Please visit my Elevator Pitch below for a new Classroom LMS product called “Cloud LMS.” Truth be told, I would prefer to have done a video of myself speaking but a combination of me being a poor line memorizer, along with lighting and camera difficulties, led to the movie below. I like the narration though […]
Continue reading Cloud Connect Posted in: Week 13: Venture Forum
Hi everyone, Here is my Elevator Pitch. I have created a website for my Venture Pitch which is a combination of video, interactive demo, and text. Good luck to all next week!
Continue reading Corporate Personal Learning Platform Venture Posted in: Week 13: Venture Forum
Hi Julie…your link says that the video is private, so we can’t view it from this link.
Brenda
Thanks Brenda,
I’ve updated the setting and the link. Please let me know if you still have problems.
Sorry about that.
now that I went through your presentation, I’m wondering why we don’t all target corporate learning? It seems that this culture is just more open to new innovation in methods, given that they promise results, and are likely to work. As I view presentations and developed my own, I am frustrated by the fact that the traditional education system is so resistant to change. Those of us who work within it can attest to the fact that those ideas that seem to make it in are those that continue to maintain and validate the status quo rather than push the system to rethink its structures. It’s unfortunate, but to make money in elearning, it seems that a focus on the private sector is the way to go. You have clearly laid out the market and need here, and have identified how you are differentiated. I’m sold, even if I’m still unsure what metadat means. You have convinced me that you know, and I’m good with that. So how do I get in to this market? You have me thinking now… If I had the money, I would invest in this venture.
Emily
Thanks for your feedback Emily. The Corporate market definitely has the funds but it is hard sometimes to know where the next big thing is going to be. Everything that I have been reading in the marketing research says the workplace learning market is going to be significant for the reasons I put in the elevator pitch. You’ve nailed the challenge for this pitch – who the heck knows what metadata is so I have to try to visualize what they will get for addressing the problem.
Julie,
Great elevator pitch – loved the music and graphics. There is a lot of information to consume in a minute, but I really think that you touched on an important gap (and marketable one) within the system. Corporate learning is a huge niche that can easily be tapped as it impacts overall investments of a growing company. It is certainly something that I deal with on a daily basis. Your venture looks well thought out and researched, and certainly something that I would seriously consider investing in. Your concept appears very feasible and doable. You leave the viewer interested at the end – a nice touch.
Deb
Thanks Deb,
I’m in the midst of reviewing your venture and thought that you would have a pretty good understanding about this problem area which is nice because I wasn’t expecting anyone to have a background in these underlying systems concepts. In reading some of the replies I’m wondering if I should have just focussed on the market for elearning and not tried to get the sense of the metadata problem across. I’ll need to think about this a little more.
Julie S.
I am interested. Your elevator pitch definitely caught my attention. It highlighted some keys points which are needed in failing educational system. I think the graphics and music selection are very good. The idea is very good one, corporate learning has revolutionized our education systems. Many educators moving away the traditional educational system to one that actively incorporate the learners. Thus, your product will attract a large market.
I think drawbacks to your pitch were the amount written material and the font size of words. But overall it is a good presentation.
Conroy
Thanks Conroy,
My big challenge was tryint to give a sense of the problem without going into too much detail so I was hoping this was a good balance. I was actually thinking about increasing the font but didn’t get back to it. Thanks for the reminder.
– Julie
Hi, Julie.
I thought your music and graphics / transitions were spot-on – very “business-like”. I also thought your ending was a good one. It made it seem like even a small gain in the market would yield large results (although a show like Dragon’s Den often highlights how tough it is to get even just 1% of some markets) – a good way to whet someone’s appetite or pique their interest enough to explore your venture further.
There were a few things that could be done to improve the pitch:
– it exceeded the maximum length
– my eyes were very busy during it, but not in a good way. I was all over the place, trying to read things that weren’t on the screen long enough or were a bit small
– not exactly sure what your business is about, other than just corporate learning
Cheers,
Stephen
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for your feedback. This venture is for a pretty niche market so I was really concerned about whether or not I could get any sense of the problem across. I wasn’t trying to get you to fully understand the problem or read the slides in detail. If you look at the Wikipedia entry for metadata you’ll get a bit of an idea about how complicated it seems for people to try to describe what it is.
