Gaggle – Jeff Patterson, Founder and CEO…
Gaggle – Jeff Patterson, Founder and CEO
· Gaggle started out as a filtered, controlled email client for students and teachers alike but has grown into a full social media suite which provides students safe places to communicate and collaborate, all whilst affording them personal spaces in which to foster and express individual creativity. The name is derived from the definition of a large group of geese, with Jeff Patterson’s rationalization, “Our goal was to give teachers an easy way to watch over their gaggle of students.” With internet safety being of utmost concern for parents and teachers alike, this platform affords student’s thirst for social media outlets in a more controlled environment than other, more well-known spaces on the internet, without scrimping on features like chat rooms, blogs, profile pages, “GaggleTube” and social walls that allow students’ individual expression, whilst allowing teachers to capitalize on features like assignment drop boxes, discussion boards and filtered texting, simultaneously. Gaggle prides itself in innovation, allowing teachers and schools a way to adapt to students who are constantly connected digitally by reaching out and engaging them on familiar ground.
Jeff Patterson has a proven track record of creating educational software programs, heading up ventures in lesson planning, sound editing, and digital magazine publishing with no less than six individual programs to his name. He is also the co-founder of Pixel Genius Entertainment, Inc., which specializes in photo editing software. He created Gaggle because he knew how integral e-mail had become to his ventures in business, and he, in turn, wanted to introduce it in a safe and motivational way within schools to raise student excitement and communication.
The team at Gaggle is comprised of several business management specialists, all of whom have extensive experience at well-known companies. The Chief Operating Office, Brett Woudenberg, was former Chairman and CEO at Trailblazer, a learning management solution for K-12 schools. Between each member introduced, a significant amount of experience both in business and educational technology ventures has been amassed, making for a sound business team.
Between delving into these case studies of both pitches and founders/teams of ventures in educational technology and watching a fair share of Shark Tank and Dragon’s Den, I have begun to see the importance of having strong backers with a proven track record in a new venture’s corner. It is perfectly fine to have the ideas, for where would we be without them, but it is almost equally important to have strong people who will inspire investors and adopters behind you. I have the ideas and the excitement, but I am still working on the eloquence and delivery, which will surely be needed to amass an excellent team.
Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
tomwhyte1 9:53 am on September 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I find it interesting that this venture was created out of a need for email…
Lately, when instructing my students, and introducing email, and the platform we are using to accommodate this service, most students ask – “What is email?”
Have we held onto something, that many of our students have moved beyond? Is it important?
Secondly, in your information about the individual and company in general, I really appreciated and found value in the fact that this is not his first venture into technology and education, but another venture based upon a need he felt existed. As I am unaware of this company, is this a for-profit or not-for-profit venture?
jenniferschubertubc 6:21 am on October 12, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
The way I am interpreting what they state in their FAQ’s, Gaggle is a for-profit venture which does occasionally offer free services to selected schools who cannot afford their product (by invitation only). As far as the email origins… I quite enjoy that the company recognized the need to grow and expand from that and move into social networking. I have found that they have “kept up with the times” as it were and opened themselves up to new markets and services as the demand has grown and changed.
Ranvir 10:00 pm on September 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I have looked at the Gaggle website and it seems that the concept of providing a controlled, human monitored environment works great for k-12 schools who are able to get the grant funding from the government. However, I wonder how this affects the students behaviour and their web etiquette when they know that their keystrokes are being monitored. I guess this may not be much of an issue in primary grades, however in high school where students are more matured, I wonder how much is the uptake. We don’t like to be policed irrespective of our age.
jenniferschubertubc 6:26 am on October 12, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I’m sure this is always in the back of students’ minds… especially when they become old enough to “know better.” I’m sure genuine posting is more than likely filtered to become what they find to be more safe or to look better to teachers rather than true feelings. After all, they still have facebook, twitter and other non-policed ways to communicate outside of school. (I do wonder if students would choose to use this service for anything other than strictly school-related communication in this instance. I do like the idea for younger students to have a safe space, but I can’t help but feel that older students will duck the system so to speak in order to have more genuine interaction with friends/peers.)