SBIR Phase II: Social Marketplace for E-learning

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目旨在创建第一个在线社交学习平台，让学生们联系、分享和一起学习。该应用程序主要针对高中生和大学生。这个被提议的平台被称为OpenStudy，它将理论和实践结合在一个无缝的用户友好环境中，使个人用户能够学习、创造和分享他们的知识。OpenStudy将通过连接不同专业水平、年龄、地理位置和社交图谱的学生，使教育变得更容易获得；有趣的是，通过提供一种社交学习体验，通过点对点的分享和验证。面对全球化和托马斯·弗里德曼（Thomas Friedman）的“地球是平的”经济，通过教育进行竞争是一种基本需求，其重要性正在国家层面得到承认。学生和教育工作者都认识到需要创新技术来解决这个问题。然而，据领先的市场分析师称，电子学习供应链植根于旧的商业惯例，无法满足新买家的需求。“我们国家的青年状况”调查报告称，高中生感到与更好的成绩竞争的压力。尽管学校和学生个人迅速采用了学习管理系统和社交网络，但这一问题并没有系统的解决方案，也没有在教育领域得到应用。为解决这一问题，需要进行重大的技术和业务创新。OpenStudy平台试图通过创建点对点学习社区来实现这一变化，为其成员提供社交学习体验。利用社区的智慧，OpenStudy将使学生、教师和校友能够参与一场以学习为重点的全国性对话。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to create the first on-line social studying platform that allows students to connect, share and learn together. The application is focused on high school and college students. The proposed platform, called OpenStudy, combines both theory and practice in a seamless user-friendly environment that empowers the individual user to learn, create and share their knowledge. OpenStudy will make education accessible, by connecting students of varying levels of expertise, age, location, and social graph; and fun, by providing a social learning experience with peer-to-peer sharing and validation.In the face of globalization and Thomas Friedman's 'flat earth' economy, competing through education is a fundamental need whose importance is being recognized at a national level. Students and educators alike recognize the need for innovative technologies in addressing this problem. Yet according to leading market analysts, the e-learning supply chain is rooted in old business practices and unable to meet the needs of the new buyers. 'The State of Our Nation's Youth' survey reports that high school students feel the pressure to compete with better grades. Despite the rapid adoption of learning management systems by institutions and of social networks by individual students, there is no systematic solution to this problem nor an application in the education field. Significant technical and business innovation is required to introduce a solution to this problem. The OpenStudy platform seeks to accomplish this change by creating a peer-to-peer learning community to provide a social learning experience for its members. Leveraging the wisdom of a community, OpenStudy will enable students, faculty and alumni to engage in a national conversation focused on learning.