Juliana
Below is my Elevator Pitch for the “Pennywise Project”. [kaltura-widget uiconfid=”534″ entryid=”0_0wybngzb” width=”400″ height=”330″ addpermission=”” editpermission=”” /] You can access my venture pitch for the Pennywise Project here. In both cases, please forgive the quality of my voice…I had to do my narrations while fighting a bad cold. Juliana.
Continue reading A3 – Pennywise Project Posted in: Week 13: Venture Forum My apologies for not participating in this week’s discussion. I have been battling a nasty cold and too many final projects. I do have to say kudos to the Social Analytics group for their presentation this week. They have certainly enlightened me about a few things about this topic. I found the information about Klout […]
Continue reading Analytics Post Posted in: Week 12: Social Analytics
Thanks for your post, Juliana, and no worries – it’s been a hectic week for all of us!
I think that by pairing the Klout example with your own admission of ‘being that student’ demonstrates how cautious we educators need to be with using Analytics too closely as a gauge of behaviour and engagement. In fact, I think it’s quite a brilliant pairing. Engagement, like influence, are intangible qualities – i think we must be aware of the limitations of statistical programs in quantitatively measuring something that is qualitative.
I think a well designed Apps can be quite useful, but unfortunately I have a Blackberry and there are not a lot of apps available for this device. I had a quick look at the How Stuff Works app as I have often used this site for my teaching, but unfortunately it was not available […]
Continue reading Day 2 – Mobile Apps Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
I am looking forward to exploring some of the apps you mention Juliana for the BB – My biggest frustration is that my BB is owned by my employer – they monitor my data usage and when I am out of the country I cannot use it unless I am prepared to pay the huge roaming charges…and there is something creepy-feeling knowing that they can check my BB at any time – so my Twitter and Facebook use is only for professional networking just in case! And I do really like my Evernote app since I use it constantly on all of my devices. I will take a look at some of the other apps tonight!
Brenda
I understand the creepiness of the employer watching over you. Truth be told, if you are using a work computer, laptop or mobile device, the employer has the right to monitor your usage, no questions asked. They can monitor all your emails and other communications, so you do need to be aware of this.
Juliana.
Juli,
I would be happy to know when you found out. Do we have to use the apps on the mobile for it to be considered mlearning? or even if it is transferred it is classified as that? What if I bluetooth graphics from my BB to laptop for class; or transfer a few videos, is it still mobile learning?
Everton
There is a debate… some see m-learning as learning using any kind of mobile device regardless of circumstances. Other see m-learning as learning while you’re roaming and depending on devices while you’re out in the world, untethered. Which do you think makes most sense and why?
I personally am not a big user of Apps and I don’t consider it to be the only mode of mLearning. I would say the ability for me to access the Weblogs and Moodle make it more of an mLearning experience for me. My viewpoint is that mLearning is any learning that can be done by using a mobile device. The luxury of this type of learning is that it can happen during anytime.
Future updates that I would like to see with mLearning is having immediate notification of replies to my posts in WebCT. I would like the flexibility of replying to those posts much in the same way as I do with my emails. May be this is ability is already present, I don’t know. As can be seen through my various posts, I am not a huge mLearner. If this capability is already present with WebCT, I would love to hear about it 🙂
Juliana.
Your Blackberry experience exemplifies the issue of multiple platforms… how does a venture choose which platform to focus on? What happens to your learning venture when that platform loses favour in the market? The multinational I spoke with focused on BlackBerry for their pilot… but it seems that they may be looking elsewhere for future projects.
My sense is that many people just don’t want to develop Apps for BB. I don’t know if it is a function of the users or if there are technical issues with the device itself. For instance, if I am typical of most BB users then I wouldn’t get an App unless a) it was useful b) free. I feel that I have already spent enough on my phone and frankly spending more money on Apps wouldn’t be feasible unless it is especially worthwhile. Also I find that many Apps have a tendancy of trying to access different other applciations that they really shouldn’t have to (ie. GPS etc.), which drain battery power.
