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 BootcampStarted Posts Page 7 RSS Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Colin
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Jonathan
Learning A-Z Several teachers at our school have been using Learning A-Z products for reading recovery purposes. I’ve known about it for some time but this year, I’ve decided to take the program on and give it to the majority of my primary students. As a result, I couldn’t think of a better product/service to […]
Continue reading Learning A-Z Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp -
Jenny Brown
After reading the first few posts for this week’s task, I was thinking are there any females that are the founders of learning technology ventures? I have found one that I will report on later this week but I thought this article might be of interest to some: The Face of Success, Part 2: Where […]
Continue reading After reading the first few posts for th… Posted in: General-
jenbarker
Jenny ~ Interesting that you bring this up. I explored Design2Learn and I too was surprised that their leadership team consists of all males except for one.
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melissaayers
Thanks for sharing that Jenny – it was a really interesting article. I hope this is a trend that will change in the future as I am sure when we look at the education domain that statics would indicate there are more female educators than male I would imagine.
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David Vogt
Jenny –
Thanks for opening this question, and for presenting a great example of a female entrepreneur in the Founder’s Parade.
As the article points out, there are some obvious historical reasons for why there are still fewer women championing tech start-ups. I won’t dwell there because I’ll just end up saying some unfortunate things about immature male-dominated cultures.
What I will say, in context of this week’s discussion, is that an entrepreneur is typically someone who is brave enough to go where few have gone before, to see an opportunity in a wilderness. An entrepreneurial woman won’t be daunted in a wilderness of men – she’ll actually see this as an advantage because she has innate tools and perspectives that are lacking in the ecosystem.
This is particularly true with learning technologies, which can be characterized as the awkwardly opportunistic marriage of an engineering culture with an education culture. It isn’t so much that the cultures are actively antagonistic as they are simply far apart. All the best opportunities are in that wilderness in between. Be brave – march in!
David
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Jenny Brown
Thanks David. This course is great opportunity to entertain the idea of marching right in! At the moment I seem to be tiptoeing back and forth. Prior to this course, my thoughts were only really related to coming up with and implementing small creative ideas at my workplace so this shift in mindset is taking some time.
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teacherben
Here are 15 women with successful start-ups:
http://www.inc.com/ss/christina-desmarais/15-women-watch-tech-startups.html#11
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teacherben
How do they make money?
Here’s a fun site that tries to show how a whole pile of Tech companies try to monetize their products. I don’t know what their sources of information are or how accurate it all is, but it’s fun to look at and a starting point for those who are interested. http://rcs.seerinteractive.com/money/
Continue reading How do they make money? Posted in: General-
Peggy Lawson
Thanks for posting Teacherben!! I had just posted on Colin’s post, asking this very question. Your post is excellent. Personally, this would be a very useful direction for ETEC 522 – not just what makes for a good entrepreneur, but also how one could/would/does make money in the “free” web 2.0 world.
Your post provides excellent food for thought – thank you!
Peggy
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Colin
Thanks for the website I just replied to Peggy and then saw your post. I definitely will need to use that with my class.
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Mike Rae
Darrell Ward is one of the co-founders and CEO of ALL in Learning. He is described as an educational technology pioneer, executive and entrepreneur. ALL in Learning is a company that seeks to make assessment data of students more efficiently. Further, it appears that the original company of this team, eInstruction Corporation, started “the clicker […]
Continue reading Darrell Ward is one of the co-founders a… Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp-
avninder
I have used clickers in corporate training and found them to be effective in increasing class participation and gaining feedback as an instructor. As with any learning technology the clicker can be extremely useful but also a hindrance in learning, if its use is not executed correctly.
I do not foresee the assessment data provided by ALL in Learning being used at my organization in the immediate future. However, it is good to know that this service is available. Thanks for the info.
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Jenny Brown
We were looking for an option for gaining better student engagement in our large food safety classes (100-400 students) and we ended up using polleverywhere.com I think this is the sort of technology that is replacing clickers. Essentially it is the same idea except it uses “polls” and mobile devices. The poll comes up on the PowerPoint slide and then students text in their answers. You can also send in answers through the Internet and Twitter too. Grade reporting and other reports are available to teachers.
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jenbarker
I briefly looked at this company too and when I read about the cost of the clickers it doesn’t surprise me that users are turning to polls. It makes me think of programs such as Socrative and GoSoapBox where students can use a computer, mobile device or any smartphone to key in their selections. I have never used a clicker and do not know if they allow for open ended answers but I know the other programs do.
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Mike Rae
Yah when I saw the picture of the clickers I was kinda surprised at how dinosaurish they looked, that they were for sale, and how expensive they were. That being said, the clicker could definitely be seen as the great grandparent of the BYOD revolution that allows students to do things like polleverywhere.com. Maybe that’s why Ward consider’s himself an “educational technology pioneer”.
