POPtalk

++ UPDATE ++ The deadline for this position is now 21st August 2009. To be considered please ensure your application is received by this date.

BrainPOP UK is looking for a special someone.

A Customer Advocate. Someone who can create customer evangelists by nurturing great communications and customer experiences.

Naturally we sat down to write a job description. It ended up looking like A.N.Other job description, useful, but boring.

We realised that what we really want is someone who just wants to make our customers feel adored.

Someone who can see all the different ways that can be done and make it happen. We’re comfortable with providing a broad and open remit as long as you can prove you are up to it.

We need someone in our team who has the experience and knowledge to bring together all our current marketing work (and experiments!) to create a “user happiness” strategy for BrainPOP UK that focuses on engaging communication, community and, most importantly, customer experience.

Your challenge is to increase awareness, trial take up, sales conversions and enable our (potential and current) customers to feel engaged with BrainPOP UK.

You should:

• Instinctively “get” how to weave stories in and around BrainPOP UK, our customers and the market we operate in. You spot opportunities and make thoughtful and considered proposals for campaigns and innovations.
• Know the difference between hype and excitement.
• Be a black belt in data wrangling and insight.
• Be passionate about great copy. Writing is one of the best things EVER.
• Believe that customer support is marketing too.
• Relish the idea of working in a small company, start up culture and hot house environment, with all the pleasure and pain that brings. You will represent a big chunk of BrainPOP UK and you will be working with some extremely talented people. You will have to stand up and be counted against them.
• Be excited about working under our team motto: “Always be yourself, but on a good day“.

You shouldn’t:

• Be reliant on print advertising, direct mail, cold calling and all that jazz. Occasionally they’re appropriate, but we/you believe there are better ways too.
• Be afraid of jumping on the phone and talking to real life customers.
• Think social media is a panacea. You should understand that it takes time, authenticity and persistence. We love working in this space and we hope you will too. Developing a strong social media presence will be a key part of the role.

It would be nice if:

• You had a background in some capacity in the education arena, get the jargon and our market place idiosyncrasies. If not, do your homework.
• Be comfortable with online media and technology.
• You actually want to work for BrainPOP UK.

What do you get in return?

• You get to work inside one of the most fun and exciting elearning companies in the world, with offices in New York, Mexico, Paris, Israel and China. And in Oxford of course. Undoubtedly there will be opportunities to travel.
• You get to develop relationships with some of the most interesting, passionate (and challenging!) customers there are: Teachers, Parents and Kids.
• You get to work across a multitude of disciplines, such as social media, event promotion, PR, SEO and others that YOU will recommend to us.
• Salary? Well, you know what you are realistically worth. We’re not advertising a salary quite deliberately. Pitch us.

OK, now we have your attention how do you apply?

Clearly we’re not going to ask you to fill out an job application form. I haven’t got time to write one and you must be able to think of a better way of making yourself stand out from the crowd. If you can’t sell yourself how can we expect you to sell BrainPOP UK?

So…maybe you could email us a CV and a link to your blog, Twitter feed, Linked in page, MySpace page, Youtube channel or however and whatever you do to hang out. Or write us a hand written letter on orange notepaper about why you think BrainPOP UK is the company for you and how you will rock our world. Perhaps you want to make us a podcast job application? Or is making a short video telling us why you want to work here more your style?

Help us understand what makes you you.

If you have character, experience, ideas, charisma, great copy writing skills and think you know how to get people excited about BrainPOP UK this could be your perfect job.

We know we’re asking a lot. But go on, apply, we dare you. We double dare you. If we like you enough we’ll invite you to interview and meet the team.

I am going to present complex information about Swine Flu, or H1N1, in a  clear, simple, friendly way based on my own experience.

This is not really a post about BrainPOP UK. We made our special movie about Swine Flu for kids, and placed it on You Tube as well as our site, and it has had 12,000 views (so far) on YouTube alone – partly because it seems no one else is explaining this subject in a way that communicates clearly to a younger audience.

Weirdly, we are also finding that our movie is being used by adults, and those informing adults, in workplaces and even in care homes for the elderly.

Unfortunately, it seems that no one in government, or in senior positions in our health services and media, can find a way of doing this for grown ups without further adding to the confusion and hysteria!

