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Program Ready

Curated Program-Specific Content for International Students

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What Program Ready Is

Program Ready is an app that provides international students with easy access to a wealth of up-to-date reading and listening content in their intended program of study. This non-profit initiative seeks to fill a gap in international students’ exposure to targeted English-language resources and encourage active collaboration with peers. The app can be downloaded for free once a student in a partner institution has obtained conditional acceptance to a college program.

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What We Provide

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Pain Point

The number of post-secondary international students is increasingly rapidly in Ontario (Languages Canada), but by in large, non-native English-speaking students are not being adequately prepared for success in their program of choice. They pay up to seven times as much as domestic students (Canadian Federation of Students) and are expected to make up 20% of the total enrolment in these institutions by 2022 (CBIE).


There is a gap between the rapidly increasing enrolment rate and the services put in place to help support students so they can be successful in their field of study. Students coming from through general academic English bridging programs or using English proficiently test scores, enter their programs disadvantaged because of their lack of previous exposure to program-related content in English. Data indicates that they less likely to graduate from their programs compared with their domestic counterparts (Walters-Vida). In addition, internationals students in Ontario are on average older, more highly educated, and have fewer work commitments and family obligations compared with domestic students (CBIE). They have relatively more time to engage in social and academic pursuits, but tend to be much more isolated than their peers, report having less confidence in their language skills and feel underserved by student services (Walters-Vida).

Our Solution

Program Ready provides international students preparing to enter college programs with easy access to the most current program-specific reading and listening content in English. Students will engage with authentic and relevant English resources, which will help strengthen their English reading and listening skills while exposing them to program-specific vocabulary and topics. The will enter their program better informed about current trends in their field and may be able to engage more effectively with domestic students.


By engaging with peers either synchronously or asynchronously in Program Ready’s student-led study groups, international students may feel better integrated and supported in as they transition to their new life in Canada. The self-directed nature of the app further promotes life-long learning and informal collaboration with peers.

How It Works

Content Curation

Reading Content:

Many college libraries already offer online Subject Guides specifically geared towards specific college programs. Program Ready will draw on these databases of journal articles, magazines and news article to curate content through key word selections. Users will either see a list of latest recommended resources or recommendations based on student ratings.


Listening Content:

This will be curated from a set of predetermined program-relevant podcasts. Users can access the latest published recordings or top rated recordings. Ted.com offers filtering of their talks on their website. Program Ready will link to these filtered search results related the student’s intended field of study. 

Collaborative Learning

Students have the option to use Program Ready in the self-study, “solo”, mode or collaborative, “social”, mode. In the social mode, students can join existing study groups or create a new one. Each study group is geared towards and linked to a specific resource and offers synchronous or synchronous collaboration options (text-based or video chatting). Students who want to have face-to-face study groups, could also arrange and potentially book library study space through the app.

Student-Rated Content

Program Ready provides a student resource rating system. Users can rate resources from 1 to 5 stars. This will enable students to have the option to easily search top-rated resources, instead of only the latest published content.

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How It Looks

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Who We Are

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Molly Tuttle - Founder

Molly has worked extensively with international students transitioning into college programs in her role as professor of English for Academic Purposes at two of the largest colleges in Ontario. She understands the specific needs of international students in developing their language skills and exposure to program specific content. She has a Master's in Educational Technology, B.A. in Psychology and has been a member of TESL Ontario for 10 years. She is passionate about providing international students with new tools for success in college and beyond.

Amber Lee  - Lead Designer

Amber has been an integral part of and lead designer for three innovative Canadian higher educational start-up companies. Her note-taking app, SmartlyNoted, is currently being used is 87 Canadian colleges. Amber considers Program Ready a labour of love for her, as she understands the challenges faced by international students first-hand. She came to Canada as international college student ten years ago. She has since completed a Master's in Computer Science and UX Design Certification and B.S. in Engineering. 

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The Market

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Buyers

Program ready falls into the class of learning bought for learners. Partner colleges will pay an annual subscription fee for this curated service and accompanying college specific branding. Most likely, college purchasing decisions will be encouraged by International Student Service Departments and Academic English Bridging Programs.  The end users (students) will have access to the app for free with a valid student number.

It's evident that both the provincial government and colleges are prioritizing the investment in college programs that respond to the changing needs of the student population and  fund technological innovation (Colleges Ontario, Seneca College). This presents a opportunity for Program Ready.

The Competition

Target: International Students

  • iCent is the only app on the market specifically targeting international students in Canada. It aims to help prepare students for their arrival and life in Canada with basic information about their college, transportation, health care, etc. It is being used by a number of colleges in Ontario and institutions across Canada. As of 2017, it had over 11,000 downloads (iCent).


