Third Space Learning

I immediately loved the action-oriented concept of “3 steps of how to make authentic, non-trivial changes”. It’s a very clear and well articulated goal. I also thought that as a math teacher the Venn diagram of the Third Space idea signifying the overlap between two worldviews was very clever, simple and effective. The topic is one that I am also interested in, and I am very much looking forward to taking the MET course that covers Indigeneity, Technology and Education which affected you so deeply. It’s amazing how far away we have moved from context. This venture pitch was very engaging and I loved that producing profit is not the goal. We need so much more non-capitalist ideas such as yours, that generate value other than financial. Thank you for this Dana.

Loved your pitch Dana. I think you have done an excellent job of identifying a pain point that many teachers are not properly trained or feel comfortable tackling this topic, which of course is exactly what your product is trying to solve. I could clearly see your passion for this venture and you have presented the venture clearly and solution very well. You show that you are a qualified person to take this on and that you have brought together a strong team. You’ve done a strong ask and show the opportunity space. I really think that this is a venture that needs to come to market. I found it great that you have identified possible revenue streams that are slightly out of scope of the original idea. Jonathan raises a good point about incorporating it into a larger training opportunity for teachers. Maybe that is something that could be developed as a second tier venture. Something to think about.

Feedback - Love addressing the problems of the cultural underpinnings of education. I know your plan is to specifically design training for teachers to teach them have to create learning that is not stuck in the ethnocentric paradigms of the past. Specifically, though you are dealing with the challenges between western teaching in Indigenous settings. My question is, could you move this further and develop ways to help teach online (a method of teaching with no physical boundaries, but plenty of cultural ones) in a way that is open to the cultural differences in learning styles. Maybe this is too big, or a later development for third space learning. Great Work! Brian

Hi Dana. Both your elevator and venture pitch do an excellent job of immediately identifying the issues you wish to address with your venture. Further, the manner and degree in which you incorporate reference material to help identify the formal and informal obstacles first nations students face when being educated via a western lens was substantial and informative. You clearly establish a need and then provide a way to help address it. From a details point of view, you seem to hit all the major elements of a venture, from establishing your financial target to identifying your competitors and their relative definciences. Even as a non-profit, you identify how some revenue might be generated via advertising and speaking engagements – something I failed to do and am now face-palming over. The only area I have a question about is the efficacy of using just videos as a means of delivering your goal. While I think video has tremendous power to deliver a message, it often has to be a part of a broader program to elicit change. Considering the length of our assignment, developing something like that would probably be too ambitious, but maybe mentioning how your video could be incorporated into perhaps a mandatory BC-wide professional development day on First Nations learning, or become a mandatory part of teacher training programs might be useful. Overall though, I am very much enjoyed your pitches! Thanks, Jon Nilson

Dana, loved this! WOW -- what a well thought out initiative. I understood the problem and solution very well. The elevator pitch and venture pitch were both engaging and well orchestrated. The venture pitch was long (but you indicated so, therefore I was not surprised). I do think it could have been tightened up but I know this is the number one challenge -- which words do I cut?! I struggle with this too but have learned how to be ruthless with my word-economy. I think there is a compelling market in culturally responsive education, and I think there will be tremendous growth. You've mapped out initial thoughts on program launch to expansion so this is good, and you've provided baseline numbers for outreach (which translate into goals) within the Victoria market. You've outlined use of proceeds against your ask so there are no lingering questions here. Also, your ask is quite reasonable at about $20K. One area I would have liked to see more info is the distribution partner network. I think this is your big-bang potential here. Starting with 5 videos, outlining 3 key steps. The 'productization' of your initiative is very straightforward, but the success/fail will be based on partner network and distribution. i.e. this content is great but only if the right eyeballs are on it. (Which I have no doubt will be the case, just that I want more info. on this). A litmus test here is are you explaining the what versus the how? Ideally, should be both. Overall, a very well thought out venture, nicely presented and well researched. With thanks.