Looking for Educational prototyping project partner(s)

[primem0ver]

Hi everyone,
I am looking for programmers with a similar attitude towards education as me for a "startup" prototyping project for a "new" kind of software. I have tried LinkedIn for a while without success. The project DOES involve Irrlicht so I am assuming that this is an ok place to post this. Does anyone know a reliable place to find people?

NOTE: While there are advantages to working with someone from another country (something I would eventually like to do), it would be best (for legal and pragmatic reasons) to start with someone who lives in the US.

EDIT: Since no one has any general suggestions of where to look... I guess I will start by stating what I need here.

I am looking for people:

• with a programming background who are passionate about education and its progress.
• who want to help start a fundamental change in educational software and the way education itself works
• who want to make education TRULY student centered.
• who feel that education should be driven by curiosity and creativity as well as rewarded by discovery and opportunity
• with programming experience or those who want to gain programming experience that makes use of wide variety of programming topics. It would help to find people with some graphics programming experience.
• don't mind spending some of their extra time on a project that may take a while

Nature of the project:

• This is not a project geared toward a specific task or topic. This is an educational platform designed to teach ANY topic. (However the prototype will make use of a few specific topics to create some examples of how the platform will work).
• The project involves and addresses (nearly if not) ALL aspects of education.
• It is compatible with all current educational systems I am aware of but encourages a move toward a NEW APPROACH to education which is at the core of its design.
• Will incorporate all common types of media but it focuses on a “new” kind which involves the creation of a graphics engine with Irrlicht at its core.
• This is currently more of an “enthusiast” project to keep it viable. (I cannot currently pay people) However…
• My dream is to build the prototype in order to gain the attention of a company large enough to fund this kind of a project (who is willing to work with us rather than compete).
• I have resources available to me that could provide legal protection of work for anyone involved with the project if it is to become profitable.
• I am also open to other approaches to making this a success*
• I am convinced that if this project is done right; and done quickly enough to gain a foothold, it will be highly successful.
• F Y I: I have a fairly detailed PowerPoint (with some screenshots) that goes into specifics which I am willing to share with anyone who expresses a significant interest.

*The one thing I am not willing to do is hand this project over to someone else unless they are willing to involve me in the decision making. I have spent 11 years conceptualizing this idea and I want to personally be a part of its realization.

[primem0ver]

I changed/updated both the description of the project and the title of the thread. I am still hoping someone knows where I could post something like this if no one here is interested.

[chronologicaldot]

No moneys? No power? Hidden vision?
You're not really offering any incentives here. I suggest, instead of going online, you go to programmer meetings and find people there who might be interested. Check meetup.com. There, you can check for local programming groups, and for $16/mo fee, you can start your own group centered around your project.

[primem0ver]

Not hidden. Just not public/searchable. As I said I have a PowerPoint that goes into details for people who are curious. But thanks for the tip! What are programmer meetings? Never heard of them. I will check out the website.

EDIT... also; what do you mean by "power"?

[npc]

Hi primemOver,

I'd be quite curious to hear more about your approach, yet I have to admit that from what you posted earlier, I'm quite skeptical already. For one thing, why don't you go down the Open Source/Free Software route? In my experience, this is the easiest way to find collaborators, and I had some great people re-designing, optimizing, and adding to my software. But then, it's all software for scientific/academic analysis, and it will always be free... which, on the upside, also means that a ton of people are using it, so the "testing" and usability issues are largely taken care of (yes, I have my users do the testing - but hey, the software is free, and we really try to fix issues asap ).

The other thing I wonder about is how exactly you want to improve education; being also a University teacher, my experience is that the most important part of education is the teacher itself, not so much the tools and materials used. Sure, anything that helps making teaching more exciting is always welcome, but I don't think that any tool can make teaching more student-centered. Also, from your first post, it sounds like this is a one-size-fits-all solution, which I don't think exists, or can exist. In any case, if you are willing to share a little bit more about the concept, I'd be curious to hear.