We smash together innovative concepts, market opportunities, and high energy people to produce amazing and unexpected results.
Teachers know it. Entrepreneurs know it. Students know it. School can be better! So why are we still using the same old methods? There are incredible innovations emerging everywhere. How do we get these new ideas into the classroom?
Our mission is to disrupt education positively by opening the doors to schools nationwide; we promote more experimentation, new ideas, software, and gaming as an integral part of the curriculum.
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“I've had the pleasure of working with Lee both at TES and at Zero Bubble Media. His strategic thinking led to multiple new sources for clients.”
Jon Robins, Recruiter, Total Education Solutions
“Lee has displayed a solid grasp of the tools that are out there to help push students at any level and in any discipline forward.”
Peter T. Willson, Director, Huntington Learning Centers
“Charles stepped into his role as lead technology developer, taking initiative and quickly building an incredibly engaging game called Code Hero.”
Rebecca A. Fox, Executive Director, The Laboratory SF
"More than technical ability, Charles has the management ability to corral a team of (even eccentric) talents and have them confidently march in the same direction."
Danielle Fong, Cofounder, LightSail Energy
"Lee, I think the project is amazing! ... I especially like the "game" like atmosphere, with students making alliances and treaties. I don't think you can simulate anything more 'real world.'"
Kim Lander, Teacher, Kansas City
“Lee was a fantastic member of the leadership team at TEDx Sacramento. Though he played a vital role as the PR Director, he was instrumental in helping to decide the direction of a number of events as well as assist in the event curation and speaker selection.”
Brandon Weber, Founder, TEDx Sacramento
OUR MISSION
There is a tidal wave of innovation in education happening today: Video games, project-based learning, gamification, more autonomy for teachers, more experimentation in the classroom -- there are so many ways to improve the learning process, and we have barely scratched the surface. Education Super Collider works directly with entrepreneurs, teachers, and schools to integrate new and innovative ideas directly in the classroom to improve the experience and results for everybody. Education should be more fun and more effective, and we're here to make it happen!
Your education-oriented product or service might be the best idea ever -- but who is using it? We help you test your product directly in the classroom for maximum exposure and feedback as early as possible, so you can begin to answer this question and iterate and improve your idea. We will work with you to increase sales, and we also offer product consulting, video game development, and gamification as a service.
Speaking at a conference, to administrators, or to potential investors and collaborators is tough! Your ability to sell yourself and explain your ideas is important. We help you cover the six core elements of your pitch to get the results you want.
Implement game based projects for your classroom or workshop. We help you create a game model to fully engage and interact with your students in the learning process, making them conductors and co-creators of the experience.
Education (Un) Conference
Thanks to everyone who attended and supported our first Education Unconference! Stay tuned for our next event.
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What did I miss?
We hosted this event at Hacker Lab on Friday, November 30th. In attendence were teachers, administrators, students, and companies ranging from video games to robotics. The idea was simple: We know there are a ton of great ideas out there, so let's share what we're doing ourselves, what we would like to see, and talk about how to get innovation into the classrooms!
We saw great talks from professional speakers, and discussed at length the problems and challenges facing all of us. Some of the topics that came up were funding ideas, finding cofounders, and getting traction in a marketplace with high barriers to entry, especially in the public sector. The conversation that ensued was too detailed to outline here, but here are some high level takeaways:
- Funding: Look for education related grants, including NIH. Find someone to help you with grant writing, and expect to sink 120+ hours into a solid application. Angel investors are also an option, but you need to have a compelling pitch, a demo, and a team, not to mention finding the angels who are within your network reach. Stay away from VCs; they do not understand this space yet.
- Finding cofounders: There is no easy answer here. If you're working on something you're passionate about, stay with it and constantly forwards. Outlines, pictures, videos, or usable prototypes are very helpful to convince others to your cause; keep attending events, starting conversations, and searching. Chances are good you have already met them, and just don't see it yet. Most importantly, "Just Start" -- don't wait for ideal conditions!
- Getting traction: Schools go through three state decision making branches before making any serious change to their curriculum, and these branches do not communicate, so it's a very tough path. However, private schools and charter schools have more control and may be able to buy your product or service directly. Barobo robotics was able to secure a few dozen clients on a case-by-case basis by approaching schools, and iHomeEducator has made most app sales to parents who are homeschooling their kids.
We are putting on an Edu-Tech Trade Show in 2013 to help companies with existing products showcase them to schools who will invest in new ideas for the next school year, especially products and services related to technology. Stay tuned and be ready to put your best foot forwards!
Speakers
- Allen Fahden, Author, Corporate trainer, and former stand-up comic - "Innovation / Making work (or educational model) fit the person"
- Lee Chazen, Lee Chazen is an educational program developer, as well as the founder of Global Challenge. - "The User Generated Classroom."
- Allan Katzen, founder of Game Truck Party - "Game Truck’s Educational Program."
- Ash Roughani, Chief Evangelist of Public Innovation. Ash is a creative change agent and systems thinker with a capacity to solve complex problems. - Co-creating a culture of innovation.
- Alex Terrazas, VP, MSci at Nielsen - "Lessons learned from Google Goggles project and Nielson"
- Andrew Lee, Chief Innovator and Co-founder at iHomeEducator, Inc. - "Mobile App Innovation for Education and Productivity".
- Graham Ryland, President of Barobo - "Robotics in the classroom"
- Charles Van Norman, Founder, Fractal Games - "How to make education games that are actually fun"
Lee Chazen
Lee Chazen is an educational program developer, as well as the founder of Global Challenge - a game-based project for social studies teachers. He hosts a range of educational events and workshops, and was recently a board member of TEDx Sacramento. Lee holds a B.A. in political science, a minor in history, a social studies teaching certification and has a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction. As a graduate student, he constructed a "Complex-adaptive theory of education" which supports a user-generated, self-organizing, experiential view of the learning process, and he also hosts a local "hikestorming" group combining interests in hiking and brainstorming.
Charles Van Norman
Charles Van Norman is a game developer, web programmer, and consultant. A virtual swiss army knife of education innovation, he has worked on a variety of educational projects, including Code Hero and Stupid Math. A self-taught programmer and 3-D developer, he loves new challenges, extreme sports, astrophysics, and of course making and playing video games. He holds a B.S. in International Business, but specializes in programming and product design.