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In addition to teaching for the past 12 years I have had the chance to work as an entrepreneur in the education tech space, as an author, and as a science subject matter expert (SME).
In addition to teaching for the past 12 years I have had the chance to work as an entrepreneur in the education tech space, as an author, and as a science subject matter expert (SME).
Education Technology Work / ParentEdge®
Education Technology Work / ParentEdge®
Over the past 9 years I developed and deployed ParentEdge®, a web app that sends out personalized homework info by text and email to the parents of every child in a school once a day, automatically. At its peak deployment ParentEdge® was in use by 24 schools with a population in excess of 20,000 individual student accounts. It was used to send out millions of homework and text updates to these students over the course of 6 years. You can see an example of what a ParentEdge message would look like for a secondary student to the right of this paragraph.
I created the application and the founded the company, SchoolEdge Mobile which owns ParentEdge®. I spent about a year developing the ParentEdge software. I was responsible for the design of all facets of the application such as: the initial wire frame templates and the entire work flow for all user classes. In addition there was a large amount of problem solving required to determine how to best aggregate student schedule data into a single useful message and how to best integrate ParentEdge® with the many existing student information systems out there like MiStar / PowerSchool / Illuminate etc.... I contracted out a large amount of the actual development due to time constraints though I worked as the product tester and handled all error resolution related to the application. Over the course of several years I created multiple updates for ParentEdge including an administrator console with customized reporting features, an SMS text demo feature, and a customized schedule import feature.
Example of a secondary text message sent out by ParentEdge
ParentEdge Secondary Teacher Interface
ParentEdge Secondary Teacher Interface
ParentEdge Administrator Console
ParentEdge Administrator Console
In addition to the design, development, and updating of the application itself I was responsible for all other matters related to the business of ParentEdge:
In addition to the design, development, and updating of the application itself I was responsible for all other matters related to the business of ParentEdge:
Support
Support
I was responsible for creating all support documentation, tutorial videos, and provided email and phone support to the teachers in the the local districts using ParentEdge® around the country. This is a link to one of the secondary teacher instruction pdf's that was sent to schools. The video above was shown to secondary teachers when they were first introduced to ParentEdge. It was designed to be used at a staff meeting or professional development session on ParentEdge.
Web Design
Web Design
I handled the design of all web related material for ParentEdge including all text, image, and video content. This included developing multiple websites over the course of the several years as the application and company evolved. Above is the main video I developed for introducing ParentEdge.
Marketing
Marketing
I used direct marketing, our web presence, social media, cold calling, and referrals to generate interest in ParentEdge®. In addition, I developed all marketing materials including print material, video, and images. I also attended conferences and trade shows to market ParentEdge®. The images below are pictures from the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals conference in Traverse City, MI several years ago. My dad came with me as he is pretty good at sales.
Legal
Legal
I made sure that all of the messages we went out complied with federal regulations related to SMS text messaing and all emails adhered to the regulations found in the CAN-SPAM Act. I contracted with a lawyer to ensure our terms of service and contracts were appropriate.
Sales
Sales
I was responsible for handling all sales related activities for ParentEdge. I handled all the accounts we had related to billing, invoicing, and everything else that goes along with selling products to schools
In short, I was a one man band for the entire company. I got great feedback from the administrators I worked with at the school and district level while doing this. You can see some of there comments here. ParentEdge® is something I am incredibly proud of doing as it required a great degree of innovation and problem solving to do what I did and grow it as I managed to do.
In short, I was a one man band for the entire company. I got great feedback from the administrators I worked with at the school and district level while doing this. You can see some of there comments here. ParentEdge® is something I am incredibly proud of doing as it required a great degree of innovation and problem solving to do what I did and grow it as I managed to do.
Writing
Writing
I have had the good fortune to work with some wonderful people at Wiley publishing over the past years. During that time I have authored or co-authored 3 books focused on chemistry and/or the ACT. I have worked closely with copy editors, technical editors, and other subject matter experts. I have experience in developing outlines for books, planning out content and writing content. I have worked extensively developing online test banks, generating online content, and aligning content/items to standards. In addition, I have worked as a Subject Matter Expert several times for Wiley.
The Official ACT® Science Guide
The Official ACT® Science Guide
- Developed original book outline
- Authored book from scratch
- Book focused on preparing students to succeed on the ACT science test with a heavy focus on passage and ACT reporting category analysis, scientific vocabulary, and the scientific method
- Worked closely with ACT science expert during authoring phase to ensure proper ACT alignment
- Collaborated with Reading, Math, and English book authors to ensure common style and theme
Chemistry Workbook for Dummies
Chemistry Workbook for Dummies
- Extensive revision of 1st edition
- Rewrote much of the original content and practice questions to improve clarity
- Reorganized format to match 1st year AP / University Chemistry Course
- Worked closely with copy editors and style editors
- Created detailed solutions to each question throughout workbook
- Accuracy checked questions and ensured proper alignment for each chapter
- Worked on 3rd edition as well to develop online test question bank aligned to each chapter of text throughout book
U Can: Chemistry I
U Can: Chemistry I
- Combined material original synthesized material with content from Chemistry for Dummies and Chemistry Workbook for Dummies into a framework matching a 1st year college chemistry course
- Ensured coherent flow of previous material along with original material
- Wrote new question items for use throughout book
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