IBL News

Author: IBL News

  • Pearson Acquires Spotlight Education to Improve Its Data Reports

    Pearson Acquires Spotlight Education to Improve Its Data Reports

    IBL News | New York

    Pearson announced it acquired Spotlight Education in order to provide improved data information and infographics about student performance and progress. The transaction amount was not disclosed.

    Spotlight Education turns data into personalized video reports in 30 languages. Founded in 2010, the company based in Davis, California has a staff of 20 employees, all of whom will join Pearson.

    In addition to assessment reports, Spotlight provides customized college and career guides that use a student’s data to plot a course to specific colleges and careers, including a timeline of specific, recommended action steps, and college-by-college recommendations.

    “No one can deliver clear information about student learning like Spotlight, and no organization can reach as many learners, parents, and educators as Pearson,” said Josh Newman, Spotlight CEO and Founder.

     

  • Live-Voice Chat Clubhouse, a New Social Way to Connect and Learn

    Live-Voice Chat Clubhouse, a New Social Way to Connect and Learn

    IBL News | New York

    The audio-chat app Clubhouse has reached a valuation of roughly $1 billion and a ton of buzz, despite the fact that it remains “invite-only”.

    It started last summer with Silicon Valley venture capitalists and tech workers who wanted to connect with one another during the pandemic. Specifically, the app was launched by two Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Paul Davidson and Rohan Seth, who later got funding from Andreessen Horowitz.

    Now it has two million users. Recently, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg appeared on Clubhouse and the platform nearly crashed.

    This social networking app lets people gather in audio chat rooms to discuss various topics, listen to conversations and interviews. Topics of interest can be tech, business, books, or health. Rooms—”clubs”—are divided into two groups: those who are talking and those who are listening.

    Participants can see a list of everyone who is in a conversation. A moderator oversees discussions and has the ability to let someone chime in. Two or more users can join together and start their own chat rooms.

    Clubhouse is like tuning into a live podcast or a conference call, with some people talking and most listening. When the conversation is over the room is closed, the audio-chat disappears. However, users would be able to record the conversation. That’s what a YouTube user did with a live-streaming conversation launched by Elon Musk.

    The creators’ goal for 2021 is to open up Clubhouse to everyone and help creators get paid, including subscriptions, tipping, and ticket sales.

  • Open LMS Will Release Its Moodle Modules and Enhancements as GPLv3

    Open LMS Will Release Its Moodle Modules and Enhancements as GPLv3

    IBL News | New York

    Open LMS—formerly called Moodlerooms—announced yesterday that it will open-source by the end of 2021 many of its Moodle modules and enhancements included on its Learnbook platform. The distribution license will be GPLv3.

    “Over the months to come, Open LMS will release a variety of different software components in its open-source project roadmap, contributing all of this code back to the open-source community for all educators to take advantage of,” said Phil Miller, Managing Director at Open LMS.

    Client-specific customizations, SaaS cloud architecture and management components, and data integration code won’t be released as open-source.

    While going more open source, the platform will be rebranded as Open LMS Work.

    In December 2020, the parent company, London-based Learning Technologies Group (LTG) acquired eThink Education, a large Moodle provider and Platinum Totara Partner, for $20 million in cash. In October, LTG purchased Australia-based eCreators.

    Previously a Blackboard product, Indianapolis-based Open LMS was acquired by Learning Technologies Group plc (LTG) in March 2020.

     

  • Google Classroom Adds 40 Million Users and Includes New Mobile Features

    Google Classroom Adds 40 Million Users and Includes New Mobile Features

    IBL News | New York

    Google Classroom attracted 40 million new users in the last year until reaching 150 million students—the giant of search announced.

    “As more teachers use Classroom as their ‘hub’ of learning during the pandemic, many schools are treating it as their learning management system (LMS),” explained in a blog-post Melanie Lazare, Program Manager at Google Classroom.

    Later this year, Google Classroom plans to add new features, mostly intended to simplify teacher’s workflow and integration with other tools without extra log-ins.

    Another new feature will allow teachers to set up classes in advance with their SIS (Student Information System). Pushing grades into schools’ SIS will also be available later this year.

    • Functionalities intended to provide deeper insights about Classroom adoption and engagement will be added, as well.
    • A new student engagement tracking will allow educators to see which students are engaged and which are falling behind.
    • The Classroom Android app will allow learners to work offline or with intermittent connections. Students will be able to review assignments, open Drive attachments, and write assignments in Google Docs.

    More expected features “coming later this year” are the following:

    • Better scan and submission pictures of homework through the Classroom Android app.

    • Improved grading on mobile.
    • Rich text formatting in Classroom’s posts or assignments.
    • Detect plagiarism in reports written in 15 languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Swedish, French, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese,  Finnish, German, Korean and Danish, Malay, and Hindi.

  • 2U and Guild Education Partner to Expand their Offering

    2U and Guild Education Partner to Expand their Offering

    IBL News | New York

    2U will distribute its portfolio of online short courses, boot camps, and degrees to Guild Education’s corporate clients, as an additional channel. A partnership between the two companies was announced this Tuesday. No further details were provided beyond the press release announcement.

    Guild’s platform gives access to Fortune 1000 employers to different educational pathways, while Lanham, Maryland-based 2U powers and markets programs for 75 colleges.

    “The average college student takes on $29,000 in debt; Guild is focused on helping America’s workforce access affordable education, in partnerships with employers,” said Rachel Carlson, CEO of Guild Education.

    This company—which has raised $228.5 million in venture capital to date—claims that “employees going back to school with support from Guild are more than 2x as likely to have a role change or promotion than their colleagues.”

    About 79 percent of CEOs worldwide cite their workforce skills gap as a top concern, according to PWC.

  • Codeacademy, Another EdTech Startup is Able to Raise Capital Amidst the Pandemic

    Codeacademy, Another EdTech Startup is Able to Raise Capital Amidst the Pandemic

    IBL News | New York

    Coding instructional platform Codeacademy announced yesterday it raised $40 million in a Series D round after years without raising capital. The round was led by Owl Ventures, with participation from Prosus and Union Square Venture.

    Other startups like Udacity, CourseHero, Quizlet, and Class Dojo have been equally raising new funding as capital is flowing into the EdTech industry during the pandemic. The global health crisis has notoriously woken up VCs’ appetite for the remote learning sector.

    New York-based Codeacademy said it will use the funding to add new products and courses and expand its footprint in growing markets like India. So far, the firm has raised $82.5M from investors.

    Founded in 2011, the online learning platform claims to host 50 million learners, after seeing a large uptick with five million new users—150,000 paid subscribers of Codecademy Pro, and 600 customers of Codecademy for Business—in 2020.

    “The company has been cash-flow positive for over two years and has consistently grown in new users and revenue,” said Zach Sims, CEO and Co-Founder.

    Codeacademy provides online training on popular coding languages suitable for data science, machine learning, and game development-based careers. Along with a basic plan, it offers a $19 a month Pro membership.

    Their Codeacademy for Business unit offers regular exercises, assessments and certificates intended to provide new skills on coding to corporate learners.

     

  • Ranking of the Top Private Colleges and Universities in the U.S. for 2021

    Ranking of the Top Private Colleges and Universities in the U.S. for 2021

    IBL News | New York

    Each fall, over 400,000 students join private colleges. It means that one in five students chooses a private, nonprofit higher education over the public option.

    With this data in mind, AcademicInfluence.com released this month its rank of the 50 Best Private Colleges & Universities of 2021.

    Criteria in this ranking included full accreditation, operation as a nonprofit organization, and a minimum student body of 1,000 students.

    “These schools stand out due to their influential faculty and alumni, and for their many unmatched accomplishments in academics,” explained Dr. Jed Macosko, Academic Director of AcademicInfluence.com and professor of physics at Wake Forest University.

    The following schools are featured in the ranking:

    • Amherst College
    • Bard College
    • Barnard College
    • Brandeis University
    • Brown University
    • Bryn Mawr College
    • California Institute of Technology
    • Carnegie Mellon University
    • Case Western Reserve University
    • The Catholic University of America
    • Claremont McKenna College
    • Columbia University
    • Cooper Union
    • Cornell University
    • Dartmouth College
    • Duke University
    • Emory University
    • Georgetown University
    • George Washington University
    • Hampshire College
    • Harvard University
    • Haverford College
    • Johns Hopkins University
    • Kenyon College
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Morehouse College
    • New School
    • New York University
    • Northwestern University
    • Oberlin College
    • Pomona College
    • Princeton University
    • Reed College
    • Rice University
    • Sarah Lawrence College
    • Stanford University
    • Swarthmore College
    • Tufts University
    • University of Chicago
    • University of Pennsylvania
    • University of Rochester
    • University of Southern California
    • Vanderbilt University
    • Vassar College
    • Washington University in St Louis
    • Wellesley College
    • Wesleyan University
    • Williams College
    • Yale University
    • Yeshiva University