On a side note, in my school (BC offshore in China), there is a “no cell phones in class policy” to limit texting between friends mostly. Some teachers have been flirting with using student cell phones as cameras for scavenger hunts, polleverywhere.com, and things like that. Once word got back to administation, there was a slap on the wrist group email sent about breaking a school rule and teachers are not to be doing these activities…..this email was sent three days ago….ugh!
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kstackhouse
We have a set of clickers at our school (I can’t remember the brand). I know that they math teachers use them more than the other departments. It does work well for quick checks on concepts and to do simple quizzes. I think now people are relying on twitter more to do the same thing. This is being done in university courses and even in church services I have seen the Twitter feed on the screen and people can ask the pastor questions.
Mike, I feel your pain. We have a no-BYOD rule in our district. It is frustrating because we were told to provide 21st C learning opportunities and at the same time told there would be no spending on technology…Students are coming to school with great resources available to them. I know there is are issues between those that have and those that don’t and security concerns. I think there must be a way to make it work.
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David Vogt
A1-A3 Questions
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I’ve had a couple of recurring questions about A1, so I’ll share answers more generally: – when your A1 is complete (it is due on the 14th) please email it directly to me, as a link, document, or whatever. I will acknowledge receipt. – it is possible to create a direct link […]
Continue reading A1-A3 Questions Posted in: Announcements-
joeltremblay
David,
In your rubric for A1 you talk about the EVA process. I’m correct in assuming you’re talking about the Economic Value Added process correct? I want to clarify before I continue.
Thanks
Joel
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Peggy Lawson
Emerging Market Analysis Presentations
I thought I had seen it somewhere, but I’ll admit that it’s easy for me to lose items of interest in the blog format. I’m looking for the list of weekly presentaitons for the market analysis presentations.
Continue reading Emerging Market Analysis Presentations Posted in: Questions & Answers-
Paula Poodwan
Hi Peggy, it is underneath “Annoucement” and under “Emerging Markets Poll Results & A2 Teams”
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melissaayers
Hi Peggy here is the link to what I think you were looking for https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec522sept12/2012/10/06/common-sense-media-apps-for-learning-included/
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teacherben
some other tools for creating apps you should see
For those who are interested in making apps without programming, one of the first and most powerful options is GameSalad (http://gamesalad.com/) It uses the same sort of drag-and-drop into a flowchart that you have seen in other applications. It is huge. 60 of the top 100 apps in the app store we built with GameSalad, […]
Continue reading some other tools for creating apps you should see Posted in: Week 05:-
Pat A Son
These tools certainly puts creativity into the hands of the non-programmer and in the world of education the potential is limitless.
Thanks for posting
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stammik
Many excellent resources and comments – thank you.
I look forward noodling around with GameSalad this afternoon, while the smell of turkey drifts into the office!
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Suhayl Patel
E-clicker
I am finding this week (unit) to be very fascinating and something that wouldn’t have been part of the course content even a couple of years. Mobile learning is taking on a life of its own and students and teachers are both reaping the rewards. I find now that with the plethora of educational apps […]
Continue reading E-clicker Posted in: Week 05:-
visramn
Hi Suhayl,
I think you are absolutely right. Learning and teaching has changed so much due to the abundant resources that keep surfacing and accessibility is getting better. I know as a teacher I have had a lot of issues when it comes to obtaining the resources needed to use beneficial technology. Thanks for sharing your experience with e-clicker. That is definitely a resource that can help all students get involved and that was not available even a few years.
Nureen
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Peggy Lawson
I liked your comment Suhayl, about likely not having an “app” component to this course a few years ago. I think this is an important aspect of this course – the recognition that we must continually be an EVA. Technology changes occur so frequently, there will always be a need to evaluate ventures that are appropriate or not for our own particular situations – whether as an investor or as a purchaser. It will be the basic skills we learn from being an effective EVA – and not the evaluation of the specific items we are analyzing – that will be the lessons we want to take from this course.
Peggy
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Suhayl Patel
You’re absolutely right Peggy. I learned very early in my role in the learning and Innovations department that you can’t be like the Raccoon who puts his hand in a tiny hole to reach for a shiny object. When raccoon grasps the shiny object and makes the fist to clench it, he won’t be able to get his fist out because of the size of the hole and the size of its fist. No matter what, the raccoon will not let go of the shiny object in order to get his hands out. The same things apply to evaluating educational resources and tools. Although novelty and attractiveness are appealing, we have to learn to focus on our intent when it comes to actually leveraging the tool. I highly recommend reading Micheal Fullan’s book Stratosphere. It talks about adopting technology as a pedogogical tool to bring about (educational) change, and how they all must be pieced together for effective use and iplementation.
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teacherben
Week 6: Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Cloud
Here’s a great infographic with some revealing statistics regarding cloud services and usage. http://mashable.com/2012/10/09/infographic-cloud/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29 And a funny cartoon here: http://ca.com/cloudviews
Continue reading Week 6: Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Cloud Posted in: Week 06:-
visramn
Thanks for sharing. Very interesting vantage point. It is interesting to know that the technology may be present but we may not be ready for it. Things are not always what they seem.
