Talent Development
PRnewswire | July 27, 2023
StraighterLine, a creator of affordable, flexible and career-aligned postsecondary courses and credentials that serves over 150,000 learners per year, announced today the appointment of Allison Lesser as vice president of digital marketing. With a track record of successfully leading branding and digital and omni-channel marketing for education, consumer and media brands for more than 20 years, Lesser joins the company after spending more than a decade in branding, digital marketing and user experience leadership roles at education technology companies.
"Allison's extensive experience in education technology and her passion for making education and training more accessible align perfectly with StraighterLine's vision," said Heather Combs, CEO of StraighterLine. "We are thrilled to have her join our team and lead our digital marketing efforts. Her expertise and leadership will drive our mission forward and help us reach even more learners around the world."
In her new role, Lesser will oversee digital marketing strategies and initiatives to support the company's growing platform of courses and new product innovations. She will be responsible for shaping the technical vision and strategy for the StraighterLine platform, driving product innovation and enhancing the overall learning experience for students.
Lesser most recently worked for The Teaching Company, known for its content brands The Great Courses and Wondrium. There, led the acquisition marketing team for Wondrium's video streaming product of nonfiction content and successfully hired, trained and mentored a team of marketers. During the pandemic, her team increased spend by more than 70% in a short time frame while keeping the cost per acquisition within business goals. Her dedication and commitment to delivering strong results in a fast-paced and evolving environment exemplify her leadership skills.
Earlier in her career, Lesser held various leadership roles in the education and digital marketing sectors. She began her journey in education technology in 2011 as the director of product marketing for online education developer K12, where she worked closely with market research and developed positioning for educational products. She also served as the director of digital marketing for Envision, the pioneering developer of career exploration and leadership development experiences for K-12 students. She began her career working in the global headquarters of AOL, where she spent ten years focused on consumer experience and driving product, marketing and content teams to make decisions based on consumer data.
Aside from her professional achievements, Lesser is actively involved in volunteer work and regularly participates in races that support various causes and sponsors two children from Tanzania through Compassion International, providing them with letters of encouragement. She also volunteers at Potowmack Elementary in Sterling, Virginia, where she works closely with the school liaison and social worker to identify ways to help families in need. A resident of Northern Virginia, Lesser has been happily married to her husband, Chris Lesser, for 20 years and is a proud mother of two teenage children.
About StraighterLine:
StraighterLine is the leading provider of high-quality, affordable, online courses that help learners earn college credit and meet their professional goals. Each year, 150,000 learners take one of StraighterLine's 250+ courses to upskill into new careers or earn credit from over 2,000 colleges and universities worldwide. StraighterLine works with institutions and corporate partners to provide their students and employees with flexible education options that allow them to work and learn at their own pace.
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Online Education
PRnewswire | July 26, 2023
Meazure Learning, a leading provider of end-to-end test development and delivery solutions for higher-education and professional testing organizations, today announced its continued partnership with FP Canada, a national not-for-profit education, certification, and professional oversight organization for financial planning in Canada. The agreement extends FP Canada's partnership with Meazure Learning for an additional five years.
FP Canada grants and oversees the Certified Financial Planner® certification and Qualified Associate Financial Planner™ certification in Canada. CFP® professionals and QAFP® professionals have demonstrated that they have the knowledge, skills, experience, and ethics required to meet the financial planning needs of Canadians.
Meazure Learning partners with FP Canada to deliver its certification exams securely across multiple modalities, providing convenience for candidates on the path to certification while also protecting valuable exam content. Candidates have the flexibility to take exams from home, through Meazure Learning's market-leading ProctorU Proctoring Platform, or in person through the Meazure Learning Test Center Network of highly secure professional sites throughout Canada. Meazure Learning is committed to providing a fair, equitable, and high-quality experience for every test-taker.
"Exams are a critical step along FP Canada's paths to certification, and it's important for us to have a partner who helps us administer exams securely and reliably," said Tashia Batstone, President and CEO of FP Canada. "We are excited to continue this long-standing, collaborative partnership with Meazure Learning."
"Meazure Learning is proud to provide the highest level of service to FP Canada and its stakeholders," added Timothy McClinton, Meazure Learning CEO. "Over the last 11 years, the two organizations have learned from each other and grown together to meet the needs of aspiring financial planning professionals throughout Canada. We are honored to continue our joint mission of moving each other—and the Canadian financial planning profession—forward."
About Meazure Learning
Meazure Learning provides secure, reliable, and convenient test development, administration, and delivery solutions for academic and professional credentialing programs. The tech-enabled services company combines human expertise with end-to-end software solutions to provide its suite of services and achieve the optimal testing experience. With remote, test center, hybrid, and event-based delivery capabilities, it adapts to the unique needs of each exam program and test-taker. Meazure Learning empowers its clients, test-takers, and industry leaders through its mission to move people forward in their educational, professional, and personal lives.
About FP Canada
Established in 1995, FP Canada is a national not-for-profit education, certification and professional oversight organization working in the public interest. FP Canada is dedicated to championing better financial wellness for all Canadians by leading the advancement of professional financial planning in Canada.
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Corporate Learning Systems
PRnewswire | June 27, 2023
Lumio, the digital learning tool used by millions of teachers and students worldwide, is pleased to announce its integration with Canva for Education. This new integration allows teachers to seamlessly add Canva designs to Lumio, merging the power of Canva's visual communication platform with Lumio's ability to add interactivity for engaging, dynamic lessons.
