jgourley
I’ve had an interesting career where I’ve had the opportunity to design curriculum pieces for organizations at many levels. Now I find myself working for an industry organization and designing education programs.
Some Thoughts in the Final Week
By jgourley on December 4, 2015
Hi Everyone, As we’re in the final week I had a couple of thoughts that I thought I would share that may help future versions of the course. Overall I enjoyed the course a lot. It was great to have a different spin on things. As someone who doesn’t live in the K-12 world it […]
A3 – Blue
By jgourley on November 29, 2015
Hello Everyone, For my A3, I have developed a concept for a business enterprise that mixes and SaaS LMS, with training and recruiting, but with a focus on a workforce immigrating to Canada. I ended up choosing this concept as a previous employer kept producing labour market reports predicting a shortage. I wanted to create […]
Quick Infographic Using Venngage
By jgourley on November 24, 2015
For my infographic, I did a simple HR process for finding new employees. One of the things that popped out at me when I was reviewing the OER was the fact that Infographics were also useful in situations that didn’t have statistics. I wanted to use one to display a process. Overall making the […]
Week 9 : Opportunity
By jgourley on November 8, 2015
Like my peers, I do see an opportunity for assessment, but after reviewing the apps I think that there is another are that is underserved. I quickly scanned the list of apps and noticed there was really only one or two that help with the creative side of writing. I realize that mechanics and structure […]
LearnUp—Alexis Ringwald (repost)
By jgourley on October 26, 2015
I’m not sure what happened with the badge criteria, but apparently reposting your post clears it up. Alexis Ringwald Co-founder and CEO LearnUp LearnUp is a startup that focuses on upskilling employees to be ready to fill entry level positions. After completing a six-month research project, the LearnUp team determined that many job seekers do […]
Analyst Report—Mindflash
By jgourley on October 18, 2015
Hello Everyone, I’ve decided to take a look at a SaaS lite LMS. I’ve been curious about these for a while and I’ve decided to take a look at Mindflash. It’s very easy to use and just to have a little fun I uploaded the PowerPoint I used to make the video below into the […]
LearnUp—Alexis Ringwald
By jgourley on September 28, 2015
Alexis Ringwald Co-founder and CEO LearnUp LearnUp is a startup that focuses on upskilling employees to be ready to fill entry level positions. After completing a six-month research project, the LearnUp team determined that many job seekers do not have the skills that are needed by employers. LearnUp has been developed to bridge that gap. […]
Create U
By jgourley on September 24, 2015
Create U is a different take on post-secondary education that focuses on the student by allowing them to gain the skills and competencies they need to succeed in their chosen field. The focus of the project is to bridge the gap that exists now by merging knowledge with gaining real world experience. To learn more […]
Returning to Regular Programming
By jgourley on September 9, 2015
Hi Everyone, This will be my seventh MET course. I’m just coming back after taking an eight-month break where my wife and I welcome our first child into the world. I’ve already been working on getting her fencing skills up to snuff, but it hasn’t been going all that well. I tend to bring a […]

Kate, I thought the same thing. I think when I take 590 (like this summer). I'm going to float the idea of incorporating a weekly podcast reflecting on the various courses, but only if others also are interested. I thought it would be an interesting way to wrap up the experience.
Kate, I thought the same thing. I think when I take 590 (like this summer). I'm going to float the idea of incorporating a weekly podcast reflecting on the various courses, but only if others also are interested. I thought it would be an interesting way to wrap up the experience.
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- in reply to Some Thoughts in the Final Week

