Mark

Hello Briar, very interesting concept and well executed pitches. I have very little experience in this field and as a result would not invest as an EVA. I am not sure of competitors and others services that provide similar products to ONCON. I think your idea is very well thought out and you provide a lot of credibility through what you present on your website.

Aaron, you had me sold after the Elevator pitch. As an educator in Ontario I am always looking for new and exciting ways to assign and keep track of Assessments 'For' Learning (homework, quizzes, formative learning, etc.) and Frameworks would provide a great solution. The use of social media-like design and terminology makes the application appealing to students and is simple enough for any user to implement. My only concern centres on students who do not have access to a mobile device and their ability to complete the assignment. I have some questions about licensing and how students are enrolled, however I feel strongly that as an EVA I would invest in your venture.

Hello Stephen, I really like the concept of your venture and found both of your pitches well constructed and informative. I will have to agree with the comments below that the privacy issue is a major deterrent for me as an EVA. I have concerns about what companies could do with the data that is collected from a device like this - it is too easy to use this kind of information for commercial purposes. I do feel that the idea is very interesting and could have huge impacts on education and school structure. However the market for wearables is huge and you would be hard-pressed to out-develop giants like Apple and Google.

Hello Sarah, what an interesting idea. I believe that the earlier we can identify a learning disability in a learner the greater potential that student has to succeed. Much of that success comes from the students ability to self advocate and a teachers ability to accommodate the different learning of each student. Your technology seems to be a way to help students and teachers get off on the right foot. I am a little confused (and uncertain) of the 'fix' that the technology provides. Not having a background in neurology, I cannot say that I am confident in the findings of your application, and as you cannot provide testimonials at this point it becomes even more difficult to come to a conclusion - as an EVA this would prevent me from investing.

Hello Tomek, Thank you for sharing your venture idea and story with our class. Mental health is a very serious issue and it is unfortunate that it is not perceived so by other cultures. I have had some experiences with students who have had suicidal thoughts and the reality of the situation can be overwhelming for all involved. I think that your website could be of great value for youth in your school. I think that your focus should be on counselling and support, and provide alternate sites to help with academics (even thought the two are related in your school). An idea may also to provide support for teachers who may be dealing with students who have exhibited signs of mental health issues. From experience I can tell you that it is a very difficult position to be in to know that one of your students is in real need and feel like you do not have the resources available to help (or at least not make the problem worse). Best of luck to you.

FEEDBACK: Hello Michael. Sims-Career seems like a great idea - a virtual version of the 'Take Your Kids to Work Day' we have for grade 9 students in Ontario. I echo some of the other concerns raised that the cost of producing the required content may make the application unaffordable as a venture. That being said, I agree with you that VR is one of the most revolutionary technologies to affect the education market and will have huge impacts on learning. It would also be interesting to envision how the technology would be incorporated into a classroom environment. I can't imagine walking into a classroom where every student was wearing a wearable device acting out scenarios for different professions. Where do you see this technology and application fitting into the current curriculum used in school districts. I think your idea of introducing the technology to corporations has very valid applications - could be used as part of an interview process perhaps. Great work.

REVIEW: Hello Laurie, I was not familiar with beacon technology at all and found your Venture Pitch very interesting. The concept seems to work in a very similar way to augmented reality apps that use GPS, however as you noted in your pitch with greater ease of use and educational success. I really liked that groups could customize the content that is broadcast by the beacons and that it has an education focus. My question for you is what, as a company, are you selling? Are you offering a service that provides beacon technology to schools and assists in the setup and configuration of the technology? Is the venture at BCIT a trial for a larger model that you would implement in other locations? As an investor how would I receive a return on my investment - are you offering opportunities to advertise in the messages sent by the beacon? Great venture with a lot of potential - thanks for sharing.

REVIEW: Hello Heather. What an excellent initiative and great venture idea. Your appeal to organizations that are already focussed on literacy is a smart strategy as the return on investment may not be obvious to all investors. As an EVA I would consider investing in your venture. I would have some questions/comments about the company before investing: 1) Does that content of the activities meet an expectations set out by Ministries of Education? Would schools be able to integrate the software into the curriculum? 2) Is the program offered in different languages? 3) How is the content edited and the progress monitored? 4) Is there a plan to add new content to the existing database? Excellent work.

FEEDBACK: Hello Gary. You present a very interesting venture, which theoretically solves a lot of the concerns expressed by teachers as they attempt to integrate technology into the classroom. The Sentinel app seems like a very useful tool, however it has some direct competition from Apple with the Release of iOS 9.3.1, which introduced Classroom (https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/classroom/id1085319084?mt=8), an app designed for teachers to share and monitor student work on Apple devices. I currently run a 1:1 iPad program and will be introducing Classroom in September. Where we have run into difficulty is in our senior level grades where we use a BYOD model for technology. It would be great if Sentinel could function across platforms and monitor different types of devices at once. I like your idea and would be interested in learning more.

Hello Heather, Thanks for the feedback. I have gone back through the site and corrected the errors.