Basia

Hi Jason! Thanks for your feedback. I wish I had some data about whether students would use it here—my workplace actually doesn't allow students to use their phones (though most private schools do). In place of this (and I really should have mentioned it) I asked some of my coworkers about this phenomenon and if they would try a service like this int he classroom. Most of them voiced that they have "too much content to cover" to allow chatting and collaborating in class (which points to differences in teaching method), and also expressed concern that even if they do ask students if they understand during the lesson (or ask comprehension questions), most students will sit and stare blankly, or reiterate what they just heard to prove they were paying attention instead. It's a bit of a band-aid solution to a knot of problems—old, lecture-style teaching, examinations that test recall instead of comprehension, the social norm to not stick out, the idea that making mistakes is shameful, scolding students who make mistakes, and the idea that 'if it's challenging it must be good'. I don't believe this knot is something we can fix quickly, but at the very least, it can lower some of the affective barriers to class discussion. There is also the potential that teachers can ask students a question and ask everyone to respond via the app. It lets more than one student participate, easy to see their ideas clearly, and should the teacher be keeping track of participation, they have a paper trail. In no way would I hold this up as an answer to lesson disengagement, but it may be a step along the way to active learning. Thank you for the feedback about the cell phones being disruptive. Given this, perhaps making the app 'float' on the screen, thus blocking anything else that may distract students, might be one way to solve this. Thanks again!

Hi Sarah! Thank you for sharing your venture. I like the idea of marrying a community knowledge-building method with online courses; I think the independence (and at times isolation) we feel from online learning is both a blessing and a curse—great to work at one’s own pace, but hard to connect with others. As far as I know, Coursera has something like this with peer-grading of assignments. As an investor, I’d like to know more about the workings of your program in comparison to your competitors: are the courses quality-controlled in any way? Can the skills and knowledge learned here be used elsewhere? In what format and size are they offered? Is there assessment? Do instructors upkeep their courses, or does your company? Do all users have to make courses on the site periodically, or is it just something they can do? Is there any particular return for those who wish to design courses in Triple L (like a discount on the cost) as opposed to, for example, starting a YouTube channel instead? This is where I see most of the competition coming from; free, user-generated content hosting platforms that naturally build up a community of learners. I liked that investors get lifetime access to the site, but wonder if this scales depending on the amount of investment. Finally, building on an already successful venture really speaks to your experience and credibility, a critical point of consideration for most investors. Thank you for your pitch!

Hi Melissa! Thank you for sharing your venture with us. It was nice to see that this is something you have prior experience in, as that really adds to your credibility and speaks to your experience running such campaigns. Including links to the previous campaigns also gives potential investors a clearer idea of how the initiative would be received. You identified a clear pain point, and a way to meet demand while building skills in students. In regards to the investors; are you just looking for financial support through the kickstarter campaign, or also investment firms, tech trainers to join you at the workshops, sponsors, etc. ? I think it was great of you to show how the cost of the initiative is calculated (nice transparency!), but the math was a bit confusing. You counted two tripods and cameras, but the net price was that of one of each unit? Additionally, in the FAQ section, there is some inconsistency in terms of ‘I’ and ‘we’—are you taking on this venture alone or with a team? Overall, I think your reliability and thoroughness would make potential investors genuinely consider investing in your idea. Personally, I hope to see this spread to indigenous communities outside of Canada in the future! Thanks again!

Hi Sydney! I LOVED your pitch! You backed up your pain point really well with data, identified a clear target market, and covered nearly all of the necessary bases that students may need going into the workplace. One thing I would have liked to have seen (though this may not be as important to investors) is a clearer connection between soft skills and experience, since this is what your product is hoping to build in students. I also liked that you had a credible team with you, and an idea of who the stakeholders in your product are / where some funding is coming from. In regards to the platform; will all those components (the VR, the telecommuting, etc.) be kept on the same platform like an LMS, or are these linked but separate systems? It is clear the product is in its infancy, but if you were to pursue it, I think there is a strong chance potential investors would consider your idea. Thank you!

