To be honest, I should have written about Scoot & Doodle before now. The reason for this is that, as a tool, Scoot & Doodle offers some of the capacity to do what I believe technology should be about. Technology should be about how it intertwines itself with the way we live and the way we do things. When I ask school students what they want their schools to be like, they don't mention technology, they take it as a given and they are once again interested in the spaces, in the relationships and in the experiences they have and the emotions they feel.
Maybe this is what has turned the heads of the world's largest educational publishing empire, Pearson and other angel investors towards this Google+Hangouts–driven tool. The Scoot & Doodle team has raised $2.25 million in seed funding and is obviously excited about its future.
What is this thing, you ask?
Well, according to the press release:
But essentially, it is an app that works with Google+Hangouts and lets you type, draw and engage in a visual and tactile way - as well as through video and voice. In my use of it I have found it to be really stable and offer a fluid and worthwhile experience whether with my kids or with business colleagues. Like many startups there appears to be more potential applications than you can imagine; however, kudos for both the Scoot & Doodle team and Pearson for seeing the potential of this in the education and learning space.
Christine Egy Rose, CEO of Scoot & Doodle, said, "We're excited about the investment, and we will use the funds to complete development of mobile products and expand reach in education. Our first collaborative studio on Google+Hangouts grew organically in the student community without our involvement, and educators made it clear to us that it was very valuable. Students from middle school through college use our collaborative studio to play with ideas, create stories, draw, discuss, and solve problems together. We're listening to our users and delighted to see how Scoot & Doodle is helping them practice and learn critical 21st century skills like creativity, communication and collaboration, naturally."
More importantly, I was able to put some questions to Scoot and Doodle before this latest funding announcement and probe a bit deeper into the purpose and philosophy behind what they are doing. Those questions are below.
GeekDad: Can you give us some background: where did the concept for Scoot & Doodle come from?
Scoot & Doodle: Like many people, our lives before kids entered the picture were much simpler. We had less stresses on our time and attention. The fact that our family members lived across the country wasn’t great, but it wasn't horribly painful either.
But as soon as each of our first babies arrived, everything changed. We started feeling guilty about everything. We weren't spending enough time with our kids. Our kids weren't spending enough time with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and now cousins. And as our kids grew older, the ways they were playing online were socially isolating and not necessarily feeding their brains the way we wanted.
We began hunting for tools and things to do to help assuage our guilt and our time-constrained lives. We cobbled Skype visits with our kids and family members; we bought and subscribed to loads of creative, interactive and playful but geeky brain developing apps, sites, museum memberships, kits and books and still, we were left wanting.
What we wanted was one magical place to do it all or to be realistic, a lot of it. A place that spanned time and distance so we could see, hang out and spend time doing playful, imaginative and creative stuff with our kids, stuff that mattered to us. We also wanted this place to be exciting and appealing enough to our kids that they would want to do the same with their friends and relatives.
After hearing this same problem arise in conversations with friends and colleagues, we realized we weren't the only ones who longed for this place. We researched further and realized there was a void in the market. So we quit our jobs and decided to make it a reality.
__GeekDad: __What does Scoot & Doodle actually do?
__Scoot & Doodle: __Scoot & Doodle's real-time collaborative studios inspires friends and classmates to meet up for creative jam sessions, playful and serious (depending on how you look at it) doing things they choose, no matter the physical distance between them. It's the place where they share and tinker with ideas, draw, work on problems, tell stories, do homework and collaborate on projects, together.
__GeekDad: __The idea of "co-presence," of being physically separated but connected through technology is increasingly a recognized way to connect - how does Scoot & Doodle enhance that?
__Scoot & Doodle: __At Scoot & Doodle, everyone can see each other and unleash their creativity together by drawing, designing, discussing ideas, and problem-solving in real-time, almost as if they were in the same physical place together. The ability to do all this humanizes and personalizes technology deepening the meaning of "co-presence" online. At Scoot & Doodle, everyone creates their own experiences and make things together in the now versus simply chatting, texting, posting and looking at pictures in isolation about what's happened in the past. And like real life, everyone can participate in the doing at the same time. If they prefer turn-taking and sitting on the side observing, it's an option on Scoot & Doodle, not a requirement.
__GeekDad: __What are the benefits of being linked to a Google Hangout?
__Scoot & Doodle: __Here are the top 3 benefits of Scoot & Doodle being on G+Hangouts:
1. Users can create and collaborate with up to 9 people at the same time. We see scoodle sessions regularly of 5+ people.
2. Because Google Hangouts is part of Google+, users have a built-in social network to access to invite people into their hangouts and scoodle sessions. This makes it easy and straightforward to connect with family, friends and schoolmates. If you're not one of these users, it's simple to create an account with an existing email account you already use.
3. Google's strength, stability and reach allow users to hangout and scoodle face-to-face with friends and family next door and very far away, for free.
__GeekDad: __What are some of the best examples you have of how Scoot and Doodle has been used?
__Scoot & Doodle: __Some of our favorite ways Scoot & Doodle has been used are:
