Google announced this month new features for its Chrome browser intended to boost productivity.
As of March 2021, Chrome was the most used browser (64%), followed by Safari (19%) and Edge (3.74%).
“Copy link to highlight”. It allows you to highlight a URL for the selected text you want to share, right-clicking and sending the link. This feature is rolling out now to desktop and Android and is coming soon for iOS.
New PDF presentation mode, removal of the on-screen distractions (toolbars, address bar, tabs), and more features (document properties, two-page view). An updated top toolbar, which puts the most important PDF actions (zoom, jump to page, save, print) within a single click. These features are rolling out now.
Mute notifications when presenting.
Performance improvement with decreased Chrome CPU usage, and therefore more battery life, less fan noise, and less heat.
Tab freezing for collapsed groups. This feature is coming soon to beta.
Thinkific Labs Inc. (TSX: THNC) went public yesterday on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). The Vancouver, Canada-based learning company — which provides businesses a platform to build, market, and sell online courses — raised over $129 million. It sold 12,310,000 subordinate voting shares at a price of $13 per share.
Founded in 2012 by CEO Greg Smith, COO Miranda Lievers, CTO Matt Payne, and Chief Strategy Officer Matt Smith, this software-as-a-service platform claims to host 50,000 creators who taught 21 million students earning $275 million in 2020. “As entrepreneurs ourselves, we saw the opportunity to help people build and grow sustainable businesses by educating others,” explained in a blog post, Greg Smith.
According to its preliminary prospectus, Thinkific.com recorded $21.07 million in revenue and a net loss of $1.29 million. In 2019 total revenue was $9.8 million and in 2018 reached $6 million.
BMO Capital Markets and CIBC Capital Markets acted as joint book-runners and co-lead underwriters for the IPO. The underwriters have been granted an over-allotment option to purchase up to an additional 1,846,500 subordinate voting shares at a price of $13 per share. This option, which can be exercised within the next 30 days, could generate additional gross proceeds of up to $24 million and raise Thinkific’s net proceeds to an estimated $174.5 million.
Thinkific is backed by Rhino Ventures, which, through Rhino Co-Invest 2 Limited Partners, planned to buy approximately $25 million subordinate voting shares through the offering, according to Thinkific’s final prospectus. After the IPO, Rhino Group, along with Greg and Matt Smith own a total of 57 million multiple voting shares, accounting for 79 percent of Thinkific’s outstanding shares, and 97 percent voting power.
Last fall, Thinkific raised $27 million in financing. Its main competitor is New York-based Teachable.com.
“Going public will not change our mission,”said the company’s CEO. “We truly believe that education is the most powerful force for positive change in the world, and commerce is the rocket fuel that powers education to far greater reach and impact.”
This four-course, five-month program, for beginner-level students will include hands-on projects.
Coursera’s initiative, developed in partnership with Microsoft, comes amid the increased demand for Azure cloud-related specialists — roughly 38% over the next ten years, according to Burning Glass.
Microsoft partnered with Women in Cloud to provide over 600 scholarships on Azure Training and Certification Scholarships.
“With partners like Microsoft, we’re continually working on flexible programs to help learners develop in-demand skills,” said in a blog post, Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO at Coursera.
A new study from MIT found that the risk of contracting COVID-19 indoors is the same when socially distanced 6 feet apart and 60 feet apart, challenging the rules from both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding social distance.
Specifically, MIT researchers Martin Z. Bazant, professor of chemical engineering and applied mathematics, and John W. M. Bush, professor of applied mathematics, say that people who maintain 6 feet of distance indoors are no more protected than if they were 60 feet apart – even when wearing a mask.
The most important factor is the amount of time spent indoors rather than how far apart people stand from one another — they say.
“Many spaces that have been shut down in fact don’t need to be.” (…) “Often space and ventilation are good enough, the amount of time people spend together is such that those spaces can be safely operated even at full capacity.”
Since the pandemic started in March 2020, ideas about COVID transmission have been changing. In the beginning, experts believed that touching surfaces were the leading cause. Now, they say that the virus is transmitted through droplets released when people talk, sneeze, and cough.
These MIT researchers created a model to calculate exposure risk based on the amount of time indoors, air filtration, immunizations, variants, and breathing.
Last month, the CDC dropped the distancing guidance to 3 feet for classroom settings.
MIT’s analysis is based on the fact that in enclosed spaces, tiny airborne pathogen-bearing droplets emitted by people as they talk, cough, sneeze, sing, or eat will tend to float in the air for long periods and to be well-mixed throughout the space by air currents.
The University of Maryland announced yesterday the launch of a quantum business incubator created through an initial $25 million investment. University of Maryland President, Darryll J. Pines, made the announcement at an event honoring UMD’s inventions, startups, mentors and student entrepreneurs.
The Quantum Startup Foundry (QSF) will invest in quantum-focused startups intended to innovate and disrupt in areas such as cybersecurity, energy, medical discoveries, and finance.
The funding is backed by the university’s newly established Discovery Fund, $10 million capital investment for quantum facilities, and the state of Maryland — which seeks to position the region as “the Capital of Quantum.”
The Quantum Startup Foundry also draws from the 24-member Mid-Atlantic Quantum Alliance (MQA)—comprised of universities, major corporations, startups, and government labs.