The integration offers educators free access to export and upload Canva lessons, presentations, and other materials into Lumio to create interactive lessons with game-based activities, formative assessments, and more. Educators will also be able to access libraries from both Canva and Lumio to explore thousands of high-quality, ready-made templates and infographics.
"The Lumio team is excited to roll out our integration with Canva for Education," said Dan McMahon, Lumio Vice President of Software. "This collaboration reinforces our commitment to inspiring creativity, saving teachers' time, and creating an active learning environment that is accessible and collaborative for all."
Canva for Education makes it easy to create and communicate visually in the classroom and beyond. It allows educators to bring their ideas and lessons to life with thousands of ready-to-use educational templates. Lumio is an intuitive digital learning tool that transforms lessons into active, collaborative learning experiences that engage students on their devices, in class, or remotely.
"Empowering educators and students through creativity and collaboration are core values for both Lumio and Canva for Education," says Head of Canva for Education, Jason Wilmot. "We are thrilled to come together with Lumio to support both teachers and students and to provide them with the high-quality resources they deserve and need for fantastic learning experiences."
Lumio, created by global EdTech leader SMART Technologies, is also unveiling several new features aimed at making teaching easier and learning more engaging and accessible for students. The latest updates include: • Ability to edit PowerPoint slides after they have been imported into Lumio with editing support for Google Slides and PDFs to follow. This feature is now live as a public beta. • Access to OpenDyslexic, a typeface designed to support learners with a variety of dyslexia symptoms. • New themes available for several Lumio game-based activities, including clean, simple versions that appeal to older learners.
Also, Lumio is showcasing a new Logic Model that highlights research demonstrating Lumio's effectiveness to enable leading teaching practices to drive student outcomes.
The Canva for Education and Lumio integration will be available for teachers to work with over the summer and for back-to-school, and other new features in Lumio are available for use today.
About Canva for Education
Canva for Education makes it easy to create, collaborate, and communicate visually in the classroom and beyond. It's 100% free for K-12 districts, schools, teachers and their students. Bring your ideas to life with thousands of ready-to-use educational templates from presentations, posters, comic strips, book reports, infographics, newsletters, and more.
About Lumio
Lumio is an easy-to-use, digital learning tool that lets teachers transform lessons into active, collaborative learning experiences to engage students on their devices, wherever they are. With countless ways for students to engage and drive their own learning, Lumio is a perfect fit for educators who are looking for ways to increase interactivity, collaboration, and game-based learning.
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Education Technology
Globenewswire | June 26, 2023
Kaltura, Inc. (“Kaltura”), the video experience cloud, today announced that Kaltura Video Cloud for Education has been selected as the winner of the “Overall e-Learning Solution of the Year” award in the 5th annual EdTech Breakthrough Awards. Organized by EdTech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies and solutions in the global educational technology market, the award recognizes leaders from across the world in EdTech.
Kaltura Video Cloud for Education powers real-time, live, and VOD experiences for online programs and virtual learning and includes a range of products for virtual classrooms, lecture capture, webinars and live events, and advanced video integrations with Learning Management Platforms.
“We are proud to have been chosen for this award, which serves as a strong validation of our success and momentum in helping schools engage students and faculty across a wide range of digital experiences and use cases,” said Matthew Davis, SVP North American Education at Kaltura. “We are honored to continue to serve our customers and power hybrid and online learning programs for students around the globe while ensuring the delivery of video solutions that are accessible to all.”
Kaltura will be traversing the US and bringing the best and the brightest from all walks of higher-ed tech to a campus near you as part of the Kaltura Connect Education Track roadshow. Connect will focus on highlighting how implementing video to all aspects of higher education can help increase engagement, retention, awareness, and revenue for your institution. To attend at a campus near you, please register here.
The mission of the EdTech Breakthrough Awards is to honor excellence and recognize innovation, hard work, and success in a range of educational technology categories, including Student Engagement, School Administration, Adaptive Learning, STEM Education, Remote Learning, Career Preparation, and many more. This year’s program attracted more than 2,400 nominations from over 16 countries worldwide.
“Beyond thinking critically, collaborating, and encouraging creativity, the right technology in a digital classroom is necessary to enhance student learning. Video drives student engagement, interactive learning experiences, and better learning outcomes. Whether virtual classrooms for synchronous instruction and collaboration or VOD for self-paced, anytime learning, the technology is incredibly flexible,” said James Johnson, managing director, EdTech Breakthrough. “The Kaltura Video Cloud for Education is a breakthrough solution in this area, providing a holistic approach to video where each video modality enhances the next. Kaltura's many options and flexibility are all designed to create engaging, personalized, and accessible experiences on campus and beyond. Congratulations to the Kaltura team for taking home our ‘Overall e-Learning Solution of the Year’ award for 2023!”
About Kaltura
Kaltura’s mission is to power any video experience for any organization. Our Video Experience Cloud offers live, real-time, and on-demand video products for enterprises of all industries, as well as specialized industry solutions, currently for educational institutions and for media and telecom companies. Underlying our products and solutions is a broad set of Media Services that are also used by other cloud platforms and companies to power video experiences and workflows for their own products. Kaltura’s Video Experience Cloud is used by leading brands, reaching millions of users, at home, at school, and at work, for communication, collaboration, training, marketing, sales, customer care, teaching, learning, virtual events, and entertainment experiences.
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