Nureen
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jenbarker
Yes, thank you Ben. I also think that people are scared away from unknown terms such as “the cloud”. I believe that many people use platforms such as facebook, without even realizing that they are using the cloud. Once terms are unpacked and explained, people usually are more open to change.
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Peggy Lawson
I fully agree Jen. I don’t think we realize how much we all use the cloud, and how difficult it would be if it were suddenly there no longer. I think the future trend will be more as Iaas and PaaS (and of course continued Saas – Software as Service). From my own school division perspective – we are getting teachers, school administrators, and division personnel quite comfortable now with Saas; the other two will require additional changes in thinking. I had not quite realized the distinctions before your presentations this week, but I am now definitely seeing the separations. And they are important distinctions. You’ve given me much food for thought this week.
Peggy
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Kent Jamieson
i was just thinking the other day…”what if google was gone?”
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manny
Thanks for sharing that infographic Ben. It seems as though the Cloud entails so much secrecy and unknowingness about its inner workings that people don’t know what to believe. It also has intrinsic properties built into it in that if you lose your information on a specific device and have it backed up to the cloud, you can easily restore it. My only concern with cloud technologies is how safe they are to hackers. One would think that the hacker community would be all over this and would love nothing more than bragging rights to bringing down the cloud. In terms of actual sustainability, it seems pretty reliable. Then again, only time can tell whether this will be the case.
Manny
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melissaayers
SWOT – Smart Sparrow Adaptive eLearning Platform
Smart Sparrow Adaptive eLearning PlatformTM was developed by a research group in the School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 2011. The platform was designed to support their three principles of Adaptive eLearning Promote Learning by doing. Be intelligent and adaptive. Empower the teacher. Their Labmaker software has […]
Continue reading SWOT – Smart Sparrow Adaptive eLearning Platform Posted in: Week 08:-
Ranvir
I like the concept of adaptive learning especially because it is learner centric. When I looked at some of the sample tutorials, the product seems to be Flash template based product that allows you do develop interactive animation and provide feedback. Their concept of being adaptive seems to be confined to providing feedback based on the user actions. This feature is common in most of the professionally designed e-learning courses developed using popular desktop authoring software. I wonder if there is anything particular about this software platform that stands out as compared to the competition?
In threats, you can also add the inability to be accessed on mobile devices.
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melissaayers
Hi Ranvir,
Thanks for you feedback. I agree that I do not find their product offers anything particularly innovative (technologically speaking) in the way they implement their platform that other providers cannot copy or use as well.
To find out if there is anything particular that the platform does compared to its competition I would need to spend some more time doing competitor analysis sorry, so for now I can not answer your question.
From what I understand the labs & activities created with their software are able to be viewed & used from mobile devices.
Thanks
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jkotler
Armie Carabet is the founder, director and CEO of ClickN KIDS Inc. He is a unique leader with extensive knowledge, understanding and capability, which he has strengthened through his experiences as a business owner, franchisor, franchise, marketing director and general manager. For more than a decade, Armie owned and operated many successful companies like TyRyMow […]
Continue reading Armie Carabet is the founder, director a… Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp-
Jonathan
These are the type of solutions that people probably envisioned entering the 21st Century Learning. Where you able to see how some of the games were played? Were the innovative or simple games?
We are always looking for new solutions to implement inside the primary realm.
— Cheers,
Jonathan-
jkotler
Hi Jonathan,
The countless games they offer are all really amazing because they are all animated and interactive making it really engaging for the learner, but they also range in content from simple to complex depending on the age and level of the user. I also really like that the approach they used in designing the steps the user moves through was so well-thought out. For example when a child is just starting to read, the program offers many lessons on teaching the basic sounds of letters and then after much practice they are automatically taken to the ‘listening cube’ to hear and see how those letter sounds fit into various words.
If you are interested in learning more about it, the website is http://www.clicknkids.com.
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visramn
My app
I really enjoyed creating this app. The program I used was not the most user friendly. It was very slow but I had fun creating the app and the best part was seeing it function on my phone. I have always wondered how apps were created but never thought to look into it. This activity gave me the opportunity to learn that […]
Continue reading My app Posted in: Week 05:-
kstackhouse
Nureen,
Great work on your App. What beautiful art work! I love that you were able to include a video into your app. Did you notice if there was a limit to the amount of videos or pictures that you could use in the app?
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visramn
Hi,
Thank you. I actually had a lot of trouble with loading the video. I had to Google how to do so a couple of times. It turns out that YouTube videos can only be used if they are public and on your channel. It took some work but I was determined to make it work. As far as I know, there is no limit. The app basically links to any videos you have in your YouTube channel and loads the video from the internet. Hence, I am assuming there is not limit. For the pictures you could have multiple galleries so I am thinking the storage capacity is probably pretty good. Then again they may put on a cap as a means to encourage people to buy their paid version. Thanks for your feedback.
