Tutor Trove

Tutor Trove is upgrading!

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:55:00 -0500

The culmination of several weeks of long nights is upon us! From 10:00pm - 11:59pm PST today, we’re going to be switching to a rebuilt architecture - designed from the ground up to protect your data against any trouble!

Our new multi-server setup (for the technical, we’re implementing master-slave replication) will allow us to write changes in real-time, giving us two identical copies of all data, in case one should fail. We’re also doing disk dumps every 15 minutes should both fail, and offsite backups every 2 hours should our entire hosting provider (Amazon) fail. Finally, we’re doing nightly off-site backups in case the entire internet fails. Plan for the worst, hope for the best!
This is just the first step in a series of initiatives over the coming weeks to ensure not only that data is protected against loss, but that we have systems in place to get the site back up on its feet no matter what circumstance befalls it. This will include a suite of monitoring tools to alert us to any irregularities in any of our systems and disaster recovery plans for any level of disruption.

Tutor Trove will be unavailable for some or all of the time during the switch. This is to ensure that the data in our new system is completely fresh and up-to-date. We apologize for that inconvenience - but hope that you’ll like the results! As always, we’re here at info@tutortrove.com or 1-347-688-7683 to answer any questions or help out.
Sincerely yours,The Tutor Trove Team

Our First 1,000 Hour Month!

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:43:00 -0400

Back in April, we posted a major milestone for the company: 1,000 Lifetime Whiteboard Hours. Now, just four months later, we’re thrilled to announce that our servers saw over 1000 hours of online tutoring (and counting) in a single month! That’s over ten times our monthly average through April of this year, and nearly double our previous monthly high.

As the 2011-2012 school year begins, it looks like the next few months will be even busier. We want to thank everyone in the Tutor Trove family for making this possible as we continue to work on providing the best platform out there for online tutoring.

Desmos

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:20:00 -0400

Desmos:

If you haven’t already heard, the Tutor Trove team has been busy launching a brand new company, Desmos. Desmos is a community for people to create educational content that works across platforms, from computers, to in-class touch screens, to mobile devices, with live collaboration built in. Desmos just launched at TechCrunch Disrupt in NYC, and will be at ISTE 2011 starting June 26th.

Find out more at Desmos.com or check out Desmos’ Blog.

IWBs and Content Communities in the Developing World

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 15:51:37 -0400

IWBs and Content Communities in the Developing World:

The link above details a pilot program to bring Interactive Whiteboard Technology to rural schools in Senegal. Using cheap, solar-powered computers, projectors, and cameras, a company called CyberSmart, with the help of USAID, is turning simple nylon screens into interactive Whiteboards.

These makeshift IWBs are now being used in schools that lack most other types of technology - even electricity. The goal is for teachers and students to engage with the technology in a productive, fun way. What’s more, the hope is that teachers will create lessons for these touchscreens and then share them with each other. All of this bodes very well for the future of Ed Tech in the 21st century.

The Whiteboard has grown up, but the spirit remains the same

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:17:00 -0400

The Earliest Board

Files and Images Added

The Interface Redesigned

Today's Incarnation

The Whiteboard has grown up, but the spirit remains the same

1,000 Hours of Tutoring!

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:07:47 -0400

Following close on the heels of yesterday’s announcement of 25,000 files uploaded through our Document Annotator, Tutor Trove just reached another major milestone: our users have just surpassed 1,000 lifetime tutoring hours on our Whiteboard! We’re proud to say that we’ve helped facilitate 60,000 minutes of live, online collaboration. 3.6 million seconds of teaching, learning, and exchanging ideas.

It’s been a challenging and exciting journey. Now, back to the hard work of making our software even better.

25,000 Files Uploaded through the Document Annotator!

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:49:00 -0400

Time to break out the confetti! As of today, over 25,000 documents have been uploaded using our Document Annotator through our stellar partner, Haiku LMS. That’s 25,000 homework assignments, lessons, and files that have been submitted, marked up, and shared by users across the country. We’re proud to announce this milestone in Tutor Trove’s history. Here’s to 25 million more!

The Online Learning Debate

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The Online Learning Debate:

The New York Times just carried this interesting article about the rise in blended learning in school districts across the country. The article focuses on Memphis, a cash-strapped district with many struggling students, which has turned to online learning for some of their students. This has infuriated many opponents, who see the move as a way for Memphis to save money and offer kids lower quality education.

