—Edmonton Research Park presents its third Featured Innovator

Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC) is pleased to showcase Snap Fin Ventures as the third Edmonton Research Park (ERP) Featured Innovator. The Featured Innovator program highlights ERP tenants making waves in advanced technology fields.

Snap Fin Ventures develops dynamic web applications for various learning and working environments. Working with school districts for the past six years has allowed Snap Fin the opportunity to identify common pain points in the education process and solve them. One of these solutions is Snap Fin’s newest product, SelfChecker.

SelfChecker is an online, self assessment tool for students, created in partnership with St. Albert’s St. Gabriel Storefront School. Using the power of the teaching community to build better questions, SelfChecker allows learners to engage in questions that contain videos, images and formatted text, because smart questions improve understanding.

"Teachers see great potential in how the SelfChecker tool will be able to support the online student learning process,” says David Feist, Principal of St. Gabriel Storefront School. “Students can instantly receive feedback on each question, with an explanation on how to come to the correct answer, or direct them to an appropriate web site, text reference or lesson to help with the concept. This diversity supports St. Gabriel’s goal to offer a diverse, differentiated learning experience to all of our students."

Snap Fin Ventures has been housed at the ERP’s ATC (Advanced Technology Centre) for two years.
President Colin Bramm says being located in the ERP is one of his business’s greatest assets. “Beyond providing a high quality workspace at a reasonable rate, we have had incredible networking and joint business opportunities that simply wouldn't have been possible had we located in a commercial office space.”

“Edmonton is a hub for advanced technology and Snap Fin Ventures represents the enterprise of this community,” says Candace Brinsmead, Vice-President, Technology Advancement, EEDC. “The ERP is proud to house Snap Fin Ventures, a research-driven organization that values collaboration.”

Snap Fin is expecting SelfChecker’s public release to be in early 2010. For more information visit, http://www.selfchecker.com/

Media Contact:
Cathy Ennis
Communications Manager
Edmonton Economic Development Corp. (EEDC)
Phone: 780.917.7894
Email: cennis@edmonton.com

The Edmonton Research Park (ERP) houses dozens of research companies and is managed by Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC). The ERP is also a stakeholder in TEC Edmonton, a joint venture with the University of Alberta. For more information, visit www.edmonton.com. Learn more about Edmonton through the stories of people who've experienced it at www.edmontonstories.ca.