Juliana.
Hm… that’s an interesting point about not wanting to spend $$ on apps. Are BB apps more expensive than the ones at Apple (a few dollars to $50)?
How does this make you feel about the potential for developing a learning venture and getting paid for it?
I can’t answer that well myself. I don’t have an iPhone and I don’t know many people who have one right now. Most people I know have a BB.
As for your second question, if I have the opportunity to develop a learning venture and get paid to do it, I would be more than happy to do it. In some ways that is why I am in this program and it is one of my interests. I would like to see that the technology and applications that we develop for education get used appropriately. Too many times things have fallen flat because the correct questions were not asked.
To give you an example, I did a survey about my experiences with the BEd program. I can’t remember all the questions that they asked, but I do remember that they didn’t really ask about things that weren’t covered well by the program. I remember giving them an earful about how there should be more emphasis and support on classroom management skills and some other gaps that I experienced.
Juliana.
I use a Blackberry Torch and it is set up well for mLearning in most respects. I don’t need to worry as much about exceeding my data plan because the information is compressed. I can watch YouTube videos without much interruption from pretty much anywhere. Surfing the net is pretty easy. It’s flexible touch screen […]
Continue reading Day 2 – Blackberry Torch Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Thanks very much for your post…. great to hear from a smartphone user.
It sounds like your mobile works best for relatively bite-sized information (WebCT/Wordpress posts) but not for a lot of data entry… that makes sense given its affordances. I’m very interested in your Moodle LMS experiences (why do you use Moodle on a mobile…. how does it compare to a desktop experience) and what you see as the real strengths of your device for m-learning…
You don’t talk about your use cases… in what situations do you use your mobile most?
I will be honest in saying that the only reason why I used my BB for Moodle was because it was a class activity where we were to explore mLearning. Otherwise, my learning is done through my laptop because it is easier to type (I’m a touch typer and have difficulty just using my thumbs). Also by using my laptop at home it is quieter and I do have less interruptions.
Currently I use my BB for email mostly. Sometimes I use my browser if I need to get info about something (usually to settle a bet 😉 ) or get info about a restaurant (ie. menu info).
Juliana.
Sorry this is a little late. I don’t do a lot of m-Learning right now simply because I have a hard time reading things on my small screen. I had tried to do some of my WebCT readings on my Blackberry, but it can get frustrating as I am scrolling back and forth a lot. […]
Continue reading Day 1 – My m-Learning Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Interesting post!
As you point out, small screens are not great for doing a lot of reading… BUT they can work for content and tasks that fit the screen size and interface inputs of your device, such as reading and commenting on discussion posts.
The key strategy of a multinational I interviewed about m-learning was the decision to focus on bite-sized pieces of information to support a learner when they’re just about to deal with a problem (just before a client meeting) or are in the middle of solving it.
I’m curious about your concerns of being distracted while on public transport. What do you focus on while commuting on a bus? Why is that important to you? One of the characteristics of m-learning is that it has to cope with environments that provide short amounts of time and involve a lot of distraction.
When I’m commuting on a bus, I usually don’t do much. I’m fine with watching the scenery go by. It is usually my time to decompress and relax after work. If I do need to read anything for school, I usually print my articles and papers out and read them. By printing things out, I can make notes in the margin or highlight things. I know it isn’t good for the trees, so I try to always double-side and only print out those things that I really need.
My other reason for not wanting to be too engaged with my mobile device is that I see the effects of that in my co-commuters. I have found that people who are to engaged with their mobiles tend to be distracted and inadvertently discourteous to their fellow commuters. They don’t move out of the way or give room to people.
Another issue is that you can make yourself a target for thieves (or worse) when you are working with your mobile device. As a woman, I unfortunately have to be aware of these things. I am always envious of men in this respect because they don’t have to worry about this issue (at least not as much 🙂 ).