Verdict? It’s a complicated issue, but online learning looks like it’s here to stay. Nothing will every replace the interpersonal connection between teacher and student, but virtual ed has real potential to be a serious force for educational improvement. As the technology improves, so to will the caliber of the instruction. That’s what makes us at Tutor Trove excited to get to work every day.

April Fool's!

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 10:54:00 -0400

So you want cross-platform solutions? Check out Tutor Trove!

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:24:00 -0500

http://bit.ly/i8FdOw\

One more reason to use Tutor Trove! Read this blog post from Educational Publishing. It’s mostly about the cool new products on display at TCEA (and the nearly 13,000 attendants). But there’s this gem at the bottom:

“As much as the attendees were interested in the new technology, though, the educators were concerned about being able to get products delivered on a variety of platforms.”

Our whiteboard works on any standard computer and on all major Whiteboard platforms. Jo-Ann McDevitt, we should talk!

Watch Eli demonstrate Tutor Trove’s software on a...

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:39:00 -0500

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

Watch Eli demonstrate Tutor Trove’s software on a PolyVision Eno Interactive Whiteboard at the Texas Computer Education Association conference! Out in Austin, Eli showed a group of teachers and other ed tech professionals just how easy it is to use our drag and drop functionality on the latest in classroom hardware.

Tutor Trove is Conference-bound

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 17:02:42 -0500

Tutor Trove is excited to be attending two conferences in February—Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC) in Orlando and Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) in Austin. We’re already feeling fired up about these conferences, and not just because the heat is going to be a relief from the blizzards in the northeast. There will be thousands of vendors, teachers, and administrators at each one, and we’re looking forward to sharing our latest innovations with the virtual schools, learning management systems, whiteboard manufacturers, and publishers who will be there. Conferences provide us with a unparalleled opportunity to learn from and connect with others from across the ed tech universe.

To learn more about FETC, click here: http://bit.ly/gXBhdB

For TCEA, click here: http://bit.ly/emRMYK

Watch Tutor Trove's Dropbox In Action!

Sun, 19 Dec 2010 17:04:00 -0500

Haiku LMS’s fresh new version 5.4 is a tour de force with its latest addition, the Dropbox Annotator. Powered by Tutor Trove, this feature gives teachers and students the ability to exchange materials without using a single sheet of paper. Dropbox Annotator allows student to electronically send in homework to their teachers, who can then add notes and comments and then send it back to the student via the Dropbox. This remarkable innovation will make communication in the classroom easier than ever, complementing conventional teaching methods and enhancing the educational experience.

For Haiku’s video of the feature, click below.

http://www.haikulearning.com/files/media/annotate-dropbox-promo-final.mov

New Addition to Tutor Trove!

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 13:31:50 -0500

2010 has been a banner year for the Tutor Trove team, earning sterling accolades (see below) and making progress in leaps and bounds. With the winter season fast approaching, founder Eli Luberoff decided to move boldly into the free agency market and acquire fellow Yalie Mark Cotter. Mark hails from the Los Angeles area and met Eli while they were undergraduates. At Tutor Trove he will be responsible for updating our Twitter, Facebook, and blog pages, bringing you the latest and greatest about Tutor Trove and the broader educational technology industry. Join us in welcoming Mark Cotter to Tutor Trove!

Tutor Trove & TokBox

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:35:26 -0500

With OpenTok launched, we can finally publicly declare our love for TokBox, an awesome startup out of San Francisco.

TokBox will henceforth be powering audio-video chat in our Whiteboard. For our beta clients now, and all clients soon, the Whiteboard will have a button to activate your camera & microphone and share your video, right inside the page:

Here’s what TokBox has to say:

Tutor Trove on the TokBox blog

Tutor Trove is Connecticut's Most Promising Technology Product or Service for 2010!

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:14:00 -0400

On September 30th in downtown New Haven, Tutor Trove was honored by the Connecticut Technology Council as the Most Promising Tech Product of the year. Out of 115 eligible “Companies to Watch,” Tutor Trove took home one of the top prizes for our Whiteboard and Math Tools during the CTC’s 4th Annual Innovation Pipeline Awards. In the words of the press release:

“The event celebrates the most promising early stage and emerging technology companies in Connecticut that are considered to have the best potential to be a successful enterprise.”

This unexpected honor only strengthens our commitment to our goals of energizing education through software and online collaboration.

