LiveSync – the web browser plugin

REVIEW: Hey Vibhu. I think you identified a definite pain point for educators. Not only is this an issue for online learning, but I sometimes find it difficult to monitor students’ work habits in my face-to-face 1:1 laptop environment. I often catch students ‘window switching’ as I circle the classroom. I currently use the “DraftBack Chrome Extension to review my students’ work in Google Docs. However, it would be great to be able to view students’ progress on other webpages. This is not always necessary, but would be nice to have as an option if I think a student is regularly off-task. Are the feeds only live? Or can a teacher rewind to a certain point to view what a student was working on? Your idea reminds me of the projection mode on computer lab desktops that allowed me to view any student’s screen on my own monitor or broadcast my screen to my students’ computers simultaneously. I think what was missing from your Venture Pitch were the financials: How much are you looking for from investors? What would the return be? I fear your direct competition would be plugins such as Chrome extensions which are free to teachers. Who would you target in your marketing? Teachers? Schools? Parents? As an EVA, I would be interested in further discussing some of the details of this project as I think the idea is a good one and has growth potential in the online learning sector.

Hi Vibhu, I really enjoyed your elevator pitch - I thought it was clear, concise and gave me a good idea of what your product was. I agree that timely feedback is important for the learning process and I think developing a venture that touches on that is important. With that said, I worry about privacy concerns. Automatically sharing a browser does not give student's a choice. Some students may be uncomfortable with being "watched". I'm also not sure how practical it would be in the classroom if a teacher can only view/provide feedback to one desktop at a time. If you are the last student to receive feedback you may be almost done the activity already and lose out on the benefits of informal feedback. You also did not outline a pricing model so I'm not clear how much this software costs the consumers and in turn how much money I, as an investor, stand to make. For that reason I would not invest at this time.

Hi Vibhu, your pitch was clear and well-organized. I also liked your use of the Piktochart to display the information. It's good that you focused on an issue that you are facing, but as an online teacher myself, I personally don't encounter this problem very often since I use our live synchronous sessions for interactive activities. Having Breakout Rooms with whiteboards for the participants to contribute to is more important than me seeing their screens. If I want my students to collaborate together, I use tools like Google Docs or Padlet where I can see who is adding what and provide feedback as necessary. If it is an eLearning activity that needs to be completed individually, they do this in their own time and not while we are online together. Appropriate feedback is built into the activity itself and I simply review their results and provide any additional feedback as necessary through the grade book. However, if I was in a teaching situation where the students were completing work independently, I would definitely want to see more than one screen at a time, similar to what others already mentioned. I think you need to focus your pitch on the teaching situation/scenario that would benefit from this tool. As an investor, I have a few concerns. Security issues would definitely need to be addressed. How much could the teacher see, how much control would they have? How would the student be safe-guarded to ensure they can take control back and not allow others to use the tool? As well, who purchases the plugin, the teacher and student? How much would it cost? What happens if the students refuses to purchase it or install it? There are a few areas that need to be addressed before I could invest in this product.

Your venture aims to attack a very crucial problem in online education. I would invest in it and use it, as I often interview and test students in China and always find it hard to know for certain if the student on the other end of my skype connection is actually alone or not and doing the given work themselves. This plugin would definitely help with my written testing component for my testing sessions, even better if there is a webcam capability that allows me to see the student as well. I'd invest just to help fund further research for this product. Good luck.

This is definitely a big problem in online education. My company has used adobe connect and range of services and open-source products and none can really do this. I like the visual elements in the pitch but I'm still a little confused about it. There's also a few challenges I could foresee. (Unless I misunderstood.) 1. Bandwidth - We generally see bandwidth issues as a problem especially if you're working with foreign markets. (Most Ontario online schools are going after India and China.) So how would this work given the quality of the picture the teacher would need to see to make an assessment and the number of students in a class. 2. Privacy - With a service like this it might cause privacy issues for people involved. How much access would the teacher have? 3. Alternative options - Google Docs + Web conferencing services (This is what I do with Canadian students to promote collaboration, monitor work and provide personal comments.) 4. Competitors and Change- What does the market look like for web conferencing solutions? Many of them like Adobe, Blackboard, D2L and even Microsoft offer bundles of tools that integrate with each other. If a board picks up one of these systems, it's hard to get them to change over. (At our company I'm struggling to switch people between tools right now.) I think you have the right problem but maybe not the right solution given the current challenges. (Just a thought: Google doesn't work in China... google docs doesn't and the collaborative real-time tools are limited in the Chinese Market. So there might be something there that's similar.) So I'm not sure I can invest at this point.

