Looks interesting, can you talk about how this compares to the edx platform? https://github.com/edx/edx-platform
Classmill also does not rely on content production or live streaming video like edx. You can create classes with existing resources: links, youtube videos, images, pdfs, ppts etc.
Strongly believe that for a vast majority of learning requirements, the content is already out there. It just requires someone who knows the subject (such as a teacher or expert) to curate the material and give students the confidence in consuming them.
Hence Classmill was born :)
There are also a ton of companies that host open edX instances, which let you make your own courses. Several offer free trials -- here's a list: https://github.com/edx/edx-platform/wiki/List-of-Open-edX-se... . There's a nice open source ecosystem forming. I know at one point, edX was going to open edge.edx.org and let anyone make courses, but don't know where that's at now.
Your platform has differentiators from edX, but these aren't necessarily them.
The best solution here will win or even coexist; all the different approaches/platforms here will ultimately help the students win.
I'm looking forward to seeing what Classmill can do! I've been personally thinking about these sorts of things too.
Do you have any plans for adding assessable items and making things more adaptive, or do you guys think you'll be more focused on static content materials?
Yes, adaptive/dynamic blocks are definitely in the pipeline as we improve the product!
Cheers!
I used to work at versal and now work for another obscure edtech startup - built another 'authoring tool' but our "blocks" are more like <elements> and we've got about 50 or so of them powering a poorly created k7 math course. These elements are inlinable in text and nestable.
It makes authoring a bit more technical, but we contracted our authors out, so with a bit of training, they were able to handle the markup-like input and not before long, one or two of them were asking me for features I had only wished somebody would ask for (the others just thought of it as a job to get done).
It's been my personal philosophy that tools like these ought sacrifice simplicity for power, as it should grant whatever zany ideas authors can come up with. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting this necessarily to you, just sharing my experiences and personal goals - and perhaps a slight suggestion to listen to your most ambitious users.
I'm a bit entrenched in this.