Chris
Week 12 Review
By Chris on August 4, 2014
Thanks for the interesting week. This was an eye opener for me as I have heard of but not looked WT yet. I’m not sure of the applications for education at this point but I look forward to seeing what will happen in the future. I do have some concerns about the intrusiveness and privacy […]
A3: The Living Textbook Project
By Chris on August 3, 2014
Elevator Pitch Venture Pitch Reflection While this was an engaging project it was definitely a struggle. I initially struggled coming up with a new idea to pitch but once I came up with idea I thoroughly enjoyed researching and then fine tuning the concept. Then the struggle became how to present the idea in an […]
Week 11 Review
By Chris on July 28, 2014
Thanks very much to the Week 11 Team. We have a 3D printer at the school I work at but never really considered many of the issues that were raised and I definitely need to do some more thinking around this. I also enjoyed the examples that were provided around uses of 3D printing as […]
Week 10 Review
By Chris on July 21, 2014
Thanks so much Week 10! I thought the content was well organized and well delivered, easy to follow and easy to navigate through. I thought the check list was a good idea as it was useful to take a quick look to make sure I was on task and covered all the activities. It was […]
Analyst Report-Socrative (recently acquired by MasteryConnect)
By Chris on June 22, 2014
Analyst Report ETEC 522
Greetings from North Vancouver
By Chris on May 16, 2014
Hello All, My name is Chris Sandor and I am currently a secondary VP in the West Vancouver School district. I also taught Secondary Social studies for eight years prior to becoming an administrator. This is my 6th MET course and I am really excited about this one as the district I work in […]

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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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
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
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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
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
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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
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
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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!
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!
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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 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
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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
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
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