Applications for the first Startl Design Boost are now open for budding entrepreneurs and designers interested in developing cutting edge mobile applications for learning. Developed in conjunction with IDEO, the first Startl Boost, a five day building, hacking, business and human centered design immersion will be held at the Pratt Institute in New York City, March 15-19, 2010. There is no tuition cost for the workshop. Details of the workshop:
Day 1: Define the Idea: Participants present ideas and set criteria for their proposed mobile learning application.
Day 2: Validate the Idea: Participants conduct research with end users and get feedback with learning and marketing experts about their mobile learning app.
Day 3: Design the idea: Participants storyboard their refined idea for mobile learning app and begin creating/ modifying their prototype.
Day 4: Share the idea: Participants create presentation deck to “pitch” their mobile learning app and finalize their prototype.
Day 5: Pitch the idea: Participants will present “pitches” and prototypes to an audience that includes a panel of users, industry experts, and market investors.
The top three teams will be invited to present to a larger audience at the Venture Capital in Education Summit in June in NYC. While the Startl Design Boost is open to mobile learning applications for all ages, teams creating apps for children ages 3-11 can also apply for the inaugural Cooney Center Prizes for Innovation in Children’s Learning, a national competition intended to generate digital educational innovations with prizes up to $50,000, as well as ongoing business planning support from The Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Sesame Workshop. Startl is a new social enterprise dedicated to bringing digital media and learning innovations to market – from kindergarten to college, inside and outside the classroom. Startl was incorporated in 2009 with initial funding from the MacArthur, Hewlett, and Gates foundations. Startl’s mission is to identify talented people with great ideas and new products that will affect the future of learning. Through relationships with best of breed design, incubation, and investment partners Startl provides an ecology that allows entrepreneurs to mature and products to evolve. Related articles:
- Sesame Street comes to Google: Improving our education system at the Breakthrough Learning forum (googleblog.blogspot.com)
- So what does an EIR (at First Round in New York City) do? (thisisgoingtobebig.com)