A while ago we were searching web tools and mashup capabilities. By simply linking a delicious.com account with 6pli.com under the worldlearningtree id with bookmarks to educational websites we created the following prototype here with no coding required.

Recently, we found a great tool by the name of GameBucket by the Institute of Play.  The advantage is they built this tool on their own and populated it with much larger content.

Compare them on your own and let us know what you think about them.

Recently we submitted our suggestions on how to revolutionalize online education to Google’s “Project10ToThe100” contest.  For a Strategy class we framed the idea into a one page description which we include here.

“Schoogle”

Summary: 

“Schoogle” is a free entertaining online education website which can track a user’s progress and the community can add educational content.

Strategy:

Use the resources and technical competencies of Google to expand from an information provider to an education provider. “Schoogle the world”

Idea:

Google can use the concept of providing an online education system (“Schoogle”) to bring together many of its products and technologies in support of a common goal. This will solidify the Google brand and expand their market.

1.  Efficiency - A less expensive way to build an online education system is to spend resources on providing a powerful framework and toolset which allows for users to create and add educational content to it.  This would be similar in concept to a “Wikipedia” of which Google has created “Knol” but advancing the system to support the interactive training modules.  User ratings could be added to help select which content is best to use.
2. Retention - For added “Stickiness”, tracking the status of a user’s educational history (with testing methods built in) would provide incentive to continue to use “Schoogle”. Users could be rewarded as they progress and see their overall history.  This could be similar to leveling up characters in online role playing games. (Level 6 Math Wizard)  Google tracks vast amounts of user information and has key technologies to scale and distribute processing and storage.
3. Value - To increase value of the education, social networking should be built into the site (Google has worked on “Lively”, a 3D chat interface).  People can be motivated to provide assistance to others as they play the educational games with each other.
4. Unlimited - Concepts such as “mashups” should be used to provide simple style game play with a large number of game variations (see PhotoSoup as an example of a dynamic limitless word search game).  Reference Google’s “Searchmash”(Google discontinued this) to see just one example of how they have used mashups to enhance search results.
5. Seed - Google also has acquired video game companies and can use them to provide a minimal set of valuable base content (the seed).  If they could target K-12 education they can hook a set of customers (children) with the goal of expanding the content prior to when these users need more.  This will help to secure the “Schoogle” and therefore “Google” brand as kids develop.  (The goal would be to create another verb.  Google is to search as Schoogle is to learn.

Additional References (Use these as search terms in Google):

Worldlearningtree, Unity3D, Red Interactive Agency, Kongregate, Colr Pickr, Phun, Dimenxion, Thinkmap,  App Engine, Gears.

Welcome to the WorldLearningTree blog. This blog will document our progress in building the WorldLearningTree.

We have been doing research for about a month so there is much catching up to do.

Here is a summary of how we got where we are. An industry professional from a large company gets an opportunity to pursue a dual masters degree and work part time. The two degrees are a Master’s Degree in Computer Science and an MBA. An additional requirement to pursue an Entrepreneurship certificate is also a part of the program. After much research for a summer class in Entrepreneurship investigating Web 2.0, Computer Visualization and Modeling Software, Advanced Database Design, Education, Games, Storage Technology and a Medical Technology an idea came together to create the WorldLearningTree. This company would utilize everything learned to promote a free online place for children of the world to learn with highly entertaining content. The system would evolve over time from a simple web page of the best links to entertaining free education to a virtual world in which learning is essentially hidden within the world they are playing in.

We believe that people’s perception of entertainment and education are beginning to shift and Web 2.0 companies are now offering free and easy content. Universities are just now beginning to offer video game courses for credit (see University of North Carolina’s ECON 201 class). The challenge of this company is to utilize maximum efficiency to create educational content that can be entertaining and free for the entire world. This company will not be a not-for-profit but will use Web 2.0 systems which will publish everything we do online for all to see. This is a challenge as a private company since people can not easily see how a business can make money by offering a free online service and most people are not willing to be so open about what their company is doing. They are afraid that if you publish your business plan then somebody can easily copy it. To fully embrace Web 2.0 mentality we say that if we aren’t the best at what we do then let someone else to a better job. We are no longer waiting for someone to create an online system that any child in the world can use for free. It may also be of educational value to follow along with the site content and this blog so we can teach how to create a business. The suggestions and comments from the community can only help it do better.