not only to attract funds and support, but also to attract and motivate a strong team to ‘believe’ in the venture and carry it through.
Marie-France
HI Marie-France
re the photo, I just uploaded the original to my pictures and then in the new post (under dashboard) there is an upload insert item (just above the toolbars) and it uploads and inserts it. – Hope that makes sense.
I agree re the really beliveing in it. I guess that is why he commented about no PlanB!
Denise
Hi Denise,
Thank you for the summary…..I have to say that I was sure (until now) that they were a Canadian Company.
I have been using the Turning Point clickers regularly for two years and I have to say that their customer service is fantastic and even the smallest questions/confusions are answered promptly and kindly.
I am always checking out other “clicker” companies (more about that in a minute) and Turning Point is way ahead in clicker size, durability and battery life.
However, I find it interesting that they have not established itself on the Mac OS platform. The most current version version is Mac/Office 2004. They have improved their Turning Point Anywhere which will layer on top of any program (Keynote was excluded in the past) but I still do “get it”. I use a Mac on which I have installed a PC platform to run the full TP version…not ideal but works fine.
I enjoyed reading about TP from a different perspective.
Bridget
SMALLab stands for Situated Multimedia Arts Learning Lab and it was founded by an interdisciplinary team at Arizona State University led by the CEO, David Birchfield. Birchfield has a Doctorate in Music and a background in digital media and performance. He and his team do research on games, K-12 education, assessment, digital media programming, […]
Continue reading SMALLab Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
I hadn’t heard of SMALLab before you posted this profile, and I think it is fantastic! When Smart Boards came into the classroom it changed the way teachers taught and I think that SMALLabs has the potential to do the same. I liked the introductory video on their main website and I was happy to hear of the the developers say that it is not meant to replace teachers, but enhance teaching methods. I am also happy to read that it has been developed by highly qualified researchers in the subject field related to the game developed. This is definitely something I can see more schools buying into within the next 5 years. I think it will explode into the public education system just like Smart Boards did and CEO David Birchfield will be a very happy man then 🙂
Hi Sheza,
I totally agree with you . . . in my own mind any and all technology should not replace the teacher, but enhance teaching and learning methods. I feel SMALLab has great potential to do both. I would absolutely love to have access to these tools for teaching second languages to adults – what a great way it would be to present grammar concepts intreactively – or help students discover how the brain works when translating a word or understand the physicality of pronunciation (how the palate, tongue and lips work together when pronouncing)! I feel using this form of technology to increase embodied learning experiences has endless possibilities.
Marie-France
Hello,
I think SMALLLab is an extraordinary learning venture and has tremendous potential to transform the school classroom. My vision and understanding of embodied learning so far has been ‘hands on’ experiences where students actually manipulate material, using their sense of smell, touch, vision, hearing and thus ‘feeling’ the learning experience in a holistic way. It is possible to handle physical objects for many subjects taught, but many principles remain abstract or untangible and this type of ‘virtual’ embodied experience, I believe, could help students experience embodied learning when exposed to these concepts. Out of all the ventures presented here, this is the one I find the most impressive and the one with the most potential. Not only would I certainly invest in this venture, but I feel excited at the thought that this embodied virtual lab could some day become part of all classrooms.
I also thought that David Birchfield’s presentation was excellent. As a speaker he reached out to the audience with confidence, portrayed himself as a regular guy with an extraordinary idea and concept to share. His use of a PPT was well used to support his presentation.
I don’t teach K-12 anymore, but ventures like this one almost make me want to become a primary or high school teacher again . . .
I think it is high time we change the set up of classrooms – the traditional way being student desks on one side of the room (usually in rows) and the teacher at one end. Classrooms need to be more dynamic, they need to become a learning lab and the ‘SMALLab’ concept explores that idea.
Thank you for sharing this learning venture!
Marie-France
CEO and Founder Bruno Maisonnier of Aldebaran Robotics, has been working with the development of personal robotics for 25 years. He believes that the NAO (pronounced “now”) robot is the face of the future. Since it’s difficult to build your own robot, Aldebarn Robotics has decided to offer the market a sufficiently performing robot, but […]
Continue reading Bruno Maisonnier and Aldebaran Robotics Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Hi Sheza,
I have heard about these robots before but have actually never looked into the details of one. Thanks for sharing your post with us. I really liked their concept of using robots for therapies in helping autistic children.
