lee

Flytguide – Digital Learning Navigators
By lee on July 27, 2019
I’d like to introduce my new venture – Flytguide. Flytguide is a consulting firm focused on digital learning within large organizations. The team is comprised of Digital Learning Navigators – helping organizations thrive when trying to bring together the flow of learning and the flow of work. A good place to start in learning about […]
A1 Analyst Report: HT2 Labs
By lee on June 16, 2019
Hey folks! I’ve created an analyst report for HT2 Labs. They are the creators of two products: Learning Locker a learning record store (LRS) and Curatr a learning experience platform (LXP). Mid-way through this assignment, HT2 Labs was acquired which highlights the potential of the company and their products. My report is delivered as a podcast: […]
Sandi Lin: Skilljar
By lee on June 1, 2019
Founder: Sandi Lin, Co-Founder and CEO Venture Name: Skilljar (https://www.skilljar.com) Skilljar, based in Seattle, is an LMS in the corporate world. However, the LMS is focused on customer training (rather than employee training). Skilljar started in 2013 and pivoted a few times in the following years – landing on their current model around 2015. They […]
Deloitte Insights: Tech Trends and Human Capital Trends
By lee on May 15, 2019
Deloitte Insights are free, open, and respected sources of information about trends that impact organizations. Two key annual publications are Tech Trends and Human Capital Trends. The Tech Trends publication is technology oriented and the Human Capital Trends focuses on the people side of innovation. These trends impact how technology is created and delivered which […]
Hi from Calgary!
By lee on May 11, 2019
Hi Everyone! My name is Lee and I live in Calgary. This is my 9thclass in the MET program and for the first time I am taking two classes in a semester. So, I’m pretty excited to say that this is going to be my last semester! For my other class, I’ll be taking the […]

Hi Ryan - thanks for the feedback. The secret on audio? I use my apple ear buds with the built in mic. Go figure. I have another microphone, but it doesn't work as well as the ear buds. For the technology side, I'd caution against looking for any single product or approach to be a "silver bullet" for learning. From an anecdotal side, I've the seen admin at my kids school get excited about the purchase of smart boards - but yet, couldn't speak to the expected impact, studies, or plan for success. It was new, bright and shiny. Similar occurrences happen in the corporate world as well - people look for the one product/solution/answer. In term of replicability - consulting is tough. It can be crowded, always changing and dependent on your people. There are some barriers to entry including: reputation, relationships, experiences (which turn into reusable assets), and agreements (MSAs).
Hi Ryan - thanks for the feedback. The secret on audio? I use my apple ear buds with the built in mic. Go figure. I have another microphone, but it doesn't work as well as the ear buds. For the technology side, I'd caution against looking for any single product or approach to be a "silver bullet" for learning. From an anecdotal side, I've the seen admin at my kids school get excited about the purchase of smart boards - but yet, couldn't speak to the expected impact, studies, or plan for success. It was new, bright and shiny. Similar occurrences happen in the corporate world as well - people look for the one product/solution/answer. In term of replicability - consulting is tough. It can be crowded, always changing and dependent on your people. There are some barriers to entry including: reputation, relationships, experiences (which turn into reusable assets), and agreements (MSAs).
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- in reply to Hello Lee, I enjoyed your media-rich pre…

Hey Melissa, thanks for reviewing and sharing your feedback. I'm excited about the path ahead as industry looks at better ways to learn. I can remember heading off to week long courses (and later on building such courses). Today, two-days of training gets push-back. And, even with shrinking the investment, it is tough to connect that training back to immediate impact (the j-curve at a minimum raises an issue). Learning in the flow of work, gaming, social, mobile, AI, etc. all speak to new activities that we'll want to recognize (and analyze).
Hey Melissa, thanks for reviewing and sharing your feedback. I'm excited about the path ahead as industry looks at better ways to learn. I can remember heading off to week long courses (and later on building such courses). Today, two-days of training gets push-back. And, even with shrinking the investment, it is tough to connect that training back to immediate impact (the j-curve at a minimum raises an issue). Learning in the flow of work, gaming, social, mobile, AI, etc. all speak to new activities that we'll want to recognize (and analyze).
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Hey Jennifer - great job with the pitch! I'm a big fan of gaming - so drawn to creative ways in which we can embrace gaming and learning. I appreciate your table of potential actions and topics and how they fit the game world. However, later on the image looking at area of the farm land doesn't quite map the game world. Perhaps it would be helpful to nudge that view a bit and relate it to the game play? For instance, before buying see you need to know the area of the farm. The little bit of video that I've seen of Prodigy shows a game where the learning is bolted on (and not connected to the story). The terms that I've heard are endogenous vs. exogenous games - I'd expect that teachers (and students) would prefer the endogenous model. And, as such, it could be a big differentiator for your product vs. others (such as Prodigy). I was a bit confused by the financials as it was unclear if the 20% stake is related to a new venture or an alternate version of the Stardew Valley team.
Hey Jennifer - great job with the pitch! I'm a big fan of gaming - so drawn to creative ways in which we can embrace gaming and learning. I appreciate your table of potential actions and topics and how they fit the game world. However, later on the image looking at area of the farm land doesn't quite map the game world. Perhaps it would be helpful to nudge that view a bit and relate it to the game play? For instance, before buying see you need to know the area of the farm. The little bit of video that I've seen of Prodigy shows a game where the learning is bolted on (and not connected to the story). The terms that I've heard are endogenous vs. exogenous games - I'd expect that teachers (and students) would prefer the endogenous model. And, as such, it could be a big differentiator for your product vs. others (such as Prodigy). I was a bit confused by the financials as it was unclear if the 20% stake is related to a new venture or an alternate version of the Stardew Valley team.
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- in reply to [A3] Stardew Valley: Education Edition

