Colin
For my A3 project I created a company called V-Projects. The V stands for Virtual 3-D Worlds and the projects refers to its emphasis on project based learning with our course material. I have both pitches as a video with my self reflection included at the end of the venture pitch. Elevator Pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCq06ncMi70 Venture […]
Continue reading V-Project Posted in: Venture Forum I found it interesting when I came across this article where 72% of students surveyed in Ontario said that cell phones should not be used in the classroom as an educational tool. Some gave the warning that it is just too distracting for them to use in the classroom. This makes me think whether students […]
Continue reading I found it interesting when I came acros… Posted in: Week 09:
Hi Colin,
This reminds me of a study I had read in a previous MET class. According to this study, an experimental group of students ranging in ages were asked to submit their mobile devices for a period of 48 hours. The results indicated that some of the students who were accustomed to using social media exhibited high levels of anxiety and depression similar to those withdrawing from drug addiction. Through my experience, when a student receives a bbm, tweet or facebook message, the temptation to check it is too high. There is no doubt that mobile devices pose a distraction and I think this is something we need to live with and accept if we wish to use them in education.
Manny
Interesting points, regarding the distraction factor. I would like to point out though, that the adults are (in my opinion) just as bad as the kids in terms of it being a distraction.
However, I also believe that this powerful tool should not be ignored, because at this time we are unfamiliar at its use, or even how to use it properly. Does more research, and strategies need to be implemented, yes. Should effective PD be developed for all age levels and professions, yes (especially considering when one of my staff members say a man texting, while riding a motorcycle).
Pandora has opened the box, and yes, all that is left inside is hope… So on that vein, what might we do as adults, educators, and potentially parents, to help ourselves and those around us learn appropriate use?
Thoughts?
For me i’m reminded of the discussions i’ve had around tech being a distraction and the fact that the pencil was once deemed ‘new technology’, and i’m sure it was fascinating, controversial and quite a hot topic of discussion. However, it is now an invisible resource, which i hope mobile devices to be one day. We’re far from that day, as we are just beginning to implement resources and programs that put digital distractions into the hands of students. I’m not arguing against the fact that cell phones don’t distract students, I just feel as many do in this class in that their potential clearly outweighs their detriment.
Thanks for posting the link to the stories about that survey Colin. The distraction factor is very real, but I was surprised by the results . I’d be interested to see a wider sample being surveyed about this question. My initial tendency is to think that we need to help teach our students to deal with these distractions, putting phones aside while we deal with tasks at hand.
Peggy
Thank-you everyone for your responses and I do agree that I would have liked to have seen a wider sample of student surveyed. I always assumed that students would embrace having BYOD but if this survey is to be believed then teachers might actually face some resistance from students to the idea. That said I do believe that it is important for students to learn educational uses for their devices as well as to learn to manage the distraction factor of their cell phones.
Thanks for bringing this up. I am not sure that students would actually oppose it. I know that when I introduced Edmodo to my class last year they were very excited about the text notices and the app. I think that the distraction is an interesting factor. I think students need to learn how to be polite and purposeful mobile users. There are a number of issues related to what would be common sense etiquette practices that many people fail to practice. Talking to someone while texting someone else really bothers me, most students do this when together. As mentioned above, the temptation to check a notice is very high. However, I think we should model how to handle this. We can’t check our notices while we are teaching or during a parent conference. Students should learn more about this. Our school has discussed creating PSA videos to address some of these issues. Another common problem is the way technology is interrupting our sleep. I do random surveys with my classes and it is becoming more common that more students are being woken up by their devices throughout the night. The shocking part is to hear how many people feel compelled to reply to a text that woke them up at 2 a.m.!
I agree with the others regarding the distraction factor. However, even if cell phones can be distracting due to the constant notifications we receive, I still believe that the educational and increased productivity outweigh the distractions it provides. Having said that, I think it’s extremely important that students be made aware of how to configure their devices in a manner that reduces distractions. I look at my cell phone and how every application seems to think that it is so important that it needs to notify me whenever it is done something. To minimize the distractions, I’ve configured my device to disable all applications from the Notification Center other than the ones I truly need there. On top of that, I’ve disabled Sounds and Lock Screen access for all applications that I do not need this constant disturbance from. This has drastically reduced the number of distracting pop ups, buzzing sounds and lock screen light ups that I witness on a day-to-day basis. Most people don’t spend the time doing this which means they receive way more distractions than they should.