When I went to a self-defence class, that was the first thing that they told us…don’t be distracted with your mobile device. They said to always be aware of your surroundings because you never know who is watching. I myself have snuck up on many of my friends who were distracted by their mobile devices. They didn’t even see me coming until I was right in front of them.
While I may be one of the few who may feel reluctant with using mobile devices while commuting, I do think that it is a good technology that would need to be developed further. Bite-sized information does need to be made available so that it can be easily accessed through mobile devices. I will speak more on this in my Day 2 post.
Juliana.
I will agree with others in that I used blogs the most when creating projects, however, the one activity that really caused me to stretch my brain was digital storytelling. Many others have spoken about TOONDOOs, which is a simple comic strip creating platform that can be used to express complex ideas in a comic […]
Continue reading Final Post – ToonDoos Posted in: Week 10: Product-Based Assessments
Juliana,,
I am also a big fan of toondoo and have used it twice for MET assignments. It is really a great tool that will wield magic in the classrooms where reluctant writers exist. It doesn’t feel like the regular writing of a story; but rather putting all the pieces together to complete a puzzle. This would be worth investing in to expand the writing and creative capabilities of students.
Everton
Yes definitely. I think some things that I would like to see in the platform is more expressions, gestures and backgrounds.
Juliana.
From my MET experience, I have been assessed using the following methods: digital storytelling, blogs, research papers, presentations, Moodle courses and wikis. I will say that the most rewarding types of assessments have been where I have been able to either create a presentation/course or performing an analysis of some type. For instance, the Market or Venture analysis […]
Continue reading Activity #1: MET Assessments Posted in: Week 10: Product-Based Assessments
“As we all know, memorization will only get us so far.”
Good point, Juliana. I think that much of the really powerful learning that’s happened for me in MET has been about *doing* stuff. That doesn’t mean it can’t reference theory or involve reading lots of articles :), but developing a constructivist-style course is both a lot harder and a lot more rewarding than memorizing what constructivism is, who developed it, etc.
Exactly. I really enjoyed applying the theory and seeing how it works in the real world. For me it gave a real life context to it and really allowed me to see what would realistically work.
Juliana.
I think the iPad has the potential to change education, but only if it is utilized appropriately. In one of my other classes I was looking at radio and television and its uses in education and the one consistent message that I got was the the instructors either did not have time or were not […]
Continue reading Discussion #3 – To invest or not invest… Posted in: Week 09: iPad Apps
I agree with you Juliana – the technology is only as good as what is being presented. I recently went to a very frustrating class where we learned about a new finance software system – very difficult for one that does not like to do anything with numbers. The instructor continually pointed out how much she did not know – inspiring real confidence in her ability to educate us! I found it very frustrating in that everyone in the class was at the same point in the learning process as she was.
So your point about educating instructors is very valid – technology is not useful if it cannot be used properly or – more to the point – demonstrated properly.
deb
Hi Juliana,
You made good points.
I absolutely agree with you that teachers need to be retrained for the use of new technologies. I also agree with you that these new technologies change the way students learn. As training teachers costs a lot of money as well, we need to consider if the new technologies we are about to incorporate into the classroom are easy to use. We also need to consider if we’ll be utilizing them as much as we can. Buying decent technologies would be a good idea but it’ll be a waste of money if we don’t utilize them often.
Deb
I was teaching laboratory safety to adults, so it was a 6 hour lecture course and a 3 hour practical. This course has shifted to an online mode where all the 6 hours of lectures were put online, but the 3 hour practical is kept the same. In this context one advantage of the iPad […]
Continue reading Discussion #2 – Not sure about this…. Posted in: Week 09: iPad Apps
Great example of using mobile as a performance support.
You can probably find conductive gloves or a conductive solution to allow you to use gloves.
There are all kinds of cases and shields for iPads to keep them safe.
Funny that this should come up – I just saw an ad for the first time this weekend for i-touch gloves, and then discovered this article: http://topiphoneresource.info/best-iphone-gloves/. Even though I live in Vancouver, I am a cold weather wimp and may be investing in some of these 🙂
That is an interesting scenario Juliana.