Among the other winners were two more ventures affiliated with the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute, HadoopDB (most promising software product) and SilviaTerra (most promising new green tech company) - it was a strong night for the alums of the 2010 Summer Fellowship.

What Follows the Fellowship?

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:41:55 -0400

The beginning of August marks the end of the 2010 Yale Entrepreneurial Institute Summer Fellowship. We need a moment to breathe.

For the last ten weeks, Tutor Trove joined 9 other ventures as we immersed ourselves in a gushing fountain of entrepreneurial knowledge, advice, and experience. Speakers from a whole range of backgrounds came to share what they knew with us - Lawyers guided us through the maze of setting up an LLC and filing for intellectual property protection; Media and PR professionals showed us how to walk the publicity tight rope; Entrepreneurs young and old came in to share their stories and talk about their brilliant successes and humbling failures; And mentors provided by the Fellowship melded with each of the teams, bestowing wisdom and shedding light on tough decisions.

Best of all, the enthusiasm of the group was contagious. We were working on projects that spanned the spectrum of innovation. Among others, there were two food ventures, a forestry inventory, a website that aggregated theater reviews, and group of grad students who burned discarded wood chips into biochar. While Tutor Trove couldn’t tell the biochar guys what temperature yields the best soil amendment, we could talk to them about how to reach clients and hone their message.

It was a phenomenal program. Now, the teams have dispersed as they try and apply what they learned. After the frenzy of the summer, it feels a little empty around the office. But Tutor Trove is suited up and better prepared than ever to tackle the problems facing education today.

Ed Tech - the Mile High Perspective

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Tutor Trove just returned from the 2010 International Society for Technology in Education Conference (ISTE) in Denver. It was an experience. Some combination of the altitude and the 18,000 people in attendance left us a little breathless, but we’ve since recovered.

To begin with, the event was held in the Colorado Convention Center, one of the most cavernous buildings we’ve ever been inside. The ground floor was entirely dedicated to workshops and speakers, but the main action was on the second floor exhibit hall. Hundreds of vendors set up shop to hawk their wares to browsing customers. As was the case last year, Interactive Whiteboards dominated the show. SMART, Promethean, Mimio, and numerous others all put on spectacular shows for the public. They were interspersed with dozens upon dozens of software makers, who created everything from curriculum content to Learning Management Systems.

After adjusting to the scope of the conference, Tutor Trove felt right at home. We presented our integrated document editor and Equation Generator with a partner of ours, Haiku LMS, as we successfully tried our software on every Interactive Whiteboard we could find.

One thing was clear from the conference: technology has seeped into schools across the country and around the word. As teachers compete with cell phones for students’ attention, Whiteboards and digital classrooms are becoming standard in the 21st century education. We’ll see what next year’s conference in Philadelphia will bring.

Whiteboards and Autism

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:28:00 -0400

Whiteboards and Autism:

In the last few years, Whiteboards have been emerging as a premier learning tool for students on the autism spectrum. The link above points to an article about a case study at the Spaulding Youth Center in New Hampshire. Once the school introduced interactive Whiteboard technology into its classrooms, autistic students demonstrated a significant jump in attention to daily lessons. With their increased focus, the students began achieving more and advancing beyond what their teachers had previously thought possible. The flexibility of the Whiteboard platform allows students to immerse themselves in lessons and enjoy what they’re doing, which for many children with autism is essential for learning. This encouraging news about Whiteboards may be the beginning of a new direction in the still hazy world of autism education.

The Spaulding Youth Center in New Hampshire focuses on children with psychological and neurological disabilities (http://www.spauldingyouthcenter.org). They began using interactive Whiteboards in their classrooms in 2006.

Version 7 of the Whiteboard is Up!

Thu, 20 May 2010 13:30:31 -0400

The latest version of the Tutor Trove Whiteboard has officially been launched! The upgrades include:

1) A redesigned look - the Whiteboard is now full-screen, with collapsible chat and image toolbars

2) Searchable Image Libraries

3) A brand-new document uploader - this tool allows you to import and work on documents directly within the Whiteboard. Simply upload a file and then drag it right onto the Board. This feature recognizes a wide range of file types.

4) Shareable screen shots - when you use our camera tool, any screen shot you take is now shared by everyone on the Board

Check below for some screen shots to get a better sense of the look and feel of the new Whiteboard, and stay tuned for more exciting updates from the Trove.

For more information, contact greg@tutortrove.com.