When I’ve done work in this area in the past it has always been with a company where there are experts on staff who understand the metadata problem so this was a first for me. I’m glad I was at least able to get your interest. I thought that what I really need to get this pitch more successful was a set of demo screens that would show the business value but I didn’t have time given that I just came up with the idea when I started on this project.
I was thinking of Dragon’s Den when I did the stat for the 1% so I like that you caught this. I knew that I could explain it better once I got to the venture part. However, I didn’t go into detail because David had said not to worry so much about the financials because we wouldn’t have time.
Thanks for taking the time for the feedback.
Hi Julie,
I was very impressed with your presentation, even though I have no corporate experience at all…although, when I consider the learning needs of our employees who are NOT teachers in our board (and there are hundreds) I must say that our organization could use a platform such as yours.
You used a very good combination of videos and text and I was impressed with your use of graphics – very professional appearance. You described your pain point well – the disillusionment with current training programs – I can recall some dreadful modules for my WHMIS training and my Violence in the Workplace training – really sad little learning events that left me cold, so your idea of providing a customized training platform is a great one. I agree with you that for industrial training, the current elearning systems are not very useful.
Your market is well researched and the potential is huge – this is a growing area for ventures. I really enjoyed the interactive part of your presentation – an additional feature I have not seen in other pitches yet. It shows that you have done a great deal of research. I believe that your venture has great potential for return on investment.
Brenda
Thanks Brenda,
I appreciate the feedback of your non-corporate perspective. You’ve shown me an insight into the educational industry where of course there are positions other than just teaching and therefore mulitple perspectives just like in the corporate world.
I’m so glad to hear that you tried out the interactive part. I was experimenting with layering information and ideas in the venture pitch. I would have liked to have more time to combine the two to really demonstate the power of the solution but that will have to be saved for another time.
Thanks again for your feedback,
Julie
Julie,
Great Pitch. Great concept. Very good use of graphics and I really loved the interactivity you add to your presentation. Your idea is well researched and I am very keen to learning more about this opportunity.
Keisha
Hi Keisha – I spent quite a few hours on that interactive component and wasn’t sure if it would work. I’m so glad to hear you liked it.
Thanks for your feedback,
– Julie
Hi Julie,
Great pitch, and a great idea! “Corporations who invested heavily in e-learning and were disillusioned by the results have realized the need for more a personalized approach to training.” The big systems – which cost hundreds of thousands per year for the infrastructure alone – didn’t always deliver the value people wanted. I really like your idea, and would be interested to see it in action as both an employee and an instructional designer.
Andrea
Hi Julie,
Your elevator pitch looked very professional. I liked the images and the music you presented in your pitch. However, as it had too much information and images/diagrams in a short pitch, I had hard time focusing and reading things that appeared and disappeared so quickly. In my opinion, it could’ve grabbed more attention if your explanation (your voice) was added to it.
I liked your venture pitch. It was a lot better for me to read your venture pitch and understand what those diagrams in your elevator pitch meant.
Great work, overall!
Deb
Hi Julie,
Thank you for adding to our experience and analysis by contributing a corporate focus. This is actually an area I am interested in as well. I agree with Deb’s comments. Your pitch looked professional indeed but too much information to digest and read. I also had a challenge with this very thing. You could use less text and still get your point across actually.
I really liked the interactive aspect within your venture pitch and the clean presentation. I like the clear presentation of your product details which really offered essential elements that I think you could have zeroed in on some more in your elevator pitch.
