The cellphone in the classroom has become as ubiquitous as a pencil or pen. These tools are awesome technological advances, but they can also be distracting and addictive for students.
ScreenSense takes back the class as it gives teachers greater control over the phone usage in the classroom and transforms a student phone into an assignment sharing, progress tracking, and productivity monitoring tool.
It’s time to focus… It’s time for ScreenSense!
Hi Simon!
As a quick note, I can’t seem to access the Venture Pitch – it is giving me an error code (not sure if it is just me).
So far, your elevator pitch has piqued my interest – especially as it is new to me how often students are able to use their phones within class. I am intrigued to read more about it in your Venture Pitch – and I will definitely circle back!
Thanks for letting me know, Emma. Let me check on that!
Ok, I believe it’s fixed. Thanks again, Emma.
I’m also getting the error still. Maybe a URL problem?
https://sites.google.com/view/screensensesite
Very odd. It is a google site so you’ll need to sign in to a Google account to access it I believe.
Third times the charm. Let me know if that works!! Sorry about that.
Hmm, I am signed in on my Google account and still nothing.
Error is: 404. That’s an error. The requested URL was not found on this server. That’s all we know.
Ha – technology!!!!
I have been trouble shooting and trying everything. I think I got it…….. please let me know. Thanks.
It works!!
First off, I love this idea in that while I am not an educator (nor do I plan on being one), and do not have any children/nieces/nephews, etc., I am fairly unaware of how phones are used in the classroom. From what I do understand, however, phones are a bit of a tricky issue in school – so I think this is timely and relevant.
I really liked the feature of gamification. This is a trend that is so prevalent in this entire program, and through this program I have seen how valuable gamification is for students, in terms of motivation, engagement, and more. Do you have an thoughts on what the rewards could be? I could see this as very successful! What I also like is how wide your target market could be. This product is able to serve such a wide market, and I would truly believe that the value of the company would grow to what you anticipate it to.
My only question is surrounding the screen mirroring, specifically having teachers potentially seeing something private/sensitive a student may be doing on their phone. Are there are any mitigations that could be put in place for this?
FINALLY!!!!
Thanks for being patient, Emma. Game rewards is always a tricky one as you really want to avoid extrinsic motivators and stick more with the intrinsic. Personally, in my classes, I like to end each day with five minutes of trivia. I find that the students have a great time trying to figure out the answers in small groups and I switch the groups bi-monthly. This is also a great excuse to have students sitting with different people. Rewards I have done in the past is students get to tell me a category they would like to see and I would make the trivia for the class. They have a bit of an advantage but they now must defend their subject choice by winning. I prefer to avoid giving any food or anything like that. Because I teach e-commerce and marketing, I also offer the winning student to propose a lesson they would like to see or an activity or assignment. It takes more work for me to prep but they are always much more invested in the material. I’ve done a breakdown of the Apple website after a student suggested it. I’ve also given two lessons and an activity on NFTs and how to make your own.
As for the screen mirroring, I was thinking it wasn’t a screenshare but more so a button the teacher can press that locks their phone, thus avoiding them seeing the screen of the student. As for the assignment tracking, the student will be prompted to share their progress and that would go directly to the teacher.
Thanks for posting your thoughts, Emma.
Hi Simon, I really like your idea! Your venture is meticulously outlined, covering every crucial aspect. While it’s true that not all students currently possess cellphones, the trend towards increased technology accessibility makes your app a valuable proposition. The need for a tool that regulates classroom behavior will likely become even more pronounced, and I believe the market potential is substantial.
I did notice one aspect that could warrant further consideration. The initial investment of 10k appears to be on the smaller side, especially when compared to the potential expenses involved. Have you explored or are you open to exploring additional funding sources? Government-level funding programs, in particular, could be a perfect fit for your unique case.
Great points. As I saw this starting very small and growing as the app gets more popular and school boards that notice, I thought a 10k investment was correct, but you are correct, the app design alone would be almost that whole amount. I did factor in my involvement as I would be profiting on the earnings and I wouldn’t pay myself a salary at first. Government financing is certainly an option, but I’d like to make sure that I can take the idea across borders and a gov funded project might mean that it is limited to that country.
Thanks for those points, Terrence.
Very well done Simon. Elevator pitch is amazing. Full venture pitch is professional and easily understandable (really appreciated the well-researched target markets). What is very sneaky-smart about this is that having a phone controlled/accessible by your teacher instantly makes it uncool – further mitigating distraction and use! That said though, I worry that phones are becoming very personal extensions, what are your thoughts on parents/kids that will see this as an invasion of privacy? Is there an opt-out option (ie if this was district-wide implementation)? Also, how will ScreenSense work with user privacy settings or apps like Google Family Link?
Thank you and really enjoyed your presentation.
Yes, the privacy issue is something that I battled with. My vision was to create the app to give the teacher the ability to close out the phone but not actually have any access to the features or apps of the phone itself. There would have to be an opt-out option unfortunately, unless the board institutes a policy that if you want to bring in a phone to the classroom, you’d have to add this app. The opt-out in that case would be just don’t bring your phone to class! As for the family link, I see the app integrating with that app. There needs to be more thought into these issues but I have tackled the basic solutions. Thanks for the question, Carlo.
Hi Simon,
Your pitch is well organized and demonstrates a strong commitment to your work. Very cool to include marketing strategies – something I have yet to see in other ventures.
While I love the idea of an idealized world where we manage cell phone use in classrooms, I am acutely aware of how students constantly find workarounds for these solutions. For example, when my younger brother was going through high school, the district student WI-FI blocked students from accessing various social media apps (i.e., Snapchat, Instagram, etc). Eventually, and not too soon after the block, students created (or discovered – potentially) a separate VPN that allowed them back on these apps and thus allowed for continued communication and usage of their phones throughout the day.
Nonetheless, I think you have included a variety of additional features within ScreenSense that captivates investors, such as sending student reminders or gamification. I think your approach would be better suited for a more succinct LMS that provides time management rather than policing individual devices.
I think you are right, Danielle. When I began developing the idea, the attributes of the app kept expanding until it included a lot of features. While the kernel of the idea was based on the blocking of the phone, I think the gamification and submission tracking has more legs and doesn’t run into as many privacy issues. I find it kind of crazy that my school board doesn’t have an app for the management of the class materials. I guess that promotes phone use, which isn’t ideal.
Hi Simon, I think you did an amazing job on this venture pitch! I can see how disruptive phones can be in higher grades, and the traditional way of locking students’ phones away is neither effective nor ideal. At the end of the day, we want our students to use their phones and maximize their function as a learning tool. ScreenSense can be the solution.
I do have a question about the product. Since SceeSence can be installed on the student’s phone as well, I wonder how different the student interface is going to be from the teacher interface. What kind of features would students have access to, or is it just a place where students can view the points they earn. It would be a bonus if students can continue to use this tool to improve productivity when they are working outside of school.
Great question, Trista. I envisioned the student interface to be limited in that they can see how much in school phone use they’ve had and the points accrued. In future generations I could see this as an app that allows the student to submit work and complete rewrites for resubmission based on the teacher’s feedback. As I reflect on the idea, it’s a pretty massive undertaking and I think I would have to pare it back and focus on the blocking aspect or the utilitarian part for school work.
Hi Simon,
Wow! Your elevator pitch is very convincing and professional. I felt it keenly when you shared the point about students only having the ability to focus for 7 seconds. I love the dashboard examples you shared. It really helped me to imagine you app in action and understand what that would look like. I think your venture has a lot of potential in a world where teenagers (and most adults) are unable to voluntarily ignore their phones.
Great job with your venture pitch!
Carina