BIO Michael L. Chasen at the age of 39 is the co-founder and CEO for Blackboard Inc. As a graduate from Georgetown University with a MBA and an undergraduate degree in computer science from America University Michael Chasen began his early career as a higher education practice member at KPMG Consulting, his expertise was in […]
Continue reading Blackboard Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
PhET is a non-profit organization that provides free interactive simulations of physical phenomena on their website. The PhET team consists of diverse individuals including research associates, software engineers, website architectures, marketing managers, and high-school teachers. The team believes that their research-based simulations enable students to make connections between real-life phenomena and the underlying science. To […]
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Nice summary and I think PhET is great. I have used PhET simulations and tools numerous times in my classes, often as a T-GEM approach, since the models allow students to explore and adjust different variables.
Dave
Curt Richardson is the founder and CEO of Otterbox, a company that creates special cases for every type of mobile device. (I tried for half an hour to load the photo onto to the blog but it just won’t work, sorry). If it helps, Richardson is a handsome man in his 50’s that looks outgoing and motivated:) […]
Continue reading Curt Richardson is the founder and CEO o… Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Hi Donna,
It’s interesting to see the man behind the company we see around us on a day to day basis! Although I have had my issues with Otterbox, I respect Mr. Richardson’s entrepreneurial background and it seems clear that he has always been an individual driven to create a successful business.
I do wonder somewhat at the motivation behind these ventures – the variety within their topics seems to suggest that financial benefit was the main driving force. Do you think that Mr. Richardson would have been as successful if mobile devices had not become as predominant?
Thanks for the detail!
-Meggan
Hello Meggan,
I’m sure that the predominance of mobile devices definitely helped Mr. Richardson’s venture immensely!
Cheers,
Donna
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
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?
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
K12 is the world’s largest online school for kindergarten through grade 12 and has been in operation since 2000. Their mission statement “to provide any child access to exceptional curriculum and tools that enable him or her to maximize his or her success in life, regardless of geographic, financial, or demographic circumstance” says it all. […]
Continue reading K12: Mr. Ron Packard Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Hi Bridget
Thanks for such a comprehensive analysis of the company. I had not heard of K12 but your piece has motivated me to go and take a look. It amazes me how these successful ventures begin from such ordinary problems.
Thanks for sharing
Valerie
Hi Bridget,
The inspiration for some of these ventures I think has become my most favourite part. It seems to indicate that if one personally sees the need for a product there really is likely several other people who would agree, but as you said most would not seek to fill it.
gillian
I agree with you here Gillian – the inspiration is the most inspiring part of all these ventures!
Lisa
Bridget,
Quite an insightful analysis on the company. I never heard of K12 and will certainly take a look
shortly. I am impressed by these success stories. For a start up company such as this really needed a versatile, experienced and well educated team for it to perform exceptionally well.
~Shawn
Hi Bridget,
Thanks for the summary – it sounds like a very intriguing site. I review the Khan Academy and it was good, but this sounds more comprehensive. I am going to check it out.
Janet
HI Bridget,
Thanks for the introduction. They certainly offer a variety of access options – school programs, parent doing the coaching or their own online coaches. I haven’t had any experience with this system but they certainly have created the market for a number of different buyers.
Denise
This is an excellent company you profiled Bridget, thanks for sharing. It’s fascinating that it was Packard’s daughter that triggered his search for a program that led to K12.
Tony Bott is a teacher, founded, co-owner, and advertising executive of Teachers.Net, an online support organization for teachers. Teachers.Net provides a one-stop shop for all of teachers’ needs including information, resources and networking. Founded back in 1996, Teachers Net was the idea of Tony Bott who envisioned a site that would emancipate teachers from […]
Continue reading Teachers.Net…One Teacher’s Dream! Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Great post! I am pretty amazed how Bob Reap taught himself to program. I agree, sometimes it is about the quality of the features not the quantity like you said they could have just hosted links but I guess they wanted to have all the ownership in their site?
Karon
Hi Karon,
Thanks, I agree that quality is more important than quantity, especially when you want to keep visitors coming back to your site. With Web 2.0, collaboration software has reached a new pinnacle of affordances that is a crime not to leverage. For our 522 Visual-Intensive Project we are going to leverage the affordance of social mind mapping to show just how far these V-I collaborative tools have come and what kind of learning they afford including synchronous online collaboration. Its a shame to try to make websites into closed systems like many LMS sites….take this class for instance.