Kerry-Ann
Hi all, Here’s the link to my elevator pitch: http://debbykimubcmet.wordpress.com/etec-522/elevator-pitch-math-impossible/ Click the link below for my venture pitch on Math Impossible: http://debbykimubcmet.wordpress.com/etec-522/venture-pitch-math-impossible/ Deb
Continue reading Math Impossible Posted in: Week 13: Venture Forum
Hi Deb,
I really liked your elevator pitch… I am not sure where you found that video of the guy turning off the laser beams but it was perfect for your “mission, I mean Math impossible” theme. I suppose the main question that I still have as an investor is how is your product distinct from the thousands of free mathematics resources for teachers and students already online? Math resources are probably one of the best covered areas on the Web in terms of free resources. Before I hand you $1 million, I would need to get a sense, right away from your elevator pitch, of how and why your service/product would be unique and worth paying for.
Hi Jim,
Thank you for the feedback. I found this cool powerpoint template from http://www.presentermedia.com. I did venture analysis on his company for A1.
There is a reason I didn’t give a lot of details of Math Impossible in the elevator pitch. It was to grab audience’s attention and to make them more curious about what the venture would be. I thought it’d be too much information releasing if I gave too many details in the elevator pitch.
As a math teacher, I’ve been trying to use math resources available online, but I haven’t found really good one that provides a question bank. My venture will focus more on to a question bank and a question generator so that teachers can have free access to it whenever they need questions for exams/tests/quizzes/handouts. Exam banks that are currently available out there cost too much money and it’s a little shame to tell you that most of the secondary schools that I’ve been working don’t have enough resources. Eventually teachers just had to share each other’s resources and it’s very limited. So, I don’t agree with you that “math resources are probably one of the best covered areas on the Web in terms of free resources”.
Deb
Deb,
First, I must say good job since we are not experts yet. I like the math concept especially when one considers that many students are not learning the concepts the traditional ways. Obviously, you are going to have competition from other sources, but as time goes by you will be able fix whatever problems surfaced.
Everton
Hi Everton,
Thank you for the feedback. New venture always has competition from other ventures, so we always have to come up with better ideas.
My venture has a unique point system so that teachers and students can use accumulated points to purchase questions and school materials. I didn’t give many details in the elevator pitch to increase curiosity from people and make them want to watch the actual venture pitch.
Deb
Great elevator pitch Deb! I think having a really upbeat and engaging elevator pitch is critical for your venture – especially if what Jim says is true. You really need to grab the attention and hold it with the longer venture pitch to get those dollars.
Hi Julie,
Thank you for the feedback. My purpose for not giving a lot of details in the elevator pitch was to grab people’s attention so that they would get more curious and want to watch the venture pitch to discover what Math Impossible is all about. I guess it had a reverse effect instead. I’ll add more information that can grab the audience’s attention next time.
Thank you!
Deb
Hi Deb,
Lovely presentation.
I was very interested with your project because I know many students are struggling with MATH. I have seen several MATH tutorials online. I believe Khan Academy started with Math tutorials as well.
I agree that learning Math is possible. Falling in-love might require some work.
I tried to view your venture pitch. But, I could not access it.
I am curious how you are going to go about your project and which Math topics would you be covering like Calculus, Trigonometry, etc …
I am also curious how your product would improve the learner’s internal mental process.
Another thing is, is it easy to navigate and does it suggests the next suitable tutorial ?
Most of the math tutorials out there would require the learner to know exactly what he is looking for. Not all learners know exactly where to begin and how to move forward.
cheers,
Stephen
Hi Stephen,
Can you still not access my venture pitch?
Let me know. If you still can’t, I’ll send you another link. You have to view it with Window Media Player.
I’ll briefly answer your questions. Math Impossible is an online resource program focusing specifically on building a question bank for teachers and students. It’ll cover all the math topics from K-12. As a math teacher, I found out that most of the math resources available online were not of big help, especially when it comes to creating a quiz/test/handout. Resources that are available at school (either in DVD or paper) are not enough for many teachers so we end up making our own and share. My venture idea came from there. If we could share resources that we have not just within school but also in cyberspace, we would be able to create a gigantic question bank.
For students, there are not many extra question workbook that students can work on other than textbooks. So, students can use Math Impossible to do extra exercise questions and collect points to purchase school items online.
I haven’t thought about giving an online tutorial session in Math Impossible, but it’s a great idea if we can provide a tutorial session. That way, the learner can determinie where to begin.
