The Pro-D Room is ready to bring personalized professional development to teachers. With this new site, teachers have control over their pro-d courses and can access expert-run courses online. Take a look at the elevator pitch to learn more about this exciting venture! For more detail, read the Venture Pitch! Thanks! -Meggan
Continue reading The Pro-D Room Posted in: Venture Forum
Meggan Crawford
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Meggan Crawford
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Meggan Crawford
Mind Mapping Technology
I have used mind mapping software (Bubbl and Spicy Nodes in particular) in my classroom with varying levels of success in the past. Mind mapping in general is something that I feel has a great deal of value as it allows students to personalize their learning and how they chose to both organize and express their […]
Continue reading Mind Mapping Technology Posted in: Week 09: Visual-Intensive Learning-
Danielle Dubien
Hi Meggan,
Thanks for sharing the software tools! Spicy Nodes creates beatiful maps that are easy to navigate and allow the user to focus on sections. However, it’s difficult to create maps because the editing and visualising parts are separate. Bubbl is much easier to use, although it creates a less interactive product. Given that its purpose is note-taking during brainstorms, I’d say it does its job well. I like that additional subordinate bubbles change colour automatically, and match the original bubble, even if you change the colour.
Anyway, in a time when technology is changing so fast and teachers have little time, it seems that the software programs that will succeed are the ones that are versatile and easy to use. If I can’t get a program to do simple things in five minutes and think of several uses for it, I cross it off my list and move on.
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Meggan Crawford
Edmodo: Nic Borg & Jeff O’Hara
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-
Denise
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
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lisamallen
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 -
Meggan Crawford
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
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Meggan Crawford
The eLearning Coach: 2012 Trends
Summary: Connie Malamed’s thoughts on the top emerging technologies of 2012 suggest several trends that she believes will become more prominent and more developed throughout the year. Her suggestions range from backchannel tweeting at conferences to collaborating on the cloud, to support for HTML 5 over Flash and the expansion of blended learning. Overall her […]
Continue reading The eLearning Coach: 2012 Trends Posted in: Uncategorized -
Meggan Crawford
Another Hello!
Hello everyone! I am excited to be in my seventh and eighth MET courses this semester. In addition to ETEC 522 I will be heading to Toronto for a week in July for the Historical Thinking Project, which I am quite excited about. I currently teach Secondary English, Social Studies and Learning Support in Coquitlam, […]
Continue reading Another Hello! Posted in: Uncategorized-
karonw
Hi Meggan,
I’m also taking ETEC 522! I think we will be collaborating quite a bit together.
Goodluck with your studies.
Karon
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Claire Burgoyne
Hi Meggan,
Nice to see you here. Your week in July should sounds like something to be excited about.
I like that you included you in ‘weemee’ form. That’s fun.Claire
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Deborah S
Hi Meggan,
It’s nice to see another familiar face. Looking forward to working with you this term.Deborah
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gillian
Hi Meggan,
Congrats on your first teaching contract. Hopefully it will all be uphill from here. I look forward to hearing about your experience in Toronto.
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Danielle
Hi Megan, the ‘Wee Me’ is great. I will have to see what I look like as a ‘wee me’! What is the Historical Thinking Project? Danielle
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jtpatry 4:49 pm on July 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Good Day Meggan,
Thank you for sharing your elevator and venture pitches. Your Pro-D pitch was very well done and one that I wanted to know more about. Professional development is key in any profession and many times enough the selection or offerings are not worth the time or are able to cater to the diverse teacher needs. Teachers, like students need to have different offerings and methods to engage. I think the idea to collaborate and work-within a site (yet remaining independent) is key to getting your viable Pro-D brand out to the masses.
How flexible is Pro-D? If teachers weren’t able to join the live session for whatever reasons, would there be opportunity for a pre-recoded webinar to access and take part in? I think this is a great idea and one that would offer educators of all levels to take their own Pro-D into their own hands and hopefully take the initiative and challenges them.
Great job and thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Jon
janetb 8:52 pm on July 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Meggan,
This is an excellent idea! Your elevator pitch was very convincing and got me hooked. The venture pitch was well organized and engaging. I felt it exhibited the following strengths:
Pain Point – you accurately and clearly identified the pain point. As an educator in rural BC, I related very strongly to the difficulties involved in accessing meaningful pro-d.
Solution – Moving pro-d to technology makes sense – and saves cents; personalizing it makes it meaningful.
Differentiation/Competition – You very clearly laid out the existing competition, of lack thereof, and how The Pro-D Room is different. I felt the online options for accessing the pro-d provided a range of choices to individual or groups of teachers.
Market – Your market was clear.
The Team – Your personal expertise and the areas of experience listed in your team gave me confidence that you could deliver the product.
I have two suggestions for making an excellent proposal even better.
While you stated the instructors would be well vetted by your team, you did not include a plan for how you would find those instructors. As identifying and hiring those instructors would be a key component of the success of the business, I would have liked more information on how you would advertise or market for those instructors.
You referred to “Start-up Costs” but did not identify how much those costs might be, nor when the investor might expect a return. I realize you plan to take a year to establish the initial course options, but you did not indicate how long after that you might expect to start making a profit.
Overall, I would definitely be interested in investing in this venture. It identifies a need, a unique and innovative solution, a strong market, and a strong team. This is a very exciting proposal with a great deal of potential.