Moodle stands for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment and is a free open-source LMS that offers many tools like quizzes, assignments and grading. It was developed by Martin Dougiamas who is the founder of Moodle and who continues to be the leader developer of the Moodle.org community. Moodle continues to be one of the most […]
Continue reading Moodle Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
I’m interested in learning is Martin Dougiamas made money/makes a living from Moodle? When someone develops and releases open source – is it purely altruistic, for the benefit of all with no thought or at least key desire for personal gain? Or do they realize that production for the public good will produce spin-offs that will be personally rewarding?
Thanks for posting this Colin. I’d never thought of the venture aspect of something like Moodle before. I know there are developers who are hired to customize Moodle installations, but what benefit do the founders gain? Even though open source – do they profit financially, and if so how well? Would one invest in such a venture? You’ve mentioned the Moodle Network, so there are obviously some side sources of revenue.
This topic opens a wider question, for me at least – how do all of the “free” websites – facebook (pre stock options days), wikis, blogs, etc. exist? Strickly on advertising? Are they all working for years, for free, hoping for the eventual payoff when they’ve hooked users? Once Xtra-Normal starting charging users a fee – did it kill the enterprise or did they become suddenly profitable?
What is the best way for a Web 2.0 to become profitable – more advertising as more free users hit the site, or hooking users and then starting to charge for the service?
Peggy
Hi Peggy, Martin Dougiamas does not appear to be in it for the money but he does generate revenue. In March of this year he sold Moodlerooms to Blackboard and this is what Martin had to say about the decision.
“The decision of Moodlerooms and NetSpot to work under Blackboard may sound very strange at first to anyone in this industry…but it’s my understanding that these three companies have some good plans and synergies. I’m happy to say that Moodlerooms and NetSpot will remain Moodle Partners, and have promised to continue…participating in the community…and contributing financially to Moodle exactly as they always have.”
As you can see they do have continuous funding from their Moodle partners. In addition to Moodlebooks they also have Remote-Learner and Classroom Revolution who contribute a portion of their profits back into Moodle. They also use proceeds from license agreements to continue their funding.
“Free websites” as you mention are not always free. When you sign up for an account on one of these sites you are agreeing to their terms and conditions and suddenly you are a captive audience. Advertising is one key way that sites do make money where they track your likes and dislikes and target market certain products to you. Other companies do sell the information you give them to third parties. In the case of free downloads you often find they include third party products who pay to be a part of the download. I find that companies are often quite creative in how they make money. With Facebook for a long time they didn’t generate much revenue but people invested in them for their potential. Coming up with a revenue model really depends on how you are positioning your product in the market and who your target market is.
Thanks Colin. I know I am naive about how much money companies, esp. Web 2.0, make money strickly from advertising. This is something that will be useful to gain from ETEC 522 – how something that is “free” still generates sufficient revenue for investors. As I start work on my assignments for this course, I can’t help but feel that this is an important consideration.
Peggy
For my critical analysis I have chosen ZD net’s Top 10 ED tech predictions for 2011. Obviously this is an older article so it is interesting to look at what was predicted as being top ED tech for 2011. I also searched and found several articles relating to that one “The top 5 ed tech […]
Continue reading ZD Net Posted in: Week 02: The Edtech Marketplace
I think making predictions always involves making assumptions. And as David mentioned in a recent post a lot of us are drawn to fancier devices even though their use may not be as practical as a technology that rates low on the interest scale.
I find it difficult to say which trend prediction has materialized as different areas in the field of educational technology may be attracted to different devices. For example: interactive clickers are becoming more commonly used in higher education and corporate training but not so much in the K-12 system. This could be because the class size doesn’t warrant its use and/or because the budget simply isnt there.