Presently in the OR at one of our hospitals they are trialing the ipad for instrumentation tracking and control and have found an ipad that is surgically closed (I think that is the term they used) meaning that it is encased in such a way that it can be wiped down with cleaning solution after every use. It is mounted on the wall and plugged in at all times (hence no worries about battery life). Of course this option costs more as that is not the usual consumer package that it comes in. Gloved hands are used in the OR, and there are no reports that this is a negative factor in its use.
It is really hard to setup online learning when the learner is suppose to perform a return demonstration – much harder depending on the angles of the camera, if that is indeed what they are using, to capture all the cues of the demo. For tactile learner, like myself, being shown in person is a lot more advantageous then seeing it on screen.
Cloud computing has definitely shifted the way that I use the web. I don’t save as much on my computer and I don’t always need to have my jump drive with my files with me. For collaborations I often use Google Docs. I have also uploaded videos on to YouTube and used WordPress and Blogger. […]
Continue reading Cloud computing Posted in: Uncategorized
It’s tough, isn’t it, Juliana, to not do what the e-crowd is doing? I would have no problem dropping Facebook if something with more control / privacy came along. Until then, though, F-book is fine with me. I just use it somewhat cautiously, like yourself. I watched a presentation on some tech-related things at our teachers’ convention last week, and one of the items mentioned was how Facebook reserves the right to keep your files / information on their servers, even if you delete them. After one of their more recent changes, I also noticed that everything you post with someone – even just what was said in a chat – is retained. A cousin of mine played around with it, as we both didn’t like it, and found that, even if one person deletes a whole conversation, the other person still has a complete record of what was said between them over however many months these things are kept.
It’s a definite shift these days, I think, to cloud storage rather than hard disk or even USB drives, as you said. One way I like this is in the music sector – paying for a monthly service may just get many artists more of the money they are owed than the current system.
My worry is that in the future things will continue to get worse. In some ways I feel the corporations are controlling us to have a web presence even if we want to or not. I mean try and do anything without the internet these days (ie. banking, paying bills, credit cards etc.). The show “Modern Family” did a very funny episode on this when the family tried to not use any technology for a while.
The worrying part is that each time we do participate in online activities we are giving more and more information that sits on a database somewhere it can soon be accessed and used for who knows what.
Juliana.
Hi Juliana, I can relate to your comments about privacy. I also do not have a Facebook account (partly because I think we are in an age of over-sharing, and partly because I don’t want to surrender my photos, conversations and information to Mr. Z.). I was interested in the sections of this presentation on security, because that would be one of my main concerns for cloud computing. Although organizations like Google go to great lengths to protect the information from outside attack, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t collecting and using that information for their own purposes. (I know this sounds really paranoid, but it’s an interesting area for discussion, I think.) This great quote from Kevin Bankston, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, was in a ComputerWorld article on the topic: “Google knows more about you than your mother.”
Andrea
Nah! I don’t think you are paranoid at all. I think you are correct in that companies are using the information that we are freely giving them for their own purposes. Sometimes we have to if we are to participate with others via the internet or even do some online banking, but I do think it is wise to be choosy in what we choose to share and what we choose to keep private.
Juliana.
Before you publish your posting, please make sure that you select a category (eg. Introductions) as well as assign some meaningful tags (keywords).
Julie S 2:46 pm on November 28, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Juliana,
I just started my reviews but I noticed when I watched your pitch that you have focussed on non profit and not making money from the venture. I wonder if you have considered pitching to the debt management companies that you mentioned. They might be interested as paying clients because they could promote this as a social benefit in terms of helping provide prevention training for future generations.
For example, if the company is providing a service to a client who is also a parent they could offer a family based service where they offer this type of training for their client’s children to help them learn better budgeting practices. After all, if the parent is having problems then they probably aren’t passing down good habits to their children.
