Scott Lillis

Great idea Johnny! I too was hooked right away, as I am not a math person at all and struggled mightily with it in high school. The idea of immersing oneself in a culture - be it language or mathematics, I believe is the best way to learn. I would have to agree with Sarah and Marc though - we want to see you! I also found the text a bit overwhelming in your video as well, and while I know that you want to show your research but it was distracting trying to look at it and listen to you at the same time. I really liked the example you used of having a student going to a virtual candy shop and purchasing candy using math but did wonder how higher level courses like grades 11 and 12 would be experienced in VR. As you suggest, competitors use geometry but I would love to see how SIN and COS could be done... since I still have no clue what they are or what they do! Again, I really appreciated your venture pitch and would certainly consider investing as I think the immersive aspect of it would be really beneficial for all learners.

Sarah, nice venture idea! Like the comments you have received already I am impressed with the idea of creating a community based model so that learners feel supported is a critical component and what might set this venture apart from so many others. The problem may be though that there are already so many websites like the ones you mention that already offer online learning and besides the community approach I feel that I didn't learn very much about how the courses would be offered and what types of courses or if they would be moderated in any way. Basia lists a number of other questions that I had as well so I won't bother asking as well, but I was also a bit puzzled about the financial request, as that will not be very much money to purchase additional computers and hire more staff since the majority of your current subscribers subscription fees would already be going to the current staff. Again, I like the idea of it, but I'm not convinced that it would be something that I would invest in without more information about the courses. Oh, I must say that I loved how your family was involved in your video, with the soundbites from your toddler and posting it on your husband's YouTube account! :)

Very cool idea Ryan! As a educator with a Dramatic Arts background (but hasn't taught it in a few years) I would be very interesting in supporting such a venture as I believe that being able to see a production from the actor's point of view to be a real benefit for students. Being able to place themselves in the audience or in the control room would really help further their understanding and appreciation for the production as well, especially if theatre isn't very accessible for them. The Arts and Theatre are critical for teaching soft skills and this technology could really help students to develop them as they immerse themselves in the production and become a part of it. Your OER contains lots of helpful videos and information about the Arts and Live Production and the technology exists now to make this a reality. This would be great for the "students who might never get the chance" to see professional shows - both theatre or concert and, as Ying points out, having English productions accessible to international students would also be a huge plus.

Like Sarah I really enjoyed the fact that you focused on developing soft skills in the workplace instead of some of the other aspects of AR/MR/VR. This was also something that I hadn't thought of before and would be really useless in workplaces around the globe. I accessed your OER on my laptop and encountered no issues whatsoever and found the experience to be media rich with graphics and videos to help further my knowledge and understanding, with the discussions embedded, making it really easy to complete the requested tasks. Great job everyone!

Hi Mobile Learning team! I enjoyed going through your website and interacting with your activities on Twitter. While I am quite familiar with social media as I use it for both professional and personal purposes, I too was a bit confused that the focus was entirely on social media within mobile learning. Using the site on a mobile device was a great idea, since that is how most students (and probably educators as well) experience social media but I too experienced some design issues that you may want to consider changing, but they have been addressed by others. While it is important for educators to model appropriate behavior and to instill reflection and thought before posting online I would have to agree with Brogan that we shouldn't be expected to help them set up accounts to practice and that many may be using them in violation of the platform's Terms of Service. I use Twitter as an educator and also Tweet on behalf of my school, and use Instagram and Facebook to maintain personal relationships with friends, family and former students around the world. Thanks for all the great insights everyone!

Another educator here who uses Seesaw! While I am not a classroom teacher I am our Seesaw administrator and, as such can see all of our schools class accounts and all of the data that is supplied - post counts, engagement counts, parent visits, etc. It truly does what it says it does and in a really simple way. We have students in grade one that use iPads to take photos of their work and upload it to their accounts on their own. While they do not do the activities and things they are learning from a very young age the importance of documenting their progress and see the value in sharing it with their friends and families - who can comment on it and encourage them in their learning! This is certainly in line with their mission to "create an environment where students are inspired to be their best" - I wouldn't hesitate to invest in Seesaw - we love it at our school!

Like Jamie, Sarah, and Marc, I too find this a really innovative and worthwhile product. Living where I currently do, in a city that experiences extreme seasonal air pollution I am already extremely vigilant about checking monitoring stations and have a node in my apartment as well. The idea of being able to pool data on mass from contributing individuals has the potential to track trends and anticipate problems. As Jamie suggests, I would be more willing to invest in a technology that makes me feel like I am contributing to the greater good and making a difference. While this seems like something that could be added to existing mobile technology, the idea of putting this powerful yet simple tech device in the hands of 'citizen scientists' helps increase the appeal of an already very marketable item. The request for funding is quite clear and understandable - sign me up!

I would have to agree with Ryan, and I was excited to learn more about yet another LMS as my school looks to figure out what LMS we should be using! The main thing that could have drawn me in was the user experience, because that is precisely the problem with the one we are currently using - ManageBac. They have continued to create add-ons to make the LMS an all-encompassing platform but very little of it makes sense at this point and trying to figure out where things are and how to access them is a bit of a nightmare. So I was able to look at this pitch from the user standpoint as well as that of the investor and while Sheran was a good speaker he did little to show me the product or convince me that I wanted to spend more time learning about it. I can go on, but Ryan already covered everything!

Wow, that's a lot of glass! While I really appreciated the breadth of possibilities demonstrated in both videos, the elevator pitch was lacking from this idealized word where we interact with all of the surfaces we encounter throughout a 'normal' day. The videos, created in 2010 and 2012, were extremely well done and I would willingly be handing over fistfuls of cash if I were an investor and could see these things in development. There in lies the problem, we are now nine years into the future (from the first video) and there is no talk of when these items would be available and we have all seen other versions of them in various stages of development with nothing really evolving from them as far as the end consumer is concerned. Again, the idea of being able to get in on something like this from its early stages would be very enticing for an investor, but they would really need to be willing to stay in it for the long haul in order to see their investment hopefully pay off.

I am a big fan of Seesaw! We began using it at my school from Grades 1 to 5 last year and it has had a fairly substantial impact within our school community as it helps bring parents into the classroom to see the learning that is happening. They have served us really well for student-led conferences as the students have already selected items to share and they can have a more in-depth conversation with their families about the work that they have uploaded and reflected on. Seesaw and other online portfolio options seem to be all the rage in K-12 education for many of the reasons that you state in your review, but most importantly timely, effective and meaningful feedback. The ability to use it as a communication tool is really great as well, making class announcements and notifications really easy to produce and quickly distribute to students and parents. Seesaw can be a free portfolio service for teachers, or alternatively schools can purchase a paid subscription which allows you to add more teachers per class and a full range of school-wide analytics and management. As you caution, excessive social media activity may be related to decreased mental and emotional well-being, it is important to consider the impact of initiating a social media presence at a young age. Here at our school teachers upload videos, images, and student work from Grade 1 to Grade 3 and in Grades 4 and 5 contributions are made by teachers and students.