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Qstream brings Q&A learning to mobile phones [Boston Herald]
(Boston Herald (MA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 08--Burlington startup Qstream Inc. has developed technology to improve learning for the mobile generation.
"We provide a way for people to learn something just by answering a couple of questions every day from their smartphone or their computer," co-founder and CEO Duncan Lennox said. "It's a really easy way for people to take their learning."
Customers using the real-time learning system supply questions to create a course or "stream" and send them to their desired audience. Users' answers are analyzed, and data is provided back to the customer to show how its learners are doing, areas where they're having difficulties and how engaged they are with the process.
Those answering the questions, meanwhile, can score points and track via leader boards how well they've performed and how it stacks up to their peers. A comment section lets them engage in debates about the questions and answers for an interactive experience.
Qstream initially is targeting senior sales and marketing managers in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, and the company already has multibillion companies as its customers. Its pitch is that they can use Qstream to ensure their sales forces understand their products and communicate the benefits to their physician and surgeon customers.
A free Qstream product will be released early next year for educational use.
"We found them willing to accept and use the technology, and learn a lot from their experience," Lennox
Qstream's patented "spaced education methodology" is based on research developed at Harvard by company adviser Dr. B. Price Kerfoot, associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School. His work earned him a nod last month as one of 94 researchers to receive a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers -- the highest honor that the U.S. government gives to science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.
"We were applying rigorous clinical trial methods to evaluate education and education technology," said Kerfoot. "What we found was that the retention of learning from traditional online modules was extremely poor."
Qstream's question-and-answer system is based on two psychological research findings: the spacing effect and the testing effect.
"If you present information and repeat it over spaced intervals of time, it increases acquisition and retention of knowledge" Kerfoot said.
Most people think that testing is just a means to measure knowledge -- "put a dipstick in a car and pull it out and see how much is in the tank," Kerfoot said.
"But the process of testing itself can dramatically improve the retention of learning," he said. "Normally Web-based testing often requires you to get root canals to complete it. But with the Qstream approach, people very much enjoy the process, especially seeing how well they perform relative to others."
Qstream, which launched in 2008 with Harvard as a shareholder, is a MassChallenge finalist. It's raised $850,000 of a $1.2 million seed funding round, with Boston's Launchpad Venture Group taking the lead.
dgoodison@bostonherald.com
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(c)2011 the Boston Herald
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