I had a very interesting lunch meeting today with Derek Brandow and Jason Gallic of the YBGroup. That’s also YottaByte Group, and it’s about changing our education system. Ask yourself: What does technology have to do with education? Think of a 15-year-old kid you know. Outside the class, it’s cell phones, IM, SMS, Facebook, and so on. Inside the class, it’s essays, math homework, tests, start the period with a bell, end it with a bell . . .
“But wait a minute!” I hope you’re saying, the one world has nothing to do with the other. What would texting have to do with education? Hmmm . . . what’s wrong with this picture? Why does the one world have nothing to do with the other? Does that make any sense at all?
Gallic and Brandow are building a business plan around their way to prepare young people for the world the rest of us live in, using the tools the rest of us use, with processes (like collaboration, for example) similar to what the rest of us use. Seems like a good idea to me. I’m looking forward to getting more details, but from what I heard today, this is a business, with a business model. Not all far-reaching ideas to change education have to be nonprofits.
And, by the way, I love stories as a way to communicate, and I love the way their website tells a story to help us understand what they’re after. And I mean really tells a story, as in A fictional account of a YB student. If you’re interested in this, read the story.
Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software and Bplans.com. Follow him on Twitter @Timberry.