Nureen
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melissaayers
NUreen, I echo Ken’s great work – you seemed to have managed to find your way around the builder no problem and figured out the various media you can embed. Btw I love your video too – it’s really creative, did you make this for a MET course?
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visramn
Thank you! I created the video in a MET course I took two years ago. That was actually one of my favorite courses because I got to play around with software and create videos. I love hands on tasks that have an artifact as an end result.:)
Nureen
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jhodi
App Adventure
I found this experience extremely frustrating. I started out trying to create an app with appmakr.com, but after spending half an hour and getting nowhere, I quit and decided to try an alternative. I found that this website was not very user-friendly or intuitive. I could make minor changes, but any larger change that I wanted to make required me […]
Continue reading App Adventure Posted in: Week 05:-
kstackhouse
jhodi,
Thank you for sharing your experience. It is good to get user reviews like this to help others decide which app creator to use. I looked at you app. It is nice that you can add a news deed with important dates. I could see this type of app being a great resource to help teachers remind students of what is taking place and also provide them with some tools and resources to help them.ken
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David Vogt
UBC Mobile App Design Contest
Just in case it provides an inspiration or vehicle for your emergent A3 ideas (yes, I know, you haven’t completed A1 yet!!) I’m pleased to append details of a UBC-wide contest I launched today to propose new mobile apps for dramatically enhancing the UBC experience. The contest closes January 15, 2013 – after ETEC522 completes […]
Continue reading UBC Mobile App Design Contest Posted in: Announcements -
Paula Poodwan
Duolingo : Luis Von Ahn
Venture: Duolingo The project was started by Professor Luis Von Ahn and his PhD. student Severin Hacker, and then developed also with Antonio Navas, Vicki Cheung, Marcel Uekermann, Brendan Meeder, Hector Villafuerte, and Jose Fuentes. Duolingo is a free language-learning website using crowdsourced model where language learners are invited to translate […]
Continue reading Duolingo : Luis Von Ahn Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp-
coralk
Hi Paula: thanks for highlighting this company – this idea is fascinating. I watched the TEDx video you have posted and his other company, reCAPTCHA, is also amazing. He states that 750,000,000 people or 10% of the world’s population have helped digitize human knowledge just by filling in those security word boxes that appear when you are purchasing something or signing up for something like on Ticketmaster or Twitter. This has added up to approx 2.5 million books per year so far. When you think about the potential of harnessing the learning of millions of people to translate the web it is very inspiring, a way to bring language education to those who can’t currently afford it.
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adi
Hi Paula,
I checked out the video (pitch) on their web site, and it’s excellent; it’s a perfect example of all a pitch should consist of: it presents a problem and a solution, plus some very interesting figures.
One query I have, as I did not sign up, is if what you learn is all in writing/reading. Do you ever get to hear the translated sentence in order to learn the pronunciation?
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coralk
Jose Ferreira, Knewton Founder & CEO The Knewton platform is a cloud-based, adaptive learning technology that continuously analyzes student data to provide the most relevant learning activities to each individual student at that particular moment in time. The program makes its recommendations to the student by harnessing not only that student’s data, but the data that […]
Continue reading Jose Ferreira, Knewton Founder & CEO Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp-
joeltremblay
Isn’t this just an updated form of standardized testing though? The credentials of the team are impressive to be sure and if it works it would really be something, but if the data is being analyzed and acted on by a computer how is this better for the students who are already lacking in face time to begin with?
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coralk
I actually think of this as the opposite of standardized testing – the system learns about each individual student and provides that student with the specific learning activities that they need in order to learn best. It helps them make the most of their study time by feeding them questions about the topics that they are having the most trouble with. From their website:
The platform is continuously adaptive, meaning it responds in real time to each student’s activity on the system and adjusts to provide the most relevant content. Some Knewton recommendations are straightforward: having trouble with algebraic expressions involving fractions? The platform may serve up a video lesson on how to multiply fractions. Other times the recommendation may veer seemingly off-course: struggling with a uniform rate word problem? The platform may recommend a reading comp exercise – having determined that weak critical reading skills are more likely at fault than gaps in math knowledge.
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joeltremblay
Don’t get me wrong, it’s an interesting idea, especially if it works. However it seems to function on the same premise as Google/Facebook advertising by tracking your progress and then using algorithms that are sometimes accurate. The reason I compare it to standardized testing is that regardless of the adaptive nature of the program, is that it still requires a broad based approach, at least initially, to focus in and gauge the trends or directions that the student is moving in. This to me, is an updated form of standardized testing because it doesn’t individualize the learning until it has the opportunity to learn more about you and instead using a blanketed methodology that may or may not be useful depending on the learning style. Good article though and definitely thought provoking.
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rebecca42
We use a somewhat similar program called Reading Plus in our district. It tests reading skills and constantly changes what level the students are at based on their current performance. It’s great for this specific area and even though initially I was skeptical it has worked wonders for many students. It is nowhere near as complex as Knewton, but it follows a similar idea, where it assesses student need and assigns levelled activities based on student needs.
