A3 Year 2 Year Portfolios

Feedback: This is an interesting product idea, Cathy. My school district was talking this last week about rolling out something similar and there was a lot of push back from teachers. My questions based on your elevator pitch are: How does this benefit educators and how would it be appealing to them? How do you plan on monetizing the service? Your product seems quite interesting, I just wonder how you will distinguish it from being "another neat classroom idea."

REVIEW: Cathy, great product. Timely and, it seems, necessary. Mu biggest hesitations are around privacy and permanence. Who moderates the portfolios? Is it another job for already busy teachers? I think your biggest challenge will be adoption. If you get BC to buy in, then you are away.. I think a school by school approach would be too fractured and not sustainable. Overall, I like it, but I don't think I will invest my 522 dollars.

Cathy, I liked your idea and it is a solution for a global need. I liked how you considered the teachers' needs of no more "working" solution. Your solution reflected deep understanding of the portfolio needs, I liked the screenshots! Presenting the market competitors was a good idea to show the benefits of your product. Thank you for your great work!

FEEDBACK: Cathy, I totally appreciate the idea and its value. But I’m struggling with the fact that e-portfolios aren’t a new idea. Building a custom-made e-portfolio tool for BC schools has the promised advantages only if your product is trouble free and meets their needs, and is transferable only if all the other districts also buy in. It seems like creating a tool like this should be possible, but the biggest challenge would be to really get all teachers fully on board. I’d recommend a development strategy where you refine the tool and how it is used on a smaller basis before you try to scale it.

Hi Cathy. Good presentation. You identified a potential need, and proposed a solution that seems to fulfill the need. You identified many competitors in the market and nicely identified how you are different. Good job. Your project plan identifies that you can make $1.36 million with a reoccurring revenue stream of $1.2M with only one province wide adoption of the tool, which will appeal to investors looking for a return on their investment. Your start-up capital is probably good but it would be nice to see an indication of where the money is being spent (development team, overhead cost, marketing, etc). It would also be nice to see someone with a software development background in your leadership group. One major omission in this plan is the barriers of entry and risks. I would expect that a province purchasing a portfolio tool for $1.2M dollars might be low on their list of priorities and that some teachers may have already adopted their own tools and methods in producing learner portfolios, using a combination of free or low cost alternatives. How are you going to increase stakeholder awareness of the improved usability and importance of your tool to overcome these barriers and convince them to purchase your product?

Review: I love your product as well as your pitch, and I think that e-portfolios have the potential to initiate a much-needed change in the realm of student assessment. Your pitch was well laid-out and incredibly easy to navigate. I think that providing an in-depth overview of market competitors provided a great tool for comparison and succeeded in increasing my confidence in Y2Y. You were sure to mention that the Y2Y platform is secure, which is a concern that often arises when dealing with the digitization of student work. I was hoping to see a mention of this, so I was happy to see that you included the subject of security a few times throughout. The only real hesitation I have stems from the fact that ePortfolios are not yet recognized at the provincial level. I also see the potential for unequal access between districts, due to variation in resources to subscribe to this product, particularly when dealing with larger schools. With that said, I would be willing to take the risk with this venture, because it seems very promising!

FEEDBACK: Your venture was another one that I would like to invest in, but I only get 3! I felt that your elevator pitch was clear in stating what the purpose is. I like that the portfolio is transferable. That would be really handy if lots of districts/provinces bought in. As a fellow BC teacher, we have a new draft reporting system. Could this type of assessment be the way for the future? This would be a great time to get investing in your company if the BC government goes in this direction. I do have to note that there is a company out of Kelowna called Fresh Grade that is offering a similar product and there company is growing very quickly - I think our district is going to partner up with them in the next year or two for our assessment practise. It shows that this idea has merit.

FEEDBACK: ePortfolios is a quickly growing industry and you did an excellent job of creating a product that would be competitive in that market. You have identified the problem and developed a very viable solution. In particular, I like how you address the privacy concerns as this is also a growing issue. Very well researched, developed, and presented. I would invest!

I am a strong supporter of experiential learning and the strength of student portfolios to demonstrate competency. So having easy to use solutions for teachers is imperative. You may think that your lack of marketing experience is a weakness, but it is important to recognize this so that you can strategically form your development team - you now know who you need to add! This should also engage the students in their own learning and development and I think they will love being able to participate in this.

REVIEW: Cathy, your idea is brilliant, timely and well researched. I have spent time myself researching what is out there for e-portfolios for our students to use in a public district in the province of BC. You identified the problem, the need to look at assessment of our students differently, and value the variety of ways they show their development of skills. The value of creating a learning portfolio is apparent and you outlined clearly your solution. The market was clearly defined as were many of the competitors in Canada. One solution we are exploring is Freshgrade A free portfolio service that can be transferred to a district license. https://www.freshgrade.com/ Your information on ease of use within a school server and concern for privacy and the need for data storage in Canada to be FIPPA compliant was well done. I appreciated your reflection, I think that the numbers and marketing data is the most difficult to project. Well done, and good luck to you and Y2Y! I recommend investment in this venture.