The idea for the Student Generated Content came out of a meeting where my team and I had failed miserably to sell a solution for distributing digital content to a large university in Southern California. I was on a plane back from the meeting and I happened to be sitting next to a second grader. I asked her if she was working on her popcorn trees in class and her face formed to a stern look.
"No! I am working on my final project!" she exclaimed.
"Final project?!? But you are only in second grade," I responded in shock.
"Yes and I am shooting a documentary on the second grade experience."
It was a very serendipitous meeting. That night I went home and mapped out the use of technology in an optimization equation. I found that the reason we had failed in the meeting was not because of our content distribution system, but because there were some large barriers in getting Higher Education faculty to create engaging digital content to be used online and in the classroom. After manipulating some of the variables, I found that by turning the whole model upside down you would create a lot of value. The premise is simple: Instead of trying to get faculty to create this content, ask students to create a 3 -5 minute video that teaches their peers the concepts they learn from their professors.
Above is the presentation I give with video testimonials of the customers I am fortunate enough to work with.
For more on this approach and how it is working in Southern California, please visit: http://www.studentgenerated.com