    The top 10 schools are:

    1. California Institute of Technology
    2. Harvard University
    3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    4. Stanford University
    5. University of Chicago
    6. Princeton University
    7. Columbia University
    8. Yale University
    9. Johns Hopkins University
    10. Duke University

    Behind the ranking is Fort Worth, Texas-based Influence Networks, which was created in 2016 with funding assistance from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

    • Detailed Ranking of Top Schools

  • Google For Education Announces 50 New Features on Its Products

    Google For Education Announces 50 New Features on Its Products

    IBL News | New York

    The Google for Education division announced this month over 50 new features across its products—whether it’s Search, YouTube, Google Classroom, or Chromebooks.

    • The first change that administrators and educators will see points to the fact that Google’s free edition G Suite for Education will be renamed Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals. It will include:
      • Gmail;
      • Calendar;
      • Meet;
      • Docs;
      • Sheets;
      • Slides;
      • Forms;
      • Classroom;
      • Assignments;
      • Sites;
      • Groups;
      • Drive; and
      • Admin.

    The “Standard” edition will cost $3 a year per student.

    • In Classroom, there is new advanced analytics.
    • On Meet, a new feature is the ability to set policies for who can join their school’s video calls. Also, the possibility to end meetings for everyone and the option to quickly mute everyone all at once. Emoji reactions—scheduled by the end of the year—will give students lightweight, non-disruptive ways to engage. Meet will also work better with low bandwidth.
    • In Chrome OS, the search giant is launching over 40 new models. A new feature is a screen recording tool.
    • In Google Cloud Student Success Services, there are new features intended to better understand student needs and scale support across digital and in-person learning.
    • Later this year, the Classroom Android app will work offline so students can download their assignments and complete them without relying on a steady connection.

    “We’re committed to building technology that empowers every educator with simple, assistive tools, teachers can focus on helping students reach their full potential,” wrote Ben Gomes, SVP Learning and Education at Google.

     

  • Learning App Babbel Adds Live Classes by Certified Teachers

    Learning App Babbel Adds Live Classes by Certified Teachers

    IBL News | New York

    Babbel, the German subscription-based language learning app, announced this month that is adding live classes capped at six students and delivered by certified teachers. (Currently, Babbel is working with 100 teachers.)

    Users can add live classes to their existing Babbel subscription for an additional fee, starting at $110 for five classes/month.

    The Berlin-based learning platform also announced language-based games in its app, along with short stories to help students using their new vocabulary.

    In the last year, Babbel claimed it crossed a milestone at 10 million subscriptions sold, with $150 million in revenue. Its CEO, Julie Hansen said to Techcrunch.com that the travel restrictions due to the pandemic didn’t affect the company’s growth.

    “So I was in such a panic by mid-March, thinking that our business is going to go to zero. No one’s traveling. And it was just the exact opposite. People found in language learning — as they did in bike riding and sourdough bread baking — a creative outlet, self-improvement or a rewarding investment in themselves.”

     

     

  • ASU Creates a Virtual Center to Provide Students Career-Related Services

    ASU Creates a Virtual Center to Provide Students Career-Related Services

    IBL News | New York

    Arizona State University (ASU) announced a virtual career center intended to help its community of students and alumni on their professional development and recruitment. Its goal is “to translate their education into meaningful career pathways.”

    W. P. Carey Career Management and Employer Engagement (CMEE) provides resources and hosts events for its business students, including 16,000 bachelor’s and master’s degree students across 50 programs.

    ASU launched this virtual center, hosted at career.wpcarey.asu.edu, in partnership with uConnect.

    Sharon Irwin-Foulon, Executive Director for Career Management and Employer Engagement, explained that the W. P. Carey virtual career center is organized into digital communities with tools for events, internships, and job opportunities; industry guides; mentors; and student organizations.

    Communities also feature a dedicated career coach, as well as professional courses for students.