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  • ping 1:04 pm on August 5, 2012
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    For suggestion of this course, I would hope that the “emerging marketing analysis” to be reduced by 1~2 weeks, giving more time to exploration of really successful ventures. We could study their early pitches, match their venture plans with their real corporation trails, and discuss the secrets of them to survive through risks and chances. […]

    Continue reading For suggestion of this course, I would h… Posted in: Uncategorized
     

  • ping 9:28 pm on July 29, 2012
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    Welcome to ThinkLand, an in-cloud space for collaborative and creative thinking. This solution is made up of three products: FreeThinker, FreeProject and FreeGroup. It is developed to facilitate quick think, quick work, and quick reflection, by natural input, output, construction and collaboration. We understand that thinking is the original power to push our world forward. […]

    Continue reading Welcome to ThinkLand ! Posted in: Venture Forum
     

    • unclereg 8:59 pm on July 30, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      Hey Ping,

      Again, I couldn’t access the elevator pitch so I just read your venture pitch. The graphics were amazing and made your presentation look very professional. I wasn’t surprised when you stated that you have experience in graphic design. As for the idea, it would be a great idea for an iPad so the user can use their hands/fingers for input to create a mind map, but I feel there is way too much competition in iPad apps to differentiate this idea enough. On a desktop computer, I’m unsure how this program will actually be faster than using any other mind mapping software. As for suggestions, I would suggest video clips of these 3 programs working unison to truly sell the idea, and forgive me if they are contained within your elevator pitch. Short video clips of these programs working together will sell this product for you. Since this idea is so visually dependent, any type of video visuals will do it a great service.

      Good luck, and I look forward to seeing the eventual youtube video.
      Thanks Pin.
      -Regen

      • ping 10:10 pm on July 30, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Regen,

        Thank you! I hope I heard your suggestion before I made the pitch. You are right, I should tell the story with a demo on how these 3 programs work together. I should sell the idea first before selling the product or the venture plan. Sorry I didn’t realize this earlier. Your suggestion will be a big help if I really run for this idea someday.

        Ping

    • vawells 1:48 am on July 31, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Ping

      I really enjoyed viewing your elevator pitch. The idea is original and I love the name of your venture. The images and music were beautiful and well matched to your venture concept. The pitch itself is a little long and perhaps could be shortened, just enough to get the attention of investors. One suggestion that I think would improve your elevator pitch would be delivering your pitch in person on the video. This would, I think lend more credibility to the CEO, and give investors a chance to see firsthand your commitment and passion for your venture.

      Good luck with your future ventures

      Valerie

      • ping 4:06 am on August 4, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Valerie,

        Thank you for your comments. I also think my elevator pitch is too long, but I was not familiar with video editing to make it shorter when I realized that. I also hoped to deliver the pitch by myself if I had enough time to improve my oral English 🙂 . I’m grateful for this practice, as well as your appreciation. Thanks again!

        Ping

    • Deborah S 8:38 am on July 31, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      HI Ping,
      This is an interesting concept. I really enjoyed the graphics in the pitch, but I would have liked to have seen you in the video as well. I think it would have personalized the pitch a bit and secured more buy-in from your potential investors.

      Your venture pitch contained great diagrams that helped put the venture in perspective. You mentioned the size of the potential market and then quantified the K-12 market. I wasn’t sure if you were planning to target the K-12 market first? As an EVA, I would have liked more information on how you are planning to market your venture to differentiate yourself from the competition.

      Good luck!

      Deborah

      • ping 4:38 am on August 4, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Deborah,

        Thanks for comments! You are right that I was planning to target the K-12 market, but I know it would be difficult to start it at first. The children are not buyers themselves, so I would rather start from their parents and teachers. When they realize that many features of ThinkLand are better designed for natural thinking, they will recommend it to kids. The 3 parts of ThinkLand can be used as virtual learning environment, and also integrated to other learning environment. I should certainly think more about the marketing strategy as you noted. I’m not good at marketing things, but I think it’s a very interesting area to explore further. Thanks for your encouragement.

