Name: InvolvEdu Website: www.involvedu.com Headquarters: Minneapolis, USA Vertical: K-12, Higher Education Tech: Web App, Mobile App Introduce your startup and give a short description of what you are doing. InvolvEdu is a free app for High School and College students that allows them to get credit for what they do outside of class. Who are the founders, how did you meet, what are your different roles in the startup. Founded by Joe Janiszewski. Joe has been able to expand the InvolvEdu team by networking and finding the right people who are not only talented, but also share the same passion for involvement. How was the idea for your startup born? InvolvEdu was born out of necessity. As a student at the University of Minnesota, Joe noticed the inefficiencies with getting involved on campus, and also wanted a way to track and validate his participation in activities outside of class. What is the main problem in education that you aim to solve. Gradual grade inflation is causing the GPA to become much less relevant. This is causing an uptick in extracurricular (student groups, study groups, volunteering) activities as students need to find other ways to set themselves apart on their resumes. The problem is that none of this involvement is regulated or tracked in any way. InvolvEdu solves this problem by offering the platform to validate participation, and export a student's involvement into a fully-vetted transcript for use in college applications or job interviews. Who are your main competitors? What sets you apart from them? Our biggest competitor is actually email. Email is the primary way that groups communicate with each other and with students about their events. There are also other companies that offer features similar to InvolvEdu, but none of them are completely free for students and groups. Every single one of them first requires a subscription from the school in order for students to use it. That is the biggest point of differentiation for InvolvEdu - we don't rely on subscriptions from schools in order to make money. In which markets / regions are you active. What markets / regions are next. We are active in the Minneapolis area (which also happens to house some of the largest school districts and Universities in the United States). We are planning to expand this market to the surrounding schools and other states in the Midwest as well upon our initial roll out. Who is your target audience. Our target audience in High School and College students. We've also built in features for the officers of student groups/organizations, as well as school administrators. How do you engage with your target audience. How do you convert them into users of your product. Our app is free for any student and student group to use at any school. Without having a large barrier such as cost, we're able to acquire users of our product much easier than our other competitors. We engage with our users via direct, on-campus marketing efforts. By working with school's student associations on school outreach efforts, we're able to easily showcase the features of InvolvEdu. Once students are able to see how InvolvEdu works, conversion becomes much easier. There's also a network effect that happens because it benefits both the students and the student groups when there are more of each on the platform. How many users / downloads does your service have? We initially launched a closed beta with a select group of students and organizations at the University of Minnesota. Since then we have been iterating on our product, and rolling out additional features based on feedback and market research. We've launched a kickstarter campaign to raise the funds that we need to accelerate the development of our v.1 product set to launch prior to the start of the Fall 2015 school year. What is your business model. How much does your product / service cost. InvolvEdu is completely free for all students and groups to use. There are some premium features that students and groups can opt for, but the free version still comes with all of the tracking and validating features of the core offering. We also have a component that's strictly for school administrators to easily manage their extracurricular programs. Are there milestones you are especially proud of and would like to share. Throughout our short start-up life, we've received numerous awards from business model and other start-up competitions. The most notable of which would be our semi-finalist finish in the 2014 Minnesota Cup competition (www.mncup.com) - the largest statewide new venture competition in the United States. What are the next steps in growing your startup. Once we launch, it'll be a boots-on-the-ground marketing effort in order to acquire the users that we need in order to show significant adoption, and growth that we can use to jump start additional fundraising. How can people get in touch with you. Email: joe@involvedu.com Twitter: @InvolvEdu Twitter: @JoeSzewski Room for anything else you would like to add. We're so honored to be featured on blogs such as EDUKWEST. We're also excited for what the future may hold on our quest to make it as easy as possible for students to get involved on campus, while also giving them a way to document and showcase their involvement.