Cheers, Steve
HI Steve,
I am interested that you don’t see a place for closed systems. I think it depends on what one is trying to achieve in learning. But love to hear oyur thoughts.
Denise
Hey Steve,
A very comprehensive post. I must say that I have adapted a lesson plan or two from teachers.net (I love the free stuff), but never really thought about its origins. I agree with you that the site is much too busy and may need some restructuring rather than simply taking an adhoc approach to updating.
Hi Gillian,
Its interesting to hear that you have used Teachers.Net in the past. I was amazed at the number of lessons but worried that some teachers may find it difficult to find relevant resources to an area of interest considering the clunky search engine. As part of my final project, I am proposing a site that is similar but leverages web 2.0 affordances and targets a more locallized community such as BC teachers. Considering the pain points of this venture, I think there may be a market need for a better type of collaborative website that provides additional opportunities for engagement.
Cheers, Steve
Steve,
Sounds like a great idea for a final project idea and sounds like you are well equipped to accomplish it. Janet’s idea below for provincially specific curriculum spaces would be a really good organizational method for the site.
gillian
Hi. I think a version of this site for localized communities is a great idea. If one could click on BC or Alberta (or whatever area) it would make it easier to collaborate with teachers in your area and to share resources specific to local curriculum/ideas. Plus it would make managing resources easier as each area would have a great deal in common.
Janet
Thanks Janet, you highlight some important advantages. It’s great to have such valuable input! I am hoping to set up a power point presentation for my colleagues in the next month to get more input…a form of research development. I will also share my link here in case anyone else is interested in adding some opinions or concerns for the venture. With a computer programmer for a brother and a research & development/marketer for my best friend, I think I may stand a chance to create this site in the near future.
I hope that this venture idea will be able to showcase the many affordances that a more open site could offer.
Cheers, Steve
I have also used Teachers.Net for the odd science and math lesson plan or worksheet for junior high school students. I found it easy to navigate and find what I was looking for. The front page has been updated since I used it last and I agree that it looks very busy but that is how many of these sites can afford to run, through advertising, especially targeted advertising.
Dennis
Hi Steve,
Thanks for sharing this. It’s a wonderful website. I like their “sample problems”, so easy to understand and to use. I’m also curious of your Web2.0 version in the near future. Please remember to share us when you start it. If you can somehow increase the utilization of graphics and reduce texts as possible, maybe my daughter could use it despite of language difference ? !
Ping
Dr. Avraham Kadar, CEO and Founder of BrainPOP BrainPOP, privately owned by FWD Media Inc, is a group of award winning, subscription-based websites that offer over 1000 animated videos and related materials on 7 K-12 educational topics including Health, Math, Social Studies, Science, Engineering and Tech, Art and Music and English (Wikipedia, 2012). The website […]
Continue reading Dr. Avraham Kadar, Founder and CEO of BrainPOP Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
As a science teacher from way back I have watched BrainPop videos before but would never use them in my classroom and certainly wouldn’t pay for them. To me they are the junk food of education, fun while you are experiencing them, but have little or no nutritional value. Maybe they would be fun for kids to share with parents. Just my honest educators opinion!
Hey Steve,
I appreciate your honesty. As an adult educator, I could see little use for them, but I did think they looked like fun for younger grades. I also liked the idea of the educator community and some of the other free features.
gillian
Hi Gillian,
Hope that my last comment didn’t offend, it was not aimed at you but at resources like this one. I really enjoyed reading your piece about the founder and his venture, I had no idea he was so accomplished. I just have such a viceral reaction to these types of products. Although, I agree that they are fun and could be a great site for students to visit outside of the formal learning timetable. I wonder how students would review these videos? They are funny!
Cheers, Steve
Hi Steve,
I have used BrainPop in the classroom as a supplemental piece to learning. I agree with you that it shouldn’t take away from the “formal setting” of the teaching experience in the classroom. Yes, as adults we find these types of characters irritating, but the videos aren’t targeting adults. I know the students certainly get a kick out of them. What I really like about BrainPop, is that it really helps simplify concepts with great visuals especially for students with ESL (there are many free ones). There are also great resources for educators to use aside from the video components to assist teachers with lesson concepts.
