One of the almost inevitable attractions in Argentina is the wine. Two founders whose acquaintance I've made over the last couple of months, are doing their parts to help spread the news and the bottles in their own ways. Anuva Vinos and 0800 Vinos.
Last month, Daniel from Anuva Vinos invited a bunch of us over for a guy's night out which included a private wine tasting. We were introduced to a carefully selected range of boutique wines, wines not only off the radar internationally, but also unavailable at the local wine store here! We started with a wonderful Spumante..much less known than the infamous Malbec..but then we ventured down that road where there were some real winners. My favorites were the Ikella Malbec, 2006 and the Don Juan Blend, 2004. These selections are available through their wine club where all one has to do is subscribe and have these wines delivered to your home in the US and Europe. In all, not the typical guy's night out, and exactly why I enjoy living in Buenos Aires.
Last night we got a last minute invite to a tasting at Nigel's 0800 Vinos. Nigel is an expat sommelier adding value in the local market by creating a wine delivery service.
Local delivery of just about everything is commonplace here in BA. Looking at the magnets on my refrigerator, I can get ice cream, empanadas, chinese food, fresh pasta, fresh seafood, sushi, pizza, groceries, rental dvds, even my laundry...there really is no reason to leave my apartment if I don't feel like it.
0800 Vinos seized upon this trend and is introducing local wine delivery. Instead of fumbling through the super market shelves...why not call and have the wine delivered to your home for the same price? Besides just the convenience, 0800's adds value by providing useful information on their website with food pairings, broken down by price levels, wine origins and will also be creating their own reviews. If that's not enough, you can even speak to the sommelier directly which I will find particularly valuable the next time I'm in the market for a higher priced wine for that special occasion.
So there you have it. Whether you are looking for unique, boutique wines or looking for a greater appreciation of what the locals drink...each has something for you.
Do you know of other good resources to taste and learn about wine?
Friday, July 4, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Has a line been crossed? Yes!
An online tutoring company, Smarthinking.com recently announced it's offering a new service called Straighterline. Per their website, Straighterline offers "high quality, better supported, and lower cost required college courses - online, on your schedule."
As I understand it, what they have done is bundled their online tutor access with a reputable text book publisher and course management software so students can study independently for required courses and earn college credit.
Has Straighterline crossed the line or has it pushed back a boundary?
I think it is too early to tell. But I'm optimistic about it.
All students should get high quality education. But when it comes to required courses...(I'm thinking back to my Finite math course in college, or my Micro Economics course for my MBA.). Did those classes really need to be with a group in a physical classroom at a set hour? Did I need to pay thousands of extra dollars for these credits?
My intuition and my personal experience say, "No".
Of course this would be taking a bite out of the pie of traditional providers of these courses..the private/public colleges and universities. I think what gives these schools the heebie jeebies is that private tutoring is supposed to be a complement to public school education, not a replacement for it. What Straigherline is trying to do is move the boundary back a few feet on traditional public and private colleges. And for that, I'm sure they will get a lot of push back.
But if colleges and universities are going to look for people to blame...they should be pointing to themselves. The price of tuition, fees, room and board have risen over 35% in the last 5 years. It is the lucky few who do not need to worry about how they are going to pay for a tertiary education.
Of course, the out of pocket expense of higher education is not the only cost. There is also the "opportunity cost" or the income you forego by choosing to study instead of work. These are tough decisions one must make and many times life makes those decisions for you.
Flexibility is also a major perk. I started my MBA in the part-time program because my employer paid for a number of classes per semester, but boy...what I wouldn't have given for more flexibility on when and how I could have attended class...even if just for the required classes. In the end, after calculating how many years it would take to finish my degree and how little of a life I was able to have between school and work, I decided to leave my job and I eventually ended up finished my degree full-time and of course back then...off-line.
In my opinion, Straighterline is filling a need and, if executed well, I think they are on to something.
Do you think Straighterline has crossed the line... for better or for worse?