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kstackhouse
Interesting to see that it is using cloud-based technology. I am curious to see how other companies will take advantage of the cloud movement. I think more gain be gained than the basic sharing possibilities associated with the cloud. The act of collaboration and creative work within the cloud will be an interesting tool in education and business.
Ken
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adi
I see this as a good option for paced learning. Maaaaannyyy years ago I went to an experimental school in Iowa City, called Ernest Horn School. For all subjects there were a set of files full of activities that each student would work through at their own pace. The teacher, rather than teach everyone at once, became a kind of facilitator. Depending on how we did, what came next in terms of the content of each students’ individual course. What Knewton has done ,is to take this idea online. It sounds like an amazing system, even if not always very accurate. I also think that Ferreira did a great job of partnering with a key player to make this a success; what better than a major publishing company. It’s what we read about this week; the need to not only have a great idea, but to make sure you partner with people who can make the idea grow.
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coralk
Yes – I agree. A lot of the MyLabs containing Knewton are just being released now and I’ve been reading about the new MyFoundationsLab with Knewton (developmental reading, writing and math) to see exactly how it works. From what I’ve seen so far the system asks the student to take an assessment and builds a personalized learning path for that student, but then as they start to work through their learning path, it changes based on how they are doing. There are also features built in for instructors, such as alerts when students are in trouble, and information on topics that the system is recommending for the student that are not covered in that particular class.
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stammik
Here is a terrific profile of Jose and adaptive learning, published at Mashable today:
http://mashable.com/2012/07/17/knewton-adaptive-learning/
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pcollins
Appshed a hit –
I loved the opportunity to try out building an app. Last year some colleagues were talking about how easy it can be, but I seriously thought it would be way beyond me. Just for fun, I started an app for my town (unpublished) that allows people to follow and comment on food trucks. You never […]
Continue reading Appshed a hit – Posted in: Week 05:-
Mike Rae
we posted some apps for you to try that may or may not be applicable to the classroom. Also, there have been some other suggestions from our colleagues in the course. I invite you to give them a try and let us know what you think.
Great to hear that you had success in creating an app with Appshed. I too thought the process was more daunting than it ended up being, and when that happens it can turn into something that is actually fun. thanks for the feedback.
MIKE -
jhodi
Hi,
I know that my school has a school-wide app that provides contact information (for the school and individual teachers), a calendar of dates, and other important information that is great for keeping parents informed. The app that I attempted to create this week was an attempt to link my online resources that I use for my class currently with an app that students could access easily from anywhere. I enjoyed this experience in the fact that I would like to actually have an app such as this, but I think that my app making skills could use some work.
Jhodi
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teacherben
It isn’t working for me. i clicked on ‘new’ app and got a page full of html. I tried a couple browsers and got the same thing. Anyone else having issues with it?
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Lisa Nevoral
Hi PC,
I found that Appshed worked better for me than Appbuilder. Appbuilder took a long time to load, even with different browsers.
The possibilities for creating new apps seems endless, as your example for your food trucks indicates. Finding educational ones to either use in your classrooms or guide students towards seems a little daunting to me right now. I can see benefits of how apps could be used for learning (ex. – supplement instruction and materials), but the transfer from what I see as benefit and how to get it to the students is something I will have to think about.
Lisa
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joeltremblay
CEO – Dr. Karim Abdel-Malek Cyber Science 3D is an interactive tool from Cyber Anatomy Corporation for use in Biology and science classrooms where regular anatomical dissections might not be feasible. It is used with a computer and projector or 3d projector. Although fairly specialized, I do think this would be useful. Examples of this […]
Continue reading CEO – Dr. Karim Abdel-Malek Cyber Scienc… Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp-
Peggy Lawson
Thanks Joel – Your post has me very intrigued about this product. I’m a former science teacher, and now train & manage our school division online program. I can see this product being extremely useful for our online biology courses (still to be developed). A real disadvantage of online science courses is the difficulty in replicating a true lab experience. Minus the formaldehyde, this product seemed to offer an acceptable alternative.
It’s a product I would invest in, as I see the potential for online learning, and for F2F classes where for costs and squemishness, real dissections are not a viable options. The product costs, after a very cursory look, seem reasonable.
Thanks for posting!
Peggy
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jhodi
Hi,
As a former science student that was squeamish about dissections, I feel like this is a great idea! Not only is it clean, but it has the potential to be extremely affordable since the school can purchase the tool for multiple uses rather than purchasing various animals, etc. for dissection that are a one-time use. I also think that it can very very helpful to have a full 360 degree view of the dissection, especially if it were used with a 3-D projector. From a student’s standpoint, I would find this very engaging and motivating.