Again thank you to everyone that as provided feedback. I've found this week an extremely useful experience and it has really made me think of adjustments to how information is presented and becoming more succinct. Some of you were 100% right the point that I could use more clarity. That's why I think exercises like this are useful as sometimes when creating an idea it's easy to get lost in the concept. @meril, Thanks for your imaginary dollars. Moving text in the elevator pitch? I'm not sure what you're talking about with that one. The slides did transition quickly if that's what you meant. In terms of the options for direction, We would start with option 1 but slowly move into option 2 as we worked with larger clients who would likely require customization. @lanehardy They would take this as part of the recruitment process. Think of it as almost a screening process to find individuals who really want to work for a company. @osayma I'm not sure I agree with your comments, but thank you for the feedback it was still a valuable exercise to pause and think about the path laid out. I'm not sure where you got non-profit from as we're definitely looking for investors that want to help us grow and create a profitable company. @silver13 All good points. As I approached this project I made a definite decision to leave those types of questions out of the materials. For this assignment, I envisioned this as being a wider net with conversations taking place afterward. @tslearn Since the idea is pretty reproducible I didn't want to give everything away in the pitch. Glad that I was able to answer you questions, and welcome aboard!
Again thank you to everyone that as provided feedback. I've found this week an extremely useful experience and it has really made me think of adjustments to how information is presented and becoming more succinct. Some of you were 100% right the point that I could use more clarity. That's why I think exercises like this are useful as sometimes when creating an idea it's easy to get lost in the concept. @meril, Thanks for your imaginary dollars. Moving text in the elevator pitch? I'm not sure what you're talking about with that one. The slides did transition quickly if that's what you meant. In terms of the options for direction, We would start with option 1 but slowly move into option 2 as we worked with larger clients who would likely require customization. @lanehardy They would take this as part of the recruitment process. Think of it as almost a screening process to find individuals who really want to work for a company. @osayma I'm not sure I agree with your comments, but thank you for the feedback it was still a valuable exercise to pause and think about the path laid out. I'm not sure where you got non-profit from as we're definitely looking for investors that want to help us grow and create a profitable company. @silver13 All good points. As I approached this project I made a definite decision to leave those types of questions out of the materials. For this assignment, I envisioned this as being a wider net with conversations taking place afterward. @tslearn Since the idea is pretty reproducible I didn't want to give everything away in the pitch. Glad that I was able to answer you questions, and welcome aboard!
Feedback: Overall, I like the concept. I think that as technologies like Oculus Rift get better and better this will be a growth area and students will be able to gain practical experience without even leaving a classroom. In terms of your pitch, it's good, but I need to know more. You're also promising a lot of compatibility and capability. Is it all development before roll out, or is it staggared?
Feedback: Overall, I like the concept. I think that as technologies like Oculus Rift get better and better this will be a growth area and students will be able to gain practical experience without even leaving a classroom. In terms of your pitch, it's good, but I need to know more. You're also promising a lot of compatibility and capability. Is it all development before roll out, or is it staggared?
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- in reply to Assignment 3 – STEMverse

Feedback: I like the concept here and I can see how it would be useful to be able to grab assets from a library to use in creating VR materials. Where I struggle with this pitch is you provide a lot of examples of how it can be used, but it seems like all these examples come from other companies. Are there any that you have constructed? The examples were helpful, but I would have liked to see some examples of what you are doing, not your potential competitors.
Feedback: I like the concept here and I can see how it would be useful to be able to grab assets from a library to use in creating VR materials. Where I struggle with this pitch is you provide a lot of examples of how it can be used, but it seems like all these examples come from other companies. Are there any that you have constructed? The examples were helpful, but I would have liked to see some examples of what you are doing, not your potential competitors.
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- in reply to Asseticity

Feedback: The concept is a great idea. There is real potential in this concept. As mentioned by a few people below there is great potential to bring this beyond and education setting. What a great experience for students to create these materials just using a printer. I think you really need to spend some time examining the competition to see what is out there. One reason is to see the competition and another reason would be to see which more advanced competitors would be interested in acquiring the technology.
Feedback: The concept is a great idea. There is real potential in this concept. As mentioned by a few people below there is great potential to bring this beyond and education setting. What a great experience for students to create these materials just using a printer. I think you really need to spend some time examining the competition to see what is out there. One reason is to see the competition and another reason would be to see which more advanced competitors would be interested in acquiring the technology.
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Feedback: Kim, I like the concept you've presented here. The ultra modern version of looking it up in the dictionary! It was great to see your actor at the beginning. It was a very effective hook for me. The one problem I see is that there is a limited use to what can be seen. Don't get me wrong I see value, but what if the person wants to write about something that is not in the room, or that they don't have a picture of?
Feedback: Kim, I like the concept you've presented here. The ultra modern version of looking it up in the dictionary! It was great to see your actor at the beginning. It was a very effective hook for me. The one problem I see is that there is a limited use to what can be seen. Don't get me wrong I see value, but what if the person wants to write about something that is not in the room, or that they don't have a picture of?
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- in reply to A3- VIVIDWORKS app

Feedback - Great work. I really like this idea a lot. Crowdsources the creation of learning materials for a field trip is could create some really powerful learning resources and great experiences for students. I'm a little hesitant as I'm not sure you'll have the backers that you anticipate without having to write grant applications, but I'm willing (and hoping) to accept that I may be completely wrong with that one. I think it may be more complicated than you anticipate. I really like the inclusion of app requirements for the challenges. It really stretches not only the teachers and organization but also the students. I'm curious how this would impact the employment of individuals who create programming for some of these locations.
Feedback - Great work. I really like this idea a lot. Crowdsources the creation of learning materials for a field trip is could create some really powerful learning resources and great experiences for students. I'm a little hesitant as I'm not sure you'll have the backers that you anticipate without having to write grant applications, but I'm willing (and hoping) to accept that I may be completely wrong with that one. I think it may be more complicated than you anticipate. I really like the inclusion of app requirements for the challenges. It really stretches not only the teachers and organization but also the students. I'm curious how this would impact the employment of individuals who create programming for some of these locations.
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- in reply to A3 – incentivED