As I understand it, what they have done is bundled their online tutor access with a reputable text book publisher and course management software so students can study independently for required courses and earn college credit.
Has Straighterline crossed the line or has it pushed back a boundary?
I think it is too early to tell. But I'm optimistic about it.
All students should get high quality education. But when it comes to required courses...(I'm thinking back to my Finite math course in college, or my Micro Economics course for my MBA.). Did those classes really need to be with a group in a physical classroom at a set hour? Did I need to pay thousands of extra dollars for these credits?
My intuition and my personal experience say, "No".
Of course this would be taking a bite out of the pie of traditional providers of these courses..the private/public colleges and universities. I think what gives these schools the heebie jeebies is that private tutoring is supposed to be a complement to public school education, not a replacement for it. What Straigherline is trying to do is move the boundary back a few feet on traditional public and private colleges. And for that, I'm sure they will get a lot of push back.
But if colleges and universities are going to look for people to blame...they should be pointing to themselves. The price of tuition, fees, room and board have risen over 35% in the last 5 years. It is the lucky few who do not need to worry about how they are going to pay for a tertiary education.
Of course, the out of pocket expense of higher education is not the only cost. There is also the "opportunity cost" or the income you forego by choosing to study instead of work. These are tough decisions one must make and many times life makes those decisions for you.
Flexibility is also a major perk. I started my MBA in the part-time program because my employer paid for a number of classes per semester, but boy...what I wouldn't have given for more flexibility on when and how I could have attended class...even if just for the required classes. In the end, after calculating how many years it would take to finish my degree and how little of a life I was able to have between school and work, I decided to leave my job and I eventually ended up finished my degree full-time and of course back then...off-line.
In my opinion, Straighterline is filling a need and, if executed well, I think they are on to something.
Do you think Straighterline has crossed the line... for better or for worse?
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
When online tutoring evolves.
I'm a die hard Boston Red Sox fan, but when you heard Harry Caray, the legendary baseball announcer yell "Holy Cow!", you knew it was a Chicago Cub's home run. When Guy Kawasaki says it, you know something VERY cool is just a click away.
In Guy's blog post titled, "I'll never get on a plane again", he links to the Cisco/Musion Systems TelePresence holographic video conference with the "World’s first Live Holographic Video Feed from California, USA to Bangalore, India". It is simply amazing.
With oil predicted to be $150-$200 a barrel in the near future, beaming yourself to faraway lands, and having others beam themselves to you, becomes all the more economically attractive and environmentally friendly. Instead of hopping a flight, walk to a conference room.
It's potential application to online, personal tutoring is equally mind bending. Instead of driving to a tutoring center or making your poor tutor drive to you, you can "beam over".
But wait...online tutoring already accomplishes this, doesn't it?
Well...it does... Just not so Star Trek-like. In fact, according to Dr. John Stuppy, President of Tutorvista, "online tutoring is as effective as face-to-face" already. His presentation at the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) 2008 National Conference points out "..(in) a study of over 300,000 students who received face-to-face tutoring versus online tutoring, there was no statistically significant difference in pre- versus post-test gains on third party norm-referenced assessments." Additional benefits sited were, an "increase in their children’s grades, sometimes after just a few weeks." and " some students are more likely to ask questions and admit when they still don’t understand something".
I can't say I have seen a similar study of 300,000 students in Spain , which is the market Tutor Amigos offers it's service. But I can tell you from first-hand experience that increases in our student's grades have been achieved after just a few weeks and parents have commented how their generally shy sons and daughters are much more active and engaged when working with an online tutor, as opposed to an in-home tutor which is a popular model in Spain.
Now there are differences in how some companies deliver today's online tutoring service, which I will address in a future post. The take away is this: online tutoring, as it exists today, is just as effective as having a tutor sit next to you and do the tutoring. You don't need to wait for this amazing Cisco/Musion systems holographic technology to go mainstream in order to benefit from online tutoring, however someday this amazing technology will go mainstream. And when it does, online tutoring will be poised to be not only as effective, it may even be better.