I got a kick out of your term “junk food for education” and if left alone to its own consumption, yes can be very unhealthy. But like anything, we need to understand that there a balance is necessary, and it’s okay to dabble in junk once in awhile!
Thanks for you open and honest opinion Steve.
Cheers,
Jon
Steve – no worries and certainly no offense! As I said your response was honest. I myself found Moby to be quite annoying but he appears to have quite a fan following amongst the younger kids if you check out the Flickr photostream! Apparently 25% of US schools subscribe to BrainPOP and there is also a BrainPOP UK version.
To each his own?
Cheers back 🙂
gillian
Claudio Erba is the founder and CEO of the Italian company called Docebo (dō-CHAY-bō), an e-learning company that has developed an open-source LMS. It can be run on the cloud as SaaS on a fee per-user basis or it can be purchased and installed locally. Docebo differentiates itself from competitors by having small and medium […]
Continue reading Claudio Erba founds Docebo Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Great summary! Your comment about the continued growth of the company despite competition is consistent with a report I read from Bersin & Associates. The author of the report, David Mallon, suggested that the number of LMS providers continues to grow fuelled by the entrance of smaller companies.
Deborah
Yes, there does seem to be many small but successful ventures in the LMS, CMS, SMS and TMS markets. It also seems, however, that for every new idea that makes these ventures successful, another one is bought out and absorbed by the larger corporations such as Blackboard. For example, a company called MoodleRooms, providing online hosting and technical support for the Moodle platform was recently bought by Blackboard so now Blackboard has invested in Moodle. It all seems rather strange to me but I guess if you can buy out the competition, that is one way of maintaining a market status.
Tim
It’s interesting to see a product, originally created for education being specialized for businesses. Usually it’s the other way around. It’s also great to see they are succeeding by becoming specialists in business training. I wonder what might happen if other LMS providers get wind to the market potential for business. Although, my experience tells me that these companies are slow to shift (Moodle creators agree) and therefore may never catch up to Docebo, especially if the company continues to evolve to meet the needs of its customers. I wonder what Docebo offers that Blackboard and Desire2Learn don’t?
Cheers, Steve
Steve
I think Docebos main catch for the business market is their willingness to adapt their technology to suit the needs of their clients. They even offer to provide full course development and learning object creation for their clients. This is very attractive for businesses since they do not need to hire educational experts to do this development.
Tim
Tim,
I am curious how the company can refer to itself as “open source” if it requires user fee for web-based users or a purchase price for downloaders?
Gillian
Open source just means that the source code that the software is developed with is made available to the clients. There is no patent or copyright on the particular programming of the software. In this way, if they so desire, the clients can redesign the code to fit their personal preferences. Docebo does offer a free version for up to five users; essentially to try it out. There are also several examples of companies who offer Moodle, also an open-source product on a per-user fee basis (MoodleRooms and Lambda Solutions to name two).
Tim
Venture: Academic Earth Founder/CEO: Richard Ludlow Richard Ludlow is the founder and CEO of Academic Earth, a website dedicated to offering free access to university-level lectures and other educational videos and content from several prominent post-secondary institutions in the United States. The site offers lectures on several topics. While several lectures are available free of charge […]
Continue reading Richard Ludlow and Academic Earth Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Despite the fact that sites such as Academic Earth cannot provide accreditation, I do love the idea that the halls of acedemia are being opened to those who may never get a chance to experience them directly. It truly supports the value of lifelong learning.
It is great to have access to the videos, but I do wonder if they really can claim that they are “Offering free online classes and in-depth online learning,”
denise
Layar is my technology company of choice to examine. A trio of tech experts in 2007 Raimo van der Klein, Maarten Lens-FitzGerald and Claire Boonstra founded Mobile Monday in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. They did this during their free time as a hobby in order to connect people who shared their enthusiasm for mobile technological innovation. This is a strong cast of […]
Continue reading Layar Founders Trio Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
HI Allan,
The concept of seeing what the placec looked 10 or more years ago was fascinating and there certainly seems lot of options for the future.
I did watch a yuotube recent video of the potential of Layar and the one thing I noticed was that everyone was intent on their screens and not on the world they were in and interacting with. I think there will be some tensions with reality and augmented reality!