It’s my venture idea and your feedback is always appreciated as it’s in the imaginative stage at the moment.
Thank you, Stephen!
Deb
Great pitches Deb..I too really enjoyed the animation – it really did fit well with your topic. Your elevator pitch didn’t give me many details about your venture, but your longer pitch gave me all the information I needed! This is a great idea to have the collaborative nature of the application – for teachers and students. I was really intriqued by your points system and wonder how that will be tracked and monitored – could it get very complicated? I would love to know the “decent price” point that you mentioned to know if school boards or parents, students, and teachers would find it affordable. Great work!
Brenda
Hi Brenda,
Thank you for the feedback.
As for the point system, I haven’t really thought in details. However, since teachers would be evaluating others’ questions and give peer review on them (including the level of difficulty, the topic covered, etc.), it wouldn’t be so complicated. So simply said, each question would be worth a point or two. There would also be employed analysts who would work on the point system.
As for the “decent price”, I heard that 30% of an Apple app goes to Apple and 70% goes to the creator. So, I believe if it’s $0.99 (or make it free) for the Math Impossible app, it’d be decent for them.
Thanks!
Deb
Hi Deb,
Good job! I echo a lot of what previous people have said… your pitch is fun and genuinely engaging, which is at least half the battle. And like Jim and Stephen, I’m wondering about how it competes with ample competition, and exactly how it works. What platform will it use? and is it a question bank – or does it do something more. I think Stephen makes a great point when he suggests that existing math instruction strategies and products might not really be doing the job as well as they could. How does Math Possible build on their weaknesses – to indeed make math possible?
I don’t know if you checked out School of One which we featured in social analytics week. It’s a cool program used in NY schools to teach math – it uses learner analytics to design highly individualized routes through the math curriculum to build on learners’ existing strengths.
Allie
p.s. disclaimer 1: this is all from your elev pitch; i haven’t yet read your venture pitch
disclaimer 2: i haven’t touched math since grade 11 when I might have squeezed out a B in the subject. Not my forte.
Hi Allie,
Thank you for the feedback. Yes, Math Impossible will take place in online space where math teachers can collaborate to build a question bank. For students, it will be an exercise bank. So, it has two different question banks, one to support teachers creating questions for quizzes/tests/exams, and the other one to support student learning and improving their mathematical problem solving skills.
I grew up in Korea and you probably know that most Korean students are strong at Math. I remember purchasing a lot of extra workbooks, at least 3 or 4 each year I took Math. There are lots of resources available from various publishing companies in Korea that I not only relied on the textbook but also relied on those workbooks that I purchased to work on my weak areas in Math. Here in Vancouver, there are a few educational book stores that sell math workbooks and some schools use them instead of textbooks. However, they are very expensive (usually $30 or more), and the number of questions in the workbook is limited. Once students understand the concepts of a certain topic, it’s important for him/her to try as many similar questions as possible until he/she gets familiar with it. This means that the student needs some free resources to access. My venture idea came from there.
It’ll be available both online, like Moodle (LMS), and the app.
Thank you for your questions, Allie. I hope I answered them all. 🙂
Deb
Hi Deb,
Here is my detailed analysis of your venture.
I really enjoyed your elevator and your venture pitch. I thought your elevator pitch was especially catchy, innovative and it made me want to learn more. In addition, your venture was deceptively simple and as this is an open source idea, I think there is a good potential to have a following.
Pain Point and Solution: I think you did a great job outlining the pain point and how your venture would provide the appropriate solution. I thought it was very innovative in how you would take advantage of social media to not only increase interaction but work to create your question back.
Differentiation: You did a great job outlining the differentiation of your product in that it does have a points system and that it does take advantage of social media. In addition, using the points system to encourage the building of your database was a very good idea. I was thinking that instead of using their points to buy rulers and erasers, if you had it set up so that students could use their accumulated points to buy other apps or iTune downloads, you would probably increase usage and interaction.
