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
Globenewswire | April 26, 2023
Surgent Accounting & Financial Education, a division of KnowFully Learning Group, today announced the introduction of CPArescue™ and CMArescue™, custom-tailored exam preparation coaching programs specifically designed to transform a student’s accounting certification journey from failure to passing.
“Surgent is acutely aware of the many challenges professionals face in entering the world of accounting and finance, which include the difficulty of the exams and time it takes to study and pass,” said Liz Kolar, Surgent’s executive vice president. “CPArescue and CMArescue were built to ease that journey, providing a custom learning solution for students who need support in just one or two sections or have struggled to pass the exams using other providers.”
The introduction of these programs comes on the heels of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy announcing it amended the Uniform Accountancy Act to extend the CPA pass window from 18 months to up to 30 months from the date a candidate’s score on the first section of the exam is released. State boards need to adopt the amendment before an individual can take advantage of the longer window, but the decision is another step in the right direction to address the CPA shortage.
The CPArescue and CMArescue programs, now available on Surgent.com, use a 3-Step Coaching Success Formula:
1. Initial assessment: An expert Surgent exam strategist conducts a detailed analysis of the student’s initial assessment results, allowing for the identification of specific areas needed for support. 2. Tailored study plan: Working closely with the student, Surgent’s coach develops a customized study plan needed to achieve the required score, taking into account circumstances of the student’s personal life and their individual goals. 3. Adjust and pass: Surgent’s coach helps the student make any necessary adjustments to stay on track while studying, empowering the student with knowledge, skills and all the support needed to pass the exam.
The CPArescue package includes six one-on-one coaching sessions with a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Exam Study Strategist; Surgent’s A.S.A.P.® Technology adaptive learning software, ReadySCORE™ exam-readiness indicator, and MyMCQ™ study content optimizer; 8,200 multiple-choice questions; 400+ simulations; 350+ videos; study companion app; unlimited practice exams; e-books and lecture study notes; ultimate customer and technical support; and a 100% pass guarantee. Course access is also provided until the student passes the CPA Exam.
The CMArescue package includes four one-on-one coaching sessions with a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) Exam Study Strategist, Surgent’s A.S.A.P.® Technology adaptive learning software, ReadySCORE™ exam-readiness indicator, and MyMCQ™ study content optimizer; 4,000 multiple-choice questions; 60+ essay questions; 60+ videos; study companion app; unlimited practice exams; e-books and lecture study notes; ultimate customer and technical support; and a 100% pass guarantee. Course access is also provided for 18 months.
"Like our A.S.A.P. and ReadySCORE technologies, these programs are a reflection of Surgent's commitment to continuous innovation and to delivering a superior educational experience that takes real-time learner feedback into consideration,” said Kolar. “We look forward to introducing additional new offerings later this year."
About Surgent Accounting & Financial Education
Surgent Accounting & Financial Education, a division of KnowFully Learning Group, is a provider of the high-impact education experiences that accounting, tax and financial professionals need throughout their careers. For most of the company’s 35-year history, Surgent has been a trusted provider of the continuing professional education (CPE), continuing education (CE) and skill-based training that professionals need to maintain their credentials and stay current on industry changes. More recently, Surgent became one of the fastest-growing certification exam review providers, offering adaptive learning-based courses that help learners pass accounting and finance credentialing exams faster.
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ONLINE EDUCATION
Businesswire | May 26, 2023
PowerSchool the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America, today announced a partnership with EDU Inc. and PowerSchool Naviance. This exclusive partnership will connect students using Naviance with the Common Black College Application, better enabling students to apply to many Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) at once starting with the 2023-2024 school year.
The comprehensive college, career, and life readiness solutions available in Naviance are used by millions of students. Naviance college research tools utilize over ninety search criteria to help students find institutions that are the right fit for their aspirations and needs. As part of their exploration process in Naviance, students view college profiles over 25 million times each year.
“Our data over the last few years has shown a clear increase in students looking for HBCUs,” said Amy Reitz, Group Vice President of Product at PowerSchool. “A key part of the Naviance philosophy is ensuring each student is empowered to find their best fit, and we value the tremendous role HBCUs play in our country’s higher education landscape. We are excited to partner with the Common Black College Application to benefit students, school counselors, and colleges.”
The Common Black College Application is a network of Historically Black Colleges and Universities committed to supporting equity and access for students. Students apply to all member institutions with one application fee, reducing friction in the application process.
“The partnership between Naviance and the Common Black College Application will have a profound impact in the lives of millions of students, interested in attending HBCUs, in the coming years,” said Robert Mason, Founder of EDU, Inc. “Equally as important, our work with Naviance will aid HBCUs in the achievement of their enrollment objectives. The partnership between Naviance and the CBCA represents the very essence of educational access and equality – goals that so many others seek to achieve and fall woefully short.”
Starting in the fall, Naviance will identify colleges that are members of the Common Black College Application on their Naviance college profiles. PowerSchool and EDU, Inc. will also work together to integrate the Common Black College Application with Naviance eDocs for the following year, making it easy for counselors to submit supporting documentation for student applications.
About PowerSchool
PowerSchool is the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America. Its mission is to power the education ecosystem with unified technology that helps educators and students realize their full potential, in their way. PowerSchool connects students, teachers, administrators, and parents, with the shared goal of improving student outcomes. From the office to the classroom to the home, it helps schools and districts efficiently manage state reporting and related compliance, special education, finance, human resources, talent, registration, attendance, funding, learning, instruction, grading, assessments and analytics in one unified platform. PowerSchool supports over 50 million students globally and more than 15,000 customers, including more than 90 of the top 100 districts by student enrollment in the United States, and sells solutions in more than 90 countries.
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