Like thousands of parents this weekend, I was not just concerned in general, but very specifically. One of my children got ill.

High temp, sore throat, and very listless. So, we looked for information to see whether she might have swine flu, and whether we should go to the doctors.

We walked in to a sea of poorly communicated and misleading information.

The main symptoms that adults are meant to watch out for include aspects of self-reporting (a really bad headache? aches and pains typical of a bad flu?) which a small child cannot possibly accurately provide.

We thought she was ok but did not want to miss the 24 hour window to give her anti-virals (Tamiflu). We also had that strange and unnecessary fear of being seen to overreact when she probably just had a normal bug.

So, should we go to the doctors, call NHS Direct…wait and see? What are the risks of not going? The doctors surgeries don’t want people who think they have swine flu in the building.

We rang NHS Direct and they got our doctor to ring us and he diagnosed over the phone. She did not have Swine Flu. For the moment, we believe are in the clear – and our daughter is almost 100% this morning. Good news!

So, what is the bad news (apart from the ongoing risk and growing pandemic)?

There is a huge disconnect between the messages and information available to the general public, and the debate and data that the experts are grappling with.

Put simply, the science and statistics are being poorly reported, because the belief amongst those who are setting policy is that the general public cannot handle the facts and uncertainties without panicking.

Is this true? Are we so poorly informed and educated in these areas that when something of this level of importance challenges our whole society that we find ourselves on the wrong side of a gulf from the experts?

40 years ago, all of the world was inspired by the lunar landings and the power of science was made accessible and attainable to all. We have some enormous challenges before us – such as finding sustainable energy sources, economic models, and new health concerns.

Our science establishment should be demonstrating the depth and value of this aspect of society at this time of crisis – and bridging the divide between our fears and what we can all positively do to protect our families and communities.

These failings have been exemplified by the advice given to pregnant mothers over the weekend. But, in many ways, this is our fault too!

The terrible truth is that we all have got used the idea that science is something that we don’t need to think about because someone else will explain it to us. Only one journalist seems to be giving us the news that we deserve – but nowhere else

As a nation, our quality and numbers of science students have been dropping off a cliff, and we are struggling to fill spaces in engineering and health roles in the UK, due to a lack of high calibre applicants. Science is something that other people do – right?

So, what is my simple advice?

• Demand clearer information from your sources. Post comments on the website of the paper you read if they are not explaining thing in a way that helps you.
• Your doctor is human. Get used to the idea that the health services you depend on might not know best or enough. And that is ok! Ask them questions – but don’t freak out if they cannot give you a simple answer. Ask them to explain it again in a clearer way. We all deserve to know the facts – and part of a doctor’s job is to explain health issues to us.
• Your instincts are probably right about your kid – and if you are worried – get help, and don’t wait.
• Statistics are only useful in context. They do not predict the future. If you don’t understand them – ask your doctor or find someone who does.
• Tell your children how you feel about it. Make it clear that you are trying to find out about Swine Flu and that information is empowering. Tell them to Catch it, Bin it, Kill it and to maintain good hand hygiene. But don’t hide  that you are worried, and that there is something to be worried about!

(post script – just had a call from my wife, and she has come home early from work feeling poorly…. Uh oh!)

We’d like to wish all our school BrainPOPpers a wonderful and relaxing break over the Summer.

We’re still open throughout so if you need us, we’re here.

As well as all our Twittering, blogging and Youtube-ing (is that even a word?) you can now join in via our brand new “BrainPOP UK on Facebook” Fan page, where you can become a Fan to stay in touch with what BrainPOP’s up to.

We’ll write in more detail about our Facebook page another time, including some tantalising competitions and giveaways.

Coming next term is a marvellous amount of BrainPOP UK goodness. Here’s a few to wet your appetite:

• BrainPOP UK’s new “Planning Tool 2.0“.
• 100′s more movies and quizzes, including exclusive UK movies such as Bonfire Night, Emergency 999! and The Queen.
• Tim and Moby goodies like T-shirts, cut outs, badges and posters to put sparkle into the BrainPOP UK experience.

…oh, just take it from us, we’re going to be very busy continuing to make BrainPOP UK the most engaging educational resource on the planet.