Karon
Hello Sheza,
It’s interesting to see that Bruno Maisonnier is considered the Bill Gates of France. Thanks for sharing the video. I love the scene when the one robot is pushed over by Bruno and he says “ouch”. Then the robot answers “Je ne suis pas un robot, je suis un assistant personnel”. It’s great to see that autistic children, handicapped people and the elderly can all benefit f rom the use of these robots. The autistic kids can relate to the robots where otherwise they can have difficulty with people. Also, Bruno mentions that the Korean government is starting to use the robots as teachers’ assistants to help teach English. Apparently, the robots aren’t judgemental, they just repeat what the students need to work on:)
Cheers,
Donna
Nic Borg (above, top) and Jeff O’Hara (above, bottom)are the co-founders of Edmodo, an online classroom management system based on social media. The two young men worked for two different school districts and while Mr. O’Hara was working in an IT position he found that schools were constantly needing social networking sites to be blocked […]
Continue reading Edmodo: Nic Borg & Jeff O’Hara Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Thanks for the introduction to Edmodo Meggan. realy interesting. Given some of the privacy issues with Facebook, and I believe some provinces in Canada make it illegal to use Facebook for classes, I’d be interested in its privacy policies.
I agree that it is great to see employees see a problem and create a valuable tool and company!
Denise
What a great venture these two have come up with. This idea of collaborating with fellow colleagues is certainly inspiring! And, as Denise points out, by developing their own platform, they get around the privacy policies – totally brilliant!
Lisa
Hi Denise,
The two actually mention needing more security and privacy control as one of the reasons that they created Edmodo. Check out this video if you’re curious to see them explain things a bit more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr_DkIfOWag
Thanks,
-Meggan
Skoolbo is currently the biggest and newest (so new it is not even online till June 24!) online educational game to date. For students ages 4-10, Skoolbo is designed to strengthen core skills in math and literacy. Skoolbo’s mission is to help students master the fundamental skills needed in numeracy and literacy, and as such, […]
Continue reading Skoolbo’s founder & CEO – Shane Hill Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Great find Kim! There is always room for educational gaming in schools, especially as a way to support the learning at home. I know many students in my school have been introduced to http://ca.ixl.com/ and use it at home as a way to hone their skills (some teachers use it solely in the classroom, as a means of explaining concepts which isn’t the greatest). I look forward to the 24th to see what unfolds!
Cheers,
Jon
BIO Michael L. Chasen at the age of 39 is the co-founder and CEO for Blackboard Inc. As a graduate from Georgetown University with a MBA and an undergraduate degree in computer science from America University Michael Chasen began his early career as a higher education practice member at KPMG Consulting, his expertise was in […]
Continue reading Blackboard Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Thanks for profiling the founder of Blackboard, Karon! As a frequent user of the Blackboard LMS I find it interesting to read about the face behind the innovation. What I find most intriguing is that Chasen comes from a Computer Science background, not one in Education, yet he has managed to create a system that is integral in online learning today. I know of several companies that use Blackboard as their go-to professional learning tool. Today many of the LMS look the same and function in mainly the same ways, yet are open source or free, unlike Blackboard, so it is interesting to hear about what they are doing to keep their competitive edge i.e. tackling the growing mobile app market.
Hi Sheza,
Yes, it would be very interesting especially with Desire2Learn being Blackboard’s biggest competitor it would be interesting to see how they will continue to expand with such competition.
Karon
Hi Karon,
Blackboard is such an interesting company – from what I understand, they recently bought out Vista (the current platform for many of the ETEC courses at UBC). Even more interesting, Vista was created by an employee at UBC! It’s a smaller world than we think!
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
When we look at it, it seems like we are all interconnected.
Karon
PhET is a non-profit organization that provides free interactive simulations of physical phenomena on their website. The PhET team consists of diverse individuals including research associates, software engineers, website architectures, marketing managers, and high-school teachers. The team believes that their research-based simulations enable students to make connections between real-life phenomena and the underlying science. To […]
Continue reading PhET Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Nice summary and I think PhET is great. I have used PhET simulations and tools numerous times in my classes, often as a T-GEM approach, since the models allow students to explore and adjust different variables.
Dave
Curt Richardson is the founder and CEO of Otterbox, a company that creates special cases for every type of mobile device. (I tried for half an hour to load the photo onto to the blog but it just won’t work, sorry). If it helps, Richardson is a handsome man in his 50’s that looks outgoing and motivated:) […]
Continue reading Curt Richardson is the founder and CEO o… Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Hi Donna,
It’s interesting to see the man behind the company we see around us on a day to day basis! Although I have had my issues with Otterbox, I respect Mr. Richardson’s entrepreneurial background and it seems clear that he has always been an individual driven to create a successful business.
I do wonder somewhat at the motivation behind these ventures – the variety within their topics seems to suggest that financial benefit was the main driving force. Do you think that Mr. Richardson would have been as successful if mobile devices had not become as predominant?
Thanks for the detail!
-Meggan
Hello Meggan,
I’m sure that the predominance of mobile devices definitely helped Mr. Richardson’s venture immensely!
Cheers,
Donna
Pengkai Pan, Founder and CEO of Saybot Inc. Each term my daughter will bring a pamphlet of “Alo7 (an Game-based English learning environment)” from her school. The tool is recommended by her English teacher to help her learning English at home. I took a look at the venture behind this tool, Saybot Inc. Saybot was founded […]
Continue reading Pengkai Pan and his Saybot Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Hi Ping,
You have provided a very interesting parental point of view in terms of the consumer market for such product. The ‘teacher as salesperson’ is also a disturbing point. Out of curiousity, what is the price point for this product?
Hi Gillian,
The annual fee for an Alo7 account is about US$50. It’s affordable, but I happen to be a parent not caring too much about the kid’s score sheet. About 1/3 students in my daughter’s class are using it.
Ping
Thanks for the follow up Ping – I suppose the price is affordable, but I wonder if it creates a gap between users and non users in the classroom. Your references about parents who care too much reminds me of Amy Chua and her tales of Tiger Moms.
gillian
Hi Ping and Gillian
I thought it was an interesting venture and as per many of the other ventures it has relied on someone applying their skill sets or experience in novel ways. I too am a bit skeptical of the teacher as a sales person, however, we frequently do it when we suggest extra tutor to parents when students are struggling in our classes. So I guess it would depend upon the intent behind the push to use the program.
Hi Dave,
The role of teacher as “sales person” is in my impression. They don’t push hard for this, just say “you can use it if you feel difficult” so so. There do have students feel difficult in English learning, and they parents think this tool is worthy. I almost appreciate Alo7’s marketing force since it not easy to make teachers aligned in such a special educational system. Making a learning venture is definitely not an easy thing….
Ping
Hi Ping,
Great Post and interesting perspective on this product I particularly liked your appreciation for the need to shift the focus from human-robot to human-human interaction when learning a language. I wonder if our students wouldn’t be better served to find collaborative partnerships with other students in other classrooms around the world to teach each other their respective languages. This seems like a more natural way to learn a language… shouldn’t we be leveraging technology to bring us together and make “real” friends in the process, rather than programming our kids to interact with software, computers and robots. Very enlightening post!
Cheers, Steve
Hi Steve,
Thanks! I totally agree with you that our kids need “collaborative partnerships” with real friends around the world. That’s why I expect so highly for a global virtual learning environment not only for language learning but for everything learning.
Ping
Ping,
This is an excellent article, thanks for sharing. Language programs are getting increasingly used by language learners. Rosetta Stone is one program that I’ve also known that is quite popular. Even UBC has come out with a mobile language app that I find very interesting – http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2012/05/10/want-to-learn-chinese-characters-ubc-has-an-app-for-that/
Allan
K12 is the world’s largest online school for kindergarten through grade 12 and has been in operation since 2000. Their mission statement “to provide any child access to exceptional curriculum and tools that enable him or her to maximize his or her success in life, regardless of geographic, financial, or demographic circumstance” says it all. […]
Continue reading K12: Mr. Ron Packard Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Hi Bridget
Thanks for such a comprehensive analysis of the company. I had not heard of K12 but your piece has motivated me to go and take a look. It amazes me how these successful ventures begin from such ordinary problems.
Thanks for sharing
Valerie
Hi Bridget,
The inspiration for some of these ventures I think has become my most favourite part. It seems to indicate that if one personally sees the need for a product there really is likely several other people who would agree, but as you said most would not seek to fill it.
gillian
I agree with you here Gillian – the inspiration is the most inspiring part of all these ventures!
Lisa
Bridget,
Quite an insightful analysis on the company. I never heard of K12 and will certainly take a look
shortly. I am impressed by these success stories. For a start up company such as this really needed a versatile, experienced and well educated team for it to perform exceptionally well.
~Shawn
Hi Bridget,
Thanks for the summary – it sounds like a very intriguing site. I review the Khan Academy and it was good, but this sounds more comprehensive. I am going to check it out.
Janet
HI Bridget,
Thanks for the introduction. They certainly offer a variety of access options – school programs, parent doing the coaching or their own online coaches. I haven’t had any experience with this system but they certainly have created the market for a number of different buyers.