        Ping

    • karonw 12:56 pm on July 31, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Ping,

      Good job on the elevator pitch, it was very detailed and the slideshow including diagrams have helped in clarifying your pitch. However, I think as the CEO it would have been great to have you infront of the camera to present this pitch to show us how confident and optimistic you are with this product. As an EVA I have enjoyed your elevator pitch but for most cases elevator pitches normally are 1 minute maximum having that your elevator pitch was 3 minutes and 12 seconds long, in the future you may want to see how you can trim it down in time and yet ensuring that all the full details are there. For myself, I find that this is the greatest challenge for the elevator pitch.

      You’re on a great start, keep up the good work!

      Karon

      • ping 4:22 am on August 4, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Karon,

        Thank you for your comments. I definitely should cut the pitch shorter. And if I could do it again, I would change the style of the pitch and make a more appealing story instead of speaking behind the slide. As you point out, it’s a big challenge to trim it down yet ensure all the details lossless. After reviewing many pitches in this forum, I am sure I will do better in the next time. Thanks!

        Ping

    • gillian 8:44 pm on July 31, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Ping,
      I think your idea is great and very original. I envisioned myself drawing with my finger on a tablet screen and it magically becoming a neatly drawn mind map and then I could follow it up with real time collaboration – what a fantastic thought.
      Although your elevator pitch was on the long side, it was very comprehensive and as many others have stated your graphics in both pitches is a great strength for you.

      • ping 4:57 am on August 4, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Gillian,

        Thanks for envisioning as a ThinkLand user! You share the same feeling as mine. I believe someday we could have such kind of support on a real platform. I now realize the shortage of my elevator pitch. If I could just visualize it from your envisioning point, it would be more engaging and more credible. Thanks for reviewing my both pitches! Thanks for encouragement!

        Ping

    • Danielle 1:36 pm on August 1, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Ping,

      Wow! This is an excellent venture idea and is certainly one that I’m interested in, especially as a new iPad user and someone who truly appreciates mind mapping. What is especially attractive about your venture is its compatibility with other platforms, and its cloud capabilities. I also think you have done an excellent job of outlining the investment return in a clear way that even those who are not business savvy make sense of the costs and potential growth.

      My only suggestion would be to keep the elevator pitch short and simple. You have done your research, and the visuals are fantastic. Well done.

      Danielle

      • ping 5:13 am on August 4, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Dani,

        Thanks for so much encouragement! I hope we could really have such kind of mind mapping tools someday in the future. The elevator pitch is a very big challenge for me, since I never did a pitch, or record a video for myself. It is already a big step for me to record my voice in a ppt slide, and turn it into a video file. I’ll make the elevator short and simple as you suggested. After reviewing pitches of our peers, I am aware that an elevator pitch are not necessary to convey too much details, but to tell a good story. I’m grateful for what I have learnt from this course. Thank you very much!

        Ping

    • troos 1:27 pm on August 2, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Ping:

      Your elevator pitch, though a little long, clearly presents the pain points in the area of education your are addressing. You have provided some great software solutions that, if packaged, would provide your clients with useful tools. Your visuals are very helpful in understanding your products. A heightened personal presence in your elevator pitch would enhance its authenticity. You mention that you will out-perform the competition but it is not clear to me exactly how that is occuring. It would have been helpful to know a little more specifics regarding your target market to analyze how effective your venture would be in the longer term. Overall, great work and nice presentation.

      Tim

      • ping 5:41 am on August 4, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Tim,

        Thank for suggestions & questions! I believe there are competitive advantages in this venture as it compared with those representative competitors like Inspiration and Cacoo. I should address these differences with more details in my pitch, maybe from the user’s point of view. The long-term aspects is not very clear as you point out, I’ll think it more thoroughly, but I’m confident in myself that this kind of platforms for thinkers will have a future growth space. Thanks for your advices!

        Ping

    • Bridget 5:51 pm on August 2, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Ping,

      Thank you for sharing your pitches and after reviewing your elevator pitch I have the follow comments.

