Startup Weekend

RECENT POSTS

The Rise (and Fall?) of Text Messaging in Schools

October 18, 2011 | 11:33 AM | By

Getty

Over the last few months, there has been increased interest in using text-messaging at school. Although many schools do still have strict policies that forbid using cell phones in class, more are exploring ways to use text-messaging as a communication tool to bridge home and school.

There’s also been an explosion in new tech start-ups that offer services for just this purpose. They’re taking advantage of students’ and families’ access to cell phones, but more importantly perhaps, they’re tapping into the popularity of text-messaging among teens. They’re also working to make sure that the SMS communication is safe, that both student and teacher privacy is protected, and that records are kept so that any inappropriate behavior can be identified. Some of these startups include Remind 101, Cel.ly, and Snapp School. (You can read more about Cel.ly here.)

Just as text messaging may be on the cusp of widespread adoption in schools, there are rumblings in other sectors that it’s dead.

Interesting, at some of the most recent Startup Weekend EDUs — an event that brings together educators, engineers, and entrepreneurs to launch education startups over the course of a weekend — winning teams have built text-messaging apps: ClassParrot was the winner of the recent Mega Startup Weekend in Mountain View, and Text2Teach won first prize at Seattle’s Startup Weekend.

It’s an indication that text-messaging is becoming recognized as a powerful tool that schools should find a way to use. It’s one that can keep students engaged in class (though that idea Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Culture, Digital Tools, celly, Startup Weekend, texting in class

You Have 54 Hours: Quick, Build an Ed-Tech Startup!

June 6, 2011 | 12:37 PM | By

@nickseguin

Startup Weekend may sound like a crazy idea. You have 54 hours — from Friday night until Sunday afternoon — to pitch an idea, then assemble a team, then build and demo your product. But the intensity and creativity of the teams that come together to participate in this Kauffman Foundation-sponsored event are always impressive. Great ideas, incredible teams, impressive execution, and yes, despite the short duration, legitimate startup ideas are hatched during Startup Weekend.

It was that much more exciting to hear that the most recent San Francisco Startup Weekend would be turning its focus to education technology (it was one of the very first times in the Startup Weekend’s history to have a theme and a focus). And this weekend, almost a hundred people gathered in the offices of the adaptive learning startup Grockit to hack education and to build products aimed at solving some of the real problems of the education market.

Take an idea that comes together over the course of a weekend with a group of complete strangers and turn that into a viable and influential startup.

Startup Weekend typically brings together developers, designers and business people. This weekend also attracted teachers and students –  participants crucial to the task of assessing the needs and pain points in the education sector.

One of the important lessons that you learn at Startup Weekend — educational-focused or not — is that you need to really focus your idea on a “minimum viable product.” Clearly, in the case of a 54-hour event, you cannot tackle everything. That’s the case outside of a Startup Weekend too, but the constraints of the time frame of the event make it clear. And so rather concocting than grandiose plans for fixing all the problems around student achievement or teacher training, for example, participants in Startup Weekend learn to reduce the scope to the most achievable but also really the most important ideas. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Digital Tools, apps, Kauffman Foundation, Startup Weekend