Hi Guest,
I have been flying between the US and India pretty much every year I have been alive. My trip over to India this past week was one for the record books (and not in a good way!) It took me 4 days, 4 planes, and 4 continents to finally get from the US to India which typically would take no more than 24 hours of travel time. While the airline had its fair share of mess ups, they were quick to admit it, and offer compensation. It wasn’t nearly enough IMHO, but it reminded me of the reality that things WILL go wrong. It’s how we handle them when they do that builds trust or breaks it. How have we done when things have gone wrong with your experience with MAD-learn? I would love to hear from you.
Don’t forget to check out Pillar #4 of 5 Years of MAD-learn – Customer Awe here. If you missed us in person, follow the fun we had over the last few weeks at #CanConnectEd 2019, #NYSuccess19, @my_pcs #STEM expo, and tons of Flash App Classes on twitter.
Alefiya Master
Founder & CEO
Our latest weekly team meeting was given even more life with the introduction of two of our summer interns, Grace Halverson and Anuraj Bhatnagar!
Grace says she is looking forward to “working with you and this amazing global team!” A Georgia Tech Master’s student, she will be focusing on very specific areas of data collection and analysis. These will include: synthesizing all the existing feedback and coming up with the top positives that MAD-learn is bringing into a classroom, calculating existing statistics of overall satisfaction and usage of MAD-learn, creating new ways to gather quantifiable qualitative data from students and educators (surveys or quantifiable visual storytelling), and developing content for potential marketing strategies.
Anuraj is also a Master’s student at Georgia tech. He is in the Digital Media program, with a background in Computer Engineering as an undergrad. His main interests are in game development and in AR/VR. Anuraj is excited about joining the team, saying, “I hope to help students in boosting their confidence and discovering their own passion for technologies like these, and part of that can be accomplished by making development more accessible for them.”
We look forward to the skill sets they bring to the table, and are sure their time with MAD-learn will help prepare them for their future careers. If you have high school or college students who are looking for REAL WORLD work experience, let us know! alefiya@mad-learn.com
Never Bet Against a MAD-student!
MAD-learn has partnered with Ontario’s premier EdTech event, Connect (#CanConnectEd), for many years. It is hosted by the District School Board of Niagara (DSBN) and other amazing partners in beautiful Niagara Falls, ON. Each year, thousands of educators from across Canada come to see the latest in ideas and innovations.
Our favorite activity during these conferences is to have students come in and demonstrate how the program works to the delight of the many attendees who visit the Student Showcase area. This year, we were fortunate to work with two outstanding groups, brought to us by our most seasoned DSBN MAD-teachers, Scott Young and Jill Russell.
We’ve always been inspired by the things that students come up with, and this experience was no different. The highlight was when our Director of Curriculum and Implementation, Gregg Stone, shared a dilemma he encountered with the new HCJ Builder. He just couldn’t resolve the issue, and made an offhand remark that he’d give $20 to anyone who could figure it out. Within one minute, he was reaching into his wallet to reward a seventh grade girl in the group who solved the puzzle in about 40 seconds! Gregg noted the payout was well worth it, not just to solve the issue, but also to see the students work so seriously to explore the possibilities with MAD-learn and work together to solve problems they encountered.
It showed once again how the valuable skills learned through MAD-learn can help mold successful “apprenuers” and “anypreneurs” of the future.
MAD-teacher of the Month
Alisa Wright is a Technology Instructor and Student Council Sponsor at Roosevelt Middle School in Palm Beach County, FL. So much for the simple, superficial description. Actually, Alisa is a larger-than-life personality who is not only a skilled classroom facilitator, but also an important member of her school community. Her dedication to making her students push themselves to achieve bigger things is commendable.
Her involvement in supporting her colleagues, whether as teachers or human beings, is inspiring. Her classroom is a model of efficiency, and the students rise to the occasion, no matter what she challenges them with.
On top of everything she does, she has also shown herself to be a great MAD-learn leader. Her students have created nearly 100 apps in just the second half of the school year. These apps have covered a wide range of topics, though many are of a social entrepreneurial bent. Alisa’s energy, positive attitude and involvement make her a valued member of her School, as well as to us here at MAD-learn. Congrats on this honor Alisa!
… listening to POWER Teacher Scott Young!!
Scott Young is a phenomenally talented, dedicated, and inspiring educator at the District School Board of Niagara. He has been doing MAD-learn with his students for several years now and shares his experience with us when we met him at the Connect Conference a few weeks ago. Check it out!
