We've been reporting on many of the trends, policies, and conditions affecting higher education, specifically as it relates to syllabus management. You've heard the stories of state legislation mandating syllabi be made available to the public online, the crack down on assessment to meet accreditation standards, and even using syllabi to market courses. While our prediction is by no means a Mayan "End of Times" prophecy, we knew in our hearts the "Age of the Online Syllabus" was upon us. (Don't you just love a prophecy that makes you feel hopeful?) Keep checking back because we have a series of client introductions we plan on making over the next month, starting with this week's newest edition to the Syllabus Geek team, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College. Check out RCCC's story.

In a recent ProfHacker post by Brian Croxall of The Chronicle of Higher Education, the topic of "Forking Your Syllabus" lit up with over 40 comments from the higher ed community. Much of the conversation revolved around the fine line between stealing, collaborating, and giving credit where credit is due. Two of the three thoughts are more subjective; the third is more academic in spirit and is further supported by our ability, thanks to technology, to "copy with conditions."

As for syllabi, Croxall and the many commenters thought beyond the Creative Commons model to talk about ClassConnect, a teaching documentation share-house, and the potential for course-forking with open source repository GitHub.

The Syllabus Geeks have contributed our thoughts on the topic in a featured blog post on our syllabus resource site, The Syllabus Institute. Here's what we have to say. >>

The School of Dentistry at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) was looking to upgrade their outdated syllabus management system and implement a tool that was instructor-centric with greater capability. An assessment committee was formed and sooner after a list of syllabus system requirements was approved. OHSU was seeking an accessible, easy to use, sustainable syllabus solution that would replace their outdated solution and:

• Standardize syllabi
• Advance reporting
• Readily integrate
• Accelerate accreditation
• Improve accessibility

Concourse matched and exceeded their requirements; with added benefits including accessibility, auditing, streamlined workflow, permissions, and more. We are proud to announce the School of Dentistry has extended their Concourse contract, adding better syllabus management to their already impressive list of strategic achievements. Read OHSU's client profile.

Concourse offers the ability to embed file content directly in the syllabus. Concourse files provides instructors with a way to insert uploaded content, e.g., so slideshows, rubrics, projects, case studies, and readings, directly into their syllabus where it makes sense contextually. With files, students can get all the information they need without ever navigating away from the place where their course information is already found. While other models categorize based on their function (files, discussion boards, grades, etc.), Concourse brings together all course information using the syllabus. Files is a major step towards our goal of making the academic experience richer, more engaging, and easier for students, instructors, and administrators. Take a look at files in action and in less than one minute you'll be asking your IT or LMS provider why you don't have it.

The Syllabus Enthusiast keeps current and future Syllabus Geeks abreast of the latest advances in syllabus trends and technology. We like to call it People Magazine for Syllabus Geeks. This ultra-condensed news format is distributed once a month, giving readers a quick shot of syllabus adrenalin so they can get through a day of rigorous academic achievement. Check out the first issue and be sure to subscribe!

The Syllabus Geeks have upgraded Concourse by wrapping Concourse Lite functionality into the fully-featured platform. Concourse users now have a choice between using the structured syllabus format or simply uploading a Word or PDF document. With added ability to upload syllabi and the convenience of archive, access, and keyword search, institutions have even more of reason to get their syllabi online with Concourse. Intellidemia chose to develop this capability to (1) make it easy to migrate syllabus files Concourse Lite to Concourse when more capability was needed, (2) make it effortless to store existing archives in the full features platform, and (3) make improvements to the core Concourse Lite platform so users can have a superior viewing experience. The combined features allow instructors to manage and maintain their own syllabi with ease alleviating administrators from the tedious process of accessing and uploading existing syllabi, a process that is both cumbersome and time consuming. With all of your past, present, and future syllabi in one place the possibilities and savings are numerous. Concourse - so easy a professor can do it.

It's nothing but a sea of flashes as Intellidemia's latest client the Alamo Colleges make their way down the red carpet of better syllabus management. The Alamo Community College District consists of five community colleges located in the greater San Antonio area. They were the first to address Texas House Bill 2504 by testing Concourse, a solution that gets syllabi online in the most cost effective and efficient way possible. See the full client profile.

Thanks to Jennifer Grayson's sustainability feature in Campus Technology, colleges will find five quick green initiatives that their institutions can implement this year and these solutions don't break the budget. In addition to getting syllabi online, Grayson mentions an ingenious way for campuses to increase efficiency by 31%, by chnaging their default font. To get the full list of tips visit campustechnology.com.