How do you think online tutoring can be improved? Now? In the future?
In Guy's blog post titled, "I'll never get on a plane again", he links to the Cisco/Musion Systems TelePresence holographic video conference with the "World’s first Live Holographic Video Feed from California, USA to Bangalore, India". It is simply amazing.
With oil predicted to be $150-$200 a barrel in the near future, beaming yourself to faraway lands, and having others beam themselves to you, becomes all the more economically attractive and environmentally friendly. Instead of hopping a flight, walk to a conference room.
It's potential application to online, personal tutoring is equally mind bending. Instead of driving to a tutoring center or making your poor tutor drive to you, you can "beam over".
But wait...online tutoring already accomplishes this, doesn't it?
Well...it does... Just not so Star Trek-like. In fact, according to Dr. John Stuppy, President of Tutorvista, "online tutoring is as effective as face-to-face" already. His presentation at the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) 2008 National Conference points out "..(in) a study of over 300,000 students who received face-to-face tutoring versus online tutoring, there was no statistically significant difference in pre- versus post-test gains on third party norm-referenced assessments." Additional benefits sited were, an "increase in their children’s grades, sometimes after just a few weeks." and " some students are more likely to ask questions and admit when they still don’t understand something".
I can't say I have seen a similar study of 300,000 students in Spain , which is the market Tutor Amigos offers it's service. But I can tell you from first-hand experience that increases in our student's grades have been achieved after just a few weeks and parents have commented how their generally shy sons and daughters are much more active and engaged when working with an online tutor, as opposed to an in-home tutor which is a popular model in Spain.
Now there are differences in how some companies deliver today's online tutoring service, which I will address in a future post. The take away is this: online tutoring, as it exists today, is just as effective as having a tutor sit next to you and do the tutoring. You don't need to wait for this amazing Cisco/Musion systems holographic technology to go mainstream in order to benefit from online tutoring, however someday this amazing technology will go mainstream. And when it does, online tutoring will be poised to be not only as effective, it may even be better.
How do you think online tutoring can be improved? Now? In the future?
Monday, June 2, 2008
Starbucks in Buenos Aires
I have a confession..I'm one of those people who loves to hate Starbucks. It's more passive in nature which takes the form of a try to avoid if possible attitude. For example, in Central Square, Cambridge near where I used to live, I would never think twice before ducking into the 1369 Coffee house as opposed to the Starbucks on the corner. I just liked 1369 better. They had good coffee and a killer carrot cake. However, I am not a hardcore anti-Starbuck-er. I would never go so far as to avoid getting a coffee just because Starbucks was my only choice.
Here in BA, it's been easy to avoid this hypocrisy because there were no Starbucks... until now. Argentina is the latest to roll out the welcome mat to Starbucks and judging from the pre-hype and the long lines at the opening, they will be here for a while. I haven't (and won't likely) make any special effort to visit Starbucks here, but I have to admit I'm curious.
A couple of things I've read are the long lines are mostly made up of the 25 and under crowd, and their basic cup of coffee is a competitively priced 5.50 pesos. Having been through the MBA case study gauntlet, I'd love to get a first hand look at how this global giant tries to fit into an ingrained local coffee culture- that doesn't include to-go cups.
Another reason is to see if it really is all that special. There have been sightings of new flavors like their Mate-Coffee...that alone maybe worth a look - I'm guessing the kinda look people do when they slow down and stare at car accidents.. But you never know..it could be the next greatest coffee innovation!
One thing Starbucks has done right is contracting Sugar&Spice as a supplier. Sugar & Spice is a local cookie company and after meeting Frank, it's founder, a few weeks ago, I went and bought some of his cookies at the local Disco Supermarket. I tried the Cantucci. They were super. So obviously Starbucks already knows their way around local cookies. If they figure out the coffee culture, as well as they have the cookies, local coffee shops beware!
Do you think Starbucks will put the local coffee shops out of business?
