Interview with Timothy Due, founder of Quickworksheets

Interview with Timothy Due, founder of Quickworksheets:

Last week I reviewed Quickworksheets, a website that allows users to create a variety of vocabulary and grammar worksheets online. I was very impressed with the site and thought it would be interesting to contact Quickworksheets founder Timothy Due to get some more information. Timothy kindly agreed to answer my questions ...
THE ENGLISH BLOG: Can you tell us a something about your background? You said you used to be an ESL teacher ...

TIMOTHY DUE: After graduating from university I undertook the Cambridge CELTA in Adelaide, Australia. Following that I spent a couple of years living in a rural Japanese town working as an English teaching assistant at a public high school. This was my first taste of the reality of teaching. I enjoyed the work, and that it allowed me to experience life in one of the most fascinating countries on earth, but my passion has always been developing software so that was the direction I took after returning to Australia.
THE ENGLISH BLOG: When did you start Quickworksheets, and what gave you the idea?
TIMOTHY DUE: In my role in Japan I was responsible for planning lessons and activities to supplement the core textbook. I soon discovered which activities were popular with my students, and which of those were also effective in achieving my lesson goals. I often found myself making the same type of activity over and over again, substituting unique target language each time. A good example of this is "Information Gap" activities that I used to facilitate verbal communication in the classroom. These are quite time consuming to make with a word processor as they involve splitting the target language over two unique worksheets. I figured I could save myself a lot of time through some automation, and over the course of about six months I wrote some software to make my job easier.
I founded Quickworksheets in mid 2010 using the software I developed in Japan as a foundation for the site's worksheet generators. I think that some of our ESL-focused worksheet makers (such as the Minimal Pair Word Tree Maker, Proofreading Worksheet Maker, and the Information Gap Activity Maker) are quite unique in this space. I have also made an effort to include more general worksheet generators such as the Word Scramble and Spelling Worksheet Makers in order to broaden the site's appeal for non-ESL applications. While these worksheet generators are not unique to Quickworksheets, I believe that they are nicer to use, and produce cleaner, more professional results, than many of the other online worksheet makers out there - some of which are now getting quite old.
THE ENGLISH BLOG: What have you done do to promote the site?
TIMOTHY DUE: I have written to the owners and operators of ESL and teaching-related websites to try to raise awareness about Quickworksheets. I've also undertaken a limited amount of online advertising, however, I've found that the vast majority of my users have discovered Quickworksheets either through word of mouth or through Google search.
THE ENGLISH BLOG: The site looks very professional. Did you design it yourself?

TIMOTHY DUE: Yes.
THE ENGLISH BLOG: What sort of feedback have you had from users?
TIMOTHY DUE: In general I don't find Quickworksheets users to be a vocal bunch. They usually drop in a couple of times a week, make what they need, and then leave. However, from time to time I have received feedback - both positive and constructively critical. As a result of some of the constructive feedback I've been able to make improvements such as redesigning worksheet layouts to make them easier for students to understand.
THE ENGLISH BLOG: What percentage of your time is devoted to Quickworksheets?
TIMOTHY DUE: I'm currently dedicated to Quickworksheets full-time.
THE ENGLISH BLOG: What are your future plans for the site?
TIMOTHY DUE: I plan to continue to increase the number of worksheet generators on offer, and increase the ability of our users to customise worksheets. However I'm proceeding cautiously with this second aim as I don't want to clutter the interface nor add unnecessary features that 90% of my users don't need. The overriding premise is that Quickworksheets must be quick, so I want to avoid feature bloat and interface clutter.
THE ENGLISH BLOG: Do you have any other projects?
TIMOTHY DUE: No, not at this time.
THE ENGLISH BLOG: Thanks Timothy, and good luck with Quickworksheets!