      I like the way that you stated the purpose of your company (InCloud space for creative and collaborative thinking) and the problem, which your company solves
      (with mind mapping tools our mind are faster than the tool). You offer a solution to the problem in a very clear manner with concise diagrams. The presentation flowed well and the audio matched the video very well in both timing and feel.

      However, the pitch was much longer than required for the elevator pitch allowing deeper explanation of the venture. This made it difficult to compare it fairly with the other elevator pitches requiring me to eliminate it from my final three. I would be interested in viewing a one-minute pitch in order to see if my curiosity is peaked in the short time period.

      It sounds like an interesting and possible venture.

      Bridget

      • ping 5:59 am on August 4, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Bridget,

        Thanks for comments. I agree with you that my elevator pitch is too long. I’m lack of experience to make a presentation in audio or video. I’ve learnt a lot in this week from all of you. If I would come to a real circumstance to pitch this idea, I’ll do better as you suggest. Thanks!

        Ping

    • Dennis Pratt 9:24 pm on August 2, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      Ping;

      I like your pain points. If I can make my like more efficient I am better off, right? There is a huge online market for production and efficiency tools, especially as more and more people get online or go mobile. Your pitch reminded me or Evernote and I am just getting familiar with that program. It is supposed to help keep us organized. I do like the collaborative aspect to your venture, as well as the organizational aspects. I am sure that if you keep working on it you could have a real venture on your hands.

      Dennis

      • ping 6:11 am on August 4, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Dennis,

        You encourage me greatly! I do hope I could have this venture at hand someday. The feeling of freely drawing, organizing and collaborating was appealing to me. I like you comments that “there is a huge online market for efficiency tools”. We’ve already been in an era when human-computer-interaction is about to revolute tremendously. Thanks for sharing your vision with me, and thanks for encouragement so much.

        Ping

    • toddpowell 10:38 pm on August 5, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      Ping, I don’t want to reiterate what my colleagues have said about the length of the pitch…. 🙂 It was beautifully done but I, too, would have appreciated seeing the face behind the pitch. You have also made a statement about outdoing the competition. How exactly are you going to be doing this? That being said, the world is truly focused on efficiency and productivity, and your ideas have fit right into that motion!

      Todd

  • ping 7:53 pm on June 1, 2012
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    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
     

    • gillian 9:24 am on June 2, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      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?

      • ping 9:54 pm on June 2, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        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

        • gillian 7:52 am on June 3, 2012 | Log in to Reply

          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

    • Dave Horn 11:02 am on June 2, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      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.

      • ping 10:41 pm on June 2, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        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

    • mackenzie 1:31 pm on June 2, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      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

      • ping 11:15 pm on June 2, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        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

    • Allan 11:25 pm on June 3, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      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

  • ping 11:24 pm on May 17, 2012
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    I browsed some of the trend reports, and focused my eyes on the “Ambient Insight – Global Learning Technology Market Taxonomy”. It gave me a very clear panorama of the Educational Technology. According to it and other resources, I drafted a small “ET ecosystem” map.  The biggest enlightenment it gave me is that “Learner != […]

    Continue reading The Ecosystem Knows The Trend Posted in: Uncategorized
     

    • Meggan Crawford 10:28 am on May 19, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      Ping,

      I loved your ET ecosystem map! It’s nice to see the article turned into a different form.

      The idea of laptops not being included in the mobile category seems to be simply because you can’t hold them and operate them at the same time. You need to put a laptop down in order to type on it and, to Ambient Insight at least, that seems to be enough to exclude it! They do acknowledge that laptops are mobile, but suggest that they are defining their category as handheld as well. With the smaller laptops with longer battery lives it is strange to consider that they are not considered in this up and coming group. I agree that it is strange, but I think all they would need to do is re-title their category from mobile to handheld.

      Either way I think the main takeaway thought from the article is more about the interactions and connections that you have identified than it is about the categories they divide the tools into!