Denise
This is an excellent company you profiled Bridget, thanks for sharing. It’s fascinating that it was Packard’s daughter that triggered his search for a program that led to K12.
Tony Bott is a teacher, founded, co-owner, and advertising executive of Teachers.Net, an online support organization for teachers. Teachers.Net provides a one-stop shop for all of teachers’ needs including information, resources and networking. Founded back in 1996, Teachers Net was the idea of Tony Bott who envisioned a site that would emancipate teachers from […]
Continue reading Teachers.Net…One Teacher’s Dream! Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Great post! I am pretty amazed how Bob Reap taught himself to program. I agree, sometimes it is about the quality of the features not the quantity like you said they could have just hosted links but I guess they wanted to have all the ownership in their site?
Karon
Hi Karon,
Thanks, I agree that quality is more important than quantity, especially when you want to keep visitors coming back to your site. With Web 2.0, collaboration software has reached a new pinnacle of affordances that is a crime not to leverage. For our 522 Visual-Intensive Project we are going to leverage the affordance of social mind mapping to show just how far these V-I collaborative tools have come and what kind of learning they afford including synchronous online collaboration. Its a shame to try to make websites into closed systems like many LMS sites….take this class for instance.
Cheers, Steve
HI Steve,
I am interested that you don’t see a place for closed systems. I think it depends on what one is trying to achieve in learning. But love to hear oyur thoughts.
Denise
Hey Steve,
A very comprehensive post. I must say that I have adapted a lesson plan or two from teachers.net (I love the free stuff), but never really thought about its origins. I agree with you that the site is much too busy and may need some restructuring rather than simply taking an adhoc approach to updating.
Hi Gillian,
Its interesting to hear that you have used Teachers.Net in the past. I was amazed at the number of lessons but worried that some teachers may find it difficult to find relevant resources to an area of interest considering the clunky search engine. As part of my final project, I am proposing a site that is similar but leverages web 2.0 affordances and targets a more locallized community such as BC teachers. Considering the pain points of this venture, I think there may be a market need for a better type of collaborative website that provides additional opportunities for engagement.
Cheers, Steve
Steve,
Sounds like a great idea for a final project idea and sounds like you are well equipped to accomplish it. Janet’s idea below for provincially specific curriculum spaces would be a really good organizational method for the site.
gillian
Hi. I think a version of this site for localized communities is a great idea. If one could click on BC or Alberta (or whatever area) it would make it easier to collaborate with teachers in your area and to share resources specific to local curriculum/ideas. Plus it would make managing resources easier as each area would have a great deal in common.
Janet
Thanks Janet, you highlight some important advantages. It’s great to have such valuable input! I am hoping to set up a power point presentation for my colleagues in the next month to get more input…a form of research development. I will also share my link here in case anyone else is interested in adding some opinions or concerns for the venture. With a computer programmer for a brother and a research & development/marketer for my best friend, I think I may stand a chance to create this site in the near future.
I hope that this venture idea will be able to showcase the many affordances that a more open site could offer.
Cheers, Steve
I have also used Teachers.Net for the odd science and math lesson plan or worksheet for junior high school students. I found it easy to navigate and find what I was looking for. The front page has been updated since I used it last and I agree that it looks very busy but that is how many of these sites can afford to run, through advertising, especially targeted advertising.
Dennis
Hi Steve,
Thanks for sharing this. It’s a wonderful website. I like their “sample problems”, so easy to understand and to use. I’m also curious of your Web2.0 version in the near future. Please remember to share us when you start it. If you can somehow increase the utilization of graphics and reduce texts as possible, maybe my daughter could use it despite of language difference ? !
Ping
Dr. Avraham Kadar, CEO and Founder of BrainPOP BrainPOP, privately owned by FWD Media Inc, is a group of award winning, subscription-based websites that offer over 1000 animated videos and related materials on 7 K-12 educational topics including Health, Math, Social Studies, Science, Engineering and Tech, Art and Music and English (Wikipedia, 2012). The website […]
Continue reading Dr. Avraham Kadar, Founder and CEO of BrainPOP Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
As a science teacher from way back I have watched BrainPop videos before but would never use them in my classroom and certainly wouldn’t pay for them. To me they are the junk food of education, fun while you are experiencing them, but have little or no nutritional value. Maybe they would be fun for kids to share with parents. Just my honest educators opinion!