Feedback - Overall, very well put together pitch. I'm especially impressed by the team you have assembled. Only because I have worked with programs attempting to offer a national program mapped to provincial curriculum do I know what kind of challenge you are facing with a core part of your strategy. It is more difficult and you will get more pushback and you would think That is a watch-out and has potential to take a lot of time before you generate revenue. One of your real strengths though is your moderate growth strategy. I liked the fact that you wanted to successfully penetrate the market in a couple of jurisdictions before targeting others. I question your method of rolling out geographically as I'm not sure your reasoning behind it. Wouldn't it make more sense to base expansion on student population size? Overall, great work. I'd throw some imaginary cash your way.
Feedback - Overall, very well put together pitch. I'm especially impressed by the team you have assembled. Only because I have worked with programs attempting to offer a national program mapped to provincial curriculum do I know what kind of challenge you are facing with a core part of your strategy. It is more difficult and you will get more pushback and you would think That is a watch-out and has potential to take a lot of time before you generate revenue. One of your real strengths though is your moderate growth strategy. I liked the fact that you wanted to successfully penetrate the market in a couple of jurisdictions before targeting others. I question your method of rolling out geographically as I'm not sure your reasoning behind it. Wouldn't it make more sense to base expansion on student population size? Overall, great work. I'd throw some imaginary cash your way.
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- in reply to MotivatEd – Taking Game-Based Learning to new levels

Feedback: Daniel, I like the pitch and the product. I see it as a valuable solution to the problem you've identified. I think you're asking the right test group too. The K-12 teachers in this program would likely be your champions. I'm not a K-12 teacher, but I see that there are definite advantages to this for teachers. I also see a lot of use for this type of software outside of just report cards. There could be a pivot to any industry where you need to track comments on specific individuals, products, or topics.
Feedback: Daniel, I like the pitch and the product. I see it as a valuable solution to the problem you've identified. I think you're asking the right test group too. The K-12 teachers in this program would likely be your champions. I'm not a K-12 teacher, but I see that there are definite advantages to this for teachers. I also see a lot of use for this type of software outside of just report cards. There could be a pivot to any industry where you need to track comments on specific individuals, products, or topics.
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- in reply to A3 – Stringwood Student Information System

Review – Essays are one of the more difficult skills to master. The idea behind sticky notes is sound and has a lot of positive aspects behind it. Strengths: This is a more economical version of existing software, such as Scrivener, that have a proven track record of success. Visually the pitch is well laid out and I really enjoyed how well developed and clearly the ideas were presented. Even on a personal level the way the product is described appeals to me as a potential user. This is something that could easily reach beyond the intended use as well. There could be several additions in future updates that could pivot this venture into a powerful collaboration tool. The Weaknesses: The market is larger than identified in the pitch. Which makes me a little nervous as middle schools and post-secondary schools should have been obvious targets for the CEO. I also question the scope of the marketing scheme. Relying on individuals and school administrators might work, but I don’t think it will get you half the schools in North America. There may be a better way by negotiating deals with school districts, or even state and provincial school boards. I think the market is also more crowded then identified in the pitch. The produce would have to be different enough from dominant players like Evernote to even make a dent in the market. I would only invest in this venture if I was somehow able to contribute to the leadership. I think that there is merit, but there would have to be a very aggressive marketing and sales campaign to compete with existing solutions
Review – Essays are one of the more difficult skills to master. The idea behind sticky notes is sound and has a lot of positive aspects behind it. Strengths: This is a more economical version of existing software, such as Scrivener, that have a proven track record of success. Visually the pitch is well laid out and I really enjoyed how well developed and clearly the ideas were presented. Even on a personal level the way the product is described appeals to me as a potential user. This is something that could easily reach beyond the intended use as well. There could be several additions in future updates that could pivot this venture into a powerful collaboration tool. The Weaknesses: The market is larger than identified in the pitch. Which makes me a little nervous as middle schools and post-secondary schools should have been obvious targets for the CEO. I also question the scope of the marketing scheme. Relying on individuals and school administrators might work, but I don’t think it will get you half the schools in North America. There may be a better way by negotiating deals with school districts, or even state and provincial school boards. I think the market is also more crowded then identified in the pitch. The produce would have to be different enough from dominant players like Evernote to even make a dent in the market. I would only invest in this venture if I was somehow able to contribute to the leadership. I think that there is merit, but there would have to be a very aggressive marketing and sales campaign to compete with existing solutions
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- in reply to StickyNotes
