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Ask HN: Review my classroom web tool, Eduset

eduset.com

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Re: Ask HN: Review my classroom web tool, Eduset

#11

Post by vyrotek »

Looks clean and simple. I definitely see the Facebook/Twitter design influences. I have a sister who who teaches High School Biology who might use such a thing.

But, I worry that she wont be interested in the price. As byoung already mentioned, there are a lot of other (free) services out there that facilitate basic communication already. My sister is someone who lives on Facebook and would probably look to use that first if she could. Extra features that byoung mentioned could be the key.

Some local college grads here just launched http://www.instructure.com I haven't played with their product but it looks similar. Its never a bad idea to check out any potential competitors to see how they are addressing the market.

Re: Ask HN: Review my classroom web tool, Eduset

#12

Post by sachinag »

While I applaud your initiative, I cannot believe that teachers would feel comfortable using something made by a single person who just graduated/will graduate? high school this year. You can keep your name, but I'd recommend taking out your relative youth.

Also, I'm always a big fan of competitive analysis charts, especially if you're competing on price. Here's ours: http://www.dawdle.com/selling/index.php/fees/ I will say that I'm with Brad and $4.99 a month feels like you're selling yourself short, but that is $60/year. Perhaps make a couple more tiers right off the bat to try to nudge people higher?

Lastly, I wouldn't say "if your students can use Facebook, they can use this" with a screenshot of Gmail. That shows a lack of attention to detail.

Re: Ask HN: Review my classroom web tool, Eduset

#13

Post by byoung2 »

fuzzmeister wrote: post #4
byoung2 wrote: post #2

Definitely a good start. Lots of teachers don't want do deal with mastering a learning management system like Moodle or Blackboard. What I don't see is a compelling reason to pay $5/mo for something I could accomplish with a class blog or facebook page. Are there plans to allow interaction between students? Grade management? Online quizzes? These would be great value-adds to justify different pricing tiers.

The goal was certainly to target teachers who aren't willing or able to put in the time and effort to learn a full-fledged LMS. I agree that $5/month is a slightly hard sell right now, although there are certain parts of Eduset (such as assignments) that cannot be easily accomplished with a blog. In order to fix this, we are actually in the process of implementing every one of the features you described. Soon, studen…

Another possible model is X number of students free, and per-student pricing after that.

Re: Ask HN: Review my classroom web tool, Eduset

#14

Post by fuzzmeister »

brandnewlow wrote: post #6
fuzzmeister wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The goal was certainly to target teachers who aren't willing or able to put in the time and effort to learn a full-fledged LMS. I agree that $5/month is a slightly hard sell right now, although there are certain parts of Eduset (such as assignments) that cannot be easily accomplished with a blog. In order to fix this, we are actually in the process of implementing every one of the features you described. Soon, studen…

Isn't $5 so low as to undermine the value you're offering? I paid $5 for a cheeseburger today at lunch. I'd look to offer something in the $30 range as your first paid tier.

That logic usually works, but I've found that teachers are a stingy group when it comes to paying for classroom services. I think that the risk of making the product seem too cheap is outweighed by the risk of teachers being reluctant to spend a significant amount on their classes. Wikispaces, another product partially targeted at teachers, has a $5/month option as well.

Re: Ask HN: Review my classroom web tool, Eduset

#16

Post by psyklic »

fuzzmeister wrote: post #4
byoung2 wrote: post #2

Definitely a good start. Lots of teachers don't want do deal with mastering a learning management system like Moodle or Blackboard. What I don't see is a compelling reason to pay $5/mo for something I could accomplish with a class blog or facebook page. Are there plans to allow interaction between students? Grade management? Online quizzes? These would be great value-adds to justify different pricing tiers.

The goal was certainly to target teachers who aren't willing or able to put in the time and effort to learn a full-fledged LMS. I agree that $5/month is a slightly hard sell right now, although there are certain parts of Eduset (such as assignments) that cannot be easily accomplished with a blog. In order to fix this, we are actually in the process of implementing every one of the features you described. Soon, studen…

I would vote for an institutional subscription model. It might be a hard sell for individual teachers (often likely out of their own pockets), but I bet you could sell the value to institutions which employ teachers.

Re: Ask HN: Review my classroom web tool, Eduset

#17

Post by vyrotek »

fuzzmeister wrote: post #4
byoung2 wrote: post #2

Definitely a good start. Lots of teachers don't want do deal with mastering a learning management system like Moodle or Blackboard. What I don't see is a compelling reason to pay $5/mo for something I could accomplish with a class blog or facebook page. Are there plans to allow interaction between students? Grade management? Online quizzes? These would be great value-adds to justify different pricing tiers.

The goal was certainly to target teachers who aren't willing or able to put in the time and effort to learn a full-fledged LMS. I agree that $5/month is a slightly hard sell right now, although there are certain parts of Eduset (such as assignments) that cannot be easily accomplished with a blog. In order to fix this, we are actually in the process of implementing every one of the features you described. Soon, studen…

With each semester a teacher would have a new class right? Would it be possible to perhaps charge a one time fee for each class that is created instead of a monthly fee?

Re: Ask HN: Review my classroom web tool, Eduset

#18

Post by [deleted] »

joez wrote: post #9

Why the monthly plan? I know subscription is the holy grail because people set it and forget it. But are you implying teachers should cancel it during the three summer months if they aren't teaching? And do teachers really pay for two months and then go oh... sorry kids but I realize this isn't going to work and cancel it? I assume once your on one LMS your stuck for at least the duration of the semester. Maybe a 30…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Review my classroom web tool, Eduset

#19

Post by fuzzmeister »

zaatar wrote: post #7
raptrex wrote: post #5

1. Slideshow view or whatever you call it where you can press "next" or the right side of the image to go to the next screenshot. I hate clicking to "minimize the screenshot" then clicking again to zoom to the next screenshot 2. Maybe zoom in on that email message since it may give the impression you have to use a gmail account. 3. Page of features and screenshots 4. DEMO ACCOUNT WITHOUT SIGNING UP. No one likes sign…

Yes, the demo account is crucial; a lazy effort would be a screencast (flash-based?). I certainly want to give this a whirl, even though it would not directly help me, but rather, friends of mine who are professors or teaching assistants. But I'm not about to register, activate an account, and then populate it with bogus info and bogus students burning an hour of my time ... the entry barrier is too high :/

I currently have a video walkthrough posted on the left side of the page (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ-WCIKVbRc). Is that the kind of thing you're thinking of, or something more in-depth?

I'll look into the technical aspect of setting up demo accounts, I am beginning to come around to the idea.

Re: Ask HN: Review my classroom web tool, Eduset

#20

Post by Wilduck »

I do like how professional the site looks, however, it took me a while to find out what it would look like to use eduset. What I did find to be very helpful was the video showing linked from "click here to take a tour of eduset". The content of that video was informative, but not at all what I expected. I would place it more prominently on the page, not right above a screenshot (I was surprised those two elements were unrelated) and maybe give it a new name ("See eduset in action"?).

Props on the highly visible "Try it for free" buttons.

No props for the opening line of your faq "Eduset is an online classroom communication tool designed to make teachers' lives easier." Try something that says a little about what eduset actually DOES. While the product certainly does look easier than maintaining a personal webpage, it would be better to state how it makes a teacher's life easier, rather than just saying it will.

Similarly, in your about page, I would suggest moving your first sentence to the end of the paragraph (or at least to right before you talk about contact information.

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