Twigmore » Stephen Smyth

The Bass Guitar Now Has Sound!

Stephen Smyth — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:19:14 +0000

The other day I was excited to receive a thank you note from Mr. O, the teacher who submitted the Donorschoose.org “Bass Guitar Without Sound” project we described in a recent post. Here is a line from the note which I found particularly moving:

“My students who are not used to hearing such a bass timbre could not believe what the instrument sounded like with a good high quality amplifier…”

I encourage all of you to help others twig in a personal way through Donorschoose.org!

Twigmore Presents at the Entrepreneurs Roundtable

Stephen Smyth — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:16:05 +0000

We were proud to be selected as one of five companies to present last week at the Entrepreneurs Roundtable. The Roundtable is a monthly event that brings together entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists and strategic investors. We want to thank Steve Brotman of Greenhill SAVP and others who provided great feedback on our presentation. Thanks also to Murat Aktihanoglu (@muratny) for organizing the evening!

Watch First Twigmore Class on Demand!

Stephen Smyth — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:53:20 +0000

We are excited to bring you the full video on demand of our first class “How to Write a Winning College Application Essay” taught by education consultant Dr. Allison Baer! Hope you find it helpful and please let us know what you think. Happy Twigging!

Donating Sound to the “Bass Guitar With No Sound”

Stephen Smyth — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:21:21 +0000

My brother and his wife recommended Donorschoose.org to me over a year ago. I finally got around to trying out the site and recently making a donation. Donorschoose.org is “an online charity connecting you to classrooms in need.” In other words, teachers post descriptions of class projects and materials needed, donors choose the projects they want to contribute to and then the students follow-up to thank the donor and show what they learned.

As an example, I chose to contribute to the “Bass Guitar with No Sound” project. This project caught my eye because I grew up humming bass lines and wanting to play the bass guitar, but only getting that chance later in life. I love the fact that I can help a group of students to follow their dreams and twig a musical instrument. We at Twigmore like this kind of grassroots initiative – improving one classroom at a time!

Join the Discussion and Shape Your Digital Photography Class!

Stephen Smyth — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:49:36 +0000

We have been polling our audience over the past week and so far over 40% of the respondents say they would pay to take a class on Digital Photography. We encourage you to join our discussion on Facebook to tell us which specific Digital Photography classes you would find useful. Thanks and look forward to twigging from you!

First Poll from Twigmore!

Stephen Smyth — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:57:46 +0000

We are delighted to announce our first poll! It only takes one minute to complete and you also get to see the results to date of the poll. As we develop our next classes we would like to hear from you, our audience, to find out what you would like to twig. This is part of our continuing drive to make the best educators accessible to everyone by taking geographic constraints out of the education equation.

We’re Looking for a Leader in Education Technology to Join Our Board of Advisors

Stephen Smyth — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:21:06 +0000

Today we are starting a search for a leader in education technology to join our Board of Advisors. The purpose of the position is to advise the Twigmore team on how to solve problems in education using innovative technologies that empower people. As we serve a global audience through our virtual space, the position can be based anywhere with a computer and a high-speed internet connection.

The role’s responsibilities include 1) advising the Twigmore team on an ad hoc basis, 2) making introductions to potential customers, vendors, employees or marketing partners and 3) contributing to regular Board of Advisors meetings. Desired skills include experience in teaching, researching and consulting in the field of education technology.

You can contact us about this opportunity at hr@twigmore.com. Look forward to hearing from interested folks!

Twigging from Tweeting – Follow @twigmore!

Stephen Smyth — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:31:43 +0000

Welcome to @twigmore on Twitter! We reserved our Twitter username a while back, but frankly hadn’t done much with it. After a bit of prodding from the Twigmore community, we decided it was time to join the ‘twitterscape.’ Hope you enjoy the conversation…

Stimulus Money Increasing Access to Education in Remote Areas

Stephen Smyth — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:46:03 +0000

Report out today that federal stimulus funds are starting to be spent on upgrading high-speed data networks in remote parts of the United States. The first $182M of the allocated $7.2B is being handed out today to over 17 states. Interesting to note that the money will go not only towards putting networks in place but also towards “encouraging more Americans to use them.” Presumably this implies that there will be an associated marketing budget. The networks will primarily link schools, colleges, universities, hospitals and government facilities. We welcome this initiative as it will only bolster our raison d’etre of making “the best educators accessible to everyone by taking geographic constraints out of the education equation.”

Introducing First Class Free

Stephen Smyth — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:26:32 +0000

As we continue to experiment with new ways of offering our service, we are introducing a ‘first class is free’ promotion for our class ‘Twigmore: How to Write a Winning College Application Essay.’ Unlike many other services, we don’t require entry of a credit card number to take advantage of this free trial promotion. We’ll be trying this out as a limited time offer to see how it works. As always, love your feedback on this idea as comments on this post or by visiting the Twigmore community.