Incubaker

RosePad

I remember back in the day when we first started using computers in school.  I think my classroom had a Mac Plus and it was an instant hit with all my classmates.  At the time, the applications were simple/intuitive to the point where simple point, click and drag was all we needed to do.  We used it to draw and play games like Oregon Trail and Bolo (my all time fav).

A lot has changed.  Students use computers in their everyday lives at school, home and in some cases keep one in their pocket.  Whats going on in the world?…Oh I’ll go to Hulu and watch the latest Daily show; what is everyone up to? …lets head over to Facebook.  Literally at their fingertips, students can find what they need courtesy of the web.

But has the classroom changed all that much?  We have replaced handwritten papers with word documents and library research has been swapped with Google.  But my fear is that schools have been too slow to adapt to newer web technologies and are quickly realizing that students are learning and creating in much different ways that in the past.  Students are so connected outside of the classroom that they are fully immersed in online social networks, games and creating real content (blogs, tweets, status, videos, etc).

This disconnect or what we consider a gap…is what sparked the RosePad idea.  Along with my other partners (Matt and Guillermo) we decided to create an education platform for secondary schools.  We will take many of the features that social networks have such as messaging, collaboration and applications but focus that offering for schools.  The applications are really the key as we plan on creating dynamic apps that allow for students to work together in real time whether it be a paper or simply a debate practice.  See an example here http://www.rosepad.com/our-screencast/

3 weeks ago this journey started …keep posted on our progress with @rosepad ; also huge thanks to my incubaker family for supporting us.