Just a thought. Cheers,
Julie
Julie S 9:06 pm on November 28, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Juliana,
Here’s my more detailed review of your venture. I liked your elevator pitch with the upbeat music, clear message and illustrated non-financial benefits. Your venture pitch is strong especially in how you state right up front that this is a social enterprise so there are no financial returns. Your problem statement is convincing but I’m not sure if I made the connection to why 3D was so important. You may want to add some key benefits here. From a media formatting perspective you may want to consider image instead of text when you are talking because I don’t think people can read one thing and hear another at the same time. Having said that your narrative was clear and easy to follow but I did have to stop and rewind for the text.
Coming from a corporate background I’m not used to social enterprises that don’t have a profit side but I think you did a pretty good job in explaining the social benefits.
I think I would be leaning towards investing if I could see a way that this was tied to my organization’s social responsibility goals. You may want to consider including something in the pitch that demonstrates the concept of an organization’s Triple Bottom Line which is a popular way of measuring value that goes beyond just profitability. In fact, if you did this with the agencies you mentioned I think you could be able to convince them to partner for more than just marketing. I was confident in your abilities from a developmental perspective and your partnership plans made your pitch stronger because they would bring the sales and marketing skills to the table that I would be concerned about.
Juliana 3:21 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Julie,
Thank you for bringing your corporate perspective. I think it is times like these I really do regret not having more of a corporate background. There are different priorities and strategies that need to be engaged and I will admit I did wonder if there was a better way that I could “sell” this venture.
I do agree with you about the 3D rendering. I think I was on the fence about this initially about creating a 2D or 3D environment. In the end the free and openness of the exercise got the better of me and I did choose to shoot for the clouds versus staying on the practical (and probably cheaper) 2D ground.
I am glad that you sent the link on Triple Bottom Line. I think this could have been a great way of structuring my pitch. As for your previous comment about partnering with a debt management company, I really wondered if they would have 200K to spare and I guess that is why I hesitated against it. But again, I may be completely wrong about this…as I mentioned, I have very little business experience so I am not really aware of the funds such organizations have for such ventures.
I did toy with the idea of recovering some costs by doing some advertisements, but again as this game is for high school students and was serving to help with fostering spending habits, I wondered about the ethicalities of this. May be it wouldn’t be so bad if I was selling advertisements for charities or post-secondary institutions? This type of advertising sells the good that can be done with money.
Thoughts?
Juliana.
Angela Novoa 2:13 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Juliana,
I really enjoyed your Venture. I think that there is a real target and market for both gaming and needs for financial education. By integrating financial learning with gaming you will be able to engage costumers, to prepare youngsters in a relevant issue of their lives, and to promote problem solving and critical thinking skills.
Your Venture Pitch provides information about the competency level of its leaders, the benefits offered, how it is different from other ventures, and who are the competitors. Your venture also provide clear information about the money that is required and when will investors receive returns. I think that needing a high amount of money to develop the venture with no real monetary return is an issue to consider. It is not clear how will the venture survive if it does not receive any incomes. I would suggest to provide more information about the returns of this venture. Indeed, receiving reputation as an entity that works in the improvement of the quality of education is really relevant. Having incomes for maintaining the Pennerwise Project platform is necessary too.
Overall, I would invest in the Pennerwise Project because I think that it offers a innovative solution and meets the needs of a wide number of costumers.
Angela.
Juliana 3:44 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Angela,
Thank you for your comments! Yes, the big issue with this venture is the return. After completing the pitch, I did wonder if I could possibly sell some space for advertising for charities or post-secondary institutions. I was thinking of targeting the advertising towards positive ways of spending your money (ie. education, vocational training or charities). Perhaps that is an angle that I could explore in future?
Thoughts?
Juliana.
kstooshnov 4:15 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Wonderful pitch and best wishes for the Pennywise Project, Juliana,
I could easily relate to the pain points, and feel as if I am on the same page as you when coming up with a solution. I would love to see more of the design of the serious game, and can think of some social justice-minded teachers in my district who would get behind it. What they may not be able to do, however, is buy in, and I can understand how difficult it might be to convince those with money to support a project that seeks to lessen the gap between the rich and poor. Nevertheless, you have carefully thought out and presented your idea, in spite of the flu, and spoke clearly and passionately about what most concerns you, and many others.
