Personal Reflection
I do struggle to find a model for Slingbit that is economically sustainable. With so many free educational technologies on the market such as Khan Academy and Desmos, it becomes increasingly challenging to convince educators to pay for educational resources. Furthermore, a large portion of Slingbit’s value depends heavily on the amount of peer-created content. Youtube was in a similar position when it started back in 2005 but was able to keep it’s content free by selling ad-space. I would imagine no educational technology would be successful if it relied on exposing students to advertisements and therefore ed-tech needs to be more creative. Many have had to rely on donorship or offer some basic plan to attract users that hopefully see value in paying for a full-feature subscription.
It is here where my lack of experience and understanding shines through. How much content should be given away for free in order to attract a strong user base? Furthermore, what features should be reserved for paid users? Slingbit’s challenge is to effectively incentivize users to create high quality and meaningful content that requires very little curation from Slingbit itself. I would be very curious to know whether this model is at all viable. Is it possible for user-generated content to exceed the quality of the content produced by Slingbit? A similar dynamic is currently playing out between Youtube and Netflix; both of whom are both vying for increased viewership. While Netflix offers a professional quality standard of content, Youtube distributes highly-relevant, peer-created content that is not confined to network restrictions. By inviting users to contribute to the library of online learning activities, Slingbit is running the risk that the quality of its content improves and does not lose value. If the risk pays off, this feature may just be the thing that completely revolutionizes online and blended learning environments.
This assignment has challenged me to consider what lies ahead for the learning management system. Over the last decade, I have experienced the evolution of the LMS, from my first class Weebly site, to Google Classroom and more recently to Moodle. From where I stand, it appears that Canvas currently holds the torch but there are considerable caveats to it’s design that limit it's ubiquitous adoption. The creation of Slingbit was an exercise that helped me to consolidate the collective value in the educational technologies I use in my daily practice as well as technologies I have been exposed to throughout the MET program. The many features of Slingbit were not of my own creation but rather collected from my years of experience using technology in the classroom. I endeavoured to create the ultimate LMS; one that empowers teachers to assume the role of "educational guide" while focusing their attention on promoting inquiry-based and problem-based learning in the classroom. With further collaboration with colleagues, educational designers and computer programmers, I believe Slingbit could very well become a viable reality in the future.