Dennis Carter, assistant editor for eCampus news, reports on the hidden costs of syllabus management, a white paper published by the Syllabus Institute an Intellidemia partner. Carter's introduction sets the tone for a surprising conversation, "the unnoticed costs of syllabus management might make campus budget hawks break a sweat." Read the full story by visiting eCampusNews.com.

Did you know that the average institution spends $272,674 per academic year managing syllabi? This along with other astonishing and costly facts has been formally published through the research conducted by the Syllabus Institute. Students, instructors, technical administrators, and academic administrators provided data to better identify the process, procedure, and people involved in managing syllabi within an institution. You can access the detailed reported, "Where Does the Budget Go? Uncovering the Hidden Costs of Syllabus Management," by visiting the Cost page at the SyllabusInstitute.org.

It's an honor and a privilege to be invited by EDUCAUSE President and CEO Diana Oblinger, to participate in an exclusive roundtable on the educational technologies market as part of the Obama Administration’s "DC2VC" program within the Startup America Initiative. Over the past several weeks, starting with the President’s Jobs Act, the Administration has taken steps to achieve a "quantum leap" in educational technologies, including the launch of Digital Promise. The discussion will center on ideas and opportunities for a robust research, development and investment educational technologies infrastructure, with a particular focus on supporting entrepreneurs. Leading the discussion will be U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra, the Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education Jim Shelton, and the Director of the Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Department of Education Karen Cator.

U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra will be speaking at EDUCAUSE on Thursday October 20th, then meeting with attendees and visiting companies in Startup Alley. Intellidemia will be one of the companies Chopra will be shaking hands with! As part of President Obama's call on visionaries to lead the Startup America Partnership, Chopra’s session will address how to foster innovation and the transformative effects of information technology.

The Syllabus Geeks had one dream in 2011...exhibiting at EDUCAUSE. By the time they finally made a decision to allocate funds for EDUCAUSE, i.e., "bet the farm" and eat Ramen noodles for the rest of the year, they were just in time to secure the 22nd spot on the waiting list! While the dream of exhibiting at EDUCAUSE was slipping away, they found a beacon of hope...an advisor to the company suggested looking into Startup Alley at EDUCAUSE. The Geeks applied and were accespted. Startup Alley provides Intellidemia with an excellent opportunity to better understand the needs of the academic community and of course improve their product offering Concourse. If you're attending EDUCAUSE, stop by and visit with the Syllabus Geeks at Startup Alley and contribute to finding solutions for challenges in education.

Larry Haffner, chief policy analyst and former CIO for Webster University, Director of eLearning and Outreach Jamie Green of North Idaho College (NIC), and Judd Rattner CEO of Intellidemia presented "Conquering a Sea of Syllabi," a webinar hosted by Campus Technology. Intellidemia was encouraged by having over 520 higher education members register for the webinar and further encouraged by learning that syllabus management is a topic of interest and conversation across hundreds of campuses. If you didn't have an opportunity to attend, you can access the archive by visiting CampusTechnology.com. To get answers to the popular questions webinar attendees asked, e.g., cost, integration, and faculty adoption visit the post-webinar webpage.

It's the dawn of a new ed tech era. It's the dawn of the online syllabus solution - Concourse!
The Syllabus Geek is awakened by a frantic call from a university Provost. It seems the college is being taken hostage by some of its worst nemeses: Faculty Resistance, Lazy Susan, Budget Constrictor, and the Paper Monster. The Syllabus Geek springs into action, bringing with him his most valued weapon for defeating these campus villain...Concourse. Will the Syllabus Geek succeed and save the Provost from a lowered college ranking? Will the Syllabus Geek restore this university's academic integrity and position it for excellence? Find out by watching this short yet riveting video, Syllabus Geek The Movie.

Every year our summer stock of interns count down the days to boat, ski, and tubing trip on Lake George. We start out early with plenty of food and drinks, all the makings of a good picnic. We arrive at Huddle Bay at about 9 a.m., get our boat, the rules, and off we go. Of course the tubing was wild, with the exception of our advisor Dr. Jason Kuruzovich, skiing was scarce, cliff jumping was thrilling, and the company was hard to beat. As with last year, we were taking our chances with afternoon thunderstorms, but we braved the afternoon rain and a good time was had by all. Check out some of the great snaps of the day by visiting our Flickr page.