Target: Ontario College Students

  • Most Ontario colleges have developed their own apps intended for all students to be able to see course info, grades, get contact information, see campus maps, connect to LMS, email, etc. (i.e. Seneca App, MyHumber, Mobile Mohawk).


Target: Academic English Language Learners

  • There are several general Academic English vocabulary apps, academic writing apps available directly for a fee to end-users. Voxy’s “career-aligned courses” target some fields of study, but it is a more comprehensive contained language-learning program.

How We Differ

Program Ready represents a new type of educational app. There are no apps currently on the market that provide curated and targeted academic content for international students. There are also no similar apps that allow international students to engage with and support their peers with authentic program-specific content. This learning technology does not disrupt the current learning practices at colleges, but rather it provides supplementary support and resources for an underserved student population.

Get Involved

Investment Opportunity

We currently seek funding from provincial initiatives, non-profit educational start-up investors and college partnerships.


We have invested $10,000 of our own money into the development of the app, and seek another $20,000 to enhance Program Ready’s social study functionality to offer higher quality video, voice and text communication options.

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Our Next Steps

Step 1: Pilot Phase in College English Bridging Program (2019)


  • Pilot with students studying in upper-intermediate and advanced level courses in college English bridging program to provide supplementary personalized course material, test out system bugs, and optimize usability. For access to and development of Program Ready’s reading content, we will work in collaboration with college’s library to provide single log in access to program specific content from their databases. We will consult with department heads for recommendations and/or approval for targeted audio and video sources


Step 2: Launch at Partner Institution with college-branded Program Ready App


Step 3: Market product to other Ontario Colleges


Step 4: Market product to Canadian Colleges

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Contact Us

Toronto, ON, Canada

123-456-7890

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Reflection

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Strengths

  • I think I bring passion to this endeavor. I think it comes across that I committed to helping international students transition successfully into college programs. I am knowledgeable about the end users’ academic and English language needs. I believe that something like this has the potential to be viable particularly in the context of academic bridging programs in colleges.

  • This venture does address a real pain point that is expressed in the pitches.

  • Colleges are actively looking for innovative tools that will further engage their students and differentiate themselves from others and help international students feel that they are getting extra value for their extremely high tuition fees. This app could do that.

Weaknesses

  • I think the complexity of my venture has gotten a little out of hand, since I lack any practical expertise in the technical side of app development and don’t fully understand the logistics of developing a robust system for classifying and curating content from various sources. I’m not sure how much of my learning venture is realistically doable and how much funding would be required.

  • I also struggled with concisely presenting the venture in an easily understandable way. I think the venture pitch lacks sufficient punch to really grab potential investors. Specific case studies might have been a better way to illustrate both the need and the potential effectiveness of this venture.

  • I recognize that I would need a strong design lead to collaborate with to figure out what ideas are viable. I would also need a strong networking/marketer since this venture would require a lot of collaboration with college bridging programs, college departments and libraries.

Resources

Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE). (2018). Canada’s Performance and Potential in International Education. https://cbie.ca/media/facts-and-figures/


Canadian Federation of Students (2017, May). Fairness for International Students: International Students in Ontario. http://cfsontario.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Factsheet-InternationalStudents.pdf


Colleges Ontario. (2018, Nov. 19). Key Performance Indicators.

https://www.collegesontario.org/outcomes/key-performance-indicators/2018_KPI-results_eng.pdf


Colleges Ontario. (2018, March 28). “Ontario budget investments in colleges will produce a stronger workforce.” NewsWire.

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/ontario-budget-investments-in-colleges-will-produce-a-stronger-workforce-678213823.html


Dedock et. al. (2016, October). International Students at Ontario Colleges: A Profile. Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE). https://cbie.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/FINAL-CBIE-Research-in-Brief-N6.pdf


iCent. (2018). “Higher Ed.” https://www.icentapp.com/product-description-higher-ed/.


Languages Canada. (2018).  Languages Canada Fact Sheet 2018: Ontario.

https://www.languagescanada.ca/web/default/files/users/240/Fact%20sheets%202018/LC_2018_FactSheet_ON.pdf


Seneca College. (n.d.). Strategic Plan 2017-2022. http://www.senecacollege.ca/about/reports/strategic-plan/aiming-for-the-horizon.html

Voxy. (2018) “English for Any Career.” https://voxy.com/features/career-aligned-courses/


Walters-Vida, H. (2018, September 12). “The International Experience: How well-supported are international students at McMaster?” The Silhouette. https://www.thesil.ca/the-international-experience

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