TALENT DEVELOPMENT
Businesswire | April 21, 2023
Labster the world's leading edtech platform for virtual labs and interactive science courseware, is rolling out a major free user experience (UX) upgrade that will improve the Labster platform for millions of students in high school and higher education institutions worldwide. The upgrade will be pushed automatically to users when they log into Labster and will impact more than 80% of Labster simulations across all devices and LMS systems, including the Labster app for iOS and Chromebook.
With Labster, students explore interactive simulations in state-of-the-art laboratories from their digital devices. But the advanced scientific concepts and lab techniques that Labster simulations bring to life can sometimes be challenging for students who are not as well prepared. Based on extensive feedback from both users and instructors, Labster has developed a new intelligent “hint and guidance” system that will nudge students in the right direction toward successful completion of their assignments when needed. Among other features, this includes helpful new indicators and suggestions for students who appear to be stuck or struggling.
Leveraging gamification techniques has been proven to boost student enthusiasm, engagement and learning outcomes. Labster offers 300-plus titles in its catalog of STEM curriculum-aligned virtual lab simulations in fields such as biology, biochemistry, genetics, biotechnology, chemistry, and physics. Labster simulations are especially useful for pre- and post-lab assignments, so science department leads can fully optimize the time students spend on-site in high-demand physical laboratories.
“Labster plays an important role in helping students complete challenging STEM courses, so it’s critical that we leverage the power of our platform to support their learning and progress through each simulation,” said Michael Bodekaer Jensen, co-founder and CEO of Labster. “Our ultimate goal is for Labster to increase STEM student retention by encouraging students on their path to becoming the next generation of scientists to change the world. Our thanks go out to the generous educators and students who helped us build this major upgrade by providing valuable feedback and ongoing testing for continuous improvement.”
Better STEM access for all
According to the National Science Board, academic institutions need to dramatically increase the proportion of students in STEM to preserve U.S. economic and innovation leadership. But women and minority students are already underrepresented in STEM education, and inherent design flaws in introductory STEM-subject courses can actually act as a barrier for minority students rather than as a springboard for success, according to a 2022 Pennsylvania State University research study led by mathematics professor Nathanial "Nate" Brown, Ph.D.
“We know that different students have different levels of comfort with online courseware,” said Jolita Kiznyte, Labster’s lead product manager for content. “That’s why we’re continuously working to improve the UX design of Labster’s gamified, interactive science simulations. It’s really important that we accommodate a diversity of user backgrounds and technical skills. These latest updates provide key hints and signals that can offer a helping hand to students where they need it while navigating the learning experience in our simulations.”
Labster has been innovating in science education for more than a decade, providing educators with the ability to digitally explore and enhance their science offerings and supplement their in-classroom activities. In 2022, Labster released five new course packages, including Basic Lab Skills, focused specifically on practical lab skills and simulations. Additionally, more than 150 of the 300-plus Labster simulations are now available in Spanish, with over 100 also in French, German, and Italian. Labster simulations can be played on a variety of the most commonly used desktop, laptop, and tablet computers available to the broadest range of students.
Getting to know (and love) Labster
About Labster
Labster is dedicated to developing fully interactive virtual training simulations that are designed to enhance traditional learning outcomes by stimulating students’ natural curiosity and reinforcing the connection between science and the real world. The simulations can be used in a variety of different ways, from a full lab replacement to a supplemental learning activity. Over 5 million students in high schools and universities in 100 countries have used Labster to perform realistic experiments, learn key science concepts, and practice their skills in a risk-free learning environment. Labster’s team members are passionate about improving science learning, resulting in collaborations with over 3,000 leading educational institutions.
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EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
PRnewswire | April 06, 2023
Learneo, Inc., an ambitious new platform of productivity and learning businesses and technologies, today announced its acquisition of German-founded LanguageTool, a multilingual writing platform for English, Spanish, and 30 other languages. This acquisition adds to Learneo's robust suite of writing solutions, while also advancing the company's larger international expansion strategy.
"We are committed to supporting builder-driven businesses that help people learn and do more, faster, better, and more affordably—wherever learning occurs," said Andrew Grauer, CEO of Learneo. "The LanguageTool business fits squarely in our investment thesis and accelerates our mission thanks to their values-aligned and ambitious co-founders, their broad customer reach of B2C and B2B clients across the globe, and their unique language and AI expertise."
Globally, most people communicate in more than one language today. Employers are increasingly expecting their employees to engage with colleagues, partners, and customers in multiple languages. In the U.S., for example, 9 out of 10 U.S. employers have reported that they rely on U.S.-based employees with language skills other than English.
Born out of an interest in helping professionals communicate in an increasingly global world, Daniel Naber started LanguageTool as a part of his diploma thesis while studying computational linguistics in 2003. Naber spent many years building LanguageTool in his free time, initially as an open-source project and later as a business when he joined forces with Christopher Blum. Blum had previously founded the spell checking platform, Spellboy, and the two decided to collaborate and unify their experience by co-founding LanguageTool as a business. Today, LanguageTool boasts over 60,000 paying subscribers, including professionals and enterprise clients, and millions more free users across Europe and Latin America.