Not even the radioactive element Kryptonite can stop the Syllabus Geeks from developing solutions to help academic institutions standardize, centralize, and effortlessly manage thousands of syllabi with the click of the mouse. CEO Judd Rattner and Technology Director Edward Levie of Intellidemia presented the awesome power and potential of managing syllabi onlime with Concourse. The business plan was well received by an acclaimed panel of judges who then presented the Syllabus Geeks with the second place award of $15K to support their gallant effort to improve education with technology. Get the full story, "Ed School Business," from Kevin Kiley, a reporter for Inside Higher Ed.

Bill Halloran, a Senior Marketing Management major at Siena College with a minor in Computer Science. He is the Vice President of the Siena Dog Pound, the largest student group on campus and will be rising to the challenge of a Marketing Associate internship at Intellidemia this summer. Kelsey Day, our newly appointed Multimedia and Communications Specialist, is a senior student at RPI, pursuing a bachelor's degree in Communications with a concentration in Graphic Design. Aileen Sheedy, a Video and Multimedia Artist for Intellidemia, is about to begin her senior year at RPI as a Computer Science/EMAC major. She is also a DJ at WRPI, the campus radio station, and she hopes to move back to her hometown of Portland, Oregon and work in photography, film, or graphic design after graduation. Will Rogers served as our viral video producer this spring and is returning as Intellidemia’s resident Corporate Video Producer. Rogers is an EMAC major at RPI and has worked on several promotional videos for programs at RPI. He aspires to be a commercial video director and editor. Entering his junior year at RPI, dual major Computer Science and Electronic Media, Arts, and Communication, John Grover will engage Intellidemia as their Programmer & Interface Developer. When he’s not competing in regional Ultimate Frisbee competitions, he’s bridging the gap between programmers and artists.

Sift through the organized chaos for that box you call "college stuff" and find your best or worst syllabus ever because a simple snap of the historical evidence could win you a free $10 Starbucks gift card. Intellidemia cordially invites anyone who's ever gone to school to participate in their first online contest. Official Rules >>

Being nestled among 10 colleges within a 12 mile radius has its advantages. For the fifth consecutive semester, Intellidemia taps into the brilliance that exists at nearby colleges and is proud to introduce its talented bevy of Spring 2011 interns. Monica Marrero, Multimedia Artist with Intellidemia, is a senior EMAC student at RPI with a concentration in Graphic Design. For the last three years she was the Public Relations chair for UPAC Concerts, a club funded through RPI's student union to bring big-named acts to campus. Erin Morelli, Intellidemia's Social Media Architect, is in her last semester at RPI and is completing a bachelor's degree in the EMAC program, with a concentration in Interaction Design, as well as a master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction. Ted Ottey is a Co-Terminal Masters student at RPI studying Human-Computer Interaction and interface design related to content publication and distribution. Ottey works with Intellidemia as an Interface Designer. Natt Phenjati, originally from Thailand, just graduated from the EMAC program at RPI and now holds a position with Intellidemia as a Multimedia Artist. He loves photography and was editor for his school publication. Will Rogers is an EMAC major at RPI who aspires to be a commercial video director and editor. He has worked on several promotional videos for programs at RPI and is serving as a Video Producer for Intellidemia. Mavreen Smiel is currently a Senior Library Assistant at The Sage Colleges. She fills the role of Communication Specialist at Intellidemia. Mavreen earned her Master of Arts from the University of London and her Bachelor of Arts from William Smith College.

This year's POD conference was true to its theme "Gateways to New Directions" and not just because it was held in Saint Louis, MO, "The Gateway to the West." Intellidemia found the attendees had unique backgrounds ranging from yoga instruction to teaching, and their love for improving teaching and learning led them to become faculty trainers and developers. As one might assume with faculty trainers, the workshops and presentations were highly interactive. Intellidemia was even asked to participate in arranged activities and tweeting #POD10 during dinner. By promoting the sharing of ideas, trends, and technologies for increasing faculty and student success this group forms the kinds of ties that bind, both intellectually and emotionally. As for Intellidemia's syllabus oriented session and workshop co-presented Brad Wolaver, Faculty Development Coordinator at Webster University, they were both well attended and received. Next years POD meeting will be a joint conference with the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Faculty Development Network and will take place in Atlanta Georgia. A representative from the HBCU gave us some insight into what to expect with the upcoming joint conference when he said, "Get ready to party, Atlanta style." Hey, POD & HBCU, Intellidemia can't wait for 2011!

The Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE) and co-sponsor International Journal on E-Learning, hosted this years E-Learn World Conference in Orlando, FL. Instructional technologists made up the majority of attendees at E-Learn and the major topic of conversation was best practices and innovative technology for corporate, government, healthcare, and higher education sectors. Intellidemia was selected to present in the category of new applications and technologies, although they hold the spot as the Pecha Kucha winners at Ed-Media, they were happy to secured runner up at E-Learn. Intellidemia brought along one of its interns, Natt Phenjati, marketing and design major in the Electronic Media, Arts, and Communication program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Phenjati participated as both an Intellidemia representative and volunteer photographer for the E-Learn. The committee was so impressed with Phenjati's ability to capture the inspiring moments of E-Learn, they asked him to be the "official" photographer for next years conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. Intellidemia met a number of great people, cultivated some promising relationships, and helped bridge the gap between curiosity and application.

Intellidemia co-founders Judd Rattner and Edward Levie hit the open road heading west. The challenge: cover 2,948 miles, refresh, and be ready to talk syllabi on the 12th at EDUCAUSE 2010. Mission accomplished; three days of driving for four days of energizing ed-tech talk. The new format with F2F as well as online participation increased the opportunities for the EDUCAUSE community to engage and collaborate with the best thinking in higher ed IT. CIO and information technology leaders brought their best practices to the forefront with lively and informative sessions. Commercial vendors polished their tools and set out to make their mark by showcasing cutting-edge technology that can be used on campus and in the class. Intellidemia was only able to participate as an attendee this year, but sit tight, rumor has it they plan to bring their online syllabus solution to the table in 2011. Beyond the meeting room doors, Google and Blackboard led the pack with great "after hour" social gatherings. Cheers EDUCAUSE, the syllabus geeks plan to rule the school next year.

Preceding the month long ed-technology conference tour, Rattner will be attending a CourseEval user group meeting, hosted by ConnectEdu (formerly Academic Management Solutions) at The Conference Center Niagara Falls. Opening remarks by keynote speaker Ronald Berk, author of Thirteen Strategies to Measure College Teaching. Topics include "How to Create Non-traditional Surveys", "Administering Faculty Evaluations in CourseEval for an Integrated Curriculum", and "Creating a Communications Plan". We were able to catch up with Rattner, who had this to say, "Taking the time to learn about affiliate technology, like web-based course assessment, will deepen our understanding of the challenges and technologies that exist in schools today, and in turn, help us develop solutions that improve the quality of education for the entire academic community - tomorrow."

Professor Frederick Alm, students, and administrators at ITT Albany NY Campus welcomed guest speaker Judd Rattner to their Tuesday morning economics class. Covering three key areas of how to take the pioneering spirit of a student to market, Rattner discussed his experience starting a company as an MBA student. He further explored topics including what makes a student entrepreneur, the challenges and benefits of starting a business, and how to take a concept through development to market. Students and administrators including Dean Hopeton Smalling of ITT actively participated by asking pointed questions and sharing their own entrepreneurial stories and insight.

"Sharing Best Practices" was the theme and outcome of the MCO Annual Conference. With a focus on teaching and e-learning, academic and administrative support, and technology, 24 Massachusetts colleges convened to explore moving the traditional class to a creative learning environment. In keeping with the theme of the conference, Jenene Cook, Dean of Instructional Technology at Roxbury Community College co-presented "The 21st Century Syllabus: New Applications and Technologies" with Judd Rattner, CEO of Intellidemia. It was apparent that MCO participants weren't looking for the free coffee and cookies, they came with an appetite for tools to improve learning; attendees sank their teeth into highly interactive sessions. Dr. Ken Udas, CEO of UMassOnline sums it up in his Keynote address "Openness in Education and Nurturing the Collaborative Impulse".

Intellidemia attended the Villanova Tech Expo: Technology for 21st Century Education. Judd Rattner, CEO, gave a technical presentation, "The Living Syllabus: New Applications and Technologies." Many faculty and administrative staff dropped by our booth to learn more about Concourse. The Expo marked our first time participating in an exhibition as a vendor; we were extremely pleased to see Concourse recieved with such enthusiasm and interest.

On this, the third anniversary of our founding, we are pleased to announce the opening of our new office in downtown Troy. As of March 1st, 2010, we began operating from 291 River Street, Troy, NY 12180. Our new location is a two-room office that can support up to six employees. We share a floor with four other startups, and not unlike the incubator office, down the hall we have access to shared facilities, including a conference room, copy machine, kitchen, and mail services. Finally, in celebration of our new office and the start of our fourth year of business, we will be hosting an "official" opening and open house on the evening of Wednesday, March 24th. If you are in the area and would like to stop by to wish us success, let us know. Thanks again to everyone who has supported us throughout our first three years here at Intellidemia. We look forward to all the exciting developments to come.

