Tell Me a Story
Story-based software encourages learning by bringing the real world into the classroom.

Entrepreneur: Steve Waddell
Company Name: I Support Learning, Inc.
1546 E. Spruce St.
Olathe, KS 66061
(913) 764-4272
Type of Business: Educational Tools
Year Founded: 2003
Number of Employees: Five employees, plus as many as six contractors
Keys to Success: “You’ve got to get inside kids’ heads and find out what buttons to push to engage them.” —Steve Waddell

By Ellen Jensen

Steve Waddell has a healthy love of learning, much of which he picked up from his father, an electrical physicist. Waddell’s father never gave him straight answers, but rather would ask his own questions, helping his son work through the process and find the answers. Those interactions created the seed for Waddell’s future business.

Waddell continued to demonstrate his love of learning by accumulating more than 200 college credit hours through Johnson County Community College, the University of Kansas and, finally, Mid-America Nazarene University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in management and human relations. Along the way, he studied subjects as diverse as aerospace engineering and business.

I Support Learning
While Waddell was in college, he got a job with a software company, which led him to an educational software company. He became sales manager and then director of product and market development. Waddell couldn’t implement many of his ideas because they didn’t fit within the company’s framework, and he yearned to offer a new generation of educational products to help create life-long learners.

The closing of his division created an opportunity for Waddell to start his own business building learning tools that would connect with students. He started I Support Learning in 2003, working out of his basement. Waddell chose the name because learning is the company’s mission, and he wants every employee to know it, live it and embrace it, and he wants customers to have no doubts about the company’s objectives.

The Curricula
Waddell decided to focus on software that would model the real world and bring it into the classroom. He fabricated a work experience, putting students in the role of a company intern. The software takes students through the front doors, down the hall and into their work area. They meet the boss on their first day and interact with clients and co-workers through e-mail and voice mail as they work on projects.

“Kids see these as giant role-play games, not learning; so they become engaged in the project and learn almost in spite of themselves,” Waddell said.

The story-based software helps students learn by combining real-world interaction with subjects of technology, math, language and science.

“Math doesn’t happen in the real world for 50 minutes a day,” Waddell said. “Kids want to feel like what they are learning is relevant, not just busywork.”

Available curricula include Artificial Intelligence and Mobile Robotics, Video Game Development, Music Video Production, Green Industry—Landscape Design, Robots and Inventions and Building Green—Residential Home Design.

Current products are targeted toward students in grades six through 12, and the company is planning to launch its elementary school version next fall. The software is self-directed, so students can work at their own pace.

“Nobody is counting how many times they watch the program,” Waddell said. “They don’t have to be embarrassed if they are struggling with a certain section.”

The programs also don’t require any previous experience. They are designed to take students with no knowledge of the industry and walk them through the process until they have created their own video game on CD-ROM, music video or a home design project.

Most teachers are not trained in artificial intelligence, landscape design or video game development either, but they don’t have to be. The software includes all the information necessary for students to succeed. Teachers are written into the program as the department supervisor. Their job is to oversee the department and make sure the work gets done.

The intern has a virtual personal digital assistant (PDA), which is built into the program. The PDA lists activities students should be working on and acts as a management tool for teachers. The teacher can glance at a student’s PDA and see where that student is in the curriculum.

Company Culture
Last November, I Support Learning moved out of Waddell’s basement and into offices in Olathe, but not conventional offices. Visitors walk into a sitting area with two leather couches and a coffee table. There’s also a dining table where the whole staff gathers for lunch. The colors are warm and inviting, and guests are treated to fresh-baked cookies.

Although Waddell has an office, he’s rarely in it. You can usually find him in the lab with the rest of the development team. Team members are together so they can work off of each other’s ideas in a creative collaborative process, Waddell said. But it’s not all work and no play at the company.

One of the staff’s rituals is to break at about 4:30 every day to play Xbox for a half hour or so and then either head home or finish up necessary tasks, and after lunch, team members usually get a pingpong game going.

“It helps get the blood circulating after lunch and keeps the brain working,” Waddell said. “The work gets intense here, and we expect a lot of creativity. Goofing off a little helps everybody let off a little steam and leave the office feeling good.”

Relationship Building
Waddell markets to teachers, mostly through direct mail, and he doesn’t hire salespeople because he doesn’t want that barrier between the company and the customer. He said being able to talk directly with the design team cuts down on frustration because customers can get answers immediately.

For example, one day they got a call from a teacher who loved the program but said his kids were still missing something—they didn’t quite get it.
“We asked if it would help if we added an overview piece,” Waddell said. “He said he thought it would, so we made a change in the software.”
Three days later, the teacher had a new CD in his mailbox with an updated version. He called back to say the new version solved his problem.

“Teachers are our guest developers,” Waddell said. “We’ll hit speakerphone so they are talking with the whole team. They can lay out the problem, and we can brainstorm to come up with a solution.”

This process frees teachers to offer suggestions or provide input from their experiences.

“It opens our eyes, and we get to have relationships with the teachers who know the kids we are trying to reach,” Waddell said. “We build a level of trust.”

Success Stories
One of the things Waddell loves most about his business is working with teachers and knowing that he has helped them engage their students. For example, Steve Duft is in charge of the technology lab at Haven High School in Haven, Kan. He’s also the woodshop teacher and doesn’t have a background in technology. But that doesn’t matter anymore.

Duft has the landscape design and video game development curricula and has ordered the artificial intelligence and residential home design products. Duft loves the support he receives from I Support Learning and is thrilled with the product’s results. Before trying the company’s software, he’d had trouble keeping his students’ attention.

“Now, I have kids coming in before school working on this stuff, which has never happened before in the seven years I’ve been here,” Duft said. “They stay between classes to work on their projects, and I have to nudge them to their next class.”

He said the programs are well rounded and demanding. They meet all national assessment criteria and involve writing, programming, math and science.

“These products have rejuvenated me and my desire to teach, which is a nice feeling,” Duft said.

Some students in the Washington, D.C., area actually took the initiative to order the software. They had seen the brochure on their teacher’s desk and asked about it, but there was no money in the budget. The kids raised the money for one copy. After Waddell heard the story, he sent enough for the entire class and flew out to visit the students and congratulate them on taking an interest in their learning.
    
The Future
Learning is what Waddell is all about. That’s why he struggles with managing the organization’s growth. Teachers are telling other teachers about the software, Waddell said. The other day, a teacher called from Florida to place an order. She didn’t ask questions; she just ordered the product based on another teacher’s recommendation.

I Support Learning also is getting national recognition in the education industry. Its software was picked as one of the “cool” products at an education industry trade show.

“I don’t want our growth to outpace our ability to handle it,” Waddell said. “It’s already getting more difficult to manage.”

He’s thrilled that his products are resonating with teachers and students, but he loves having a small, nimble business where he can be involved in what he loves best: creating a learning environment where everyone is valued and sees the impact on everything they do.
“I love our laid-back, warm atmosphere and don’t want that to change.”

If the number of phone calls he has been getting lately is any indication, it could already be too late.

Ellen Jensen is the Managing Editor of Kansas City Small Business Monthly magazine.