UMD Chief Innovation Officer at the University and manager of QSF, Julie Lenzer, said that the organization will seek quantum technology breakthroughs. He announced that the QSF also will be able to provide a landing spot for international quantum startups.
“The future is quantum, and it starts now,” he stated.
The College Board announced that its CLEP exam created five decades ago, will be available remotely through a proctoring solution. To date, only CLEP-certified centers were authorized to take this exam.
The examination taken remotely at home by the student will have the same timing, content, format, and on-screen experience as any test delivered through a CLEP test center.
“Your at-home appointment will be monitored by a human proctor online through Proctortrack, CLEP’s remote proctoring partner,” stated The College Board through its official website.
With the chosen partner of Proctortrack, CLEP students will be monitored via video by a human proctor while they use their computers.
These computers will be only Windows PC, no Macs being allowed, said The College Board.
“To participate in remote proctoring, you must have a computer (PC only, no Macs), webcam, speaker, microphone, a whiteboard or one sheet of paper in a transparent sheet protector and a dry erase marker for note-taking, and a quiet, secure testing environment.”
In addition to this equipment and after scheduling the exam with Proctortrack, students would need to download and install an ETS-designed online test application.
The news of the CLEP remote modality was received cheerfully by the creators of ModernState.org‘s non-profit “Freshman Year for Free” program — which delivers online instructional materials for CLEP takes.
ModernStates.org has over a quarter-million registered users. It has become the online leader in this area. Its platform and course content is built on an Open edX-based ecosystem developed by IBL Education, the parent company of this news service.
Australian Moodle Pty Ltd — or Moodle HQ — is shaping itself as a more aggressive corporation jumping into the acquisition field, following in the footsteps of competing providers, and playing by the same capitalistic rules.
Last week, Moodle HQ announced that it will be acquiring three US-based Moodle Partner companies: My Learning Consultants, Moonami Learning Solutions, and Elearning Experts, and merging them into a single new services company called Moodle US. Due diligence is currently underway and the deals are expected to conclude by June 2021.
Moodle US means that Moodle HQ itself, creator of the software in 2005, will provide services, blowing up in a way the partnership model that was the foundation of its revenue stream.
Moodle Founder and CEO, Martin Dougiamas [in the picture], said: “It’s a great step forward for Moodle!”
Martin Dougiamas, Moodle’s Mastermind, highlighted its company’s technical strength by stating that “we are bringing the most experienced Moodle experts and technology together to create the best possible Moodle services for educators and organizations in the US.”
“Customers have been asking us for this for a long time, so we are very enthusiastic about what this will mean for existing customers in the US and new customers looking for an expert level of support and the latest technologies around Moodle solutions.”
The growth and acquisition strategy of Open LMS / Moodlerooms changed the Moodle competing ecosystem, prompting providers to react, according to experts.
ClassforZoom.com, now rebranded as Class.com, announced yesterday it raised an additional $12.25 million in funding.
This startup led by Blackboard co-founder and former CEO Michael Chasen has raised $58 million in the last 12 months ($30 million Series A in February 2021 and a $16 million seed round in September 2020), despite its limited number of clients: 125 paying clients, according to Techcrunch.
“In the seven months since Class has launched, over 7,500 K-12 and Higher-Ed institutions, as well as corporations, around the world have reached out interested in using Class,” said the company – now called Class Technologies Inc.
Investors in the last round included Salesforce Ventures and American quarterback and Super Bowl champion and entrepreneur Tom Brady. Also, this financing included Sound Ventures and entrepreneur Guy Oseary. Exact investment amounts were not disclosed.
Tom Brady — who debuts as a VC — praised Michael Chasen as “a proven education and technology pioneer and fellow father of three, to bring the promise, potential, and power of the digital classroom to people around the world.”
Class.com is built on the Zoom Meetings platform. Its software adds teaching and learning tools to Zoom. Features include:
Present from the front of the class
Take attendance
Track participation
Hand out assignments and quizzes
Proctor exams
Grade work
Talk one-on-one with a learner
The price for Class’ services ranges from $10,000 to $65,000 annually, depending on the number of students.
A number of EdTech companies are trying to give an answer to Zoom video conferencing limitation for higher ed. Engageli, Top Hat, and InSpace are some of them.
Coursera announced yesterday five new degrees from international universities as well as six new MasterTrack certificates.
The PR effort didn’t convince the market. Coursera’s (NYSE: COUR) stock experienced yesterday a huge drop of 8.48%, until $42 per share, below the successful opening of $45 on April 1st. Gains of its debut were wiped and valuation decreased half a billion dollars, until $5.48 billion.
In addition, the educational company announced it added 10 new university partners to its platform, including Dartmouth College, University of Notre Dame, Parsons School of Design at The New School, Queen Mary University of London, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, Sungkyunkwan University, Khalifa University, University of Naples Federico II, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, and Jordan University of Science & Technology.
“The lessons we have learned as a community over the last year are reshaping how education is delivered,” wrote Betty Vandenbosch, Chief Content Officer at Coursera. “As students prioritize flexibility and affordability, we are partnering with leading universities to meet the demand for online degrees; in 2020, 91% more degree students studied on Coursera than in 2019.”
This newsletter is created in collaboration with IBL Education, a New York City-based company specializing in AI–driven learning platforms and communities. We also a course production studio. Read the latest IBL Newsletter | Archive of Open edX Newsletters