      Nice work, Ping!
      -Meggan

      • ping 8:49 pm on May 19, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Meggan,

        Thank you! You helped me to clarify the taxonomy. Yes “holding & operating” is a key point.
        In my concept “mobile” is a big term stands for a system, which makes us reachable to the Internet any time and anywhere. Morgan Stanley even regards it as the next IT revolution in coming decade. In that height, I would like to include both “handheld” and “laptop” in my access list, because they cannot replace each other. As for the Mobile Learning, if a supplier wants to get interactions from the user, it might not care too much about whether the inputs were sent from one hand or two hands, sitting down or not. Of course, the “holding & operating” scenarios are very essential for our design, because people DO have more time to carry a handheld than to carry a laptop. We need their time!

        Ping

    • gillian 11:42 am on May 19, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      Ping,
      I very much enjoyed your review of Ambient Insight. Your map was a very helpful starting point in grasping the essentials of this taxonomy. I can see how this article will be extremely valuable as we assess the various ‘players’ in the market for our ventures. Thank you for your insight on this as you have inspired me to take a closer look for myself.
      As for your comments regarding laptops/netbooks as mobile technology, I completely agree that they should be included. I have tried typing on a tablet and found it as frustrating as using my phone. If I were to ever purchase a tablet, the first accessory I would buy would be an external keyboard – which essentially makes it a laptop.
      gillian

      • ping 9:16 pm on May 19, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        Hi Gillian,

        Happy to see that little map is useful to you. I think a map would be always helpful when we get to a strange place 🙂 I do recommend you to have a closer look at the Ambient Insight report. It’s good to have it in our reading list so early. I think I’ll come back to it over and over because I still missed a lot of information it tries to convey.

        Ping

    • Denise 4:49 am on May 20, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      HI Ping,
      Thanks for the map. I too found it a valuable way to see the article in a different form.
      I wonder if what also separates mobile is that theya re gesture based compared to the traditional laptop, but the issue about mobile technology is probably going to blur soon enough. I just read about a phone that inserts into a tablet that then attaches to a keyboard.

  • ping 12:13 pm on May 11, 2012
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    Hi, I’m Ping Zhang from Shanghai. Nice to share this course with you all! This is my #2 in MET. I’m a telecom engineer, not like most of you as professionals in education. What make me interested in this program are my kids, one of whom is in school age. I find although I’m dealing with […]

    Continue reading Hello from Ping Posted in: Uncategorized
     

    • mariefrancehetu 12:30 pm on May 11, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Ping,

      Nice to see you interested in the role technology plays in our children’s education. I also think our present school system needs to drastically change to meet the needs of our 21st century world.
      I look forward to learning and sharing with you over the course of the term.

      Marie-France

      • ping 5:54 am on May 12, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        Thank you Maria, I’m looking forward too to share this exciting course with you.

    • maybacon 4:05 pm on May 11, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      Hello Ping,
      I really admire your motivation for learning; our kids are so important! I completely agree about the gap between teaching tools and what we/teachers actually do to teach. We have such a great opportunity to bridge that gap through what we learn in the MET program.

      Have a great semester, looking forward to sharing more ideas with you in this course,
      May

      • ping 6:06 am on May 12, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        Thank you, May! How sweet your little angel looks 🙂 My little one is in the same age. It’s exciting to watch their growth, what we learn in this course may help them living better, that worth everything. Enjoy the semester too!

    • Hussain Luaibi 8:59 pm on May 11, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      Hello Ping
      I am sure with your science-oriented outlook to learning, your ideas will be very useful for any collective discussion in our present educational site.
      Welcome to 522.
      Hussain

      • ping 6:18 am on May 12, 2012 | Log in to Reply

        Oh Hussain, I’m embarrassed for your expectation on me:-) I’m not a quick writer in English and my time is limited, but I’ll try my best to participate discussions with you as much as possible. I’m looking forward to exchanging ideas with you all.

    • karonw 4:12 pm on May 12, 2012 | Log in to Reply

      Hi Ping,

      Nice to meet you, I admire your passion with education and how you are motivated by your kids in learning more about educational technology. Good luck with your studies, I look forward in learning with you.

      Best,
      Karon Wong

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