According to Said Hamideh, founder of Milwaukee-based Mindbounce, students across the globe struggle to get the feedback they need on their thesis projects, semester assignments and research papers.
To help solve that problem, Hamideh has developed a way for students to get the feedback they need before they get the grade.
Mindbounce is a web-based platform that allows students to get real time feedback or “bounces” on their projects and papers from global experts.
“I developed the web platform out of my own frustrations while working on my thesis. It was very interdisciplinary and complicated,” Hamideh said. “I decided that students needed a way to receive quality feedback from qualified experts while in the development stage of their projects before they received the ultimate feedback; the grade from their instructor.”
Students looking for help on particular assignments can tap into the knowledge of industry experts from around the globe, who then receive payment for their input.
“Students pay a certain amount of money to obtain a specific category of feedback from a mentor within the system,” Hamideh said.
Students purchase Mindbounce credits from the system, Hamideh said. Each Mindbounce credit is equal to 10 cents.
“We are still working out some kinks, but right now students will decide how many credits they want applied to a particular category, and can also freeze or limit the number of credits applied to each project,” he said.
The students can choose from feedback categories such as grammar, 10 credits; argument structure, 11 credits; organization, 11 credits; or can get into content data like argument substance, 30 credits; subject awareness, 48 credits; and topic consultation, 66 credits. Students may also have their papers reviewed for clarity, concision, vocabulary, sentence fluency, and focus for other credit amounts.
Experts from around the globe can apply to be a part of the system, Hamideh said.
They are interviewed for educational credibility and range from industry professionals, business executives, and professors. Mentors are not limited to a specific academic discipline and are able to provide tags to their Mindbounce profile that pertain to their qualifications, Hamideh said.
“Once students sign up for a profile, they are allowed to copy and paste documents into the text editing space,” Hamideh said. “They can assign tags relating to the information being written about, which then sends a notice to the mentors who also listed those tags.”
Mentors are notified via email when a paper is posted in the system that matches one of their tags.
“Mentors can access the system whenever they want to,” Hamideh said. “Students have the capability to ration their credits for each paper, and mentors are paid based on the feedback they give via pay pal.”
The Mindbounce staff has been recruiting mentors via social media outlets and Craigslist.
According to Hamideh, mentors are coached on the right and wrong types of feedback to provide. They are also not able to make direct changes to student pieces, and can only offer advice.
“This is not an editing service,” Hamideh said. “This is an online platform that allows mentors to help students help themselves by giving them quality feedback on various areas of their papers.”
The service targets college age students, both undergrad and graduate, but also appeals to upperclass high school students working on college entrance exams or senior projects.
Hamideh launched an alpha version of the Mindbounce platform in August at schools in Germany, but plans to launch the Beta version locally before the fall semester begins.
“It made sense for us because students there are completing a summer semester,” Hamideh said. “We want to test out the process and get it ready to launch full blown for the fall semester here. We are really excited about the release.”
Mindbounce
Milwaukee
Innovation: Web-based text editor for students and mentors
Founded: 2009
www.mindbounce.com
