Answerables

Principle/Founder name(s)

Mark Wu / Peter Cameron

Year founded

2011

Business description

Answerables is a learning management system developed specifically for elementary and middle school students- with their particular learning needs in mind. It takes all the traditional aspects of an LMS and allows a teacher to use them to create a 3D virtual world for their students. We call it learning management meets video game.

Teachers have a platform to create immersive virtual classrooms, where they can add their students, and curate individualized content. They can add, receive and grade assignments using Google Docs integration, as well as use voice and video chat to work with students live or invite virtual guest speakers to their classrooms.

Students experience learning management that guides them towards digital citizenship in an immersive, safe and engaging virtual environment. They will earn reward points and badges for completing assignments and quests, while exploring the fantastical 3D world of a multiplayer video game.

As educators we have always understood that the needs of our elementary students are very different than our secondary students. Answerables is an LMS that caters to K-8’s specific learning needs and focuses on the importance of discovery and play.

Milestones/Successes to date

2015 was the first year that we were really able to move out of the product development stage and start getting Answerables used by teachers and students. We began seeking out pilots in strategically chosen markets in the US and Canada: California, Indiana, Massachusetts, Texas and Niagara.

After running pilot projects with various schools in the States in the 2015-2016 school year, we have decided to focus on Fullerton School District in CA for 2016-2017. They are looking to integrate their current game based LMS with Answerables and develop content for Fullerton students.

One of our greatest milestones to date was getting Answerables into the Apple store as a free iPad app. This allows teachers and students to quickly and easily install the platform and start using it immediately. It also means that we have a great entry point into those school districts that have gone 1:1 with iPads in the US.

How has Innovate Niagara / ihub helped you?

One of the most important things that Innovate Niagara / ihub has done for us has been to connect us with researchers and post-graduate students at Brock University. Working with them will be instrumental in helping us decide what student data and analytics will be most useful for teachers and how to present this to them in a clear and concise way.

Brainspace Magazine

Principle/Founder name(s)

Nicole Middleton

Year founded

2013

Business description

Brainspace Publishing Inc. creates interactive educational material with a strong belief that both traditional and digital education have unique benefits and mandatory presence in a child's learning. Brainspace magazine was the creation of a past teacher who wanted to bridge the gap between print and digital offerings to kids. "I had students that wanted to go beyond all the time. There is a lot of material available to children who need remedial attention, but not as much for children who excel. I think we assume they can handle textbooks and material for an older readership. And that isn't fair. They're still kids."

The award-winning magazine offers sciences, language arts, math, geography, history, art and relevant social articles. The innovative augmented reality component satisfies kids by engaging them through video/interactive content. Their intrigue drives them back to the editorial copy giving them a greater learning experience.

The small publishing company has been enjoying unexpected success with its knowledge and skills as an augmented reality designer for custom publishing projects. "Publishers are realizing the potential and the desire for video. Augmented reality is an easy add-on when brand video exists. It's a great way to tell the story and clients are understanding how powerful this tool really is. Especially for kids."

Milestones/Successes to date

• 2014, 2015: Best Book For Kids by Canadian Children's Book Centre
• 2014, 2015, 2016: Gold Medal Recipient from Parents' Choice Awards
• Appearances on TVO Kids The Space; USA Today
• Toronto Star's News In Education Partner
• 2015 Best Newcomer award by CSME
• $57K in grant funding by Canadian Periodicals Fund for Business Innovation

How has Innovate Niagara / ihub helped you?

Partnership in creating innovative resources for educators.
Connections with leaders in education.

Chalk.com

Principle/Founder name(s)

William Zhou (CEO), Ryan McKay-Fleming (CTO), and Suraj Srinivas (Business Development)

Business description

Chalk.com provides real time data from the classroom to help schools understand what actually works. With its award winning workflow tools for teachers, Chalk.com allows teachers to truly personalize learning by better understanding every student’s individual needs. The real time data from the classroom results in rich insights for the administration to make more informed decisions.

Milestones/Successes to date

• January 2015 - Chalk.com secures $500,000 seed funding
• March 2015 - Markboard grade book and assessment platform launches
• July 2015 - 100,000 teachers using Planboard around the world
• Reach: 200,000 teachers, 3 million students
• More on chalk.com/press

How has Innovate Niagara / ihub helped you?

The ihub created an environment where educators and edtech startups can collide to innovate and develop the next generation of technology in the classroom. The ihub provided Chalk.com with insights and advice into some of the issues teachers face. This has proven to be critical during our development cycle.