Here in BA, it's been easy to avoid this hypocrisy because there were no Starbucks... until now. Argentina is the latest to roll out the welcome mat to Starbucks and judging from the pre-hype and the long lines at the opening, they will be here for a while. I haven't (and won't likely) make any special effort to visit Starbucks here, but I have to admit I'm curious.
A couple of things I've read are the long lines are mostly made up of the 25 and under crowd, and their basic cup of coffee is a competitively priced 5.50 pesos. Having been through the MBA case study gauntlet, I'd love to get a first hand look at how this global giant tries to fit into an ingrained local coffee culture- that doesn't include to-go cups.
Another reason is to see if it really is all that special. There have been sightings of new flavors like their Mate-Coffee...that alone maybe worth a look - I'm guessing the kinda look people do when they slow down and stare at car accidents.. But you never know..it could be the next greatest coffee innovation!
One thing Starbucks has done right is contracting Sugar&Spice as a supplier. Sugar & Spice is a local cookie company and after meeting Frank, it's founder, a few weeks ago, I went and bought some of his cookies at the local Disco Supermarket. I tried the Cantucci. They were super. So obviously Starbucks already knows their way around local cookies. If they figure out the coffee culture, as well as they have the cookies, local coffee shops beware!
Do you think Starbucks will put the local coffee shops out of business?
Friday, May 23, 2008
A different tack
I recently got to meet and hang out with some folks who are, or are connected with some of the movers and shakers of the blogosphere here in Buenos Aires. What I've quickly realized is how boring my blog is. So boring that I don't even want to read it. So to take a new tack and make this blog less of a yawner.. I'm expanding the subjects to include an expat perspective on the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires and thoughts on the ups and downs of international, entrepreneurial start-ups. (mine and shameless plugs of others) Of course latest happenings with TutorAmigos, bilingual education in the US and now obviously education in Spain will be hot topics. I'm looking forward to writing about these additions and hope you will be too.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Our first blog post from a parent in Spain!
I'm very excited that Tutor Amigos (http://www.tutoramigos.com) got it's first post in a blog from a parent of one of our students in Spain! An excerpt from the blog post, is copied below but go to the original post to see a couple of videos from their side of the Atlantic.
La profesora invisible
"Nunca había contratado un profesor particular, principalmente porque no le hacia falta, sus notas no eran excelentes pero tampoco suspendía, yo misma podía ayudarla si lo necesitaba, y aunque en ocasiones me hubiese gustado contratar un profesor particular, representaba un gasto económico que no podía asumir.
La profesora invisible
"Nunca había contratado un profesor particular, principalmente porque no le hacia falta, sus notas no eran excelentes pero tampoco suspendía, yo misma podía ayudarla si lo necesitaba, y aunque en ocasiones me hubiese gustado contratar un profesor particular, representaba un gasto económico que no podía asumir.
Pero la niña va creciendo y las tareas se van complicando, había suspendido un par de exámenes parciales. Se lo importante que son los estudios, así que preferí cambiar mi mentalidad: pagar en educación no es gastar, sino invertir.
Llamé a un par de estudiantes universitarios que habían dejado su teléfono en el instituto, bueno…, para nuestra economía representaría un esfuerzo...
Casi sin querer encontré en internet una publicidad que me llamó la atención: www.tutoramigos.com: clases particulares online en vivo y ayuda con tareas escolares.
¿Era posible recibir clases particulares a través de internet?"
The full blog post is available here
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
What the research does and doesn't say: a nice summary
Cruising through my google web alerts this week I came across an article that I wish I (or my google alerts) had found last year when it was written. "Teaching Math to English Language Learners: Can Research Help?" by Suzanne Irujo, ELL Outlook™ Contributing Writer, does a nice job of summarizing much of the same research I came across while developing the concept of Tutor Amigos. Even better is that she puts it in historical context and gives many examples of the English and English-speaking situations that tend to confuse ELL Math learners. If you are just starting to research this field or looking to connect some of the dots, check out this article.
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