Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Montreal-based uMind is a software company that specializes in e-learning solutions for public and privatesectors clients. uMind would like to break into the large but competitive market of academic learning byimplementing Peer Instruction (PI) online. PI is a widely adopted approach in higher education. It is typicallyused in real brick-and-mortar classrooms. Hence, uMind would like to develop a commercial application thatwould facilitate the use of PI online. With a team of college researchers, Dr Lasry co-directed the three-yeardevelopment of DALITE, an asynchronous PI prototype. Although DALITE is an open-source researchplatform that cannot be commercialized, Dr Lasry developed sizable expertise on the design principles andpossible instantiations of effective online PI platforms. Thus, uMind would benefit from Dr Lasry's expertise inPeer Instruction to design an effective student-centered online e-learning platform. Dr Lasry and John AbbotCollege will benefit from this proposed new partnership by incorporating new PI knowledge and technologyinto classrooms with the intent of improving student success. There is no existing or past relationship betweenDr. Lasry and uMind.