Marketing: I was wondering why you were targeting the Lower Mainland area only. I thought this would be a good program to take nationally and internationally. In addition, as you are dealing with numbers, language won’t be a huge issue unless you are dealing with word problems. I do agree that students from different countries may have difficulties when doing discussions, but numbers have a universal language to them and it can be easy for people to follow how a solution is derived.
Championship: Nothing was mentioned on this. I would have liked to know more about who would be creating the system and who was carrying out this venture.
Competition: You did cover this and you mentioned that there were not a lot of resources for Maths.
The Ask and the Return: Nothing was really mentioned
Excellent job!
Juliana.
Hi Juliana,
It’s always good to “see” you in cyberspace. 🙂
Thank you for your through feedback.
As for marketing, I wanted to start with the Lower Mainland to see how my customers would respond to my venture and then expand the area. However, you pointed out well that it wouldn’t be a problem taking Math Impossible internationally as it’s dealing mostly with numbers. I didn’t put in my venture pitch, but I was thinking of taking this globally as teachers all over the world could have access to Math Impossible to build a question bank in different languages. As Math Impossible will be a management system that consists of a question bank, creating a question bank according to a specific language wouldn’t be a problem. Once again, I have to emphasize that this is only my venture “idea”. I didn’t pitch an existing venture, so you and other coursemates’ opinions/feedback are always appreciated.
For the Championship part, if you are asking who would be “maintaining” the system, it’d be math teachers who join Math Impossible. As for creating the system, it’ll be starting with a group of Math teachers (probably my friends and colleagues) who like my venture idea and wish to support.
Thanks!
Have a wonderful Christmas. It’s been nice working with you, especially for A2. 🙂
Deb
Great job on the pitches, Deb. As others have mentioned, your pitches are very engaging and the 3D guy certainly grabbed my attention! To be honest, I was a bit disappointed to see the price tag of these templates. ..
Great concept of creating question bank that we can all share. With the idea of “social eBooks” maybe teachers can collaborate to improve on the teaching materials to make math “possible”. 🙂
I do believe there is a market for your venture idea as I feel the same problem we have in Vancouver. Though there are lots of free worksheets online, they are not tailored to the BC curriculum, and it could take a long time before a teacher can find something at the right level and topic. You might want to look at Koofers.com.. This venture is also about sharing and rating questions and lecture notes.
Thanks for the interesting pitches!
Hi Carmen,
Thank you for your feedback.
I hope there is a market for my venture idea in Vancouver. As you said, a lot of free math resources online are not based on the BC curriculum. Therefore, it’s an exigent matter that BC teachers collaborate to share resources which are tailored to the BC curriculum.
Thanks for the link to the website. I haven’t heard of Koofers.com yet, so it’ll help me come up with more ideas.
Deb
Hi Deb,
Great hook and great presentation. I though that it was well researched and entertaining at the same time which is a very difficult thing to do. The animations were excellent and straight to the point. The added to the presentation, instead of just acting as eye candy. Fantastic.
The elevator pitch was great, made me want to hear more about the project right away. To me this is a great indicator that you had a great presentation. As a math and technology teacher I can see that you are passionate about the porject and the potential that it has. This was obvious in your project.
David.
Hi David,
Thank you for your feedback.
It’s my venture idea so far, but I hope to see it happen in the near future. It’ll be a great resource and the opportunity for many math teachers, not just in BC but also in other areas.
Deb
Dear Deb,
Love the mission impossible, er, math impossible theme for elevator pitch. It was catchy and made me want to know more which was then laid out very nicely in your venture pitch. Will agree with some of the comments made previously (cost of templates, yikes, lol) and I think you found a product that is certainly worth looking into. Thanks!
Michelle
Hi Michelle,
I know! PresenterMedia has great templates (both animated and regular) but it costs a lot. So what I’m doing is that, since I’ve paid for a year already, I’ve been saving almost every single clipart, template, and image to my external hard drive. I’m planning to do that for the next couple of months until my 1 year contract with them is over. Then, I can use them whenever I want.