Hi Neuroscience team! Thank you for sharing your OER. One thing I hope you change is the contrast between the background images and the white text on them. It is a little difficult to read. As for the neuromyths game, I didn't quite understand the instructions. When I answered a question with the 'x', it gave me negative points, and when I answered with a check-mark (whether it was right or wrong), it gave me positive points? In the future I would avoid double-barreled questions ("Mental capacity is not something you are born with and cannot be changed"). The myths themselves were very interesting, and I'm glad you included the learning styles myth in there. The educational neuroscience section was informative, though like Sarah mentioned, I wish the infographic was a higher resolution. You mentioned that some people have a vested interest in perpetuating neuromyths. I'd like to hear more about that, and more importantly, if it is a potential risk for investors. It is also worth mentioning that the slideshow under "A Learning Activity with Neuroscience" is too big for mobile and does not adjust to screen size. Your OER piqued my interest in the connection between neuroscience and education, and I will look up further information in order to put tested ideas into practice. Thank you!

Thank you for the considered reply :) I've nver used POWr, but one tool I have found that gives great live-interaction and results to polls is mentimeter. There is a limit to how many questions you can ask in the free version, but it does provide many options for how results are displayed, and it's easy to interact with. If you find a future project where you need a poll, I recommend this service! (Honestly I considered investing in it for my own lessons, but students are not allowed to use their devices in school here, so...) Thanks again for the wonderful resource!

Hi Adaptive Learning Team! Thank you for the wonderful OER. I really enjoyed the quiz at the beginning - I'm a Susan, though I'm not too concerned about student privacy. One point I hope you take note of should you choose to make changes to your OER: the slide transitions are a bit fast. I can't read all the information on them before it jumps to the next word bubble. Perhaps if there was a pause button, it would accommodate us slower readers...I couldn't find the discussion space on your website (maybe it's my computer), so I'd like to answer the question here. As you pointed out in the limitations; Adaptive software is not turning out as successful as theorized. The part about students being unaware of what they should study or what they have learned really struck a chord with me. If learners are skipping around from part to part, then they do not have a framework to reference during their learning, and are likely to miss the bigger picture. When it comes to assessment, I know my students love asking me about each lesson and exactly how content will be assessed. To have students either not study the same material for the same test, or have individualized assessments makes it difficult for any kind of standardization on an institutional or national scale. While I would adapt (pun intended) adaptive technology in my classroom to assist student learning, I would not rely on it as anything more than an additional supplement for the students who are far behind or far ahead of their classmates, and that would be independent of assessment. Thanks again for all your hard work!

Hi mobile learning team! Weighing in on the OER. It offered some great suggestions for using social media to engage students. I was kind of hoping, since you were focusing on social media, that you would address the divisive issue of mixing personal and professional life. Do you all personally agree that our personal lives, opinions, actions, and influence should be open for public scrutiny? I am actually on the opposing side of both arguments; I don't think social media should have any influence on one's professional life (after all, interviewers don't follow us out on our free time and judge us!), just like I don't believe students, educators, or employees should be engaging with work matters outside of work. The former creates a constant, panopticon-esque fear that anything we engage in, anything we connect to outside of our own physical homes can be used against us, and the latter encourages unhealthy work-life imbalances resulting from our personal choices or through pressure from our employers. If you choose to update your OER, I hope you address this point! Thanks again for the great resource!

GBL Team, great work! Your ideas about having students solve world-problems through games reminded me first of the sci-fi novel Ender's Game, and secondly of the Foldit event, in which gamer's solved a 31-year science problem in just three weeks. While there is definitely usefulness in "gamefying" problems to solve, I think there is a limit to decontextualizing problems. You suggested they might be able to solve the problem of poverty via gaming—but isn't this a socio-political issue? Many factors need to be considered, including the idea that people who benefit from poverty are likely not going to cooperate in its solution, people who may hold considerable influence or pose a danger. How do you imagine such a problem would be framed to allow gamers to solve it?

Hi Team, thanks for your OER. I really enjoyed the e-book making software! My students are planning on designing a guidebook about learning disabilities, and could really benefit from this freeware, so thank you for sharing it. I also really enjoyed the way you organized the activities in the website. While I don't see my workplace adopting digital textbooks anytime soon (change is scary!), it would certainly benefit our students' technical and design skills to make one of these as a project. Hopefully it would give them more confidence in experimenting with digital software, too. Great work!!