glen

Buugs, thanks for the review of BB. Yeah, it definitely has some major limitations. I'm with you on the ability to convert documents into Web pages. I think that'd be a great addition.

Vaksel, I like what you are saying here. So, for example, let's say I've got a course in Algebra Level I. I can then create a test in which they pass at 80% and gain proficiency at 90%.80% = basic knowledge; 90% = proficiency; 98% = mastery. Their level could then show up on their profile. Is that accurate? If not through a test, then how would you assess the knowledge level?

Also, would you embed these tests/levels in courses or would you make them separate? I guess you could do both. One person could work through the course if they wanted a more comprehensive understanding and another person could simply test-out of it by passing the test.

Toisanji, nice work! I like the layout of the home site. Tells you what it is and how to use it. You are using a lot of different techniques to promote language learning. Have you found any that are more effective than others?

Check out the book Disrupting Education or this blog post for more info on this: http://nixty.com/blog/2008/07/04/disrupting-education-the-ac...

neilk, thanks for the response. I think your metaphor of educational software being analogous to corporate software is right on. Often times, teachers and students are not even consulted on what is purchased and implemented.

I also really like the idea of getting a belt in martial arts. Passing grades has become so expected and boring that there really isn't a differentiation there or a marker that the student has actually achieved something. If you were creating different paths for students to take, how would you organize the content/courses? Would you stay with the curriculum process that is taught in K-12 schools and just allow students to go at their own pace? or would you change it? If you'd change it, what would you use to determine the curriculum path?

Your point about integrating education with real things is perfect. Something we've been thinking about is creating a type of student corp or tutor corp that would match up smart students with struggling students. Peer 2 Peer learning is going to be huge b/c it is really the only thing that scales. (As David Wiley has said, we have limited "teacher bandwidth" so we need to get creative, particularly when you look at things in the context of the entire world. There is just simply not enough educators out there and we are not exactly efficient at turning them out.) So, the question becomes: How do you create an ethos in which students want to help other students? Do you think an open platform that allows this would be sufficient? or, do you think you'd need to be deliberate about creating this culture? If the latter, then how would you go about conscientiously creating this type of atmosphere? One thought is to incentivise it so that students and teachers are rewarded for reaching out. This could come in the form of Karma points, recommendations, a moving up (to stay with your metaphor: yellow belt--> green belt etc.). What else would you recommend?

Bokonist, thanks for the recommendation and the link. Interestingly, that is exactly how Kaplan works with their GRE, GMAT online study programs. You've described it exactly in your description. The technical term for that is self-efficacy. The idea is that it is challenging enough, but not too challenging. Another field that nails this, and is consequently very addictive, is video games. We love to feel like we can master something and learning is no different.

Would you consider working with us in approaching Exeter? I've found that having a connection always helps.

Regarding the approach you've described, I think that works particularly well for math problems/courses. Did Exeter do anything innovative with content related courses (biology, psychology, literature) that stood out to you?

I'd be interested in talking more with you. You can reach me at: glen at nixty.com.

Thanks!

We are actively working on removing the 'nots' at www.nixty.com. We believe that using open educational resources, faculty at other institutions, and an open accreditation process can go a long way towards providing a person a meaningful education.

I think your answers to these questions have a lot to do with your career goals. If you don't have an interest in being an academic, then I'd definitely jump ship and do something where progress is tied to revenue (i.e., business). If you do want to be an academic, then I'd work hard to make the best out of what seems to be a pretty frustrating situation. You can still redeem this experience through networking, running side projects, publishing etc. Those are all things that will help you if you choose to remain in the academy.

We did. Made it through round 1 and are still waiting to hear if we made it to round 2.

I think getting some good online coverage can lead to traditional press coverage. However, that said, there are a lot of good strategies to get direct PR from traditional outlets. The bulk of it seems to be creating narratives that people can easily pick up on. I'd check out Full-Frontal PR as a good guidebook.

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, part of the point with the pictures was to try to get a certain kind of feeling/mood across. Text is pretty bad at doing that. However, if it is too long and things need to be combined, then I think we can still get the general feel across with combined words and slides.

Thanks! I appreciate the specific feedback. I can see your point. We actually struggled with what to say on the copy. It does seem that the header is the main place for these types of things.

Just checked it out. Here are the take home points: * the registration link is titled “sign up” (40%) and placed in the right upper corner, * sign-up forms have a simplified layout to avoid distractions for users (61%), * sign-up forms are one-page-forms (93%), * sign up forms attract visitors by explaining the benefits of registration (41%), * titles of the input fields are highlighted bold (62%) * no trend in the label alignment can be identified, * designers tend to use few mandatory fields, * designers tend to use few optional fields, * vertically arranged fields are preferred to horizontally arranged fields (86%).

So, it seems, from this data, that 3-5 fields are OK, including full name and username.

Thanks I'll check it out. Appreciate it.

Thanks. Very good marketing point. I didn't necessarily think of that. We'd need to get the names at some point in the process anyway.

further clarification, like an * after students and there would be a footer that would describe exactly what I'm referring to.

Too many of us? Like that is a bad assumption...like there are not too many of us? Feels too global warming esque? or something like that?

Also, yes, I thought about that too. We are looking at global (k-12, higher education, and lifelong learners). I thought about putting at * after that, but felt like it might take away from the video.

Thanks for the feedback and for answering the questions. I appreciate it. Snap. I thought we had fixed the ending. It should just stop and then fade out.

We thought about speeding it up quite a bit. 2 people have commented that it too slow. With you, I'd put 3 in that camp.

We talked about doing some of this testing. Thanks. Not sure what we decided upon.

Thanks. One of our team members hypothesized this same thing, so it is good to hear that your experience confirmed this.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm bummed that you were bored, but that is good to know.

We can definitely talk about the product. It is actually pretty compelling, so I think that would be pretty easy to do. I thought about doing something like that for the elevator pitch thing on TechCrunch.

Thanks. Yes, we will need their full name. We did talk about using their email as a unique identifier, but we need to have something for their URL - like: www.nixty.com/philh

Thank you.

Excellent. Thank you. We will be addressing the specifics very soon.

We didn't get funding for Scholar360, but we had a pretty standard business model that allowed for incoming revenue to offset further development costs, legal fees etc. Another route is to keep your day job and just work at night or on the evenings. That worked for us too.

We are starting a new company, www.nixty.com, that is more Web 2.0 and less of a tried and true business model. We can do it because we have revenue from our first company. I probably would have sought Angel funding if we didn't have some extra money to invest.