The Google Translate team introduced a bunch of new languages to the mobile app. Based on the technology of WordLens, a startup Google acquired last year, you can now instantly translate texts from 27 languages into English using a smartphone camera. Google also tweaked the instant conversation mode of the app, making it useable in areas with slow mobile networks. Instant Conversation enables users to communicate with people in other languages, using the smartphone as interpreter. Google also shared some data on the Google Translate community which was launched last year. Millions of language lovers have participated in the crowdsourcing community so far, adding more than 100 million words. In an interview with TechCrunch, Julie Cattiau, product manager at Google Translate pointed out that the team sees the app as a language learning aid rather than a replacement. Based on the feedback of learners who use Google Translate as a language learning tool, Google Translate added a feature that lets them hear translated words more slowly. Related Translation App Word Lens acquired by Google Google enters Crowdsourcing with launch of Translate Community Google adds Word Lens to its Google Translate App Further Reading See the world in your language with Google Translate Google Translate’s App Now Instantly Translates Printed Text In 27 Languages | TechCrunch

Unizin, a consortium of higher education institutions, acquired e-textbook platform Courseload. Part of the team will join Unizin, further terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Courseload offers a suite of services around digital textbooks including Open Educational Resources and an online learning and collaboration tool called Courseload Engage. Courseload Engage offers features such as highlighting, annotation, bookmarking and search,as well as sharing study notes. Robin Littleworth, Chief Operating Officer at Unizin states in the press release "The Courseload software lends itself well to the Unizin services roadmap for content and analytics. We're excited about aligning our two similar missions and continuing to provide innovative solutions. For Unizin Members, it will provide a complete path for faculty to create content, deliver it across a range of student-preferred devices and gain insights to improve instruction." Founded in 2009, Courseload raised a $1.6 million Series A in 2012 led by Innovative Indiana Fund. Further Reading Unizin Acquires Courseload Software | PR Newswire Links courseload.com | unizin.org

Barnes & Noble Education, the new spin-off company operating the college bookstores, plans to acquire digital businesses to accelerate its growth rather than just growing organically. Trading under BNED, Barnes & Noble Education had its IPO on Monday. The company’s CEO Max Roberts stated that BNED has a competitive advantage over Amazon and Chegg with its 724 on-campus bookstores and deep relationships with faculty. There is also room for growth with 52% of schools still operating their own bookstores. The IPO also gives Barnes & Noble Education the opportunity for M&A. Before the separation from the parent company, BNED invested in FlashNotes, a study notes marketplace. BNED’s main competitors for the on-campus and textbook business are Amazon and Chegg. While Chegg is in the midst of completing its transition to 100% digital revenue, Amazon opened its first on-campus pick-up location at Purdue university in February. Further Reading Barnes & Noble Completes Spin-Off of Barnes & Noble Education | BusinessWire Being on site is our advantage vs. Amazon - BNED's Huseby | Reuters Barnes & Noble Education CEO on IPO: we have opportunity to do M&A | Yahoo Finance Barnes & Noble Education to Consider Digital Takeovers | Bloomberg Link bned.com

University Ventures, an investment firm focused on the higher education market, announced its $5 million seed portfolio. The fund already made initial seed investments in a couple of edtech companies, namely technology distribution network Entangled Ventures, job skills platform ProSky, ePortfolio company Portfolium, and SaaS platform CampusLogic. University Ventures Announces $5M Seed Portfolio and Initial Investments Early Stage Fund Stems Critical Gap in Education Markets NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Jul 28, 2015) - University Ventures, an investment firm focused solely on higher education, announced today an allocation to a $5 million seed portfolio to support early-stage education technologies that address existing and emerging challenges in higher education and workforce development. Leveraging the firm's expertise in education, the investments aim to close a growing gap in education markets by helping the most promising solutions reach the market and scale. "There is no shortage of opportunities to invest in early-stage companies, but many investors unfamiliar with education end up funding new technologies that don't address the real pain points for institutions, students or employers," said Ryan Craig, Managing Director of University Ventures. "Our thesis-based approach has provided insight into the kinds of technologies universities need and can adopt, as well as a terrific pipeline of early-stage companies seeking to work with us." The Fund has already made initial seed investments including Entangled Ventures, a technology distribution network founded by education entrepreneur Paul Freedman; jobs skills platform ProSky; ePortfolio company Portfolium; and SaaS platform CampusLogic, helping colleges and universities manage financial aid more efficiently. "To be successful, emerging companies need more than just access to capital. They also need access to market insight, relationships, and domain experience," said Freedman, founder of Entangled Ventures. "University Ventures is regarded as a knowledgeable and connected investor in higher education. It is very exciting to now see them focus on enabling start-ups in the space." University Ventures' approach is to partner with institutions to build public-private partnerships that enable the institution to innovate from within. With various existing investments in service providers and academic institutions, University Ventures provides entrepreneurs with an environment to quickly test and iterate their solutions, while ensuring capital is being spent on the most viable innovations. "We are excited to be a part of the University Ventures family," said Crystal Huang, CEO of ProSky. "Their understanding of the future of higher education has been vital in much of our strategic planning. They have already and will continue to help us make strong connections and partnerships with key colleges. Because University Ventures is so entrenched in higher education, we have been able to meet with key decision makers." About University Ventures University Ventures partners with top-tier institutions and strategically directs private capital to develop innovative programs of exceptional quality that address major economic and social needs. With the deepest respect for the missions and traditions of colleges and universities, University Ventures pursues a differentiated strategy of 'innovation from within' and is confident that through innovation, these higher education institutions will be successful in fulfilling and expanding their missions. CONTACT INFORMATION Media contact: Sarah Herring Email Contact 202-479-7149