Hi Vibhu, your video and the infographic are visually appealing, they present the information clearly. The idea for your venture was definitely born to satisfy your teaching needs, which is always great! You presented general information on Canadian and US education, e-learning programs stats, but as an investor, I would like to see a stronger argument on why I should invest in your particular product. I would also love to see information about your target market. If you compare your tool with Adobe Connect, I can assume your target audience is college/university instructors are students. If this is the case (I am speaking as a teacher and student now), the idea of individual work during a synchronous session does not resonate with me, I do not believe it is the best way to spend students' time either. As I student, I would always feel under pressure knowing the teacher is observing my every step on the screen. What if I want to and can multitask? As a teacher, I feel like I would be jumping from screen to screen trying to catch what each student is doing, will I be able to really focus on each student and identify where and when my help is needed? I feel students will value effective teacher-student and student-student interaction during live sessions. To keep students motivated and focused, teachers can use this time to discuss findings and problems, share real life experiences, collaborate with each other, do role-plays, take part in simulations, but individual work can be done at another time, and teacher's feedback can be provided after reviewing that individual work. As an investor, I am thinking, how many teachers will this idea attract? How many of them would like to buy the tool? The problem that I see many synchronous instructors are trying to solve is the breakout rooms for group work and teacher's ability to move from room to room, listen, observe and provide feedback. Adobe Connect has this feature, but it has glitches and is not working well for many instructors. I feel this problem is close to the idea you are presenting, but it is focused more on groups than on individual work. I am learning to think like an investor, but I know the educator is still winning when I am reviewing the pitches. As the idea does not resonate with me, I would not invest.

Thank you for the kind words Craig! Yes, I think having the multiple screen functionality would be helpful! It is something Brenda had asked about as well and at that time I still felt there was no need of it, but it appears to be something that keeps coming up in this discussion, so it suggests to me that it might be an important feature to have! I see the upside to be able to monitor all students at once and hone in on one or two students who need attention instead of scrolling through one screen at a time for each student individually. Thanks again

A very lively and personal presentation, Vibhu. I like how you incorporated technological tools such as Videoscribe and Piktochart as it demonstrates your experience and interest in the field of educational technology. As an asynchronous DL teacher, I am wondering if this product can be adapted for distance learners? I like the idea of seeing what your students are doing on their screens in the synchronous classroom environment and believe this would work especially well in the independent learning centers we have in our schools. In this environment students are working on different online courses during a block of their school time and it is often difficult to monitor work levels. That being said, I have a few questions about your presentation; are you able to see multiple students monitors at one time? Also, are you able to interact with the students screen? Giving them a quiet reminder through typing a message to them noticing they are distracted or may need help with a problem would be an excellent and welcome addition to this product. As you mentioned in your review, it would be useful to see the numbers and projects. With more information and a better understanding of functionality, I would consider investing in this product.

FEEDBACK

An interesting concept. I am not looking to invest in this kind of venture at this time, however, so I will only offer some feedback on your presentation.

I like the fact that you are using your experience with a proven product to make the kinds of changes that teachers need. That is a great idea. Often, products are developed for the business market and they are then adopted for use in education, but they do not quite meet the needs of educators. It sounds like you are attempting to fill this void.

I have a few questions about your product. Are you able to connect to more than one screen at a time? Can you see the entire class on a single monitor at a time? I am thinking about the remote classroom software, like NETOP (http://www.netop.com). It lets you see the whole class at once and even take over control of the student’s device if needed (for whatever reason). This kind of functionality might be really useful for your product.

Anyways, thank you for a great presentation. Good luck with your venture!

Nice work Vibhu. I liked your choice of Piktochart – it is a visually pleasant and creative way to provide information to potential investors. This is a great idea but I have a few questions: Would the student be informed that the teacher could be viewing their work at any time when they log into their on-line class? I think the Adobe Connect requests permission for privacy reasons so the LiveSync will need to get around that somehow. Also, would the instructor be able to see more than one student screen at a time? If so, how would the student’s work display on the instructor’s screen and would they be able to enlarge a particular student’s work? It’s a good idea with a lot of potential but since I don’t have on-line teaching experience I would like to know a little bit more about how it works before I decide to invest. Thanks for sharing.