Deb
I was tentatively planning to post my own A3 relative to one of my emerging ventures, but I’m not sure I’ll have time to create a pitch worthy of our upcoming Venture Forum (!). However, as one on my ventures fits comfortably into the Mobiles discussion I thought I’d introduce it here, possibly for good […]
Continue reading A Venture for Accountable M-Learning Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Hi David….
This looks really neat. Would I be able to use these kinds of Apps/services with my ESL students in China? Part of our focus, is to offer BC Brand teaching and the BC curriculum. I’m assuming that your partners would be in BC? Would this mean that students from all over might be able to experience BC field trips through m-learning?
I would love to learn more….if my assumptions are correct….
Verena 🙂
Hi Verena –
The Internet is essentially the same everywhere, yet one of the unique features of m-learning in this context is that it couples intimately with specific real-world contexts. In other words, these apps will be very place-specific: they will be available from anywhere but essentially meaningless and inoperable except in the place(s) in which they are staged. So this approach to learning will work anywhere, but these specific apps will only work here. While this might sound ‘limiting’, the learning benefits of coupling directly with everyday experience are enormous…
“think in terms of field trips staged on mobile devices where each portion of the lesson plan requires some action by the learner at some place in the real world, and each step of the learning journey is validated and ‘scored’ in real time”
Very cool! This is the kind of m-learning creativity I’ve been pushing for this week… leveraging the affordances of mobile to support and encourage going out into the real world to learn (rather than doing a lot of reading on a tiny screen).
Thanks very much for sharing!
Really great David V. I am very interested. And yes David W-P I think it is a great example that frames your questioning this week. I particularly like the aspect of situated cognition and contextual learning while being interactive, engaged and empowered through technology in real world, real time activities.
Kerry-Ann
Hi David
I absolutely like your network. I think it is a wonderful network in Jamaicans and other people from the Caribbean could definitely benefit from this project.
Describe a problem in teaching/learning/performance. One of the problems I face when I teach Math is that there are not enough resources available out there for students to study in order to improve their fundamental Math skills and problem-solving skills. For example, some of my students still have difficulty adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing integers/fractions/decimals. However, […]
Continue reading [DAY 3] Math Master Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Great ideas!
I’m glad you enjoyed the assignment. You have an interesting concept. I love the idea of educators creating and sharing questions to enhance and grow your database.
What do you think of minimizing translation issues by focusing on using icons and imagery in your problems instead of words? Take a look at Robert Horn’s work, or think about “wordless instructions” like those used by Ikea or in emergency exit brochures for aircraft.
How might you use the computer in the mobile itself to generate questions? It’s probably not necessary to create all the individual questions yourself. Instead you could create heuristics, and the mobile would use the heuristics to generate infinite questions based on those rule sets. THat way you wouldn’t even have to use a lot of data transfer or updates or translation.
Social networking could be used for collaboration to solve problems together. What about an app that requires collaboration to solve math problems? You can see each other working on the problems… or you share a mobile to work a problem out.
I guess another issue for me is why people have trouble with math. Do they have a breakdown in conceptual understanding? How might they use the real world to help them understand math problems? A mobile could scaffold them through using real items or conducting real activities that illustrate the math concepts. To some extent, the Khan Academy does this in their videos.
Thank you for the questions, David.
“What do you think of minimizing translation issues by focusing on using icons and imagery in your problems instead of words?”
It’s a good idea that we can minimize translation issues by using icons and images instead of words. However, as the math curriculum and new textbooks that have changed over the last 2 years are focusing on mathematical literacy these days, students still need to learn the ways to translate word problems into diagrams and mathematical sentences. I’ve seen so many kids who can solve a word problem that includes a diagram, but not the one without a diagram. Although I give the same word problem to the students, one with a diagram and one without it, the scores between the two are very different. Many students still need to work on solving word problems.
“How might you use the computer in the mobile itself to generate questions?”
The collection of questions in a question bank is kind of like creating heuristics. Same formatted question with different numbers each time it’s generated.