Hey Steve,
I appreciate your honesty. As an adult educator, I could see little use for them, but I did think they looked like fun for younger grades. I also liked the idea of the educator community and some of the other free features.
gillian
Hi Gillian,
Hope that my last comment didn’t offend, it was not aimed at you but at resources like this one. I really enjoyed reading your piece about the founder and his venture, I had no idea he was so accomplished. I just have such a viceral reaction to these types of products. Although, I agree that they are fun and could be a great site for students to visit outside of the formal learning timetable. I wonder how students would review these videos? They are funny!
Cheers, Steve
Hi Steve,
I have used BrainPop in the classroom as a supplemental piece to learning. I agree with you that it shouldn’t take away from the “formal setting” of the teaching experience in the classroom. Yes, as adults we find these types of characters irritating, but the videos aren’t targeting adults. I know the students certainly get a kick out of them. What I really like about BrainPop, is that it really helps simplify concepts with great visuals especially for students with ESL (there are many free ones). There are also great resources for educators to use aside from the video components to assist teachers with lesson concepts.
I got a kick out of your term “junk food for education” and if left alone to its own consumption, yes can be very unhealthy. But like anything, we need to understand that there a balance is necessary, and it’s okay to dabble in junk once in awhile!
Thanks for you open and honest opinion Steve.
Cheers,
Jon
Steve – no worries and certainly no offense! As I said your response was honest. I myself found Moby to be quite annoying but he appears to have quite a fan following amongst the younger kids if you check out the Flickr photostream! Apparently 25% of US schools subscribe to BrainPOP and there is also a BrainPOP UK version.
To each his own?
Cheers back 🙂
gillian
Claudio Erba is the founder and CEO of the Italian company called Docebo (dō-CHAY-bō), an e-learning company that has developed an open-source LMS. It can be run on the cloud as SaaS on a fee per-user basis or it can be purchased and installed locally. Docebo differentiates itself from competitors by having small and medium […]
Continue reading Claudio Erba founds Docebo Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Great summary! Your comment about the continued growth of the company despite competition is consistent with a report I read from Bersin & Associates. The author of the report, David Mallon, suggested that the number of LMS providers continues to grow fuelled by the entrance of smaller companies.
Deborah
Yes, there does seem to be many small but successful ventures in the LMS, CMS, SMS and TMS markets. It also seems, however, that for every new idea that makes these ventures successful, another one is bought out and absorbed by the larger corporations such as Blackboard. For example, a company called MoodleRooms, providing online hosting and technical support for the Moodle platform was recently bought by Blackboard so now Blackboard has invested in Moodle. It all seems rather strange to me but I guess if you can buy out the competition, that is one way of maintaining a market status.
Tim
It’s interesting to see a product, originally created for education being specialized for businesses. Usually it’s the other way around. It’s also great to see they are succeeding by becoming specialists in business training. I wonder what might happen if other LMS providers get wind to the market potential for business. Although, my experience tells me that these companies are slow to shift (Moodle creators agree) and therefore may never catch up to Docebo, especially if the company continues to evolve to meet the needs of its customers. I wonder what Docebo offers that Blackboard and Desire2Learn don’t?
Cheers, Steve
Steve
I think Docebos main catch for the business market is their willingness to adapt their technology to suit the needs of their clients. They even offer to provide full course development and learning object creation for their clients. This is very attractive for businesses since they do not need to hire educational experts to do this development.
Tim
Tim,
I am curious how the company can refer to itself as “open source” if it requires user fee for web-based users or a purchase price for downloaders?
Gillian
Open source just means that the source code that the software is developed with is made available to the clients. There is no patent or copyright on the particular programming of the software. In this way, if they so desire, the clients can redesign the code to fit their personal preferences. Docebo does offer a free version for up to five users; essentially to try it out. There are also several examples of companies who offer Moodle, also an open-source product on a per-user fee basis (MoodleRooms and Lambda Solutions to name two).
Tim
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troos 8:13 pm on June 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Sherman:
Haiku sounds and looks like it has potential. This is another cloud-based LMS entering a competitive market. It seems as if ventures like these are “lucky” because it takes the right people at the right time with matching vision to pull it together. You are right in saying that a lack in unified vision can be deadly.
Tim
Sherman Lee 8:41 am on June 5, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hello Tim,
I agree that it is a rather competitive market out there. What I wonder as well is what gives the successful company that edge to best the many others. Luck is one of them, but relying on that solely surely would not last for long. A team must stay updated and informed of what the users / customers want in order to keep up with the market. That type of analysis in itself calls for a sharp sense to trend in the company lead and also a keen team to keep tapping into the opinions of users and potential user groups.
Sherman