Denise
Manny Perez holds a Masters of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1997, while attending MIT, Perez and four of his classmates founded a company called Virtual Ink and entered the annual MIT $50K Competition. The business plan they entered centered around a device called Mimio which was […]
Continue reading DYMO/Mimio co-founder Manny Perez Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Interesting ‘exit strategy” for Manny Perez. Company bought out after 9 years, and he has worked as director of research and development and now General Manager. Not a CEO but in the positions that allow him to continue to be innovative.
I wonder – is he an innovator or entrepreneur? Or unusually both?
Denise
I would think pretty well timed too… with the onslaught of ‘whteboard’/’mimio’-like apps on the iPad, android, etc., it would appear that the mimio is in a shrinking market, no? I know in my board, we are phasing them out in favor of tablet solutions that can essentially do the same and so much more. Not always good to have a multi-faceted device as it can lead to distraction and such, however, in a time where budgets are tightening, it is pretty typical to want to ‘maximize’ the investment.
Hey all, I chose the Wowzers company for my Entrepreneur Bootcamp Bio. founder-leader name, title & photograph Reed Howard, Chief Executive Office, Owner, Founder of Wowzers (and Brain Hurricane). From left to right: TJ, Reed, Paige, Andrew a single paragraph description of the venture, its primary products or services, and its original value proposition. […]
Continue reading ‘Wowzers’ and the Howard Family…. Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
John Baker, founder and CEO of Desire2Learn founded the company in 1999 at the age of 22. Baker’s privately owned, independent e learning company is headquartered in Kitchener, Waterloo with offices in New Brunswick and British Columbia. Desire2Learn has staff in Canada, United States, Australia, Singapore and the United Kingdom. Desire2Learn […]
Continue reading Desire2Learn – A Growing Canadian Tech Company Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Hi Valerie,
This is a very interesting read! Coming up with D2L at the age of 22 just goes to show that some were born to innovate! And thanks for sharing the “LMS Market Share” chart – very interesting statistics. I had not heard of Sakai before and I see that it is fairly new. It will be interesting to follow these statistics over the next couple of years to see if any innovative and new (as well as old) open source LMS software will ever give Blackboard a run for its money!
Danielle
Hi Valerie,
This is an awesome post, thanks for sharing! I based mine on Desire2Learn’s competitor. Like Daniele, I am very amazed that John has founded Desire2Learn at age 22. It was a smart move for Desire2Learn to form partnerships in adding more to their portfolio rather than trying to create it themselves to add more work to their workload.
Karon
Oops, sorry Danielle I didn’t mean to misspell your name in my previous post!
Karon
Blackboard Inc: Founders and CEO Michael Chasen and Matthew Pittinsky Co-founders and Co-CEO’s of Blackboard Inc., Michael Chasen, and Matthew Pittinsky, have recognized and delivered on the demand for a high-quality, easy-to-use, and cost-effective online educational software platform. Formed with their combined vision of transforming the Internet into a powerful environment for teaching and learning, […]
Continue reading Blackboard Inc: Founders and CEO Michael Chasen and Matthew Pittinsky Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Shawn,
Thank you for your review. I had no idea that Blackboard was THAT big. The team’s awards are impressive and demonstrate that they aren’t simply a profitable company, but an innovative one that is fun to work for. Very important in my opinion.
Thanks for your response Gillian! Blackboard has a wonderful team and I do believe innovation is one of the key aspects prospective investors do look for in a company when investing. The Blackboard story does speak to that!
I am impressed by the number of young entrepreneurs/inventors/innovators that are making a big difference in our world right now. It gives me hope.
I did not know that Blackboard has been around that long. I like the work they are doing.
Dennis
Dennis, may I just add too that having gotten the opportunity to review several companies in this course that I only heard of, now gives me much hope as many of them are young founders and CEO’s. Quite an interesting take!
