Twigmore

New Advisor Nisreen Shocair

Peter Baer — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:41:56 +0000

Twigmore would like to welcome Nisreen Shocair as an advisor. She is the President of Virgin Megastore for the Middle East (VMME). Nisreen has built the Virgin brand across the region by incorporating local and international consumption trends into the shopping experience. She has also held positions at Blockbuster Entertainment, Sony Music, Bertelsmann AG and Hearst Entertainment. We’re looking forward to her input on everything from brand building to addressing international markets.

New Advisor Dr. Vanessa Dennen

Peter Baer — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:17:35 +0000

Twigmore would like to welcome Vanessa Dennen as an advisor. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems at Florida State University. As a researcher, Vanessa studies online discourse and communities of practice. Her primary teaching areas include program evaluation, learning theory and designing interactive courseware. She has a Ph.D. in Instructional Systems Technology and an M.S. in Educational Psychology (Learning & Cognition, Inquiry) from Indiana University. We couldn’t be happier to have her involved in the company.

New Advisor Lloyd Bromberg

Peter Baer — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:01:46 +0000

Twigmore would like to welcome Lloyd Bromberg as an adviser. Most recently he was the Director of School Programs for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Lloyd also served as Director of Social Studies and Director of Staff Development for the New York City Public Schools. His experience will be invaluable in helping us develop our service. We are very excited to have him on board and look forward to working together.

SCRABBLE TWIG: “Don’t Play Scared”

Allison Baer — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:08:25 +0000

Back in my Scrabble-playing days, Joel Sherman, former World Scrabble Champion and director of the Manhattan Scrabble Club used to tell me, “Don’t play scared.” After all, I learned, it is much more important to play offensively, doing the best we can with our own tiles rather than worrying about how much better our opponents may be or what they may do with their tiles.

Joel’s mantra, a pillar of his “Newbie’s First Scrabble Lesson,” also happens to be a “twig,” or burst of enlightenment, that I have taken beyond Scrabble and applied to my life. Broadly speaking, I try to take risks and follow my instincts rather than lose sleep thinking about what others are doing or what could go wrong. The lesson continues to serve me well.

Although I no longer attend the Scrabble Club, I still play regularly online and read the Club’s weekly newsletter. After all, I never know where I will pick up a valuable twig.

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!

Federal Effort to Push Junk Food from Public Schools

Peter Baer — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:33:23 +0000

NY Times article says the Obama administration will begin a drive this week to expel Pepsi, french fries and Snickers bars from the nation’s schools in hopes of reducing the number of children who get fat during their school years. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says that any vending machines that remain in schools should be “filled with nutritious offerings to make the healthy choice the easy choice for our nation’s children.” We think it’s interesting that Georgia Republican Saxby Chambliss is involved, given the fact that Coca Cola is based in his home state.

Yale Faces $150 Million Deficit, Forced to Make Cuts

Peter Baer — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:34:36 +0000

NY Times article on Yale University announcing that it’s planning a number of steps to close a remaining $150 million budget gap, including cutting staff, freezing salaries for deans and officers, reducing the number of graduate students — even turning down all thermostats to 68 degrees. Richard C. Levin, Yale’s president, and Peter Salovey, its provost, said the measures are necessary because of the drop in the endowment to $16.3 billion last June from its peak of $22.9 billion in June 2008. Many other elite universities have been affected by the economic downturn as well.

Apple iPad vs Kindle DX: Which is Better for Education?

Peter Baer — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:08:29 +0000

Interesting PCWorld blog on the pluses and minuses of each device. The author points out that if the iPad doesn’t succeed as a consumer electronics device–its initial target market–it may find a successful second career as an electronic textbook reader. The fledgling e-textbook market looks promising, and there’s little competition right now aside from the Kindle DX, which has undergone a few university trials in recent months, including one at Princeton University. It seems likely that new technologies like these will be useful in educating more efficiently.

My Time at Twigmore

Cory Harris — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:51:02 +0000

It was a bit less than a month ago that I wrote my first post for Twigmore marking the beginning of an experience that I will truly cherish. I have learned a lot from working with the Twigmore team in terms of the challenges and rewards of starting and running a business. It has been a pleasure to be a part of Twigmore’s growth this month and I have enjoyed watching the success of a company so dedicated to advancing the way people learn. I look forward to Twigmore’s continued success as the company continues to grow.

Editor’s Note: Cory joined us as part of the MIT Externship Program.