What better way to start off the New Year than launching our third generation interface. This new interface combines many of the suggestions we have received over the past year (like a smart jump-to-today link and automated notifications) as well as some of our own new concepts. You'll find this new interface to be cleaner, better organized, and provide a more consistent experience. It can even be themed for your institution. In other words, it's just plain slick! Let us know what you think by exploring the Concourse demo. Who knows? Maybe you'll be the one to suggest our next great feature.

Not a day after the fall interns finished up their projects, we were joined by those who will support us this spring. Paulina Fink, a sophomore from Rensselaer, will become Intellidemia's "testimonial collector," so expect to see some of her work on this site in the next few months. Tyon Weekes, a Rensselaer senior, will dedicate his time to making Concourse mobile. And Gerad Hoyt, a junior at Siena College returns for a second internship in marketing. Welcome (back) everyone!

Today we launched a new Concourse demonstration system. This new demo not only contains a number of interface enhancements and code upgrades that can be found in every edition of Concourse, but the demo now starts you off with a number of example courses that showcase the features of our platform. Plus, you can explore Concourse faster without the need to register. With a few simple clicks, you will be well on your way to seeing all that Concourse has to offer. To demo Concourse, just visit demo.campusconcourse.com.

Back in May we were joined by three talented student interns, who worked diligently to create this new site. Today, we are pleased to announce the joining of three more student interns, all of which come to us through the communication internship program at Rensselaer. Two of these students, Craig MacHaffie and Ted Ottey, will focus on the creation of interface standards for the next version of Concourse. The third student, William Johnson, is developing an initiative related to "Course Greening," which we will introduce later this year. On top of this, the students from the summer enjoyed their experience so much, they just won't leave! We remain excited to work with such motivated and dedicated teammates.

After many months of work in coordination with the launch of Concourse, we are proud to present this new website to you. This new site represents a major step forward in expanding and organizing information related to Concourse and our company. We invite you to take a look around and, as always, feel free to contact us if you have any suggestions or questions about our site.

With the spring semester behind us, today we are wrapping up our Concourse beta program. It was a success by any measure. In total, we had over 350 beta users from 3 capital region schools that helped to test our system and move us along the right path. As one instructor put it, "Concourse works the way my mind works." Thank you to everyone who participated in the beta and we look forward to bringing you the very best of Concourse this fall.

We kicked off our online marketing strategy today. Using Google AdWords, we are able to reach thousands of potential Concourse customers at fractions of a dollar. Turns out that the keyword "syllabus" is not exactly the most searched term on the web. Try searching for us, but don't click the ad when you see it. You've already found us.

This week we are joined by three talented student interns. Robin Senseney and Richard Zarick come to us from Rensselaer where they are both a part of the Electronic Media, Arts, and Communication program. Our third intern, Gerad Hoyt, is a student of marketing at Siena College. Together, Robin, Rich, and Gerad will bring Concourse into compliance with disability standards, launch a Google AdWords campaign, develop help videos, implement Concourse interface enhancements, and prepare our third generation website. We are very lucky to be joined by such impressive and motivated team members. Welcome to Intellidemia.

Intellidemia turned two today, and what an amazing year it has been. Now into our third generation system, we have hundreds of registered beta users and are actively working on preparing Concourse for its first commercial use. We held our first customer demonstrations, participated in numerous industry and regional events, and feel that we have become syllabus experts as the only provider of syllabus solutions in the marketplace. To celebrate, we also rolled out a new Concourse feature, the public view, which allows users outside of Concourse to preview syllabus content. On to year 3!

Today marks the launch of our Concourse beta program. We have invited a series of schools from the capital district to participate in using Concourse for their upcoming semester. If you are not a member of one of these schools and would still like to participate, please let us know. We look forward to hearing all your thoughts.

The two months since Concourse was unveiled have been very exciting. We have started to receive acclaim for our platform and the user experience it embodies. This is most evident from a usability study performed by a human computer interaction Master's candidate. During the course of her evaluation, dozens of instructors were "put to the test" to see how they responded to the Concourse syllabus editor. The insight provided was astounding. While we received a number of great suggestions from the instructors, we are more confident than ever about our design and approach. To put it another way, these instructors felt comfortable using Concourse just 30 minutes after they first used it, a testament to our user experience as compared to other systems in education.