~Shawn
(Note: I was unable to get a photo of the CEO) Smart is a famous company in the sphere of the educational technology that is used in schools and in places not related to education as well. Smart (or Smarttech) was founded in 1987 and was and still is based in Calgary, Alberta (Canada). Thomas […]
Continue reading (Note: I was unable to get a photo of th… Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
*picture from Forbes Magazine October 05, 2009 I chose to look at David Martin as he invented a learning tool that I use every day but do not know the history behind it. The invention worked by using resistive technology to manipulate a board hooked up to a projector. They have now moved on […]
Continue reading David Martin- SMART Technologies Co-Founder and Chairman Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Hi Dennis
Thanks for for this informative piece. Schools in NL have also invested heavily in Smart Technology products. Unfortunately when the tender ran its course and it was re-tendered Team Boards were awarded the contract. Team Boards are approximately half the cost of a Smart Board. However I now have one of each in my classroom and the Smart Board far out performs the Team Board.
Valerie
Valerie;
Good to know as we continue to use SMART Boards in all our classrooms. I don’t love Notebook but everything seems to work just fine. I am glad we are not juggling different types of boards as that would be a struggle to learn a new system for every classroom I might be in. I was at a PD where one teacher was quite bothered that the Calgary school board had an exclusive licence with Smart Technologies while he wanted to run a Promethean board in his room. He was not allowed by the agreement. I hope we are not in an agreement like that, especially as better technology comes along.
Dennis
SMART Technologies has been quite successful in securing large portions of educational technology budgets in Canada. They somehow marketed their interactive whiteboard to be an essential piece of equipment and even a symbol of the modern school.
Good summary Dennis,
Having viewed the SMART site, it has further enlightened me about the essential use in the field of education and likewise businesses. It certainly has its place and plays a significant role in this growing technological era.
SMART is the world’s leading provider of interactive whiteboard. However it is quite unfortunate that it is not a low cost learning technology. I personally like SMART as it is quite interactive and user friendly and it also gives me the tools for effective collaboration. It has a universal appeal and is indeed a great choice for virtually any environment.
From viewing the site, David Martin and Nancy Knowles seem to have a passion for children and education and have pulled it together as a great team. Other team members also oversee the success of the product since its inception. Innovation and commitment to excellence have been at the core of the SMART board business.
The product has a great reputation and is spreading very fast in developing countries as well. I am impressed by their idea or their mission to help educators achieve better results with technology products that support student-centered learning. In addition they also help business become more productive with easy-to-use collaboration solutions that enable better results. They are committed in that aspect, hence the success of the product as they are moving in the right direction.
~ Shawn
Shawn;
I have heard from many sources that there are cheaper and better interactive whiteboards available but they have not corned the market like SMART Technologies has. I have found in teaching and in construction that paying for quality pays off in the long run. If we invest wisely in quality products the time that they serve us well is increased. There is nothing more frustrating than having to deal with technological glitches when trying to deliver content. We have all been there, though.
I also like that SMART Technologies is a Canadian company and succeeds in the global market.
Dennis
HI Dennis,
Many of those cheaper alternatives are also offering more transportable options eg Mimio, eBeam. Just recently we purchased eBeam and someone who came along for the visit convinced their company to change from Smartboard to this technology.
I gues SMART created the disruptive innovation and other companies are developing more sustaining innovations based on this.
Denise
It is unfortunate that sales have dropped with the recent economic downturn – especially in the US. When will the holders of the purse strings learn that is in times of economic troubles that investment in education is all the more important?
gillian
Yes, through the reading I was doing on the company I found that SMART Tech’s stock has dropped about 90% in the last 2 years, since it went public, even with huge sales. With that and Facebook’s flop I would be quite hesitant to invest in any software company. Things change so fast in the tech market.
Dennis
Hi Dennis,
Thanks for a great review.
Mrs. Knowlton is from a beautiful town of Quebec…..interestingly enough named Knowlton. In 2006 she showed support of her alma mater and donated $66 000 to technology enhancement in the region. She designated Four SMART Board interactive whiteboards to Knowlton Academy (365 students) , her old elementary school. They were the envy of the area:) We had 1 for 1000 students at the time and it was allocated to the special ed class…and the teacher didn’t want to use it. The rest of us weren’t allowed….love the bureaucracy.
The Quebec government recently earmarked over $200 Million (over 5 years) for SMART Boards in the last budget. I heard the many needed to be installed by June ……the rush is on.
