dustin hyde

Amazing Job Christopher! Not only does your product address a real problem in a HUGE market, your pitch is incredibly thorough and thought provoking. I found it quite clever to pitch your idea without any human, verbal dialogue - it was super simple, witty, short, and ultimately very engaging. The product information, features, screenshots, design principles (top commenters, karma points etc.) are all brilliant and speak to your attention to detail. I really believe this a fantastic idea. I work in a support block setting at a high school. Students are constantly struggling with the internet to find quality, relevant information. Lurnt offers a what appears to be a engaging and reliable program to help students and teachers. The moderation piece I think needs some clarification. I too would like to know a bit more information about the numbers. How much does Lurnt cost for users? Is there a whole school plan? Finally - what is the company valuation? The elevator ride got me hooked. Now I just need to understand how my investment is going to pay off. Love this idea. A fantastic job Christopher!

Hey Katie, I love this idea and think that you have a product and company that has potential to disrupt current school lunch program trends. I have three kids and my family is vegan and very conscious about health, exercise, nutrition, and wellness. Generally speaking, and in my experience, I feel that school lunch programs are not healthy. At my kids elementary school for example, they typically do pizza or hotdogs on a weekly basis and fast food such as McDonalds once a month. We opt out every time. I have been a critic of food programs in our school district and feel that there needs to be considerable more education and programming to help students and families be more food literate. Health related diseases amongst youth have dramatically increased in recent years. In Canada, childhood obesity has triped in the last 30 years and those considered obese are at a "higher risk of developing a range of health problems, and wight issues that are likely to persist into adult hood" (Canada.ca, 2016). Your product is a strategic counter to this trend -- a digital app that promotes food literacy and delivered to students in a fun, student-centered approached where they get to make food choices after developing healthy eating education. Partnering with grocery stores is also brilliant because it is fantastic marketing for them. I would think that the various stakeholders in this venture would be pleased to invest - school districts, parents, students, and grocery stores. Ohh and me too! Sign me up. Great job Katie!

Wow! Amazing job Heeweon. I really believe that you have nailed the assignment criteria with a viable product, plan, and company in a niche market area. Escape rooms are taking off and according to updraftventures.com escape rooms in the US have increased from 0 int 2014 to over 1800 today. The idea of bringing escape rooms into educational contexts is brilliant and I felt you did a fantastic job of articulating how and why this approach to immersive, gamified learning is important and marketable. I would love the opportunity to invest in this type of company and feel that the first to market in an educational context is a viable and exciting opportunity. Great job Heeweon!

Hey Ryan, Fantastic job! I love the idea as well, and as Kate has mentioned, I too have been the go to person in my family to for all things tech support, let alone tech salesman. I have fielded aunties, parents, and elderly family friends. Your pitch and venture analysis resonates with me and I feel there is a market for your company. I also really appreciated how you provided potential investors the 'elderly perspective' as a way to help us better understand how your company and products could help improve not only their lives, but their family's lives. The only potential concern I might have is the longevity of Olive Connect. In other words, how might the company adapt to the changing demographic profile of Gen X'ers and Millennials' who likely will not require intensive tech support? As the Baby Boomers (digital immigrants), the target market pass, how will investors see their returns? As I am writing this concern / question, I am reflecting -- perhaps the digital natives will also need guidance and support as the technology continues to advance beyond their ability?! Overall, fantastic idea and a wonderful pitch. Bravo Ryan!

Great job team ALT. I had a baseline understanding of ALT prior to navigating your OER, but feel much more informed regarding this field now. From an EVA perspective, ALT definitely is a lucrative investment area that has tons of potential globally. As education shifts more and more away from the classroom, becomes increasingly personalized, and is made available digitally around the world, ALT can be the digital tool that leverages the global demand for mobile, personalized learning. As I indicated in the padlet, despite the boom and associated economic benefit of ALT style learning I do have some reservations - particularly the massive amount of screen time and likely increase in student loneliness as learning becomes student - screen oriented, as opposed to the dynamic of a classroom experience rich with relationships, experiences, collaboration etc. I also wonder about how ALT can respond to the demands of new curriculum and competencies. Can for example, can an ALT program teach individuals about the soft skills required for success in the work place -- social responsibility, personal awareness, personal and cultural identity? I am hesitant on this to say the least. I feel like ALT is a strong tool for foundational learning, the learning that must be memorized - key terms, sight words, events etc. On another note, I have three young kids (all under the age of 7) who love their screen time. After completing your OER this week, I searched for age appropriate adaptive learning apps and have to say that the few I found are fantastic! My 7 year old son is practicing his literacy work with a free ALT app called Bitsboard. It is definitely employing ALT strategies and personalizing his experience -- nothing too hard, and nothing to easy. That keeps him engaged, learning, and challenged as he navigates the many different styles and approaches to learning vocabulary. link below. http://bitsboard.com Great job this week guys! Thanks for getting us going on our student led learning journey through this section of the course! Going first is never easy!