All the best,
Kyle
Juliana 7:07 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you for your kind words. Yes, doing this project (and another one for ETEC 540) that required narrations while I had a cold was not fun, but I did manage it.
I think from reading people’s posts these last few weeks and my general experience when working with public school teachers during the MET program is that teachers have little time and very little support. As a result, I just couldn’t create a venture that didn’t take this into account. Yes, it won’t make any money, but at the same time it may be easily integrated into the classroom and hopefully create a positive change in spending behaviours.
Juliana.
ashleyross 4:22 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Juliana,
I like how you engage the viewer by asking them questions. The concept of your venture sounds promising, and teaching students how to be financially savvy is something I think is really important. Your elevator pitch also left me with wanting to know more about your product which I think is a good thing.
Juliana 6:43 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for your comments Ashley! I was wracking my brain on how to generate interest with my elevator pitch and I found that the questions were the best way to draw people in.
Juliana.
David William Price 10:50 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Elevator pitch assessment
Juliana – Pennywise
First Impression: no face, voiceover with music and slides,
CEO Credibility: The CEO does not appear as an image or video although there is a voiceover all the way through. I have the voiceover to judge CEO credibility. The CEO appears to be passionate about the problem of student debt. I might take a negative inference based on the fact the CEO is unwilling to appear.
Management Team: No team is mentioned, so I have no way to judge. I might take a negative inference based on the fact the CEO is unwilling to talk about the team.
Venture Concept: Apparently a serious game of some sort related to student debt. No description of the game or what it does or how it works or who would use it. No description of the costs or timing of development of the serious game.
Opportunity Space: No description of the intended market. Is it students? What kind of students?
Market Readiness: No description of how this will be marketed or distributed, how to enter the market or how to grow presence.
Competitive Edge: Apparently providing free access to a serious game is meant to be an advantage. Similar games already exist on the web. No indication of how this game is different or how it will be paid for.
Exit Strategy: No indication of their target market, its size, or how they will capture it.
Overall Investment Status: I don’t see the CEO or the team, I don’t know who the targeted market is. I don’t know how my investment will be repaid. I don’t know how this will be marketed. I consider this high risk and would not pursue.
Juliana 3:04 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi David,
I do appreciate your comments. My reasons for using PowerPoint slides versus showing my face for the presentation is privacy. I am not comfortable with my face showing up on Youtube like that. Also, as I mentioned previously, I was sick, so I was not at my best anyway.
I was a little confused by your other comments as I did think I covered some of the gaps that you mentioned. For instance, I did describe on the Marketing slide who my audience would be along with who my marketing targets. In this slide I also mentioned how the marketing and promotion of the game will be done.
As for the competitive edge, I did mention why my game would be better than the existing free games on the internet. That is mentioned on the 3 Pain Point/Solution slides.
In addition, as my venture was more of a research project, the structure of the management team is a little different. I was enlisting a partnership with an existing serious game developer who would be doing the work of creating the game. Furthermore, I do clearly state that recovering the investment would not be the priority. The potential non-monetary gains are listed on the Return slide. Also, I did cover how long and how much money it would take to develop such a game on the Ask slide.
Take Care,
Juliana.
Juliana 11:48 am on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi David,
Just realized that you have only reviewed my elevator pitch. I take back most of my comments as I was under the impression that you did a detailed review of my venture pitch, which covers all of the points you mentioned.
My reasoning for not covering the points that you spoke about in the elevator pitch is because my aim was to generate interest first. Also it was too tough to put all of that information that you commented on in a 1 minute elevator pitch. To be honest I had enough trouble fitting everything in the 8 minute limit for the venture pitch!
Juliana.
mcquaid 12:32 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi, Juliana.