Janet
Claire Burgoyne 4:29 pm on July 31, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Meggan,
Your Pro-D Room pitch is well done. Early on in your presentation you describe pro-D as required and irrelevant to individual teachers. Isn’t school and district organized professional development meant to assist teachers in reaching goals established by administration in consultation with teachers? It’s my understanding that each school has a pro-D committee that works to define relevant topics and provide worthwhile workshops for teachers. Teachers currently have access to professional development of their choice although the opportunity to access funds for these options is limited. Pro-D Room’s low cost offerings are a plus and with them being offered online they can easily be accessed by teachers everywhere.
Claire
Leonora Zefi 3:58 am on August 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Megan,
Thank you for sharing your venture idea.
The clarity and your enthusiasm make your pitch very effective Megan.
Concept
This is a great concept and I like how you have included selection criteria for the teachers showing that this is a quality offer. You have identified a unique need and a solution to address it effectively. The flexible delivery format makes Pro D Room a very marketable offering
You have obviously thought about a variety of marketing the venture and judging by your analysis of the need and numbers of teachers who need Pro D either for personal/professional growth and/or to meet the regulatory professional organizations. While it sounds like an interesting idea to generate more business, I would have liked to see a bit more explanation about this idea that “For every course that an instructor teaches they will be given free access to another course of their choice, as well as a commission for every student who successfully completes the course.”
Marketability
Well supported and researched arguments for the future market opportunities for Pro D Room. You have also differentiated your venture from the competition quite clearly.
Venture Plan
Your plan is clearly outlined Megan, however, it would have been helpful to include a few more details about the financials.
Great work.
Thanks,
Leonora
lisamallen 10:57 am on August 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Well Done Megan,
I enjoyed both your elevator and paper venture pitch. Clearly, your venture serves a need in the market and I think you’ve detailed it accurately and convincingly! I would for sure invest. The only weakness that I could see here is the details on the finances. What’s in it for the investor? How do I, as an investor make money on this? I know it’s hard to detail everything within the time/ word limits for this assignment, but touching on that information would have been helpful to investors (and made your pitch more thorough.)
Well done,
Lisa
maybacon 12:17 pm on August 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Meggan,
Wonderful venture and pitches!
The Elevator Pitch: The venture concept was clear, concise and interesting, making it evident that you are knowledgeable about the market, passionate about the field of education and willing to partner with people of expertise in order to deliver a useful service. Not only would I want to invest in The Pro-D Room, I would want to use the service!
The Venture Pitch: The idea of working alongside potential competitors or fulfilling a niche they have left unexplored is a very useful idea. I was actually quite surprised that nothing similar to this venture exists, because this makes professional development both more valuable and interesting for the educator.
One concern I have is with the payment for student completion method, as it implies that student failure is the educator’s “fault”. While a large percentage of failures most likely indicates a problem with the educator, it is normal that some students might not pass a course for a number of reasons unrelated to the teacher’s abilities, and this might be an interesting area to research before launching the service. Regardless, this is a very small point of contention in an otherwise stellar idea.
I am also wondering where profits go… back into the company (as in a not-for-profit) or to shareholders? As an investor, I would like to know whether I am investing for social return (which there would be much of with such an idea) or for monetary gains.
Excellent idea, great pitches!
May
ping 12:28 pm on August 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Meggan,
I like your pitch, it’s very lucid and passionate. You make your venture differentiated from others by focusing on the submarket of personalized learning for teachers, it’s very strategic! I like your description of solution and market in your venture pitch. You seem to be well prepared for this idea and ready for market challenges. One of my concern is that where your course modules will be created. Will you & your team create modules by yourselves (like a press house), or will you make a platform to host courses from other educational sources)? I think content creation is essential for a venture like Pro-D, so I would hope to know more about R&D aspects of your venture to be ensure your productivity and competition. What will distinguish your courses from training courses for general purpose? For the financial parts, the “Ask” is not quite clear to me, as well as the charging model for return. With these informations you could convince me to make an investment to this prospective venture. Good Luck Maggan!
Ping
chrisaitken 1:10 am on August 3, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Megan
Great idea. Your concept is a way of providing professional development that I would like to be a part of. I wonder how comfortable school administrators would be in allowing teachers to choose their own courses. Some would be, others may not. I think there is a lot of potential here.
Chelsea M Woods 9:40 am on August 3, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Meggan, I love your idea and your elevator pitch sells it effectively. I was interested in your statement that courses can be one day long, and would have liked to hear more about credits for teachers and course categorization (how do you deal with varying levels of content and interaction?). Great idea, thank you!
Chelsea
danishaw 10:36 am on August 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Meggan,
You have provided a venture that has great potential and is very current as it seems that parts of it could follow the open educational movement. Depending on the geographical location of educators, professional development varies. What might be required within one province/country might differ considerably. This being said, I do believe that once you have a great deal of content ready to be delivered to educators, the potential to customize to find individual needs of districts might be a potential avenue. One aspect that could have supported your analysis or pitch would be to include a sample of what a course might look like. Furthermore, you do mention that educators request pd opportunities that vary in content however a graph of surveyed educators stating within certain areas could also narrow down such broad subject. Simply leaving it as “PD” might be too ambitious for a start-up company. Overall, I enjoyed watching and reading your ideas. All the best,
Danielle