Hey Daniel - great job! I like the concept and the presentation. I do have some thoughts and questions for you. There were some spots where the reference seemed to be oriented toward the workplace and adults and other spots where there were references to students. It might be better to start with a focus area and then look to potential expansion areas. Have you given thought to hardware costs and rollout constraints? If an organization were to look to roll-out the program, what would the costs be for the associated hardware? Would that limit the appetite for the product? And, in your phase 1, I like the trade-off of free access for building the database. I'd suggest that you also use this phase for capturing metrics, case studies and endorsements. Organizations can be cautious when it comes to change, they'll likely want to know who else has used the product and the results of that use.
Hey Daniel - great job! I like the concept and the presentation. I do have some thoughts and questions for you. There were some spots where the reference seemed to be oriented toward the workplace and adults and other spots where there were references to students. It might be better to start with a focus area and then look to potential expansion areas. Have you given thought to hardware costs and rollout constraints? If an organization were to look to roll-out the program, what would the costs be for the associated hardware? Would that limit the appetite for the product? And, in your phase 1, I like the trade-off of free access for building the database. I'd suggest that you also use this phase for capturing metrics, case studies and endorsements. Organizations can be cautious when it comes to change, they'll likely want to know who else has used the product and the results of that use.
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- in reply to Beyond Disruption

Hey Melissa - great venture both in terms of the presentation and the idea. The story reminds me of the William Gibson quote: "The future is already here - it's just not very evenly distributed." I'd imagine that not showing up on street view maps would increase a sense of isolation - which is contrary to the idea that the internet and social networks bring us together. I look forward to seeing the official campaign on Indiegogo.
Hey Melissa - great venture both in terms of the presentation and the idea. The story reminds me of the William Gibson quote: "The future is already here - it's just not very evenly distributed." I'd imagine that not showing up on street view maps would increase a sense of isolation - which is contrary to the idea that the internet and social networks bring us together. I look forward to seeing the official campaign on Indiegogo.
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- in reply to Walk With Us Project: An Indiegogo Campaign

Hi Ying, Thanks for sharing your pitch! For the A/R question recognition, have you thought about how the question will be recognized? I recently came across this presentation: https://youtu.be/NcbQ2UK69Tc - and as I watched your pitch, figured that you'd appreciate the coverage. In the video (covering experiences at a university in Australia), they ended up putting QR codes beside each of the questions, to make it easy for recognizing each question individually. I was also curious about your thoughts on where/how you would source content for your product? Will the content be created by your company? Submitted by teachers? Or perhaps acquired from OERs or other open content sources (such as OpenStax - https://openstax.org)?
Hi Ying, Thanks for sharing your pitch! For the A/R question recognition, have you thought about how the question will be recognized? I recently came across this presentation: https://youtu.be/NcbQ2UK69Tc - and as I watched your pitch, figured that you'd appreciate the coverage. In the video (covering experiences at a university in Australia), they ended up putting QR codes beside each of the questions, to make it easy for recognizing each question individually. I was also curious about your thoughts on where/how you would source content for your product? Will the content be created by your company? Submitted by teachers? Or perhaps acquired from OERs or other open content sources (such as OpenStax - https://openstax.org)?
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- in reply to Learn to Checks

