MentorMob turns textbooks to playlists
Kris Chinosorn is addicted to online learning. But the frustration of having too many windows open while trying to source good information took its toll. His answer was to create MentorMob, a site that allows users to curate online content into step-by-step lessons on any topic.
MentorMob calls these lessons learning playlists. The playlist topics range from the New Hampshire GOP primary to how to bake sourdough bread at home.
“We’re providing the platform for sharing information, but it’s really about anything you want to learn,” says Chinosorn.
He wants MentorMob to be a good source of educational content through the playlists.
“The learner playlist sets it all up for you into a specific order into a long, deep learning process as opposed to a search to find one specific piece of information. We want to focus on that good, deep information,” says Chinosorn, co-founder and CEO of MentorMob.
The website ensures quality control through its content management teams. But playlists can also be open to the public for editing.
“We have content management teams that check out the information and work with content creators to create the best content possible,” says Chinosorn. “People get really excited not only seeing their content learned, but seeing people flock around their playlists because they are passionate about the same thing. Once these people come in and are helping each other, they get excited about seeing that mobilization around one specific playlist or subject.”
from MediaFile:
Inkling launches digital textbooks 2.0 for iPads
Apple dominates the tablet market -- its iOS tablet software accounted for more than 60 percent of the tablet market in the second quarter, while Google's Android made up about 30 percent, according to Strategy Analytics. So it's no surprise that more than 40 educational institutions in the United States either require or recommend in-coming freshman or first-years come equipped with an iPad.
For example, that list includes the medical schools at Brown, UC Irvine, Cornell and UCF; undergrads at Boston University, Abilene Christian University and Georgia Perimeter College; business students at Hult Business School, Lamar Business School and Seton Hill. Even prep schools are in on the act including South Kent, Princeton Day School and Madison Academy.
Certainly it's appealing to slip an iPad into a backpack rather than massive tomes that students need to lug around campus.
One e-book company based in San Francisco is betting that more educational institutions adopt this line of thinking. Launched a year ago and backed by venture capital such as Sequoia Partners and text book publishers like McGraw-Hill and Pearson, the e-text book company Inkling recently released its 2.0 version of textbooks for iPad. Some key features let co-eds make notes, ask questions and add comments anywhere in the book to be shared among classmates or the wider community using the same material across other campuses.
The e-books can save a student as much as 40 percent off the dead tree version and Inkling allows students to purchase the book by the chapter for a few bucks each should they choose to do so.
"I think this fall is a turning point," said Matt MacInnis, Inkling founder and CEO, about iPad adoption. "Enough people are going to know someone else using an iPad (for content) that it will reach a tipping point."
Entrepreneur says youth must create their own jobs
When Brown University student Walker Williams had difficulty finding part-time job listings, his response was to launch his own job-search website, Jobzle.com. But a crucial factor in transforming the website from a hobby to a business was the funding it got through startup accelerator Betaspring.
“It gave us the money, the offices, resource space and mentorship to focus on the product 100 percent,” the 22-year-old Williams said.
The Young Entrepreneur Council is one organization that aims to support entrepreneurs through ways such as education. Given the high youth unemployment rate – more than half of Americans aged 16 to 24 were unemployed according to a July 2010 report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – founder Scott Gerber is a firm believer that youth must create their own jobs.
“I think entrepreneurship used to be a renegade’s choice, but today it’s a viable career path,” said Gerber, author of “Never Get A ‘Real’ Job“, whose mantra is “you need to create a job to keep a job.”
The organization recently released results of its Youth Entrepreneurship Survey, conducted by YEC and the Buzz Marketing Group, which gauged the needs of underemployed and unemployed youth.
The findings of 1,632 respondents aged 16-39 included:
Koofers develops virtual study hall
Koofers, which refers to itself as a “social learning company,” has developed a platform that creates a virtual study hall for college students.
The Reston, Virginia-based startup, bankrolled by $7 million in venture funding including support from AOL co-founder Steve Case, is tapping into cutting-edge trends in higher education centered on online resource sharing. Koofers facilitates student interaction in virtual space by providing free digital resources such as online access to coursework.
“We provide an online platform for college students to collaborate with each other around academics – connect with each other, share past exams, study guides, notes,” said Koofers CEO Gio Hunt. “We’re really tied into the way students are thinking about content.”
Koofers is harnessing the power of the Facebook generation – the millennials’ imperative to make everything be transparent, whether it’s what they ate for lunch or how the Econ 101 professor rates relative to his peers.
“We’re just riding this great wave of grassroots student interaction,” said Hunt, whose firm has a registered user base from more than 3,000 colleges across the United States.
“Most of the content on Koofers is open content,” he said. “We’re aggregating user-generated content and free content that’s on the Web, organizing it for students.”
In addition Koofers allows kids to browse available classes at their schools and buy and sell textbooks.
A chaotic kind of love: starting a successful non-profit
This is part of an ongoing series of interviews I am doing with women entrepreneurs, and part of the kickoff to a series on social entrepreneurship.
Recently, I spoke with Linda Mornell, (pictured at left with a Summer Search student) the founder and former CEO of Summer Search, an educational and character building program that gives low-income students the opportunities and support to transform their lives. Linda, A former psychiatric nurse, spoke about the challenges of starting a non-profit organization, which now has seven offices. She also addresses the potential hazards of being too invested in your company.
What is Summer Search? Summer Search essentially became a leadership and character development program. We look for kids who shows signs of altruism. The alumni are incredibly self-aware and empowered individuals who are very committed to their own personal growth and helping others.
I got the idea in 1989 and the first group of students in San Francisco went out in the summer of 1990. I was 45 years old and my youngest had just started college. It began during a transitional part of my life.
What was your strategy for making your idea work? As I reflect back nothing seemed to be on purpose. It was just so random and chaotic. I was a nurse. I followed orders. I never thought in a million years that I would be an entrepreneur. I had no idea what to do with these kids. There was one program, Global Routes, that wanted one student to go to Bali. So I put him on a plane over there, to the horror of his school teacher. It was his first time ever on a plane. I hoped for the best.
John Osterweis, who was the first president of the board, was able to tolerate the craziness and change, which allowed me to go in 10 directions at once. He rolled with it. My goal was to have 50 high school students a year. The first year I interviewed around 20 kids and the second year I had about 50. By year three, there were 87 kids in the program. Now there are 800.
What contributed to the initial chaos? I couldn’t get the schools to nominate kids for the program. They didn’t understand it and they didn’t trust me initially. What I didn’t realize is how many people try and access public schools for their own gain. Everybody has a different program. By year three, I had four individual teachers that were committed to the program and referred individuals every year and that list continued to grow. Also, there was a language barrier — some kids didn’t speak English.
A chaotic kind of love: starting a successful non-profit is not only a timely piece for me but also inspiring as I am in the midst of starting The Character Building Project (CBP). Linda in her efforts with Summer Search displayed many virtues, not the least of which is perseverance. How might CBP learn further from linda and Summer Search?
Thank you,
MJK