I also noticed your comment regarding the failed outcomes of the predictions, which reminds me of old movies predicting what the future will be like. For example, Back To The Future 2 – occurs on October 21, 2015. Yes, I realize we have 3 years to go, but I doubt that we will have that level of 3D occur for any new Jaws Movies before then…
As well, I really appreciated the explanation you provide. For these predictions are based on a somewhat domino effect, and any misstep will delay or derail the entire system.
Thanks for sharing.
Predicting anything is tough. I could predict that the sun is going to rise in the east tomorrow, and people would shoot me “duhh, thanks Captain Obvious” looks. On the contrary, the more bold the prediction, the less it is likely to happen, (after the prediction doesn’t come true, you are bound to get the “Well you really missed the boat on that one”). I guess the key is finding ones that you think are obvious, but others might not – and then of course be right about it.
@Tomwhyte: I agree with your point about the domino effect. Some of these trends need to happen before other ones (or at least together with them), so if one doesn’t come through as predicted neither will the other one.
I agree with your statements, but would like add that I feel it is human nature when making predictions to go big, either positively (self-driving cars) or negatively (swine flu). My issue though, is people get tired of these predictions, relegate the information to background noise, then ignore the issue(s) entirely. Which I feel is one of the reasons why many educators drag their collective feet in regards to educational technology, for some in changes to fast, for others it never happens how they were told it was going to work.
Thereby, creating false information, and negative feelings.
Thoughts?
Hello, my name is Colin and I am a teacher in Surrey where I teach an Entrepreneurship program to at risk grade 12 students. I was drawn to this course as I am a business teacher and a Bachelor of Commerce graduate so I am interested in anything business related. This will be my third […]
Continue reading Hello from Surrey Posted in: Week 01: Introductions
Welcome Colin,
I am sure your Business background will be a help to all of us. I have two kids as well, it has been tough juggling working and making time for my kids, while studying. I am on an Ed Leave right now. Hopefully that will help balance things. Your website sounds very engaging. I have begun using Edmodo as our district does not have an LMS other than the Distance Ed courses. They do not offer the social networking functions that other sites offer. Best of luck this term.
Ken
Hi Ken, it definitely is hard to manage kids while studying and working. That is what I am doing right now and it is not easy. That is why I can only take 1 course at a time. Good idea on taking an Ed leave and finishing the course it will be nice to finish quickly I am sure.
all the best,
Colin
Hi Colin,
I also work in the Surrey school district with ‘risk youth’ youth. I was wondering whether you work at a learning centre or within a program at a secondary school. I think your background will be invaluable in this course. It is definitely difficult to balance coursework as priorities such as family come first. I also have a little one running around and quite often find myself to be exhausted by the end of the day, I couldn’t even imagine two. It is good to touch base with someone who works in the same district and I look forward to collaborating with you as we move through this course.
Bye for now…
Manny
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jenbarker 12:31 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Colin,
I really enjoyed your pitches. Which program did you use? I use iMovie and would love to know how to impose graphics alongside my image. Your elevator pitch was great and included enough key information to catch my attention. Your Venture Pitch demonstrated the pain point, solution, and differentiation of your idea. You provided examples of your competition and reasons why your product is better. Your ask and return were clear too. I liked how you mixed graphics with the video of you speaking. You conveyed enthusiasm and knowledge of your topic. The only weakness I saw was similar to what you pointed out, I am not sure that the CEO’s background experience is enough to champion this venture. Here I might have added some fictional information to your CEO and additional executive team member to garner more credibility. Overall, I thought you venture was great. Thanks for sharing, Jen
Colin 7:17 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank-you Jen, the elevator pitch was my experiment with PowerPoint and the venture pitch was all done Adobe Premiere Pro. I agree that I could have made a fictional executive team to make it more believable as my experience wouldn’t be enough to make it successful.
joeltremblay 4:21 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hey Colin,
Great presentation values. The talking heads feel suitably hi tech and I thought that the elevator and concepts were really well thought out. Good job.