One of my issues with math is how to make a connection between the real world situations and conceptual understanding in math. I’ve applied some real world situations for teaching. For instance, I once used the Tower of Piza to teach trigonometry in Math 9. I briefly went over the history of the Tower of Piza and told students to find as many angles as possible using sine, cosine, and tangent ratios. Another example is that I sent my AWM (Apprenticeship & Workplace Math) 10 students to a convenience store and ask them to pick up things they want to purchase and calculate HST, sale price, and discount.
Deb
Paying homage to the McLuhan Centenary, I think the emergence cloud computing will be significant to education in that the actual learning materials will be shifting to something new. I’ve previously mentioned the iTunes-ization of media when discussing eBooks, and I think this can be further generalized. People are obviously excited over iCloud ie iTunes […]
Continue reading The Cloud Changing the Message Posted in: Week 08: Files in the Cloud
A great connection to McLuhan, Doug. The message / point of using cloud-based things can just be the fact that you’re using cloud-based things. It’s a mind shift in many cases more than anything else.
Hi Doug,
Do you think it’s the cloud changing the message or rather that technology itself is evolving to what is a more ‘natural response’. McLuhan says the medium is the message and technology in education has previously been driven by what educators think are the ‘best’ media but now ‘students’ are driving the media, the needs of society are also driving the media in order to get out their message hence now the message is driving the media/technology? Our ability to harness/ facilitate the ‘natural response’ is what I believe is key to future successful ventures. Thoughts?
Kerry-Ann
Hi Doug,
I completely agree that the possibilities with cloud technologies could transform how we consume and create text and other content.
This is a bit of a tangent, but your post also reminded me of the proposed changes to Canadian copyright law, which on the one hand makes it legal for people share media files within their own system across different tools, and on the other restricts them from doing this if there is any digital lock in place. However, there are other interesting aspects of this: an article in the Globe & Mail mentions how Canada’s proposed new copyright law “requires students to destroy copyright-protected, online components of courses after receiving their final grade.”
It seems that while technology forges ahead making new things possible, government thinking about digital learning materials.
Andrea
Before you publish your posting, please make sure that you select a category (eg. Introductions) as well as assign some meaningful tags (keywords).
andrea 10:11 pm on November 28, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Doug,
What a great elevator pitch! I really liked that you were clearly speaking to people about an investment opportunity, but that you also quickly described the product, identified the size of the market and existing issues for schools, and even spoke to the strength of your team’s skills. Well done!
Andrea
jarvise 11:32 am on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I like your idea, and the rationale makes a lot of sense. I also liked your last two pages evaluating your own pitch. I wasn’t sure how to get that into my own. I never thought of just blatantly doing it. Good job! I would be hesitant to invest. Not because of any issues with your proposal, per se, but with the nature of the market you are targeting. A direct to schools pitch seems very risky. A lot of products that make so much sense for adoption within schools just can’t get traction, for no particular reason. The culture of the education system is weird this way. Unless you can attain fad status, unfortunately it seems difficult to gain widespread adoption. I would be much more comfortable investing in a product sold directly to students, parents, or companies. That being said, it doesn’t really fit with what you are proposing. I think that there are so many products emerging in this area at this time, that it may be too risky. Especially since many of them are free. Your elevator pitch was one of the best I have seen. Great work!
Emily
Deb Giesbrecht 5:34 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Doug,
I had the same technical issues – not to mention I hate being in front of the camera! I liked your presentation – very well done. The graphics and concepts were very clearly defined and I think the market is very expanse. It would be challenging to set yourself a part from all the other Learning Management Systems out there – but your plan appears to be well researched and very feasible. Your elevator pitch does make me want to investigate the venture further, so I think you effectively did your homework! Great job!
Keisha Edwards-Hamilton 8:15 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Doug.
Cloud Connect is a very interesting venture. It grabbed my attention quickly and I am keen on learning about how it works since it promises a new way for learning management systems which in my opinion is much needed today to cater to the different needs of today’s digital age learners.Considering that the LMS market is worth billions as stated, this is a venture I would definitely pursue. Great pitch.