In this episode of MEP, we have Jakob Garrow, the Co-Founder and CEO of EdTrips. We talk about what EdTrips is and the problem that he’s trying to solve. We also talk about education, experiential learning through the importance of travel, and also about business and building an entrepreneurial mindset. Enjoy the podcast! Guest Bio: Jakob Garrow co-founded EdTrips, an online platform for planning and organizing educational field trips, so that teachers can easily give their students the experiences that change their lives. Before EdTrips, he founded WorldBrain, LLC, a company that enhances and expands the global experience for educators and travelers. Prior to that, he spent a year teaching in China, participated in the creation of two successful businesses, and managed a federal contracting company. In the Edtrips website, Jakob shares that his favorite field trip is the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museums. Jakob is a graduate of St. Lawrence University. Show Notes: (02:01) Jakob’s background (04:12) What is it about travel that is so important to learning and development? What is it about that experiential thing that we get out of travel that’s so important? (04:30) Jakob: Experience is the most powerful tool we have in education. (06:00) Let’s take a look at the market. What’s the market size and what makes EdTrips unique in this market? (07:29) So this isn’t just for teachers inside of schools, this is also for parents looking to bring  this sort of experience to children outside of the class , or even scout leaders, boy scouts, girl scout that sort of stuff? (08:01) What sorts of venues have you partnered with that are taking advantage of your solutions? (08:33)  So what do you see as next for EdTrips now that you have gotten this momentum? What are the next moves in 2015 - 2016 that you’re focused on? (09:23) Most achievers have a close relationship with failure. Can you let the audience in on a failure you’ve experience and how you as a person or the company has been able to grow from it? (12:03) You put in all this work into a product and it ends up not being the right venue and you have to pivot. From a mindset perspective, how do you persist and grow your resilience personally? (14:40) What is the book that has most influenced you and why? Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (16:00) Do you watch documentaries, and if so, what’s your favorite? (16:21) If you could have dinner with one person you admire, past or present, who would it be and why? General George Patton: "A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week." Link: edtrips.com For more episodes featuring thought leaders in education visit MeetEducationProject.com, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and follow Nick DiNardo on Twitter.

by John K. Waters, Campus Technology Udacity created quite a buzz at the annual Google I/O conference this year when the for-profit online education provider unveiled its new Android Developer Nanodegree program. Udacity later made the headline-grabbing announcement that it will refund half the tuition ($200 per month) for students completing the program in 12 [...]

by Douglas Belkin, Wall Street Journal Rick Levin, Chief Executive of Coursera, gestures at a session in Davos, Switzerland while president of Yale University in 2011. Mr. Levin said his company’s new offerings will enable companies to expand the global pool of available talent. One of the largest providers of massive open online courses is teaming [...]

by Audrey Penner, Evolllution Postsecondary education (PSE) is experiencing a perfect storm and I call this confluence of events "21st-Century PSE: Normal 3.0." This perfect storm includes advanced educational technology (simplistically referred to as Online Learning), declining demographics, a world-is-flat distribution model, an Internet of Things, and globally driven industry demands for highly skilled labor. Normal [...]

I am glad to inform you all that my profile has been selected for inclusion in the print version of forthcoming reference work ‘Emerald Who’s Who in Asia’ by Rifacimento International, Publishers of Specialised Reference Books. To know more about it, click here.