Bridget
Salman (Sal) Khan is the Founder and Executive Director of the Khan Academy, an online personalized learning site that began with mathematics and has spread to sciences and humanities. The Khan Academy is a non-profit organization with the fundamental goal of providing “free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere”. Students, parents, and teachers are all […]
Continue reading Salman Khan and the Khan Academy Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Hi Janet,
Well I definitely feel like a bit of slacker compared to Sal, I’ve only got two and half degrees and no MBA. I do really like the mantra behind Khan Academy and I do have several students who make use of the videos. The videos can be a bit dry, but I think they can serve as useful tool for creating flipped classrooms, which will engage students better than sending them home to read notes.
Dave
Hi Janet
The Khan Academy is an interesting study. It truly illustrates how entrepreneurs need to be able to recognize the the market for their idea. What started out as helping a relative has turned into a venture with growth potential.
Thanks for sharing
Valerie
Great person to examine and profile, Janet. I have followed Salman Khan’s academy for a while now. I’m really impressed by the resume Salman has; more impressed, however, with his acumen and foresight for open education. He is certainly one of the people who is trying to make a push for revolutionizing education through the social web.
Allan
Hi Janet,
I use Khan Academy frequently with my grade 7 students, especially for practicing operations with fractions and integers. We watched with excitement when we heard about the donations by both Google and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations. It was interesting what happened post-donation. The format for earning badges changed and it lost what students thought was one of the most challenging and fun aspects…the streak bar. With streak bar challenged students to answer as many questions as they can in a row (speed earned badges). I wonder if it will get too big too fast and lose its focus. I certainly hope that it does not become only a repository for videos since it was on its way to becoming more powerful than that. I have (and still have) students addicted to it and learning well above their years.
Bridget
Hi Bridget,
It certainly has grown quickly. I have used it a few times – often for students who have been away or who need extra help/instruction beyond what I can provide. Some like it, some don’t, but it is a great resource. I haven’t had students sign up, specifically, so I am not familiar with the “streak bar”, but I share your concern. A repository for videos isn’t a bad thing in itself, but certainly nothing like what the site has the potential to become.
Janet
Hi Janet,
I have used the Khan Academy videos as additional links when appropriate for my courses. I agree with Dave that they can be a bit on the dry side, but they do hit the salient points for review puposes. I certainly respect the goals of the company and like Bridget, I hope it stays true to its original values.
gillian
Hi Janet,
Very engaging and well written post! Thanks for the introduction into Khan academy, I wish I had heard about them earlier. I like how you recognized the qualities of a great venture capitalist, one that takes opportunities when they arise and surrounds themselves with great team members. Sal’s humble beginnings are inspiration to all of us as potential venture capitalists. I will be looking into this venture to gain further insight into his success and look for ways to leverage the affordances of his videos in my classroom. Presently my students are doing review and this may prove to be a great resource for them.
Thanks, Steve
Thanks, Steve. And yes, the videos can be very helpful for review – if students are willing to take the time and watch them. They are also great for enrichment. I have a very gifted student in Calculus 12 and he watches them for fun!
Janet
Janet;
Thanks for bring up the Khan Academy as it is one resource that I have recently started using in my classes. I plan to model some of my teachings after the setup of the Khan Academy. Free, quality education is something that we should strive for. I know some people fight desperately to protect what they have developed which leads to it never being shared beyond a certain small and qualified audience. With modern technology I think we can do better at sharing ideas and teachings than we currently do. I see the infrastructure in place and a tipping point close at hand for even more open sharing of resources.
Dennis
Hi Janet,
Great description of Khan Academy! I didn’t know that he was living off his savings for a while to focus on this project. I wonder whether he had any plans for financing at that point or whether he knew how big this would become. When a product is good enough and fills a great need, sometimes the project speaks for itself!
HI,
it is an amazing site and all based on donations and some vounteers.
Denise
I chose to look at the growth of EKTRON and particularly focus on the entrepreneurial abilities of its CEO and founder Bill Rogers. Rogers founded Ektron in 1998 and at that time sparked a technology revolution with his first product eWebEditPro which enabled users to easily author and publish content on websites. Ektron’s vision today is to […]
Continue reading Ektron’s CEO and founder Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Leonora,
It’s interesting that this company has been able to raise so much capital in a short period of time! It seems as if their strategy of diversifying into different continents (and taking advantage of emerging markets in developing countries) is certainly paying off.
Deborah
You make a very good point Deborah – diversification and target market seem to be making a difference in Ektron’s growth. Another success factor according to Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management (August 2010) is that Ektron utilizes .NET architecture really well which is a priority choice for online community.
