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Silverstein, Ferlinghetti, and Animation: Bring a Book to Life
When I started iCreate in 2010, you could probably count the edtech startups in the whole country on 2 hands. Now, over 3 years later, innovation and capital are flooding the education sector, and where I once prided myself on keeping a pulse on all things edtech, there’s simply not enough time in the day to keep up now.
It’s exciting though – not only for the teachers, students, and parents with opportunities to explore new tools – but also for us entrepreneurs, who can share, learn, and grow with each other. Entrepreneurs are often at the bottom of the totem pole on what it is we have to offer (money, experience, etc), but what we DO have is creativity, passion and can-do attitudes to find ways to collaborate with each other.
One early stage edtech company I’ve recently become familiar and am looking forward to working more closely with is Biblionasium – think GoodReads for Kids. BiblioNasium starts by connecting children to the 3 constituents that most influence what they read (friends, educators and parents), to share and exchange book recommendations. It also records their literary journey through giving them a platform to catalogue what they are reading, what they like to read and their favorite books. Teachers and Parents can setup reading challenges and students win virtual rewards for completing reading milestones.
One of the things that I like most about this new tool is that it provides a conduit from the classroom to the home. With how accessible technology is today, there’s no reason why we need to rely on the crumpled reading list at the bottom of the students’ backpack as the single communication line from school to home. With an easy-to-use student-centered tool, BiblioNasium has the potential to improve the reading levels of all students.
I’d recommend – whether you’re a parent or teacher – to take a look at the free platform and try it out! After all, as quoted on BiblioNasium’s site, “Regardless of what they love – for most everything in life today, to succeed first you need to become a good reader.”
– Melissa