Jonathan 9:16 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Colin —
Awesome. Adobe Premiere Pro? Were the background images already given as samples or did you need to recreate them? Did you have to green screen it to make it work? With respect to your virtual world idea — i’d say that the way you did the video matched it very well.
So back to the video! — 🙂 Experiment with powerpoint? How was it done?
My favourite part of it was the connection with your virtual world to an LMS — that to me makes this an important feature that we (as teachers don’t currently have). I’m curious as to how these assignments will tie into the LMS though. Other than that — I’d say you have my money!
Colin 9:07 pm on November 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jonathan, no I used free video backgrounds and then just removed the blue screen and replaced it with this video. The Elevator pitch was done in PowerPoint where I had only one slide with animations all timed out. Then exported to video in PowerPoint. It worked okay but I do like Adobe Premiere Pro better.
tomwhyte1 10:10 am on November 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
To facilitate and objectively review the venture pitch you have put forward, I will be utilizing the guidelines provided within our course, Section 2.7 – Deconstructing a Pitch.
CEO & Team:
The CEO of V-Project appears credible, convey’s confidence in this venture, and has experienced the development and implementation of this project into a traditional classroom environment, and witnessed the potential of this approach in other educational settings. Unfortunately, no information was provided regarding the rest of V-Projects team, therefore a firm assessment of their ability to manage a start-up to a successful venture cannot be provided at this time.
Venture Concept:
Even though the concept of virtual worlds is now commonplace within the world of educational technology, thanks to such ventures as Second Life, the specific focus of this venture for distance learning, when combined with the ability for institutions or individuals to rent spaces, provide historical recreations, purchase individual courses, and even offer online tutoring services, sets this venture apart. From the information provided, it appears that this company has done the pre-requisite research to determine its potential viability, however before investing a review of this literature would need to occur. Overall though, V-Projects is an interesting concept, that deserves further review.
Marketability:
V-Projects discusses the potential of going global with this service, however specific information regarding potential customer base is lacking, making guesses on market size, share and potential revenue difficult to complete at this. Further information is needed in this area to determine if there is enough need for this market to ensure its success. As for this companies competitive edge, they have provided intriguing features that most schools and teachers would like, such as the ability to control elements such as language and clothing, as well as bullying safety features, all of which are necessary in an online learning environment. A potential concern for investors is the use of the Open Source software as the foundation for this online learning environment. While, this company has made enhancements and additions, further research into the legal requirements of sharing these (due to the open source movement), puts into question the innovative advantages they currently possess.
Venture Plan:
V-Projects is currently in Beta Testing, and feels with a small investment will be able to enter the market, and within 5 years return this investment. This will be accomplished through what appears to be a freemium model, with additions of course purchasing, space rental, and tutoring services, each of which provides good revenue sources to make this venture a success. Overall, before investing I would like to experience proof of concept, and investigate the infrastructure V-Projects has set-up to ensure a consistent and effective online presence.
Pat A Son 11:32 pm on November 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Colin
You are certainly a confident and credible CEO and your venture has a certain appeal to me. However you did not provide any information about your team but I am willing to overlook this omission and rate this venture on the impression you have made via your pitches.
As for your venture it is certainly viable and you have assembled a credible set of tools that makes for a believable platform for learning in a 3D environment. However I have are some major concerns about your venture.
The first is I believe that the open source license requires that all modified source code be made available in the spirit of openness to facilitate further development of the software. Yet you speak of a proprietary design for your product. The second is that I do not see virtual worlds as a replacement for current LMS but extension to them. I make this claim against the theory of multiple intelligences from which we can predict that all students would not prefer virtual worlds. As for control I believe that simply recording all activities and letting this be agreed to upon signup will be a more efficient way of managing deviant behavior.
On the issue of competition I would have liked to get more detail on what gives your product the competitive edge over other similar products.
Education has been slow in adopting IT technology and I am not sure that it will readily accept something as sophisticated as 3d technology at the moment.
You have a very good venture that needs to be tweaked as I have suggested but I am afraid that it is ahead of its time and as such I would not invest in it right now. Nevertheless you did a great job and I am truly impressed.