Thanks,
Leonora
HCD Global – The Chinese name, 合得, means ‘winning together’, Description of venture HCD Global is a young company that promotes collaborative, interactive learning and teaching. They offer learning programs and tools that provide students with skills adapted to 21st century technological needs. They have really revolutionized China’s corporate training, for example they were the […]
Continue reading HCD Global – Entrepreneur critique Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Marie,
It sounds as though the company has been quite successful in the corporate world. Was there much information on the company’s role in formal education (K-12 or tertiary)?
gillian
VocaLinks Inc., established in 1998 by Peter Butler and Phil Huffman, is a small, privately owned, service driven company providing speech to text and text to speech training, product sales and technical support. It is located in Toronto, yet provides service across Canada with a team of 50 full and part-time employees. The company’s signature […]
Continue reading VocaLinks Inc., established in 1998 by P… Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Great post, Helen! Your discussion about authentic leadership reminded me of the characteristics of authentic leadership by Robin Sharma (author of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, and The Saint, The Surfer and the CEO). He postulated that authentic leaders: speak their truth, lead from the heart, have rich moral fiber, are courageous, build teams and create communities, deepen themselves, are dreamers, care for themselves, commit to excellence rather than perfection and leave a legacy. I think the ability to lead often makes or breaks a venture.
Deborah
Deborah, you hit on the one thing that really became obvious for me during this investigation – the impact of the leadership style and presence of the individual and team. It is very evident in their communications, relationship with the public and their customers, and in how they ‘sell’ their service or product. Helen
Helen, your personal reflection with its focus on storytelling and open leadership serves as an excellent resource to those about to step into the role of entrepreneur. I’m reminded of J.E. Chamberlin’s “If This is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories?” The ability to tell our stories shapes us, defines our direction, and determines our successes or failures. As Chamberlin says: “We need to understand our stories because our lives depend upon it.”
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Helen,
As usual, a very insightful analysis and a particularly thoughtful reflection. In addition to all the attributes you have pointed out and we have seen in many entrepreneurs, I would say that the ability to identify that niche market/client base and be responsive, innovative in the approach but also having that freedom to take risks and make decisions fast without having to go through the layers of “red tape” are factors for success with those ventures.
Thanks.
Leonora
It’s great to see a Canadian company offering services and products in assistive and general education technology. I’ve just learned in EPSE 410 how important it is to use products that are research-based in assistive technology. While these products often cost much more than those available on tablets, the educational value is much greater. Unfortunately, not enough people know this, and the spread of tablets and their convenience is chipping away at the assistive technology market while offering a learning experience that may not be up to par.
Helen,
I particularly enjoyed reading the reflection on your post. I commented on another post that it is the story behind each venture that I found the most interesting when doing my own research and then reading the posts of others in this activity. I wonder how many investors look beyond the numbers to the inspiration or the ‘narrative’ as you call it when deciding whether or not to open their wallets?
Putting yourself ‘out there’ certainly has new meaning in the digital world!
gillian
Before you publish your posting, please make sure that you select a category (eg. Introductions) as well as assign some meaningful tags (keywords).
sheza 9:34 pm on June 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for profiling the founder of Blackboard, Karon! As a frequent user of the Blackboard LMS I find it interesting to read about the face behind the innovation. What I find most intriguing is that Chasen comes from a Computer Science background, not one in Education, yet he has managed to create a system that is integral in online learning today. I know of several companies that use Blackboard as their go-to professional learning tool. Today many of the LMS look the same and function in mainly the same ways, yet are open source or free, unlike Blackboard, so it is interesting to hear about what they are doing to keep their competitive edge i.e. tackling the growing mobile app market.
karonw 12:52 pm on June 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Sheza,
Yes, it would be very interesting especially with Desire2Learn being Blackboard’s biggest competitor it would be interesting to see how they will continue to expand with such competition.
Karon
lisamallen 2:46 pm on June 3, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Karon,
Blackboard is such an interesting company – from what I understand, they recently bought out Vista (the current platform for many of the ETEC courses at UBC). Even more interesting, Vista was created by an employee at UBC! It’s a smaller world than we think!
Lisa
karonw 12:52 pm on June 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Lisa,
When we look at it, it seems like we are all interconnected.
Karon