After many months and (and we mean many months) of searching for a name for our Syllabus Management System, we have officially selected one, Concourse. A Concourse is defined as a place where pathways meet and people gather. Moreover, they are often found in hotels, airports, stations, arenas, and most importantly, universities, making Concourse a perfect fit for our platform. Concourse also gives rise to our ultimate vision that our platform will one day become something greater than just the management of the traditional, paper syllabus.

We released our technology preview today to select users in the capital district. We've come a long way since our first and second generation systems, and now include a myriad of course and group settings, account management, and what we believe is the most powerful and easiest syllabus editing experience in the world. This early demonstration system is the first time that users will be able to get into our platform and evaluate what we have to offer and leads our beta launch, slated for January 2009.

After the most productive summer in Intellidemia's history, we are well on our way to launching our third generation system, and it is coming out even better than expected. Early interface evaluations with users have clearly demonstrated that we are on the right track with this one. On the marketing front, we are now going out and actively demonstrating our system to potential client, launched a new website, have been invited to present at conferences, and will even attend the annual IT in education conference in October. On a final note, we are also happy to announce that Ed Levie, our technology director, will be following up his Master's in Computer Science with an MBA from Rensselaer while he continues at Intellidemia. Congratulations Ed.

The next generation Syllabus Management System was delivered today. In many ways it has exceeded our expectations, though there still remains something to be desired when it comes to a commercially viable solution. In addition, this system took a different approach to editing than the prototype. It is our belief that the third generation system will employ a blend of both, the work of which begins today. Ultimately, it amazes us still how closely the developers delivered on the specifications having never set foot within 5,000 miles of our office. It was a learning experience for all.

Intellidemia turned one today, and what an exciting and challenging past year it has been. We have developed and deployed a prototype, worked through changes to our team, moved into an office, connected with potential customers, raised money, and are seeing the fruits of our labor take shape in the next generation Syllabus Management System. More important than anything else, there is a new and healthy level of stability in the firm. Happy first birthday Intellidemia, and many more...

Following three additional months of development enhancing the Syllabus Management System prototype, we are now embarking on the creation of our next generation system. This system will be develop in coordination with our overseas software partner. Through this partnership, we will solidify our functional specifications and work towards a commercially viable solution by April 2008. Though a bold step for Intellidemia, we remain committed to our vision and look forward to this challenging opportunity.

Building upon the momentum of the summer and the success of our Syllabus Management System prototype, we have secured a two room office in the Rensselaer Incubator as a member of their Incubation Program. These 350 square feet will house our small team, 7 desks, 5 computers, 3 printers, 2 refrigerators, 1 microwave, and 108 square feet of whiteboard space. We also inherited cubicle dividers that once belonged to MapInfo, a 1980's Rensselaer start-up that was acquired for over $400 million the same month as our own founding. Let's hope these dividers bring us such similar success.

Following a grueling summer of design and coding, today marks the release our Syllabus Management System prototype. This prototype, developed rapidly using the Ruby on Rails framework, brings to life many of the concepts we have envisioned over the past year. Users can create syllabi, enter syllabus content in a structured fashion, set access permissions related to that content, and search for the content throughout the system. This prototype has also solidified a number of interface elements that we expect will carry on throughout the development of the product. It is a proud day at Intellidemia and we already look forward to extending this system into our first commercially viable product.

As a company that is entirely student run, you can imagine how difficult it can be to balance school and business commitments. Fortunately, for the next few months, this will not the case. As we enter the summer months, we can give Intellidemia the energy and dedication it needs. It is our goal to develop a fully functional syllabus management system prototype by the time school begins again this fall. It's time to step it up a notch.

Months before our founding we began working on the our first complete business plan. Having finished this plan no more than a few weeks ago, we quickly submitted it to the Tech Valley Business Competition, a business plan competition to identify and promote the best and brightest students and plans in the region. We are now proud to announce that Intellidemia was selected as a semifinalist. While we will unfortunately not advance any further in this particular competition, such external validation gives us great confidence that Intellidemia and our syllabus management system has significant promise.

What began as a concept in a course project three years ago turned into an official business today. We are ready to deliver a game-changing and easy-to-use platform for education, a space where innovation is desperately needed. We are excited to embark on what promises to be an incredible journey and rewarding experience for our team, customers, and supporters.