Hey Brogan - I'm a big fan of games (and gaming). If you've not already done so - I'd recommend registering for the digital gaming class that's been added to the MET program. I participated in the summer institute version and loved the experience. I haven't used Godot before, but the output looks good. If you get a chance, you should also check out RPG maker (looks to generate similar types of games - and has lots of supporting content). From a venture point of view, I like the connection to the death of Flash (yay!). I wonder if someone will (or already has) created a tool to automatically convert flash to HTML5 or another runtime? Automated translation might speed up the migration from Flash and make the transition much less bumpy. One more thought, you mention constructionist approaches in your pitch. You might consider having the students construct a game on financial literacy. To build the game, they would have to learn about the topic (to quite some depth). Can they make financial literacy come to life? I suspect, that like you, there would be many students that would invest time in building a game - learning and having fun along the way.
Hey Brogan - I'm a big fan of games (and gaming). If you've not already done so - I'd recommend registering for the digital gaming class that's been added to the MET program. I participated in the summer institute version and loved the experience. I haven't used Godot before, but the output looks good. If you get a chance, you should also check out RPG maker (looks to generate similar types of games - and has lots of supporting content). From a venture point of view, I like the connection to the death of Flash (yay!). I wonder if someone will (or already has) created a tool to automatically convert flash to HTML5 or another runtime? Automated translation might speed up the migration from Flash and make the transition much less bumpy. One more thought, you mention constructionist approaches in your pitch. You might consider having the students construct a game on financial literacy. To build the game, they would have to learn about the topic (to quite some depth). Can they make financial literacy come to life? I suspect, that like you, there would be many students that would invest time in building a game - learning and having fun along the way.
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- in reply to INVESTios: Moving on Up (A3)

Hey Neuroscience team - thanks for the OER. I especially like the jeopardy game to drive interaction and thinking. Neuroscience is such a big, complex and wonderful topic. I appreciate the thoughtfulness that you put in the content (and references). Note that on the Neuroscience and technology page, the Zondle Team Play button didn't work for me (Safari). In wrapping up, I guess I wonder what your thoughts are on the future of neuroscience? Is this an area that has strong potential for creating a venture? I would suspect that based on the gaps in what we know, it would take significant funding and that this would be an especially risky proposition.
Hey Neuroscience team - thanks for the OER. I especially like the jeopardy game to drive interaction and thinking. Neuroscience is such a big, complex and wonderful topic. I appreciate the thoughtfulness that you put in the content (and references). Note that on the Neuroscience and technology page, the Zondle Team Play button didn't work for me (Safari). In wrapping up, I guess I wonder what your thoughts are on the future of neuroscience? Is this an area that has strong potential for creating a venture? I would suspect that based on the gaps in what we know, it would take significant funding and that this would be an especially risky proposition.
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- in reply to Week 12: Neuroscience and Learning

Hey Steve (and fellow "Anthony) - thanks for the feedback, participation and sharing. On a related note to the corporate learning, there was another firm that I look at named Area9. I would've included them in the OER, but they were quite abstract in terms of their product and how it works. However, they do have some published studies discussing the use of the product for helping Dr.s maintain/gain certifications. So oddly, they had a good study - but lacked the other details about the "how." The other thought is that there's quite a bit of discussion about LXPs (learning experience platforms) - perhaps they will include some adaptive learning to help with providing employees with guidance?
Hey Steve (and fellow "Anthony) - thanks for the feedback, participation and sharing. On a related note to the corporate learning, there was another firm that I look at named Area9. I would've included them in the OER, but they were quite abstract in terms of their product and how it works. However, they do have some published studies discussing the use of the product for helping Dr.s maintain/gain certifications. So oddly, they had a good study - but lacked the other details about the "how." The other thought is that there's quite a bit of discussion about LXPs (learning experience platforms) - perhaps they will include some adaptive learning to help with providing employees with guidance?
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- in reply to Hi Adaptive Learning Team. Thank you for…

Hey Jason - thanks for participating and sharing your feedback! The suggestion for linking to the companies highlights that we weren't consistent with the links (some do have the links). In regards to resources for high school / adult learners - are you looking for more background on adaptive learning? If so, one of my favourite resources was: Pearson, & EdSurge. (2016). Decoding Adaptive - Pearson. Retrieved June 29, 2019, from https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/corporate/global/pearson-dot-com/files/innovation/Pearson-Decoding-Adaptive-v5-Web.pdf I suspect that it would be accessible to a wide audience.
Hey Jason - thanks for participating and sharing your feedback! The suggestion for linking to the companies highlights that we weren't consistent with the links (some do have the links). In regards to resources for high school / adult learners - are you looking for more background on adaptive learning? If so, one of my favourite resources was: Pearson, & EdSurge. (2016). Decoding Adaptive - Pearson. Retrieved June 29, 2019, from https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/corporate/global/pearson-dot-com/files/innovation/Pearson-Decoding-Adaptive-v5-Web.pdf I suspect that it would be accessible to a wide audience.
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- in reply to This was a great OER with a lot of great…
