Last week, Toronto-based
Mindshare Learning announced that it had partnered with San Diego-based software firm
Tech4Learning to win a bid to provide Ontario public elementary schools with creativity software. The software will allow students to develop podcasts, online storybooks, videos and Flash animations.
According to Mindshare Learning President Robert Martellacci, this is an important step for local schools in the "emerging 21st-century movement that requires kids to be prepared for the global economy." Martellacci had a background in educational technology that led him, in 2008, to launch Mindshare as a publisher about educational technology and a consulting firm in the same field. He says that since then, his firm has seen 50% year-over-year growth in the field, and now employs five to 10 people -- mostly contract employees -- at any given time on a project-by-project basis.
Martellacci says that, in the absence of any federal educational standards body in Canada, a company like his that can help share information across provinces is pivotal. "There was a real pent-up demand for this type of service," he says. "I'm constantly being courted -- I expect even more explosive growth on the horizon."
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Robert Martellacci, Mindshare Learning