4/29/24: 1st Pilot Signed, 100 Word Essay Contest Winners
2nd place at FETC, Quarter Finalist at Pitch Dingman
First, it has been too long for an update, but not for lack of things happening. If you’re not already following me/Cursive on LinkedIn but want a steadier stream of updates, that might be the best place.
FETC outcome
Last I wrote, we were headed to Orlando for FETC, one of the largest edtech-focused convention events in the US, to participate in their “Pitch Fest” and to have our first-ever table.
I had a blast at the event, talking with educators and participating in the competition.
Outcomes:
We placed 2nd in the pitchfest behind Schoolytics (great team/concept) which had quite a headstart on us as far as startups go ($3m in seed funding in 2021)
We were the only 100% hand-drawn and attendee-decorated booth. Writing takes effort, we reward effort, and each drawing we put on the walls (the booth was wall-to-wall day 2) earned a pair of Cursive socks for the attendees.
Dingman Quarterfinalist
We were also named as a quarterfinalist in the University of Maryland’s entrepreneurship pitch competition, including a track for Alumni.
100 Word Essay Competition
Today, we announced the winners of our 100 Word Essay Contest! This was a great exercise to get some student usage and feedback, to test the plugin/browser, and see firsthand what full transparency in the writing process could look like, even for a short writing task.
The full write-up is here: https://cursivetechnology.com/100-word-essay-winner/
TL;DR version: when we look at just the output, we have no idea of the inputs from a student. Our submitters logged hours (!) crafting and creating the perfect 100 words, showing no small amount of effort through the Cursive Browser Extension. This only reaffirms our thesis that the writing process > product.
1st Pilot
I buried the lede I know. Late last week, we received our first signed paperwork for a pilot with a Wyoming school—a major milestone! Our team is super excited to bring more transparency to writing in the classroom and is focused on making this pilot a massive success.
Call to action
If you know a teacher, student, class, or school interested in transparency in the writing process, worried about students outsourcing their homework to ChatGPT, or just interested in ensuring that writing remains an essential skill, tell them about Cursive and our tools:
Moodle integration: https://github.com/cursiveinc/moodle-tinymce_cursive
Browser Extension: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/cursive/ejoigjckaakmofdhbnmegfkillcnjgbl
The best connections come as warm introductions.