HI everyone. Sorry about the lateness of this post, but I’ve been out of the country for a few days. I originally had intended to do John Baker of D2L, but someone had done that already so I chose to do Stephen Baker. Please see below for my introduction. Jody PS ***Full disclosure: […]
Continue reading HI everyone. Sorry about the lateness of… Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur BootcampTagged: Founder Parade RSS Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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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!
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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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Donna Forward
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-
Meggan Crawford
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-
Donna Forward
Hello Meggan,
I’m sure that the predominance of mobile devices definitely helped Mr. Richardson’s venture immensely!
Cheers,
Donna
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janetbar
Salman Khan and the Khan Academy
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-
Dave Horn
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
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vawells
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
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Allan
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
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Bridget
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-
janetb
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
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gillian
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.
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mackenzie
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-
janetb
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
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Dennis Pratt
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
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dubiend
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! -
Denise
HI,
it is an amazing site and all based on donations and some vounteers.
Denise
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Deborah S 4:29 pm on June 3, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Jody,
A very informative post! My daughter took a course through VHS to help her accelerate her high school education (she graduated more than a semester early and gained early admission to university). She and I really liked the self-paced nature of the course and the flexible start dates.
Deborah
Jody McKinnon 1:20 am on June 5, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I’m glad to hear that you both enjoyed the course and the school! I have had so many positive experiences since being a part of the school in 2009.
Sherman Lee 11:35 pm on June 3, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Jody,
I completely understand your challenges. I am trying really hard to push it so that I am not posting last minute, but my week simply would not allow it now that my tutoring students are getting closer to their final exams. Hopefully we will both find our balance soon!
It is cool that you are working for VHS right now! I have heard much about this program, and has been quite interested in it as some of my tutoring students have a very difficult time in traditional schooling, which I think would definitely be a great thing for them to gain that flexibility in VHS. (as well, Deborah’s comment about her daughter is really helping to push me towards looking into this type of schooling further as a possibility and recommendation to my own students).
I think the thing that I find most interesting from your post is how this venture started off rather slowly. In terms of entrepreneurship (which I have none of, at least I do not really believe so quite yet and is hoping to gain more of) I think patience was the key learning here. VHS started rather slowly. It surprised me how long it took for the program to pick up.
If you do not mind, how do you feel working for VHS right now?
Sherman
Jody McKinnon 1:22 am on June 5, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I really enjoy working with VHS. Not only does it supplement my income, it gives me an opportunity to meet and work with students from all over the world. For example, many of my students are at the Canadian School in Singapore. Since one of my courses was designed by me, it gives me an opportunity to tweak my lessons for day school too. I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Sherman Lee 8:36 am on June 5, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
That’s great to hear that you are enjoying your work at VHS. I think this experience through working with students from other parts of the world also create a more global view of how learning is established and viewed. It is interesting how this venture is bringing the worlds together not just for students but also for teachers.
Thank you for sharing your story 🙂
Sherman
karonw 12:49 pm on June 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great post Jody!
In your post you mentioned that Stephen Baker believes that “not all kids do well in a traditional classroom setting. ” And I agree on this, I find that online learning can be more beneficial to students who are less assertive, as in a traditional classroom setting they may be too shy to raise their own voice or question feeling pressured by those who are more assertive and aggressive. Hence, through virtual classroom settings, they will feel less pressured and intimidated to post, comment and question.
Karon
mariefrancehetu 6:17 pm on June 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jody!
What a success story! We need more inovative teachers like Stephen Baker who believe there are many ways to learn . . . particularly in high school I think it is important to offer different learning options!
Kudos on your post Jody – it shows that you are enthusiastic about and proud of VHS and rightly so!
Marie-France
Allan 11:12 pm on June 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks Jody for this wonderful posting. i really enjoyed learning more about Virtual High School. I had no idea that such an institution had existed, and more importantly, offer such high quality instruction. From the look of the syllabi, this is an exceptionally well organized institution. What I find most impressive is that VHS is moving back from the digital to the physical by renovating an old hotel to create a presence in the community. This is an important step to realizing its place as an educational institution. Well done VHS!
Allan
Jody McKinnon 1:23 am on June 5, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I was lucky enough to visit the building on the weekend of the 26th of May. It is very impressive!
Leonora Zefi 5:14 pm on June 6, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
What an interesting experience for you Jody. It was so interesting to read the genesis of this venture – impressive growth which to me demonstrates the forward thinking of Stephen Baker to establish something that addresses such a demand for alternative ways to learn and teach.
I am assuming that d2l will perfect the media environment for VHS’s version 2.0 🙂
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Leonora