Udemy Raises $50 Million Series E to Grow Online Courses Worldwide

edsurge | February 19, 2020

Udemy, a provider of an online learning platform of more than 150,000 courses, has raised a $50 million Series E round of funding, claiming a $2 billion valuation. Benesse, an education and publishing provider in Japan that has been a content and localization partner of Udemy’s since 2015, made the investment. Founded in 2009, Udemy has grown to 50 million students learning from 57,000 instructors on its platform, which offers courses including programming, data science and leadership, according to a statement Wednesday. Other investors in Udemy include Stripes, Insight Venture Partners and Norwest Venture Partners. Udemy has raised more than $200 million in venture capital to date.

Spotlight

Overall, branding your e-learning courses is a crucial step in creating a professional and successful online learning experience for your learners.

Spotlight

Overall, branding your e-learning courses is a crucial step in creating a professional and successful online learning experience for your learners.

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TALENT DEVELOPMENT

Linewize Launches Linewize Pulse for Real-time Insights on Student's Wellbeing

Linewize US | March 01, 2023

On February 28, 2023, Linewize, an education technology company, launched the Linewize Pulse platform for real-time actionable insights on students' well-being with weekly online check-ins for individual and organizational intervention, enhancing overall school culture. Its 60-second weekly check-ins include questions related to well-being and school experience. Through these check-ins, it offers an overview of students' mental health and anonymously gathers school-level trending data. It gives students safe and easy suggestions for asking for help, and educators clearly know who is very vulnerable and sensitive. In addition, it inspires students to express gratitude for people who made a difference in their lives. Thus developing school-community relations and fostering a culture of enhanced inclusion. The Educator Impact platform helps schools with their culture and student outcomes, connecting well-being, performance and engagement Linewize's acquisition of the Educator Impact platform resulted in the launch of the Linewize Pulse solution. Psychologist and Linewize's Director of Community Engagement, Teodora Pavkovic said, "As the nationwide children's mental health crisis continues, it's more important than ever to prioritize student well-being. Not only does Linewize Pulse empower individuals to seek out help, but it also provides administrators with the information they need to design school-wide programs and initiatives that meet students' current needs." She added, "Even further, the platform helps foster deeper and more meaningful relationships between school staff and students by alerting teachers and administrators to those struggling and needing assistance. With this information on hand, school staff can better adjust their daily routines to account for individuals' needs and develop stronger connections with their students." (Source – Cision PR Newswire) About Linewize Headquartered in San Diego, California, Linewize, an IT consulting and services provider for the education sector, offers products that filter content, support teacher visibility and give teachers the required control. It creates an educated community that gives priority to children's safety on an online medium. It is a division of ASX-traded company FamilyZone, having a K-12 cyber safety management system, working for cyber safety and EdTech companies worldwide. With a team of education experts and experienced school IT administrators, it designs solutions for e-learning and the online safety of learners. It empowers schools, educators, partners and families to secure every child's digital journey in the classroom and at home.

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CORPORATE LEARNING SYSTEMS

Walmart Partners Springboard for Educational Programs Through LBU

Springboard | March 09, 2023

On March 08, 2023, Springboard, an online learning platform, announced that Walmart selected it in partnership for upskilling and reskilling programs through Live Better U™ (LBU). Through this partnership, it would extend the reach of educational programs in technology and data careers. Springboard prepares students for in-demand careers through comprehensive educational programs. It would design the programs for upskilling and reskilling programs through Walmart's LBU in partnership . These education benefit programs are free of cost to Walmart and Sam's Club Associates in the U.S. It will offer courses in data analytics, data-driven strategic thinking and software development. Walmart's LBU program has empowered upward career mobility and removed all the obstacles to their access to education. The programs offered through Springboard for business focus on developing employees at Fortune 500 companies. CEO and Co-Founder of Springboard, Gautam Tambay said, "Walmart is a leader in career-driven development and we are thrilled to partner with them to deliver high quality education to their associates." He added, "Walmart and Springboard are both committed to ensuring that non-traditional students, regardless of their background, can build in-demand skill sets — helping them find new career paths, grow their earnings, and increase their economic security. Springboard graduates have earned over $1 billion in post-graduation salary since 2016, and this partnership will help us accelerate and extend that impact, which is particularly important in the current economic climate." (Source – Business Wire) Senior Vice President of Associate Learning and Leadership at Walmart, Lorraine Stomski said, "We're creating a path of opportunity for our associates to grow their careers at Walmart, so they can continue to build better lives for themselves and their families." She added, "We're excited to add Springboard to our list of education partners." (Source – Business Wire) About Springboard Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Springboard, an e-learning solutions provider, has been transforming the educational journey of learners since 2013. Every learner has unique learning needs, and it strives to address them. It teams with advisors and experienced mentors for the ideal learning experience. It works with the projects under the guidance of industry experts to provide the education needed for the current scenario. It supports learners at every step of their learning journey. It connects students to mentors and seniors for enhanced learning outcomes. It prepares students for career enhancement and success in their lives.