See you after the Summer! ♥ The BrainPOP UK team

“Errare humanum est” said Seneca the Younger.

“Cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare” said Marcus Tullius Cicero.

“To err is human, to forgive divine“, said Alexander Pope.

“Nobody’s perfect” says BrainPOP UK. But we try harder.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daviddoctorrose/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

We’d like to cut all you lovely folks who have bought BrainPOP UK a deal. If you spot an error on our website, in a movie or quiz or anywhere on the product site and you let us know we will extend your subscription by 1 week, as a thank you. Really.

You can submit as many errors as you like. We hope you don’t spot any, but we also know realistically on a site the size and depth of BrainPOP UK anything’s possible. This is an educational resource and needs to cleave to the highest standards.

As we are a webservice and not constrained to printing presses or CDROMs we can change things quickly. With your help and eagle eyes we can try to minimise issues and make BrainPOP UK the best it possibly can be.

Small print:

• We have the last word on whether something is an error.
• We’re not applying this retrospectively.
• We retain the right to accept or deny any submission.
• We can withdraw this offer at any time.
• The same error cannot be reported and/or claimed for twice. First come, first served!
• This offer is only open to customers who have paid for an annual  subscription to BrainPOP UK.

So, if a mistake we’ve made has been bothering you but you didn’t think it was worth bringing to our attention, well, now it is. So get in touch!

On Wednesday 8th July 2009 we attended our first local Oxfordshire LA event – the Harnessing Technology across the Curriculum conference at the impressive Frank Williams F1 conference center.

And...they're...off!

“This free event will showcase the exciting ways that teachers and pupils are using technology to enhance learning and teaching across the curriculum in Oxfordshire primary, secondary and special schools.

The programme includes seminar sessions presented by teachers using the Oxfordshire Learning Platform and other technologies in schools, and exhibition stands from major educational ICT suppliers.

Attendees also are able to visit Frank Williams’ famous museum of over 40 Formula 1 racing cars at the Centre. “

Smaller events like these couldn’t be further from the giant BETT type shows. We think it’s important to try to do both.

At BETT you get lots and lots of visitors. It’s hard to catch your breath if you’re running a stand. It’s rare a stand attendee doesn’t go home without strained vocal cords and blisters. Teachers tend to hunt in packs at the big trade shows so often you’ll be demoing to 3 or 4 people, sometimes even a crowd, and be up against the noise all around you.

At local events like this you get much more opportunity to do one on one time with teachers. As there are only a handful of suppliers to go round they can take their time.

Oddly enough we found that teachers who came to see us and fell a little in love with BrainPOP UK didn’t tend to sign up for free trial on the spot like they do at larger trade shows. But we’re fairly confident they will when they next sit down at a PC.

Potentially this was simply because it was nearly the summer break. We also think a local show is simply less focused on selling (at BETT it’s expected behaviour to be scanned for evaluations or entered into competitions etc) so there’s no pressure to sign up to anything. As the conversations are more in depth there’s much less chance of forgetting.

Events of this type are less explicitly commercial (there were a number of local schools displaying their ICT adventures in amongst the suppliers). The stands weren’t shouty and glossy. All the stands were very similar – they simply implied “Pop over and have a chat”.

Which suited us just fine. The feedback we got was fantastic and I dare say we’ll soon be welcoming some Oxfordshire schools to the BrainPOP UK family in September. Some highlights:

• Meeting Nick Speller and James Bird from the Oxfordshire ICT Advisory team – thanks for looking after us and making us feel so welcome, guys!
• The whole BrainPOP UK team got a chance to see Dawn Hallybone do her thing in her “Game based learning in the Classroom” seminar, using Nintendo DS consoles to deliver real demonstrable value in the classroom. Talk about hyper engaging teaching tools. If you ever get a chance to see her present on this topic we highly recommend it.
• The Sonning Common School radio seminar (their kids went home with lots of Tim and Moby stickers – are there any kids who don’t want stickers?) and have uploaded a blog post here with some great photos: SCPS Radio @ the ICT Conference .
• Katie from 2Simple was there and she’s always a pleasure to hang out with.
• The dozens of pupils who ravaged our stand for free goodies and a chance to watch Tim and Moby movies. My personal highlight was when a teacher gathered her pupils and asked them to venture forth and visit every stand and report back to her what they’d seen and what they’d like to use in school. Immediately, and almost in synchronisation, they shouted “BRAINPOP!“. Brilliant.
• The F1 Museum – not my cup of tea but others on the team couldn’t believe their luck. There was even talk of a Tim and Moby F1 movie!

