Skoolbo’s founder & CEO – Shane Hill
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, its curriculum is aligned with the core standards for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. It strives to provide quality e-learning opportunities for all children, through it’s FUN and FREE game. Skoolbo is a fast-paced multi-player game that incorporates beautifully designed 3D worlds, includes individualized avatars and boasts a highly effective rewards system. Teachers and parents receive comprehensive reports detailing not only strengths and weaknesses, but also suggested individually customized activities for student improvement (advanced features can be purchased at a reasonable cost).
Skoolbo’s founder and CEO is Shane Hill ( so sorry…I couldn’t get a picture to load, I tried for an hour and three different browsers. But, a picture can be found here.) Shane’s vision has always been to create technology the dramatically assists children’s learning. He was a teacher for 11 years before leaving teaching to found 3 of the most used e-learning websites in the world – World Math Day, Mathletics and Spellodrome. In 2010 Shane developed the idea for Skoolbo, and together with the Skoolbo team, has spent the last 2 years creating the game which debuts online on June 24, 2012. Skoolbo’s team is worldwide, and features team members in Australia, the US and Singapore. The team is small, with only 5 members, but is comprehensive and dedicated. Each team member is highly qualified and boasts a software engineer, technical manager, communications director and music producer/composer in addition to Shane’s experience.
Personal Reflections: as an instructional resource teacher at the primary/elementary grades I have VERY HIGH hopes for this site! The students I work with daily are lacking in literacy and numeracy skills, and typically have little time or patience for instruction or practice. The idea of a fast-paced, engaging educational game (which is usually an oxymoron!) that they enjoy and can give practice in core areas would be fantastic, and one which I have wished for many times. Based on Shane Hill’s experience in teaching and the huge success of his previous online educational ventures, I have little doubt that the game will be fun for students. However, while it is touted as being free, I am wondering if the game will be severely limited without the purchased upgrades. Funding is usually limited at school, and I question whether this game will be useful without purchasing. I’ll be keeping an eye out for the 24th!
Smiles, Kim
Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
jtpatry 11:13 am on June 3, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
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