{"id":8007,"date":"2012-09-26T20:17:15","date_gmt":"2012-09-27T03:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept12\/?p=8007"},"modified":"2012-09-26T20:25:45","modified_gmt":"2012-09-27T03:25:45","slug":"modkit-micro-ed-baafi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept12\/2012\/09\/26\/modkit-micro-ed-baafi\/","title":{"rendered":"ModKit Micro: Ed Baafi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-8007 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept12\/2012\/09\/26\/modkit-micro-ed-baafi\/edbaafi\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept12\/files\/2012\/09\/EdBaafi-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>ModKit Micro is about the &#8220;democratization of programming and engineering&#8221;. \u00a0It builds on the solid foundation laid by Scratch and other graphical programming environments by lowering the bar to give new users access to the tools and techniques that were formerly the exclusive domain of engineers. \u00a0Rather than typing code, users drag programming &#8216;blocks&#8217; into stacks to write their programs. \u00a0These programs can be uploaded to microcontroller boards that can be used to &#8220;add behaviors to everyday objects and electronic gadgets.&#8221; \u00a0 If you are familiar with Scratch, think of it as Scratch for hardware.<\/p>\n<p>Ed Baafi, ModKit Micro&#8217;s founder, comes with strong credentials on the theory side of things, having done his graduate work at the MIT Media Lab, as well as a solid grounding in a practical setting. \u00a0He put theory into practice while working with students at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tech-center-enlightentcity.tv\/home.html\" target=\"_blank\">Boston Fab Lab<\/a> and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.teach2learn.net\/\" target=\"_blank\">Teach 2 Learn<\/a> program. \u00a0ModKit Micro was developed in direct response to student needs that were identified when working on these two projects. \u00a0There is little to report about Mr. Baafi&#8217;s business acumen. \u00a0This appears to be his first foray into the business world. \u00a0The project is still in its early stages. \u00a0They have released beta versions of their software to a closed group of users but have yet to produce a full release for the public. \u00a0They are however, off to a good start. \u00a0They secured funding through Kickstarter, reaching their goal of $20,000 in just 12 days. \u00a0By the time they reached the end of their Kickstarter fundraising drive, they had raised over $53,000USD. \u00a0The project has already developed partnerships with a number of major distributors of electronics for education and hobbyists.<\/p>\n<p>Two more people round out his team. Colin Reisdorf, the Design Lead, comes with education and experience in graphic design and Amon Millner, the Learning Lead, leads the research in the educational space. \u00a0Dr. Millner worked as a core member of the original design team for Scratch. \u00a0Mr. Baafi does not appear to be anyone on the team with a great deal of experience in business.<\/p>\n<p>As a teacher, i can certainly see the potential of this project. \u00a0It provides a great alternative to much more expensive products such as LEGO Mindstorms. \u00a0Their plans to monetize the project remain a little murky. \u00a0They have distributed copies of the program on USB sticks to all of their Kickstarter backers and given them access to the online development environment. \u00a0I have made a few attempts to contact them for more information and so far, haven&#8217;t received a response. \u00a0Their blog seems to indicate that they are a little bit behind on meeting deadlines, but things are\u00a0continuing\u00a0to move along. \u00a0This should be an interesting project to follow.<\/p>\n<p>i am also planning to review this product for my A1 project. \u00a0Any thoughts on this? \u00a0Since information is a bit scarce, I am a little unsure, but I have been following the project for a while and I think it&#8217;s pretty exciting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ModKit Micro is about the &#8220;democratization of programming and engineering&#8221;. \u00a0It builds on the solid foundation laid by Scratch and other graphical programming environments by lowering the bar to give new users access to the tools and techniques that were formerly the exclusive domain of engineers. \u00a0Rather than typing code, users drag programming &#8216;blocks&#8217; into [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7313,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[493564],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-week-04-entrepreneur-bootcamp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7313"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8007"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8014,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8007\/revisions\/8014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}