Jhodi
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tomwhyte1
http://www.khanacademy.org Sal Khan, the founder and current Executive Director of The Khan Academy, holds two different bachelor degrees and two different masters degrees (which include an MBA from Harvard), which not only demonstrate his passion for learning, but also shows he is capable of innovation as well as leading a successful educational technology venture. As […]
Continue reading http://www.khanacademy.org Sal Khan, the… Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp-
Doug Connery
I saw Sal Khan as a Keynote speaker at a conference this last summer and he truly engaged me and the entire audience because of the passion that came through for his organization and his cause. It certainly made me rethink the concept of free educational materials.
Doug.
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tomwhyte1
I agree, he is a very passionate and persuading speaker. However, I wonder is many people have been swayed by passion in the past? I am not saying that passion should be ignored, but we are beings that are very emotive… therefore, what might we do to recognize the passion of the presentation, but then move to a place more cognitive to assess the information.
Thoughts?
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manny
Hi Tom,
Upon reading our course materials this week I was going to do a biography on Sal Khan myself but noted you post yesterday. Nevertheless I thought I would go ahead and comment on your post as I think the Khan academy is probably one of the front runners in the flipped learning concept. I have seen some of their videos and they range in quality from great illustrative examples to just a recording of a teacher on a blackboard. Some educators fear that this method of instruction is a threat to teacher employability and that eventually schools will begin to shut down. Of course this is a far fetched thought as students still need to learn how to search and decipher the vast amounts of information that are out there. Doug was lucky to have seen Sal at a conference. There is no doubt that he is passionate about his product, a key entrepreneurial skill one must possess to ensure success. I have left a link to a TED talk below in which Sals enthusiasm and passion is evident.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html
Manny
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tomwhyte1
I find it amusing, that with many new technologies, educators fear we will be replaced. Such stories can be found with the overhead projector, that min wage staffers would simply place overheads upon the surface, students would mindlessly copy down material and…poof…learning would happen. If it was that easy, there would be no schools, and education would be that simple.
The Khan Academy allows myself as an educator to help the student when it is important, trying out the new skills they have learned, not the “download of information” otherwise known as the class lecture.
Thoughts?
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teacherben
I don’t know if you have seen his TEDtalk, but you should. It might provide you with some inspiration. His project has very humble beginnings. He was just making videos to supplement his weekly tutoring sessions with his niece. When she told him he didn’t need to come over anymore and that the videos were good enough on their own, he knew he was on to something. Personally, I’m not a big fan of all of his work. I think the idea is sound and the quality of the videos is certainly improving, but most of the videos are still excruciatingly boring. he has yet to really leverage the power of a truly interactive experience. (The new programming section is definitely a step in the right direction.) A lot of educators have (I think correctly) expressed concern that people are trying to use these videos in place of some other curriculum. They are a great supplement, but, as he points out in his TEDtalk, the whole point is that these free up the teacher to work with kids individually and in small groups to differentiate instruction based on student needs, and to give contextual tasks a more central role. The kids learn it at home and they apply it in the classroom. To what extent this is actually happening is an important question.
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tomwhyte1
What I appreciate, is the Khan Academy coaching information. The overall level of detail, down to individual student responses on specific questions, provides myself as an educator a tonne of information to help make decisions on areas of growth, areas of focus, who can help and who needs help.
And yes, the videos are not a replacement. Just another way to deliver basic information.
Thoughts?
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pcollins
I have used Sal’s videos when my science classes have been flipped. Although the videos can be a tad dry – they are succinct enough to engage the student at home. The Gates foundation and Google both gave significant donations to get the Khan academy off the ground. Great to see other tech companies supporting e-learning
PC
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tomwhyte1
Interesting point about the “dryness” of the videos. I wonder if this is intentional… to avoid the novelty effect, or to reduce cultural items that only specific groups associate with…
Thoughts?
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adi
What I find fascinating is how many of these ventures are born, i.e. from a need. In this case it was from the need to help out a niece online; ‘Slideshare’ from one of the co-founders wanting to share his conference slides and not being able to; ‘Dropbox’, from its founder constantly forgetting his USB. How many more things could we make ventures out of if we only stopped to think ‘Hey, there´s a need here, and a possible venture!’
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ETEC522grp8
Great discussion so far guys! I think that the point of the vanishing educator is a persistent concern. I heard in one of my Literature classes at UVic that people expressed the same level of fear when the printing press was invented and information could be widely disseminated by text. is this the same situation, or completely different? I like the idea, too, that the “dryness” of the videos could be intentional. Good food for thought.
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Doug Connery
Paula Young, Founder and President of Governet
Paula Young is the founder and President of Governet. Paula founded Nevada Contractors Registry, the predecessor company to Governet in 1986. Her original idea was to pioneer the concept of distributing aggregated databases from many local and state government agencies through a single point of access on a network. The success of this idea […]
Continue reading Paula Young, Founder and President of Governet Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp-
kstackhouse
This is an interesting concept. I have participated in the writing of two course curricula over the past two years. I just completed piloting one last spring and presented in the summer to new teachers. As I was an active participant I am not sure if the upper-ups were using anything like this to coordinate and manage the work being done by those of us that were working on the courses. It seems that this would be of benefit…what are the costs?