Louise gets all a-flutter at being so close to a real F1 car

PS: You can see an overview of the event by checking out the Twitter search on the conference hash tag “#oxict09“. If you are not sure what a hash tag is it’s worth reading this article on hash tags.

Nick Speller told me over a coffee that the Oxfordshire ICT team are trying to popularise #oxteach to create a living, breathing way of highlighting all interesting conversations around what’s happening with ICT in Oxfordshire. Even though it’s still very early days with this we say bravo! As we are based on Oxford we will also use this tag where we can.

What sort of education should there be in 2025? That was the bold question that the Beyond Current Horizons project at Futurelab asked a year or so ago.

My name is Eylan Ezekiel, and as I have been following this Futurelab project closely, I thought I would dedicate my first post on the POPTalk Blog to this exciting initiative. I also have a big question for you, a little later in this post!

The huge number of contributions this project received, and involvement it sparked, shows that despite the immediate realities; political, pedagogical and financial, a huge number of people involved in education are thinking about futures almost unrecognisable as ‘Schooling’.

In bringing together all this powerful thinking, those lovely people at Futurelab have just launched a new resource for all of us in Education – called Vision Mapper .  This fascinating site presents 6 Scenarios for education beyond 2025:

Informed Choice

The Independent Consumer

Discovery

Diagnosis

Integrated Experience

Service and Citizenship

…

..

…

Rather than repeat these here – I would urge you to read the scenarios and try to make time in your organisation to complete some of the activities suggested and use the resources provided. As you will see these scenarios cover a broad range of philosophical starting points, and political viewpoints – from the idea of an open educational marketplace, education funded by organisation to create useful members of that group, to education as a socially intergrated exploration.

Now, any of you who have met me, either at BrainPOP UK, or in any of my previous roles (as a primary teacher, publisher or freelancer),  can probably guess my prefered scenarios. And those of you who haven’t (you lucky, lucky people!) probably don’t care what I think! For those of you who are still teaching, this is likely to be even more true because I am not teaching, but come from ‘commercial interests’. Which, brings me to my reason for posting.

Like thousands of others, I gave my views to the Beyond Current Horizons Project, and talked at length with colleagues in schools and industry, as well as those in the Futurelab team, including Senior Researcher Dan Sutch. Dan asked me a great question.

He asked why educational publishers don’t get more involved in a dialogue about the transformation of education. My answer was, unsurprisingly, that it is not in their interests where they need to extract maximum value from the physical print products they have invested so heavily into.

This disconnect and mutual distrust between education professionals and those with commercial interests has always been a problem that I cannot stop engaging with, because new technology is forcing us all closer together. So, when teachers ask for more exciting ways to engage with high quality published content, they often meet with a barrier.

However, companies like BrainPOP UK are not trapped like this. Our content can continue to have life and value in a range of possible futures, and in a range of business models. So I can openly be part of the great debates, and pull the new, exciting ideas into the plans we have for future development and products. But this is harder when the rest of the industry are so far behind.

The most exciting teachers, who are pushing the boundaries, tend to be in the minority and their influence – even when they are as inspirational as Tom Barratt and  @Dawn Hallybone (Twitter).

Which brings me to the reason for posting, which is to ask a harder question – “What can creators of quality digital content, like BrainPOP UK, proactively do to support transformation in education toward 2025 and beyond? If anything?”

What are we, at BrainPOP UK,  already doing?

• Actively supporting cutting edge teachers, like Tom and Dawn, by sending them goodies, spreading the word about them, and helping them out in little ways we can
• Being involved in the debate! Attending conferences, sponsoring TeachMeets, like we did at BETT09, and contributing to online conversations.
• Opening ourselves up for review! We want and expert all our users to expect the best of us now, and for us to be developing and extending the service we offer for the future. This blog is one very important channel for that, but we can always do more…

SO,… what do you think we should be doing?