Hey Ryan, I too thought about the power of mentorship coupled with personalized learning. Add those two together, and guarantee graduates a job and that is something that is hard to say no to! The obvious drawback that I see is the very limited course offerings. They really only have 4 educational streams / fields with very specialized learning 'tracks'. As they continue to grow and produce high quality employees at big global tech companies, I suspect they will broaden their course offerings. Good point also about many educational tech start ups are not founded by educators!

Hey Sarah, thanks for the great information on Remind's, Brett and David Kopf. While Remind is off to a hot start, I actually wonder about their sustainability in this venture space. I used to be a big fan of Remind. I had my students download it and communicated reminders, news, updates etc. though the app to my students. It was great. In fact, our admin uses it now as a communication tool to update staff and remind us of school related events. What I have noticed however, is that with the rise of google classroom, Remind is less popular / utilized. Teachers are now sending messages via google classroom to parents and students of the classes. In my experience, Remind has been cast into the shadows of google because it is a standalone, single purpose app, that google classroom (and perhaps other broader, multi use LMSs) has embedded into their service along side many other features. That said, you cannot discount what Brett and David have done to date. $18 million, 23 million users, and a 90% usage rate in US schools is nothing to scoff at. I just wonder if they can hold off the big players?!

Great post Heeweon. Thanks for sharing information on 3D Bear and CEO Kristo Lehtonen. I really enjoyed the pitch video and loved his "hook" with the drone (created by a 12 year old with his 3D printing technologies) flying around during his introduction. $120000 in three months, 2.5% market penetration of all schools (over 100 schools) in Finland, and a signed deal in USA with 22,000 schools, wow! With previous experience in government and business, and an educational background in marketing and economics, Lehtoen, seems poised to satisfy the international demand and scale his company accordingly. This seems like a rockstar company with a very capable leader at the helm. Reg - we have a few 3D printers at my school in our tech ed department. I don't teach in that department, but I overtime I go there, the 3D printer is busily printing up some sort of contraption. Students have printed all sorts of creative things from xbox controller parts, to fun little practical creations such as key key chain clips, or miniature cars. It's really neat to see the kids getting super creative!

Hey Reg, Thanks for sharing the bio and information on Fresh Grade's, Lane Marrifield. Living in BC, I had heard lots about Fresh Grade's digital portfolio program, but have never explored the program in detail nor really taken the time to learn about its CEO. After reading through your analysis, exploring the Freshgrade website, watching many of the testimonial videos, and reading / learning about Lane Marrifeld its hard not to fall in love with the guy! He has it all! Solid values, home town pride, vast experiences in the field of marketing, business, education, and technology and certainly a well spoken, engaging presenter with a vision of transforming world of educational reporting and assessment with digital portfolio technology that connects students, parents, and teachers. Not to mention his success and experience in previous work with online learning worlds, or his recently created entrepreneurial mentorship program, or his vast amount of charity work. Like I said, Lane has it all, and in my opinion is absolutely a shining star, role model for any aspiring entrepreneur.

Hey Chris, thanks for sharing this the information on Craig Jones and his company Formative. After reading through your analysis and watching the promotional videos, I signed up for Formative to explore the program and see how it might be applicable to my own2 teaching. In terms Craig Jones and the information provided, I really agree with and feel like he is a strong entrepreneurial role model with the essential qualities - business and education background that has afforded him to see a pain point in the market - engaging formative assessment, a growing market in the world of educational technology.