Chris

NO, I would not invest in this venture. The CEO appears very credible and I would assume she has a credible team. The concept she is pitching is not an original one but secondary schools are in need of a product of this nature as at the moment most of the SMS systems in use are cumbersome and do not integrate with an LMS at all, therefore the product would address a potential need. Addressing this potential unmet need would mean a huge market for this potential product but unfortunately I not do see a competitive edge as we do not see the product. I am also completely unsure of the Venture Plan being proposed, they seem to have a clear purpose and idea but I have absolutely no idea on how they plan on arriving at the end goal. I'm also unsure of whether or not they have begun developing this product or do they just have a concept? While I understand the need for this product and could foresee a large market I felt the pitch was incredibly poor. The choice of speaking over a slideshow was a poor decision as we see nothing of the potential product. As a potential investor and someone who works with both LMS and SMS on a daily basis I would need to see some sort of actual product prior to investing in this. A much better pitch would have had me invest but without seeing any potential product this was not enough for me to want to invest in this venture.

While I think this is an interesting idea and has some viability in an education marketplace I would NOT invest in this company. The CEO seems energetic, strong willed and purposeful but the this idea is not an original one. I wasn't aware that this had been created in Japan already but the idea of playing cards for education is certainly not a new and does not break any new ground in education whatsoever. I do not see this game engaging students who are not interested in Chemistry and therefore I do not foresee a large market for this game. I have not seen enough of a market plan nor do I think this product is particularly marketable to warrant the type of investment this company is asking for. If this company could demonstrate some success on a smaller scale I might think about investing a much smaller amount but I don't see a viable future for this particular venture.

We have one in my school and the students and teacher rave about it. Design and then actually produce something. This takes learning from relevant to real. Chris

James, This is a tough one. I think districts should be putting $ into infrastructure and support to do the BYOT effectively. I have visited a school that is rolling out BYOT one grade at a time. They started with grade 9 and they have learnt a few lessons which could help you. For next year they are having students show parents the benefits/drawbacks of each device (tablet, laptop or combination like the Surface) and then they are letting the students decide. The students use them effectively and often in Socials, Science and English but they are still working on it in Math. They have one technology teacher available at all times to help with tech troubleshooting like printing and connecting to networks. They found that until about christmas these tech teachers were troubleshooting mostly but now they are moving towards developing new ways of doing things with technology and quite often team teach with other teachers when they can. This is the tip of the iceberg but this seems to be a school that is doing things systematically and doing it well. Chris

I think this can have incredible value but I despise the fact that all discussions around "learning commons" centre around the library. Schools themselves need to define themselves as learning commons so learning can happen anywhere anytime. Hallways need to have areas with access to power and suitable seating to enable students to learn and collaborate. The learning commons discussion needs to move beyond the library. Chris

This is the one! Danielle, from my understanding servers have now been moved to Toronto and therefore the issue of data storage outside of Canada has been dealt with. This technology allows storage but the great value here is in collaboration. The other benefit to the cloud is that devices like Chrome Books are relatively inexpensive in comparison to other devices. Schools and districts that look to go BYOD can make use of the Cloud and and have students bring a relatively inexpensive device. Best of both worlds, effective and inexpensive!

I agree with your comments here Tobin. Most of the textbooks I have seen have been very interactive. I actually think they need to change the term "textbook" as it does not really do justice to where this technology can go. Chris

I think this offers incredible opportunity for student learning but perhaps more importantly it offers educators a way to model appropriate use of Social Media for students. I was lucky enough to visit Riverside Secondary in Coquitlam, BC this year which is a 9-12 school moving into the BYOD world and when admin and teachers were asked they all felt the most important thing they were doing was giving students an opportunity to have a POSITIVE digital footprint. Chris