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Doug Connery
Hi Ken:
I am not sure of the costs, it is managed at the institutional level. We have been using it for 5 years. The service was acquired to replace to two outdated in-house systems: one to manage curriculum changes and one to house course outlines. We now have a reliable archive of old course outlines and we can track exactly what changes have been made by who and over the years that follow our curriculum change processes and procedures.
Doug.
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kstackhouse
Very interesting. Thanks for responding. I wonder if this would be a benefit for the projects I was working on. Who knows maybe the coordinators were using something like this and we weren’t aware of it? I am curious to find out now.
Ken
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kstackhouse
Photo Booth & Action Movie
Just the other day I noted in a reply that a simple example of AR can be found on most computers now. PC and Mac have applications like Photo Booth (Mac) that can add AR to your pictures. My kids love taking pictures of themselves and distorting their face. I took this pictures just now […]
Continue reading Photo Booth & Action Movie Posted in: Week 07:-
visramn
Great example of how we use AR and do not even realize it. Although, your kids are just playing around they are still gaining a skill. Just as you mentioned your students can use what they create and incorporate it into their projects. Therefore, it may not be a direct tool for learning but it can definitely used as an assisting tool.
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Peggy Lawson
Your picture Ken really reminds me of blue screen, a technique used for quite some time in TV/Movies – the weatherman, for example, where it’s now realitively easy to put a second scene, or video, into the background. The actor stands in front of a green or blue screen – a very distincitve blue or green colour – and the computer is able to mat that colour and lay a second video layer that shows through. I’ve had my high school students create such videos with relative ease. Perhaps that what AR primarily is (but on a more high-tech level)?
Peggy
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jenbarker
I think there is a place for AR in our schools. The potential to use AR in projects where they can bring to life places and people from the past and future is amazing. The use of AR promotes many of the 21st Century skills students need such as creativity and innovation, collaboration, communication, media literacy and ICT skills.
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rebeccaharrison
The co-founder and CEO of “bump” is David Lieb. Bump is an app for android phones, iPads, iPhones, and iPods. It works between each of these devices to share information including contacts, pictures and your own social network pages. To share information you “bump” devices physically. The information you would like to share […]
Continue reading The co-founder and CEO of “bump” … Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp-
Jonathan
Hi Rebecca,
Great post on the CEO of Bump. I remember using this app on my iPhone when it first came out and being really excited at the novelty of the idea (high novelty factor! ;). Idea is simple and really caught on. I wonder how well it is doing now, perhaps still popular?
No need to be intimidated by all of these great ideas. I like what you said about “finding a gap in the market and seek to fill it”. I think sometimes we get the whole idea that we need to find a super innovative idea. Sometimes, fixing an existing problem is more than amble. As did David with his Bump idea. How do we exchange contacts easily? 🙂
Cheers,
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Mike Rae
Hey Rebecca,
Nice post about bump. Just curious of where you found this “bump has a strong group of investors whose knowledge and experience are applicable to this venture” . For my CEO/Founder of ALL in Learning, I was looking to find out who investors were and came up empty. Finding investors like that who have stake in the company and can add value to it, not just with their pocketbook, but with their experience and knowledge, seems like one of the keys to a successful venture.
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rebecca42
Thanks Jonathon,
Bump is still incredibly popular and they have expanded creating an app called flock where you can share pictures in folders based on who is present when the picture was taken. Everyone who was present has access to the picture folders. Very interesting stuff, and “cleans up” the process of photo sharing.
Mike: On the website for bump they actually list the investors and their backgrounds on the “team” page. I found that really interesting and useful for understanding how the company functions.
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Jonathan
Ahh! Sounds like the new thing that the Samsung Galaxy is trying to amp up in their commercials. I just downloaded Flock and gave it a try. Really neat. I always found it interesting how designers have developed the apps to do unique things.
I wonder if it’s something that a lot of people use? Clearly he has tapped into a market that is growing with users. Do you know how he profits? Ad based?
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jkotler
Hi Rebecca,
I was really interested in your post on bump, particularly because this was the first I had hear about it. I am curious to know more about how it works and users response in how well it works or doesn’t. Do you use it yourself?
I also really like David Lieb’s comment you added about how a great way to start a new venture is from an existing problem or gap found in the market. This is actually quite reassuring for me because I am currently working on developing a new venture that stemmed exactly from a gap I had found within the ed. tech market in Canada (something which has been quite successful here in Israel).
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kstackhouse
Great point with created a solution to a problem. It is like our earlier reading that discussed the “pain” in the market and how it would be solved. It also reminds me of when students talk about what they should write a story or speech about. I always tell them that problems always make interesting topics. I am interested in this app and will be sure to check it out.
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jenbarker
Excellent Creative Learning Apps
I hope you don’t mind but I’ve noticed that a few of us in the group have young children and so I thought I’d share a couple of apps that my kids love and that I find to be of high quality. One is NFBPixstop which is a FREE app created by the National […]
Continue reading Excellent Creative Learning Apps Posted in: General-
kstackhouse
Thank you for the ideas. I know my kids will love these! I am also trying to think of how I could use the first one in my class.