"Having built LanguageTool over the course of the last 20 years, it has been exciting for us to find a partner so clearly aligned with our mission who also understands our advanced technology and can support our continued innovation in a moment of rapid technological evolution," said Naber. "Joining the Learneo team and having the ability to work alongside talent with phenomenal writing and AI expertise to accelerate our vision is a dream come true. We are deeply motivated by the possibilities that lie ahead!"
With this acquisition, Learneo now comprises seven distinct business lines: CliffsNotes, Course Hero, LanguageTool, LitCharts, QuillBot, Scribbr, and Symbolab. Individually, and together, Learneo's platform of businesses is pioneering advances in a wide range of applications for emergent technologies, including the use of AI to improve people's written communications, reading, and math skills, whether they are in school, a professional work environment, or simply navigating everyday life. Most recently, QuillBot announced the addition of an AI-augmented translator to its platform, allowing users to translate complex texts and better understand the nuances of sentence structure, word choice, and verb conjugation.
"In an ever-more-globalized, asynchronous work environment, accessible multilingual expertise for written communication is in high demand," said Rohan Gupta, CEO of QuillBot and head of Learneo's writing vertical. "Daniel, Christopher and the LanguageTool team have built something truly unique, and I am excited for us to build together, to evolve each of our product lines across Learneo's writing vertical, and to advance the international writing industry at large."
About Learneo
Learneo is pioneering a platform of productivity and learning businesses. The platform of businesses includes CliffsNotes, the original and iconic study guide company; Course Hero, an online learning platform of academic resources; LitCharts, a creator of literature resources; QuillBot, an AI-powered writing companion; Scribbr, a multilingual academic proofreading service, and Symbolab, an AI-based mathematics resource.
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TALENT DEVELOPMENT
PRnewswire | April 11, 2023
Echo360, the most comprehensive, global, SaaS-based EdTech platform for creating, delivering, and measuring learning engagement outcomes in any learning environment, builds on its DNA of EdTech innovation today by launching EchoPoll™, a revolutionary new learning engagement platform for education and business, and continuing to deliver significant enhancements to its EchoVideo™ and ExamView™ platforms.
With EchoPollTM the company builds on over 20 years of pioneering audience response systems for education and business by delivering a SaaS-based polling solution with unparalleled flexibility, connectivity, and dependability. The company collaborated closely with educators around the world to ensure EchoPoll™ exceeds their needs to create greater engagement and outcomes from learners in any environment, including:
• The flexibility for educators to use EchoPoll™ in "live" sessions with rostered and guest users, or to assign interactive work to individuals and teams outside the classroom or office.
• The ability to transform existing Power Point presentations, files, or websites into interactive Echo360 Poll Decks™ or EchoPoll™ sessions with its Companion App • Seamless connectivity with all major LMS providers such as Canvas, D2L, Moodle, Anthology (Blackboard), and popular education and business applications like Zoom and GoTo Meeting.
• Instructor and administrator dashboards with metrics that assess engagement at the course, team, and individual learner level.
• Scalability and reliability, including 99.999% uptime and 24/7 customer support
"EchoPoll™ is polling, perfected -- the culmination and next-generation technology innovation representing everything we've developed and advanced in educational polling since 2002," said Murad Velani, Echo360 President and CEO. "Thousands of instructors around the world already trust Echo360 to support their inspired learning goals, and EchoPoll™ will introduce the power of SaaS-based educational polling to thousands more."
In addition to launching EchoPoll™, Echo360 also announced new enhancements and future redesigns for two of its most popular products, EchoVideo™ and ExamView™. EchoVideo™, the company's SaaS video management platform, is rolling out new features increasing interoperability, accessibility, and student engagement; ExamView™, the popular exam creation and assessment SaaS platform utilized by some of the world's largest education and trade publishers, will be redesigned and relaunched later this year as EchoExam™ with advanced compatibility, reporting, and mobile app features.
"These innovative and interoperable EdTech SaaS platforms help our customers consolidate disparate vendor offerings by using a comprehensive portfolio of solutions from Echo360 that address their challenges of dealing with increasing costs, support, and scalability," concluded Velani.
To celebrate the launch of EchoPoll™, Echo360 will be hosting a "Worldwide Week of Polling" virtual event April 10 – 14th. Each day the company will post a new EchoPoll™ link on its LinkedIn and Twitter feeds, inviting followers around the globe to answer an interactive question of the day, with results posted at the end of each day.
News of Echo360's continuing innovations to help instructors and learners around the world transform their learning experiences through technology comes on the heels of the company earning top position in The Silicon Review's "5 Best E-Learning Providers to Watch in 2023". In recognizing Echo360, the Review cited the company's "dynamic SaaS platform of innovative solutions that correspond to the relationship, environment, content, and assessment required." Earlier this year Echo360 received similar recognition from Enterprise Viewpoint in their listing of "2023's top E-Learning Providers".
About Echo360
Echo360 is the leading SaaS interactive video learning management, content, engagement, and assessment platform serving over 2 million learners and instructors at more than 1200 higher education institutions in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. Built for the cloud and grounded in principles of learning equity, evidence, and engagement, instructors and learners around the world can use the platform from wherever they are, on any device, to create, record and consume content, give and receive feedback, and gain real-time insights along their inspired learning journey.
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