Being an entrepreneur means...

"Solving problems to make and shape the world into a better place.” - William Zhou

Enable Education

Principle/Founder name(s)

Ben Zimmer and Amy Leask

Year founded

2006

Business description

Enable Education creates tools and materials to revolutionize the learning experience. We design, develop, and deliver custom learning solutions to support and inspire better thinkers. With this in mind, we’ve launched ThinkScape, an innovative, multimedia learning platform that goes beyond the PDF in order to enhance hands-on learning. ThinkScape enables technical product manufacturers, training managers, and professional educators to update their documentation to engage and inspire 21st century learners.

Milestones/Successes to date

10 years of success providing top tier service to clients, including: LEGO, National Instruments, FIRST Robotics, SolidWorks, and many others. With a successful year since our launch of ThinkScape, Enable was named a National Instruments Academic Partner, and in 2016, Enable Education was the recipient of Innovation Halton’s “One to Watch” Award based on innovation, novelty, and social benefit.

How has Innovate Niagara / ihub helped you?

Through our connection to iHub, we were able to secure IRAP/BIAP funding and OCE funding to do fulsome efficacy studies with Brock University and DSBN. Invaluable input across the K-20 spectrum at DSBN, Niagara College and Brock University has helped refine our Thinkscape product significantly for those disparate needs.

Being an entrepreneur means...

Being a risk-taker, for all the right reasons, being passionate about filling a need, and inspiring your team to do amazing things.

Tiny Woman Wordshop

Principle/Founder name(s)

Dr. Christine Portier

Business description

Tiny Woman Wordshop is a Canadian company that provides interactive literacy lessons for classroom teachers, interactive language activities and board games for elementary students, and professional development for educators. Our workshops and resources are developed from extensive classroom teaching experiences and an innovative application of literacy, linguistic and literary research.

Our “total literacy” approach supports students and educators in two essential ways.

In collaboration with classroom teachers and students, we develop and produce digital and print materials to engage students in relational language concepts to deepen comprehension and develop cognition. With our interactive activities, we integrate seamlessly curriculum, pedagogy and technology. Through original music, colourful settings, and game play, students develop a dynamic literacy framework that can be transferred to all new reading, writing and media experiences.

We offer presentations, training and ongoing support for educators, including special education and ELL teachers, focusing on the relations in language that give shape to the texts we read, write and view. Our new approach incorporates the kind of cognition essential for math and science. This cognition can also be extended across literacy experiences and into other contexts as a way for students to critically inquire into the different perspectives, social issues and environmental concerns within their immediate community, the larger community and the world.

Milestones/Successes to date

We have been providing presentations & training sessions across Ontario schools.

We published “Functions & Relation in Poetry” - a poetry instruction manual for primary through secondary educators (print and interactive eBook)

We have created literacy board games for children that support and enhance language relations and uncover exciting and new connections between French and English writing programs.

To develop our materials, we are collaborating with Core French and French Immersion teachers to create more enriching French literacy materials.

How has Innovate Niagara / ihub helped you?

Innovate Niagara has helped us refine our business model and figure out our next steps as we develop new educational materials and services.

They have also helped us to connect with teachers, Niagara College, and educators through educational technology conferences.

(i) Our relationship with the iHub has played a large part in creating opportunities to work with teachers in the Niagara region. The iHub has offered a space for presentations and training with a dynamic group of teachers over this school year. With a focus on critical thinking with narrative, teachers from grades 1 through 10 are meeting regularly this year to develop a literacy framework and discuss ways to they will implement narrative concepts and resources to meet the learning needs of their students. In the spring we will be offering Poetry sessions and, looking ahead to the beginning of the next school year, sessions for English and French composition, using our interactive digital activities and literacy board games.

(ii) Our partnership with Niagara College, in their Research & Innovation Program, will help us create a website devoted to our exciting English and French board games.

(iii) We have joined other exhibitors at conferences, where we have been able to connect with other startup companies, learn from the experiences of other larger companies, and develop relationships with other educators.

Being an entrepreneur means...

… you have a vision, and will devote your time and energy to develop and shape that vision into something that can be shared with and understood by others. Through every step, Tiny Woman Wordshop has collaborated with teachers and students to ensure that language ideas are communicated clearly and will meet the needs of the educational community, and that all materials will engage students in their learning. Entrepreneurs may venture out on their own, but it is the integrity of their relationships that move them forward in their businesses and in their personal growth.