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tomwhyte1
My own children use my iPad quite extensively, some for games – Angry Birds… But sometimes for various learning activities – I find the new “game” Bade Piggies an excellent game, but problem solving challenge as well. They also love the puzzle apps, and especially a book series called Deskplorers… As they need to understand the story plot, and solve problems to progress the plot.
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Eva Ziemsen
Love the animation app here. I would use this with film students, not just young kids. I used to take my students to the NFB to create claymation PSAs. Now I can have them do this in-class. Film students will take this app to a whole new level. Thanks for sharing.
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melissaayers
Thanks for sharing those apps Jen, I love the toontastic one – its a really great example of how technology can change the way learners learn. Being able to easily bring their stories to life with animation instead of just using the more traditional text and images is a great benefit/advancement I believe and no doubt a lot more fun.
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stammik
Great suggestion Jen. I’ve tried this one in my classes and the kids loved its simplicity and immediate results. Plus you can’t beat the free price 🙂
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avninder
I haven’t let my 13 month old use my phone yet but I’m sure it’ll just be a matter of time. I’ve heard that PBS kids has some good educational apps. Jen – the video your daughter made is so cute.
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Pat A Son
Jeff Bezos the founder amazon.com
Born January 12, 1964 Jeffrey Preston “Jeff” Bezos the founder and CEO of Amazon.com which isthe largest online merchant of books and a wide variety of products on the World Wide Web. He graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and computer science. After graduating he worked at several […]
Continue reading Jeff Bezos the founder amazon.com Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp-
Jonathan
It’s amazing to see how Amazon is growing in all different ways. It has essentially become synonymous with online shopping. I couldn’t agree with you more on the idea that it is an e-learning company. If it isn’t then it certainly is a distributor of material. I can’t count the amount of times that I have gone back to Amazon to purchase texts, at least towards the last year in undergrad. The growth of the company truly has no limits. It has gone from selling books to literally everything.
I recall being down in US and having the option to purchase and have same day delivery? Wow! Very powerful company and you can bet they are chomping at the bit to get into the digital textbooks.
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teacherben
Not specifically about educational technology, but interesting from a business point of view, I read an article a couple months ago about how the US govt.., under pressure from various brick-and-mortar retailers, was forcing Amazon to charge sales tax. The article warned that this might ultimately work against them. Until now, Amazon only charged sales tax in places where they had a physical presence (distribution centers and so on.) They limited the number of these that were out there so they could minimize the number of places where they had to charge taxes. Now that they have to pay taxes all over the place, they are likely to start building up a physical presence in a lot more place, now allowing them to expand their services in a big way, such as offering same-day service. So, in trying to level the playing field, Barnes and Noble and some of the others unleashed a beast. A couple months later, this does indeed seem to be the case. They are building all over the US.
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jkotler
I found your biography on the founder of Amazon.com to be quite interesting because I am quite familiar with the company (and buy many books through it on my kindle) but honestly never knew about its CEO and their beginnings. As well, I too find it inspiring when I learn about a company that is able to adapt so well to the changing market, which especially now changes quite rapidly.
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Pat A Son
If amazon was a creature Darwin would be proud of it 😉
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pcollins
Gosh, only one person behind amazon – that’s amazing. I honestly thought that it must have been a group design. And it’s interesting to envision it as a e-learning venture. I do a lot of “quik-search” to learn about authors/get reviews/find related topic books. Not that I would probably ever include an amazon cite in my references, but for daily life and general knowledge there is a lot to be found.
PC
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kstackhouse
I think Amazon has become a great resource for students and educators. I have bought several books for MET courses through Amazon, one book was $20 less than at the UBC bookstore…which charges $25 to ship within Canada. I got my book shipped for free…
I also use Amazon to order books for our school. We can buy them much cheaper this way and the shipping and payment is always a breeze. As you say, they are becoming the everything store. I have also purchased cameras, external hard-drives, and other materials for classroom use.
Students (and most users) are using the reviews feature as a great way to help them select books. This has been great when a student asks me about a book down in the library or one of the extra ones on my shelf. I direct them to the reviews on Amazon and other sites to help them decide if this is a book they might want to select.
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Pat A Son
I got my credit card in order to purchase books on amazon, books that were not available locally. Now my students take it one step further they are purchasing previous versions of text at minimal cost in order to save. This is something I never do but it is an option they exploit, And yes I use the review all the time. All in all I amazon to be a gem for students and educators alike.
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Jonathan
Ken — Great point about the user reviews. I forgot about that feature. Those reviews are immensely popular and useful when it comes to online buying. Amazon definitely setup their venture properly in allowing for the user feedback to come through on all of their products.
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Peggy Lawson 5:43 pm on September 25, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
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
Colin 11:01 pm on September 25, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
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.
Peggy Lawson 6:37 pm on September 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
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