I must admit that you were #4 in my ten pitches. I liked your pitch – I thought it was informative, interesting, and sounded useful. Are you pitching this as a social enterprise (blend of profit and not-for-profit)? Your use of the word “free” may scare away some investors looking for a return (unless you’re thinking gov’t will pay for this program for schools), but may still attract some investment angels looking to do some good. Like the dragons on Dragon’s Den, I liked your idea, but just didn’t see how I could make any money with it.
Cheers,
Stephen
Juliana 6:56 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks Stephen! I am honoured to be your #4 pitch 🙂 There were so many really great pitches from our class and being #4 makes me feel pretty good!
You are correct in that there will not be a monetary return and that the word “free” is my biggest barrier.
I guess I chose to choose this route because I really felt that our public school system was just being tapped out for money and our teachers simply don’t have time to implement anything complicated in their classrooms. Also it was important to me to ensure that my venture was accessible to the public school system as they would be the biggest market and would allow for many students to be reached. So this made me go the research route.
Juliana.
Jay 3:18 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Juliana,
I think you are proposing an interesting idea here for schools and suggesting they play a role in teaching what you have referred to as “financial literacy” to students to foster change in our financial habits. I think your social venture is touching on an important subject in today’s cloudy economic climate.
You have presented clear problems and solutions that your company will solve. Suggesting partnerships with the organizations you proposed would strengthen your reputation and credibility. I also like the idea of using funding to conduct pre/post qualitative and quantitative research in this area to observe change and determine effectiveness.
I am slightly skeptical about a “serious game” and it’s ability to change spending/consumer habits. I would also worry about the resistance you might face from the plethora of companies, organizations that benefit from consumerism and debt practices. However I think you are proposing a strong and necessary idea for students of this age.
I would invest in your idea, but one question I have is to who you are targeting for investment. Your product is offered free to schools so I am unsure who would be investing. Debt management companies? Other non-profit NGOs? government? the partnerships you are suggesting? This is all I was unclear on.
overall great job!
Jay
Juliana 3:39 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jay,
Thank you very much for your comments!
I purposely left the question of who would be investing very open-ended.
I am from a very academic background so I automatically leaned towards government grants. I was also thinking that there could be potential buy in from bigger foundations (ie. Gates foundation), but again, I know that I am shooting for the moon.
As I mentioned in my reply to Julie above, I don’t have much business or corporate background, so I did hesitate focusing on debt management companies as a funding partner. I was wondering about whether or not they would have the funds to go for such a venture, but I think that they would be a natural funding match.
I also wonder if a serious game can change the world, but I do think that giving people the chance to experience the effects of their choices in a safe and simulated environment can help. I do want to stress the teacher-led activities that would go with a program like this. Those are the activities that can really help to educate and hopefully change some behaviours.
I think our time in the MET program has shown us that technology on its own is not the answer. It is a tool and it does fall on the teacher’s shoulders to ensure that all the learning goals are met. All we can do is hope to create ventures that ease the burden a little and help teachers meet the learning goals.
Juliana.
Doug Smith 7:59 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
jJuliana,
I was very intrigued by your elevator pitch and its not-for-profit venture. This was an immediate draw for me as a member of my community, as I appreciate the desire to educate for the sake of our society.
The Pennywise Project is well thought out and tells me most of what I would like to know about making an investment. The one part that I would really like to hear a lot more about is the actual markets and communities that it is targeted for. This would tie in with the development of the game, as different demographics will require different scenarios and situations so that the game is relevant.
In general, I am very skeptical of your cost for development. $200,000 over a two year period seems incredibly low. With perhaps more development needed to address diverse communities, the research cost alone may be significantly larger. However, maybe you are planning on taking advantage of subsidized or cost-reduced labour in order to achieve your targets. I would also like to see how this product would be marketed to schools. Obviously the fact that it is free is attractive. But even free products can be difficult to distribute without a skilled marketing team.
With some clarifications on the costs for development, along with a list of confirmed development partners, I would be eager to invest.