Cheers
Patason
visramn 3:33 pm on November 28, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Collin,
I think this is a great idea but I think most educational systems are still too far behind in term of their current technological use to be able to take on such a brilliant learning approach. I do however feel that a tool like this would definitely be very successful in the future. Your pitch and venture analysis were extremely engaging. I was drawn in and wanted to learn more. You did a phenomenal job with the technical components of this assignment. You were very confident as the CEO of the company and your mannerisms, tone of voice and body language were a plus point. This confidence made me have belief in your product. You used the term ‘we’ throughout your presentation. Hence, you were referring to your team but your team was not mentioned. Other than that, I thought you did a great job.
Thanks for sharing this excellent work. It is inspiring to see how a project such as this can be made engaging through aesthetics. .Your effort is evident. You are a talented guy.
Nureen
jameschen 2:06 pm on November 29, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Colin,
I enjoyed watching your elevator pitch. You provided information on most of the important points in an elevator pitch, and if your pain point was followed by the product differentiation my interests would be stirred even more. The 100% return on investment in 5 years sounds good if there are figures in the venture pitch to back it up.
Thanks for a solid presentation.
James
Scott 12:13 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Colin, the careful preparation and professional delivery of your pitch make it quite credible and convincing.
Many of my colleagues have already touched on the strengths and weaknesses of the pitch in terms of the criteria presented in this course. As Tom also mentioned, I particularly appreciated your attention to the subject of accountability for students actions in the virtual environment you outlined – the concern for cyberbullying would be foremost in the minds of my schools administrators with such a product. I also concur, that further details regarding your management team would add to the strength of the pitch.
In my naïve knowledge of virtual environments, the concept as presented seems sound, though I remain somewhat perplexed by the benefit of its open source SIM foundation which is then combined with other propriety features. In the end, is it open source?
While the exact size of the market remains a bit vague, in general I can foresee a potential market for this venture in the future. With the venture plan proposed and the financial details provided, the success of the venture appears fairly high. In the end however, due to my own lack of understanding of the technology in general, I would not invest in the venture.
As a final comment and one which could apply easily to other pitches and how the assignment instructions in general are being interpreted – I’m not certain an 8min video pitch is the best ‘medium for this message’. The production value was high in this video and the lower 3rd graphics helped, but in the end, I feel lengthy video pitches of this nature, are at risk of becoming too densely packed with information – I might prefer reading and lingering over the details of this and others pitches instead.
melissaayers 2:41 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Colin,
Great pitches and use of video! I am impressed you were able to do this with the tools you listed you used.
In your elevator pitch you clearly identify a pain point (high costs and not appealing alternatives) and what the proposed product you pitch will do to minimize this. The product/service you want to provide is succinctly describe and you ask clearly for an investment and identify how it will be used and when it will be paid back. Based on the elevator pitch, its content and professional feel I definitely was drawn to go learn more and review the venture pitch.
Despite the fact I think you have a great idea and concept as an EVA I am not sure I would invest in this venture. This is purely for the reason that I think currently the cost of developing this venture’s product/services (with current development technologies) will be quite high and I am not sure investors would be able to get a decent return on investment.
Thanks,
Melissa
sophiabb 10:59 am on December 1, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Colin,
Great use of PowePoint and Adobe Premiere. I found your elevator pitch very credible. It addressed your product, problem, solution, target market and ask.
I concur with another colleague that an 8 min video is not necessarily the best medium for the venture pitch, but you did an excellent job with it.
Your presentation of your product demonstrated your research into how to leverage the affordances of virtual worlds for project=based learning, attention to potential risks such as cyber bullying and plans to mitigate.
Your ask and return were clearly stated. Your market was identified but I could have liked more information on the size of the market to be better able to ascertain financial feasibility. However, your marketing/revenue plans were of different revenue options to investors are attractive and are options that I would be open to learning more about.
While you came across as a confident and credible CEO I would need more information on your team’s relevant skill sets and abilities to design, plan and implement a business of this nature to inform my decision to invest or not.
Overall, an intriguing venture proposition. One that I would invite a submission of a business plan.
Sophia