Vol 1 Issue 4 May 2007
Nate Braden, Incubator Resident
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The Bard Center Incubator welcomes America and the World and Nate Braden! Nate received his Certificate in Entrepreneurial Studies and MBA through the University of Colorado Denver.
We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills; because that challenge is one that we’re willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win.
John F. Kennedy, speech to Rice University, September 1962
Sound familiar? Some of you may remember that speech, but if you’re an entrepreneur you didn’t have to be alive in 1962 to recognize the truth of those words – think big and be bold.
JFK was a bit before Nate Braden’s time, but Nate has always been inspired by the great events of the past; events that were driven by issues that still resonate today. For too many students, however, history is dull and dry. After all, most of the participants aren’t around to defend or explain themselves, so why shouldn’t their actions be consigned to the dense pages of the history books?
Because, as the old saying goes, those who don’t know their past are condemned to repeat it. Fine words, but how to do this in practice? Enter America and the World, Inc. (AATW), Braden’s online publishing company. AATW allows teachers to build their own web-based textbook. They pick the material they want to use during the semester, including primary sources, maps, magazine and newspaper articles, video, etc., and AATW creates their customized textbook on its website. Instead of going to a bookstore and buying a $100 tome on American history, students subscribe and access their assignments online at half the cost.
“We’re essentially able to package information for teachers who want to draw from several different sources. No single hardcover book is going to give them everything they want, but thanks to the Internet we can.”
The video has proven to be especially popular with today’s students. A professor at CU Boulder who uses AATW for his American Political Thought class wanted his students to compare and contrast the approach to civil rights of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. “It was one of the questions on their final,” Braden said, “and we loaded the video and the text of their most famous speeches on this professor’s homepage so his students could study them for the final.”
The results? “Six of them actually read the speeches; the other eighty watched the video.” (To watch JFK’s speech at Rice, go to www.americaandtheworld.com)
So far six classes at the University of Colorado are using AATW as part of their curriculum, with subscriptions numbering nearly 400. “The Bard Center has been instrumental in our success” Braden notes, “and not just by providing us space in the incubator. They really open the door for you with networking opportunities; being associated with UCD and the Bard Center carries a lot of weight. They even got me an intern to help with marketing.”
A Colorado native, Braden’s grandfather used to attend Masonic Temple meetings in the very building that now houses the Bard Center.
“I get a kick out of thinking about my grandpa coming down here in the ‘50s and walking around these same halls. Maybe he’s still here in spirit looking over my shoulder.”
What would he be saying? “Shoot for the moon.”