Richard Derksen

Hello! I live, learn, work, and play on the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish Peoples of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations in the Metro Vancouver area. I was born and raised in Delta, BC, and came back to Canada after teaching English abroad in Japan a few years ago. I recently changed positions as a result of being in the MET program, previously working in international education at the post secondary level, having now transitioned into a corporate training role in healthcare. I enjoy being active in my spare time; playing hockey and golf when I can.

Cloud Learning

By Richard Derksen on December 13, 2023

Cloud learning has been well established in education for more than a decade and continues to be a vehicle for addressing critical challenges faced by traditional educational systems. Through cloud learning, users can access and interact with services like resources, apps, databases, emails, and file services using cloud computing; offering affordances such as accessibility, personalized […]

A2: Opportunity Forecast on Cloud Learning

By Richard Derksen on July 16, 2023

Welcome to Week Ten! For this week’s Opportunity Forecast, we will be presenting a world that we are all familiar with: cloud learning. This elusive “cloud” that we are exploring has been gaining popularity since the mid 2000s and has become omnipresent in our world. Think about how often you hear phrases like “I’ve uploaded […]

Analyst Report (A1) – Crescendo

By Richard Derksen on June 24, 2023

Crescendo, or Crescendowork, is a Canadian-based SaaS company that specializes in delivering customized workplace learning experiences. Through their products, services, and company values, they reimagine how to affect substantive change in workplace learning on topics such as diversity, equity, and inclusion, data privacy, and business ethics. You can find my analyst report here: https://sites.google.com/view/crescendo-analyst-report/home

Founders Parade – Vivi Friedgut

By Richard Derksen on June 11, 2023

Venture: Blackbullion is a London based for-profit edtech startup aiming to equip students with necessary financial skills for their transition to higher education and beyond. They offer a digital platform to simplify how to approach financial literacy, from an educational programme covering 80 financial subjects to integrating that knowledge with fintech-based funds application and payments […]

Pitch Pool: SwiftGrade

By Richard Derksen on June 2, 2023

SwiftGrade is a tool that is designed to save teachers time by grading assessments using AI. For paper assessments, it uses a combination of cameras and AI to identify variations in students handwriting, including in different languages and examining complex math formulas, to generate a result for the teacher. For online assessments, it uses algorithms […]

Hi MET Community!

By Richard Derksen on May 17, 2023

Hi everyone, My name is Richard Derksen and this is my 5th course in the MET program. I originally started the program working in higher education in the Metro Vancouver area, but the benefits of what I’ve already learned in this program have prompted a bit of a career shift quicker than I could have […]