christopher spanis

I would invest. Setting aside the ethical problems people will inevitably bring up around tracking students whereabouts, the benefits are obvious. I've been joking about microchipping students for years! The interaction function is the real magic of this pitch - I know of teachers who teach their students hand signals to use so that they can tell a cry for help from a bathroom request with a quick visual scan. FocalEd is next-level. I love the idea that students can indicate moments of confusion or a need for help, and the fact that it's digital and would have a timestamp associated with it is super useful. The other benefit of minimized disruption during key points in a lesson/lecture is also compelling. I like that you provided a mockup of the device itself and an image of it being worn, which is more than many other pitches here did 9my own was just an idea described). The "now hiring" section is fun. Market analysis and Investment opportunity could use a bit of work beyond taking 1% of all students, but otherwise an outstanding and well put together project!

REVIEW: I want to like this idea, but there's steep competition nowadays with many video music lesson services out there. I do like that it is centralized and offers multiple instruments, and you clearly mentioned a focus on "micro learning" as a delivery strategy, which MAY differentiate MusicMatters from the rest (I'm not an expert so I can't say for sure). The ability to watch, practice, and then upload their own video is a neat concept, with the teacher able to track all the behaviour data and assess the final product. Another criticism (that I was guilty of myself) is that your pitch seems geared more to a purchaser/teacher than to an investor. I liked the detail of your financial breakdown in "the ask" and rollout phases. Thank you - I would Invest.

Review: I thought the whole pitch was well put together. Very tight design scheme. I like the thought put into the rollout, like the Niagara college beta. You went MUCH MORE into detail with startup costs than I confess I did in my pitch. My sentiments on usefulness of the app/service echo those of others below but I'd like to add something new. I WOULD invest, but I have a caveat: One of the benefits of group work is that students have to learn to navigate the problems of group work itself, which is a parallel outcome in addition to the curricular learning AND is prep for the workplace... Is Hive then actually eliminating this facet by “snowplowing” it away by assigning roles etc? Also, what features would Hive include that would make it "scalable" or usable for different demographics? e.g. k-7, 8-12... the university level and international commerce applications are obvious.

You're absolutely right, Anouk, I seem to have real trouble with directing a pitch to investors vs. customers! I got the same feedback on my A1. I definitely think I did better on my Venture pitch though. Thanks for the detailed feedback!

Thanks Aziza. I thought about that too, but then I realized that I could apply the same thinking to ANY assignments my students do outside the classroom. How do I know any work is original work? The optimist in me says that once a student gets burned once (e.g. they fail the Pythagoras quiz after claiming they watched the video) they won't do it again. My primary intention was to use student behaviours to gauge readiness for assessments but the possibility for earning credit also exists. Anyway, it's a fictitious venture. Thanks for giving it your time and attention!

Thanks Kevin! See my post above re: how-to. I would have liked more polish (eye contact) as well, but I could only devote so much time to memorizing my lines. Obviously this is fictitious, but I was imagining companies wouldn't have to release data to Zaffold. Students would login using their e.g. Khan Academy credentials through the Zaffold portal and then Zaffold would save them for later and track progress. Thanks again.

Thanks for all the interest. I filmed with my iPhone in front of a green bedsheet. Any colour works as long as it is even AND evenly lit (shadows change colours). I used an app called Green Screen by DoInk (pink octopus app logo) to remove the background and have an image or video show through - there are lots of green screen apps out there, but I like this one because it gives a lot of controls to adjust the colour of background to remove, and sensitivity (If I'd used blue, my torso would have been see-through, which is usually undesirable but can be useful for creative effects). After that I made edits in iMovie, but there are lots of editing programs out there: Adobe Premier, GoPro, Vegas, etc.

I think you guys nailed the top application for this technique/technology other than student-facing uses: Pro-D. I was crafting a post about it and then there it was in the next section! (I'll share it anyway as I have a link to a cool study I think everyone would really dig) I think there’s a fantastic opportunity here in the realm of teacher professional development. According to this recent study https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2020-04482-001, when teachers were given evidence based literature to counter misconceptions they were found to accept the evidence only to revert to their old ways a short time later. >>>The evidence of this study points to a need for ongoing supportive interventions rather than one-and-done PD day workshops as is common here in Canada and elsewhere. Microlearning modules seem like an excellent platform to facilitate this for the reasons you’ve highlighted.<<< Some side notes: (1) “According to an ATD report, the average amount of time for an ideal microlearning module is 10 minutes.” - this was based on a poll where they asked people what they thought was best. This is not scientific in any sense and gives no indication of systematically finding the optimum of an efficacy curve, which I think deserves further study if it hasn't had already. (2) On "What makes “micro” micro? " Perhaps there is no time limit or minimum. The nature of microlearning might mean that the length of a module suits the content, context, or both. (3) Microlearning was initially introduced as stepwise, each step with goals toward a larger goal. But the science supposedly supporting microlearning was actually in support of REPETITION specifically. Not to say that the definition was wrong, per se, but this is a specific detail that should be emphasized and should inform microlearning module design >> Steps are not enough. Learners need iteration, which is one of the ideas behind the “spiral” model of learning. (This notion is conspicuously absent from the “4 defining characteristics”)<<

Hi Cass, we appreciate the positive feedback! This is indeed a topic that comes with a lot of hype, so we tried not to get too "blue sky" - keep it down to earth, try to balance needs/opportunities with what's possible now/not too distant future. Glad you got something out of it!

Thanks so much for the critical reply, Aziza! I appreciate you desiring a financial comparison, however our focus was on forecasting AI applications in public educational settings where teaching services are being augmented rather than replaced. In this way it's not quite the same as industries looking to automate/replace a worker with a bot. I do admit, though, that we could have done more research in an attempt to predict costs so that our forecast could have provided some sort of cost/benefit breakdown, so I appreciate you pointing that out! In that way our forecast is more conceptual, representing a balanced analysis between what is possible and what is realistic, or highlighting the opportunities of greatest need and investments that would make the most powerful difference. That was our interpretation of "opportunity forecast" anyway... Thanks again!