My name is Nikhil Singhal, and I am a developer, strategist, and currently, a VP of Software Engineering. I have a great respect for education as my parents were educators, my business partner has been an educator and I am a parent of two children.

Today, education is everybody’s focus. We spend a lot of time talking about what students are learning and whether they are meeting the standards of learning. But, we are not spending a lot of time talking about the teachers. How can we keep our teachers focused, motivated and prepared? How can we help them grow beyond the school curriculums to learn global ways of solving a similar teaching problem? How we can get them connected to one another in a meaningful way?

My product, Train and Mentor, will allow teachers across the world to share knowledge, methodologies and tips and tricks with one another. Train and Mentor will connect educators around the globe based on similar interests and skills. It will enable them to share knowledge via discussions, notes and recorded video and audio sessions. For example, a math teacher in Seattle can learn innovative new ways to teach from a math teacher in Tokyo. This unique social network for educators will benefit everyone – teachers, students, schools parents, et cetera. It’s a win-win situation.

As the user rated and reviewed content grows, educational institutions, parents and literally everyone can buy a monthly subscription to learn from the content. Part of the subscription money will go to the author(s) of the content to ensure that new fresh high quality content is always being generated.

If you believe in this idea, this notion of connecting educators and helping them to create bonds that will last beyond boundaries, then I would be honored to have you on my team. Developers, designers, marketers – all are welcome.

Thank you for your time and attention.

In order to achieve such -- I believe that an information system platform should be developed. One that will allow a student to visually see their full educational progress. A system that will also keep track of their past achievements, works, and alike creating a historical database for the student to display themselves. This will also be pertinent for future jobs, high education and alike. One that will allow them to communicate and collaborate with other students. A platform that will also provide incentives both tangible and non-tangible to complete their educational progress -- essentially social-Gamification education.

Incentivization leads to actions. This can be seen in video games such as xbox live, World of Warcraft, playstation network, and etc where non-tangible (and meaningless) 'achievements' are provided in doing tasks. Same goes for applications such as 'four-square' - which provides achievements for 'checking-in'. It proves that human nature is willing to perform tasks needed if it is incentivatized -- or at least the 'feeling' of being rewarded. That is how the current grade system works in education. If we can manipulate that feeling - and provide educational Gamification on a platform - student turnover rate can increase.

@GalaxyGobbo #MaveronScholarship

Study in a groups helps everyone in the group. Being a student for years, I found learning is more effective when you study with a group of peers. People are more focused when everyone else around are working hard. A group creates a positive atmosphere for study. Furthermore, yours peers can provide help and feedback when you need it.

To make groups study easier and more common among students, we can create tools to help students know each other in large classes, provide a more natural way for students to form groups, and make communication easier within groups. Never wait for the Professor assign groups again!

My idea is a crowd-funding site for high school and early college aged students. Think of this as a niche Kickstarter, with a catch... Not only do you have to raise your capital, but you need a mentor to be fully funded (and a business plan to participate at all).

I want to curate a list of entrepreneurs who would be interested in mentoring these students and match them up based on their field of expertise.

I learned entrepreneurship at a young age by buying and selling Pogs, Beanie Babies, T-Shirts and other items. I believe that these simple arbitrage or retail businesses taught me to keep my eyes open for opportunities, and really shaped the way I see the world (with an entrepreneurial eye). I want this site to help others do the same.

@StephenMedawar w/ #MaveronScholarship

Being a current college student myself, I've noticed that much of the learning process is in actually working and interacting with other students in the classroom setting.

It benefits students on both ends by having certain students help "tutor/mentor" others while on the other end, students receive addition peer help. This experience strengthens the classroom as a whole and provides a much more deep thought process versus merely studying for the class and not entirely grasping all concepts taught.

A solution I believe that will facilitate this is through students being able to connect or "check-in" to their classes to see other students in the same class while being able to communicate with each other, ask questions, and network versus the current alternative of connecting via facebook and getting caught up in the unproductive "social" environment (mafia wars, cityville, etc.).

@peterkchen #MaveronScholarship

1. The Gates Foundation finds that an effective teacher is perhaps the #1 explanatory variable for a successful student. 2. Many people are "career switching" into teaching, often based on a late-found love of the craft. 3. But unions often by definition end up protecting both effective and ineffective teachers as a group and make it hard for new ones to succeed/advance. 4. But being a bad teacher doesn't mean one is bad at everything, right? 5. Is there a marketplace connecting, for starters, a range of unionized industries who could agree to "swap" members, e.g., a poor teacher might be a great Boeing HR manager or Dow lab technician. Or a bored welder might be a fantastic shop teacher... Could this remove a barrier that keeps people in roles they A) aren't good at and/or B) don't enjoy but stay for the security/inertia? Also creates a market for approved third-party training companies.... Also "protects" the unions b/c there is effectively a "player trade" rather than a defection from the union.

School and higher education is designed around the factory model with managers and middle managers. The world is changing but education is still teaching in this model of lecturing and teachers as experts. To change schools to more of a learning environment that encourages creativity and innovation, I see the need for an Innovation Center where a K-12 school and a teacher-education program at a University design the "School of the Future." Students, teachers, and university students will be co-learners and co-designers of their learning. This school will be used as a model for teacher training, curriculum development, and assessment. @bbray

University tuitions have skyrocketed to the point where graduates are saddled with excessive debt. The University of Washington has increased tuition to record levels. The cost of a University has become prohibitive for many prospective students

At the same time major research Universities are creating tremendous innovations in fields ranging from database architecture to nanotechnology. Yet Universities fail to extract the full commercial of value of these technologies--a potentially huge revenue source for many schools.

I propose solving both of these problems simultaneously by creating new infrastructure for research commercialization, in which students work in both the research labs and spin-off ventures to assist in commercialization in exchange for reduced tuition. This could incentivize many students to study more high-tech disciplines (something we badly need if the US wants to maintain its status as a global innovator) while simultaneously raising revenues for large research Universities allowing them to lower or maintain tuition levels.
@brewws #MaveronScholarship