Keisha
hall 1:30 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Doug,
I like the idea of ‘Connect LMS’. The ideas presented in the pitch were clear and could be easily followed. The font size and graphics were very good. I absolutely think it is a brilliant idea especially as institutions are in search of effective and efficient tool to provide learning to a large number of students. The idea of using with primary and high school students is a plausible one and would definitely allow students to acquire conceptual knowledge rather than procedure knowledge at very tender age. Although I think is a good venture, I am concerned about your target market (primary and high school students). I think that your venture would be more marketable if you include the tertiary level students which have been proven to be a good target group.
Conroy
Deb Kim 4:08 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Doug,
This is a great idea! I liked your elevator pitch. It had enough information to grab people’s attention and was made clear what your venture is about. I also liked your venture proposal. When I first saw your elevator pitch, I wondered how Connect LMS would be different from other LMSs. You answered my question in your venture pitch. I especially liked the idea that Connect LMS is based on the currently available software products. It’ll make it easier for customers to use without learning new functions. I also liked the diagrams you added as a reference in your pitch. They made clear what you wanted to say about your venture.
As you outlined in ‘The Challenge’ in your pitch, I’m also worried how you are going to advertise and compete against the already existing LMS such as Moodle. Moodle is pervasively used in many districts already, so there must be some unique features of Connect LMS that are different and more appealing than Moodle.
Great work!
Deb
verenanz 12:05 am on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Clear, concise – grabs your attention, it was full of facts and details. You had the answers. Great integration of e-portfolio ideas, product based assesment and other themes from this course. Industry Canada would be VERY interested in speaking with you if you are ready to take it to the next step. I could give you a contact if you wanted one.
Well done!
Verena:)
mcquaid 8:57 am on December 3, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
You’re my last review, Doug. Sorry it took me until now to get to you… on the plus side, though, it’s because you were in my top three!
After watching your elevator pitch a few times, I wrote a few notes down like:
– slick-looking
– talk is a bit fast
– enticing market
– I may be in if what I see later is good enough!
So here I am now, after seeing the rest of the pitch.
Market-wise, it seems to make a lot of sense. There is definitely a trend for growth (as shown by your LMS infographic on page five), and your market share growth prediction on the same page would mean a growth of 15 – 37.5 million this year alone (in addition to the existing ¾ billion market size). It’s definitely enticing. Your SaaS approach, is good, but I felt a little hesitant when you said you would market it to individual teachers first. I would be worried that that would slow growth down, and by the time you had a strong base, could the window of opportunity for the product be gone?
When combined with analytics later, the ability to tailor learning for students and make it personalized, I think, is where this could really shine. Personalized learning is pretty “buzzy” lately – who wouldn’t want things to be tailored to fit them, including learning?
My remaining questions about the program are:
– As you mentioned, teacher resistance – I wonder if that will be a significant hindrance, like in Zhao and Frank’s paper that looked at technology as an invasive species in a new ecosystem
– What will really set it apart from its competitors and hook people? (I think you laid this out fairly well, but was waiting / wishing for something to grab me even more)
– Related to the last point, I’d be scared to death of the free competitors you alluded to.
– I’m curious as to what makes Shoebridge a “visionary” – I’ll have to look him up…
– Just something nitpicky, from an LA teacher – your lack of hyphens for terms like “classroom based” drove me a little nuts!
Overall, I thought that this was a good idea with great potential. With a little more tweaking after your EVA critiques here, you could be really on to something!
Cheers!
Stephen
https://www.msu.edu/user/k/e/kenfrank/web/papers/Factors%20affecting%20technology%20uses%20in%20schools.pdf
khenry 5:24 pm on December 4, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Doug,
Very good job on the elevator pitch! You had a good balance of voice and visuals and really got all the essential elements within your time. Nice tone and pace, but at times the pace teetered on being a little fast but you held it just enough. I clearly heard your problem, your solution, the competence of your team and reason for your venture, your market and market focus. I also read through your pitch. My main question would be would I really pay for this when I can access elements for free. Therefore, I think your focus and use of learning analytics and personalised programs along with increased collaboration and choice of user with tools are essential. Good job.
Kerry-Ann