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TALENT DEVELOPMENT

XPRIZE and The Institute of Education Sciences Announce Winners of $1M Digital Learning Challenge

Businesswire | May 10, 2023

XPRIZE, the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges, hosts a virtual event today to celebrate the grand prize winner of the $1M Digital Learning Challenge, Adaptive Experimentation Accelerator from Raleigh, North Carolina, and showcase the technology developed by the challenge’s three finalist teams, including team Terracotta from Indiana University and team UpGrade by Carnegie Learning. Launched in 2021, the Digital Learning Challenge incentivized teams to modernize, accelerate, and improve the technology and processes for evaluating and measuring effective learning and education. Using tools like AI methods, big data, and machine learning, teams sought to better understand the effectiveness of specific teaching techniques and practices, with the goal of providing substantial benefit for educators, parents, policymakers, researchers, and the tens of millions of Americans enrolled in formal education every year. The challenge is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the independent and nonpartisan statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education. The three finalist teams participating in the Accelerate & Modernize: New Methods to Assess Student Learning Outcomes closing event include: • Grand Prize Winner: Adaptive Experimentation Accelerator – Raleigh, North Carolina (Partnership between Intelligent Adaptive Interventions lab at University of Toronto, Open Learning Initiative at Carnegie Mellon, & North Carolina State University) o The Adaptive Experimentation Accelerator network aims to involve everyone in using experiments to enhance and personalize education. Our 'MOOClet' toolkit democratizes the contribution of ideas from many teachers, students, and scientists, then experimentally tests which ideas work for which students. Artificial Intelligence algorithms analyze data to adapt experiments in days vs months. This aims to test more ideas more quickly, and to use promising data to more rapidly get better approaches to students. • Finalist: Terracotta – Bloomington, Indiana (Indiana University) o Terracotta is an open source plugin to the Canvas learning management system, enabling researchers and teachers to conduct rigorous and responsible experimental studies on learning activities within a course site. Using Terracotta, the team was able to conduct over two-dozen mini-experiments across a variety of courses, ranging from 6th grade to college seniors, where each experiment used local materials and authentic teacher-created assessments. • Finalist: UpGrade by Carnegie Learning – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania o UpGrade is a free, open-source platform that enables iterative experimental design and deployment of new learning experiences that compare the efficacy of different tools and resources—such as lesson content, interactive elements, videos, algorithms and more—during active student learning. Each experiment measures what works best for whom, advancing the way we understand student learning and engagement and enabling the rapid design, deployment and analysis of large scale studies, including but not limited to complex K-12 school environments. The final round or demonstration phase of the competition required teams to replicate their experiments at least five times with three or more distinct learner demographics. Based on their demonstration performance, Adaptive Experimentation Accelerator receives the grand prize designation and $500,000, while runners-up Terracotta and UpGrade will each receive $125,000 prizes. The three teams previously shared a $250,000 prize when they were announced as finalists in September 2022. During the closing event, each of the three teams will present their technology and how it works, followed by a discussion of lessons learned from the Digital Learning Challenge. With the Challenge now concluded, the teams will seek to work with partners across the education and technology sectors to scale the impact and implementation of their solutions.“Through their participation and success in the Digital Learning Challenge, each of these teams has helped make advancements in technology to improve the ways that educators teach and that students learn,” said IES director Dr. Mark Schneider. “These teams have laid the groundwork for a new phase of experiments of frequency, scope and scale not possible through traditional methods of education research, which will ultimately lead to better experiences and outcomes for all learners.” In the initial pilot phase of the competition, 10 teams had six months to demonstrate the capabilities of their rapid, reproducible experiments in an accredited education institutional setting and then 30 days to launch a replication study with at least one unique learner demographic. A judging panel of education and technology experts reviewed the pilot study technical submissions and selected three teams to move on to the final round and ultimately designated the winner.“We are deeply proud of the achievements of the Digital Learning Challenge finalist teams, whose creativity and commitment to improving education outcomes through technology and experimentation will resonate far beyond the conclusion of the competition,” said XPRIZE Digital Learning Challenge Technical Lead Dr. Monique Golden.“We look forward to working with these teams to forge new partnerships that will ensure they can continue developing and refining their technologies and scale the impact of their solutions.” The Digital Learning Challenge is part of XPRIZE’s Learning and Society domain which is committed to achieving a future where everyone, regardless of income, race, age, identity, gender, or geography, has access to learning experiences to reflect their unique capabilities, disposition, and aspirations. About XPRIZE XPRIZE is a global future-positive movement delivering truly radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. XPRIZE inspires and empowers a global community of problem-solvers to positively impact our world by crowdsourcing solutions through large-scale competitions, tackling the world’s grandest challenges in exploration, environment, and human equity.

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