laura hall

Thank you again for your feedback! I think that you point out a great point @osayma with the issue of quality control. This is something that I looked at extensively. The LMS would support submissions to create information and resources for teachers and students a like. Any of the shared banks would be monitored and screened for quality assurance. This is outlined in the section that shows that you must email to receive either contracted or temporary positions as a contributor for the LMS. As the program grows, I would hope that the submission and the contracted positions would evolve to assist in a seamless process. In addition, with the acquisition of Jardin de Vicky, submissions and quality assurance would mirror their current practices that are already establish (the same as what I mention above). In its infancy, the system would follow this and then grow as the company does. Thanks again!

Thanks @tslearn, @Laurie and @merilrasmussen! You've definitely given me lots to think about with regards to this venture. I designed it as what I wished was already out there, but never have I thought of putting something like this together and trying to formulate a plan to achieve it. I agree @tslearn that this is quite a large goal to have it in schools across the country by 2017, but I do believe with the number of grants available through the Canadian Federal government along with Kickstarter (if it were a success) and district membership that this would be attainable both financially and physically putting it in place. My desire to put together something like this really ties back to the "Canadian-based server" dilemma we are faced with in Canadian schools. I understand its purpose, however it seems Canada is not catching up as quickly as we would hope. I also work for a project management company who is faced with the same problems (showing that it is beyond education and it is a Canadian server based problem). You bring up some great points @Laurie with several that have been on my mind. I am so lucky to work in a district where it is only a 10 minute drive to the next French Immersion school, but at my own school I am one of two French Immersion teachers. @merilrasmussen - thanks for the in-depth feedback. I am currently going to go read that article that you mention. You gave me a lot of confidence in your review making me think more plausibly at the prospect of moving this venture to the next step. Thanks again for all of your feedback.

FEEDBACK: Very unique idea with a valid pain point. As an educator, I do have to say, you mention many of the daily struggles helping to personalize student learning. Looking at many of our peer’s ventures, it seems we could combine them to make one amazing educational product (in most cases). I think that it is evident that the field of education is behind the growing trends and technology out there so ventures are (not necessarily easy but) vast in meeting educational needs. Your venture seems to me to be one step in the puzzle of providing individualized learning. I wonder who will be processing this information? What level of information stored on a device that presumably does not have a password (just a user) is appropriate? Will there be push back? I think that it is an excellent first step but I am still left with some questions to do with the actual application into schools and funding to support the project. Thanks Dan!

FEEDBACK: Great venture Julie! I know that teachers around Vancouver (and I can only imagine that this would echo out throughout BC) are feeling challenged by the new curriculum and resources that help to support it. Often curriculums are designed before resources are created and as such, teachers are often found spending numerous hours creating their own resources from scratch. Although this is a reflective and interesting process, a way to make learning and resources more accessible to teachers and students is essential in the twenty-first century market place. I felt that the venture pitch could have moved more quickly – that being said, there was something going on with the video that will not load properly so that could have played a part in my feedback. Great start – wish I could have watched more but as I mentioned the video would not stream properly (tried on a few different devices). Thanks!

FEEDBACK: I really like your elevator pitch Rose! I think that it adds a certain quality to have students using IT’s Electric in a hands on manner in the classroom. In addition, I really liked the voice used to record the pitch. Questions that I am left with after reviewing your pitch in detail are who else is out there? Have you found any statistics on elementary or high schools that own 3D printers so that this could be put into practice? Do you plan to receive all funding from donations/people purchasing or are you looking at launching it on Kickstarter or applying for government funding? As a product designed for hands on educational purposes, I was curious to know if it was a for profit or not for profit venture. Making learning more hands on allows students to engage and become excited with the content so much more than if it is simply delivered lecture style. I think that this would be an incredible tool in the classroom making learning more multimodal.

FEEDBACK: I love this idea for an application! Want to join our ventures? As a grade 7 French Immersion teacher I often feel conflicted on whether or not to label certain things around the room to facilitate/have less students asking “comment dit-on ____?”. What I particularly like about this is it not only shows what the word is but how to spell it and definitions/linking words. I think that an application like this has an excellent chance of succeeding in the classroom. At least in upper intermediate classrooms students have access to their own personal mobile devices where an application such as this could be downloaded. I think that it would help as it could be used to specifically help support those students who need it, allowing students who do understand to not have those labels everywhere challenging themselves to know what the words are and what they mean.

CRITIQUE: Nice idea for a venture Susan! I too focused my venture looking at Canadian focused software. Your venture has a firm foundation of what is needed in the world of Canadian nursing. Looking at the way things are conducted at hospitals and in clinics, we are slowly moving forward to a more digitized system, however we are still lagging and could clearly use a revamp or a system such as your venture to bridge some of the current gaps and create a more seamless system for health care professionals. In terms of your venture itself, it seems that I have some of the same concerns as some that have reviewed your work already. First of all, I think that the acronym CPR is problematic as it is already an acronym currently used in the world of health care. Although it is cleaver and catchy (and in some instances could be extended as a metaphor for a nurses life line when looking at their documentation and professional development) I believe that it would be more troublesome than necessary. In addition, I did have a bit of difficulty, as the formatting did not download properly when I opened your venture pitch. I believe that these two points take away from your exceptional venture to revolutionize nursing in Canada. Some questions that I was left with were tied to looking at other countries as examples. Are there any other areas using similar software? What was the ask for the start up? Could there be direct funding from the government to support such a venture? What is the privacy concerns when looking at having patient information on a mobile device/cloud or is this already being done? I sympathize with your discovery on Powtoon when trying to download. I had my students complete a video at the beginning of the year using Powtoon and we were disappointed that it was not until the absolute last step that it is apparent that you may not download without purchasing.

FEEDBACK: Very impressive Craig! And congratulations on your most recent award. incentiveEd is a perfect link between teacher needs/desires, curricular needs, and first hand authentic experiences. Although I see much value to this project, I wonder if there will be push back from teachers. The reason being that many teachers do not feel that they should have to ‘fundraise’ to perform basic needs in their jobs. That being said – are fieldtrips a part of that basic need or is it enhancement? Providing software that bridges the gap to further support teachers to develop and build upon meaning making and construction of knowledge all well taking advantage of attractions in local areas is of much value.

FEEDBACK: What a great venture Daniel! I like the idea of simplifying the structure for marks and reports. Typically, I enter my marks THREE times (one in my personal tracking, one in report central (our report software) and again in MyEducation). I often find myself working as an office assistant to myself rather than focusing on developing lessons and creating connections/providing support to my students. My current reservations are that Google servers are not located in Canada. I know this sounds a bit funny as we are trying to move towards a more global focus. I know from personal experience in my district that administrators are very strict about the use of software/programs with servers that are not in Canada. I think that this will need to be something revisited over the upcoming years but right now it seems to be a large hurdle that many educators in Canada (or at least my district) are faced with. Thanks for sharing!

FEEDBACK: I think that you have some great and innovative ideas in the realm of augmented reality (AR). I have to say that I am not well versed in AR and as such I was often quite confused with the examination/critique of the assignment which is why I opted for the feedback option. I enjoyed how you demonstrated in your venture pitch images and ways in which AR could be seamlessly embedded in learning capacities. This seems to be a venture that could easily expand to different markets which provides much potential.