NetDragon, a Chinese mobile and game developer, raised a $52.5 million Series A for its online education subsidiary Best Assistant Education, valuing it at $477.5 million. Investors include IDG Capital Partners, Vertex Venture and Alpha Animation. Founded in 1999 NetDragon is behind the popular MMORPGs Eudemons Online and Conquer Online and runs China's leading online gaming portal 17173.com. In 2013 NetDragon sold its smartphone app store 91 Wireless to Baidu in the biggest Internet M&A at that date. After expanding its game network globally in 2003, NetDragon started to develop content in the online education space. With the new funding the company is planning to build Best Assistant Education into a lifelong learning education ecosystem, covering K-12, vocational, non-academic credential and lifelong educational products. At its core the educational products will be made for mobile users and incorporate gamification elements to make learning fun and engaging. "We believe the education industry is ripe for a major change. There is a strong and ever-growing need for a mobile educational platform that creates true educational value and makes people want to come back to learn more. We at NetDragon are fortunate to be in a very unique position to build such a product with our proven world-class mobile internet and gaming expertise, large-scale technology resources and team infrastructure that we have built out of scaling several successful businesses over the many years since our inception." states Dejian Liu, Chairman and Executive Director of NetDragon in the press release. Though classic brick and mortar education and tutoring are still predominant in China, a growing number of students shows interest in web based alternatives which are perceived as less strict and costly. China is the second major market for US-based MOOC juggernaut Coursera and domestic MOOC platforms like Kaikeba or mobile learning startups like Kuailexue attracted significant funding in 2014. Further Reading NetDragon Online Education Subsidiary Raises US$52.5 million in Series A Funding | PR Newswire Online learning is becoming more popular | The Economist Links ir.netdragon.com

After announcing a more serious approach to language learning based on behavioural data last month, Duolingo launched its latest feature this week: Duolingo for Schools. Like the web based portal and the mobile apps, Duolingo for Schools is 100% free to use with no upsells or advertisement which makes it an interesting addition to language learning classrooms in schools, universities or for tutors. Teachers can track their students through a centralized dashboard and drill down into the performance data of each individual learner. In an interview with Wired Duolingo co-founder Luis von Ahn says that teachers were using the product in classes early on, even though they had to come up with ways to track the data of students by hand. Based on the new adaptive learning algorithm that is powering Duolingo, language instructors will be able to see how long a student hesitates to give an answer along other insights, helping them to adapt their classroom lessons accordingly. Students will also be able to share their progress with friends and family. Costa Rica and Guatemala are already piloting Duolingo in public schools, therefore adding a teacher facing feature will only help to further spread the hugely popular language learning app. Of course, there remains a certain barrier when it comes to the availability of computers, mobile devices and Internet connectivity in many of the developing markets. Duolingo just recently launched a Windows Phone version of the app, making it available on a range of low cost devices in the developing world. Further Reading A Clever Plan to Teach Schoolkids New Languages With a Free App | Wired Duolingo is Getting More Serious | Fair Languages Links schools.duolingo.com

Join Apple for a three-part webcast series and learn how to bring the power of iPad to your classroom. Watch as educators show you how to build customized courses full of dynamic, interactive content you can share with your students. More details and register here.

Cengage Learning announced a partnership with Boston-based edtech hub LearnLaunch which promotes education technology through events, an accelerator program and co-working space. As part of the partnership Cengage will invest and participate in the LearnLaunch accelerator program as well as sponsor the upcoming LearnLaunch Conference. Other LearnLaunch sponsors include Pearson and McGraw-Hill Education. Full press release after the break. BOSTON, Jan. 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Through a new partnership, LearnLaunch, an organization dedicated to expanding Boston'sedtech ecosystem, and Cengage Learning, a leading education company, are joining forces to boost the Boston edtech community. Recognizing Boston as a center for both excellent education and technology innovation, Cengage Learning has made a commitment to participate in LearnLaunch's Accelerator program, which identifies edtech start-ups and provides them with mentoring opportunities to help them grow. "Within the last year, we've officially made Boston our home, and we are excited to work with LearnLaunch here to support innovation in educational technology," said Michael Hansen, Chief Executive Officer, Cengage Learning. "At Cengage, we have a new company culture that is entrepreneurial in spirit with students at the heart of what we do. Through collaboration with emerging edtech innovators and the cross-pollination and knowledge exchange opportunities presented through LearnLaunch, we will together inspire improved education for our student end-users." "Cengage Learning has made a commitment to participate in LearnLaunch's Accelerator, which selects and invests in promising edtech start-ups and provides them with both a learning program and network of mentors to help fuel growth. Cengage Learning 's leadership in education and technology makes them an incredible partner for our start-up community," said Hakan Satiroglu of LearnLaunch. In connection with the strategic relationship with LearnLaunch, Cengage Learning will be making an investment in LearnLaunch Accelerator, Boston's edtech accelerator. Through this investment, Cengage Learning will actively promote and support educational technology entrepreneurship and emerging educational innovations in the Greater Boston area. Cengage Learning is the platinum sponsor for the upcoming LearnLaunch Annual Conference http://learnlaunch.org/2015conference and George Moore, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Cengage Learning, will be speaking at the event. For more information on Cengage Learning, visit www.cengage.com and for more information on LearnLaunch, visit www.learnlaunch.com. About Cengage Learning Cengage Learning is a leading educational content, technology, and services company for the higher education and K-12, professional and library markets worldwide. The company provides superior content, personalized services and course-driven digital solutions that accelerate student engagement and transform the learning experience. Cengage Learning is headquartered in Boston, MA with an office hub located in San Francisco, CA. Cengage Learning employees reside in nearly 40 different countries with company sales in more than 125 countries around the world. www.cengage.com. About LearnLaunch LearnLaunch is dedicated to connecting, supporting and growing the education technology ecosystem to drive innovation and transform learning. It offers a vibrant community, educational events, a collaborative co-working space, and a selective accelerator program to promote the growth of the education technology sector in greater Boston, a world education hub. For more information, visit www.learnlaunch.com and follow us on Twitter at @learnlaunch. Media Contacts: Josef Blumenfeld Cengage Learning 617-757-8258 Josef.Blumenfeld@Cengage.com SOURCE Cengage Learning

Check out this amazing Prezi recapping the 2012 U.S. presidential election.

Indonesia is expected to become the fourth largest market for mobile devices, surpassing 100 million active monthly users in 2018, according to a recent report by eMarketer. To better serve students in remote areas of the country, to cut down cost and to overall improve the quality of education, the Ministry of Education and Culture announced that it will replace physical textbooks with tablets and ebooks in the coming years. According to Indonesia’s Minister of Education and Culture, Anies Baswedan, there are currently more than 50 million students in the country who are taught by 3 million teachers. The E-Sabak will be preloaded with electronic textbooks and learning applications. It will have a data connection provided by PT Telkom and be distributed in remote areas at the start of the program with plans to extend the program to all parts of education in Indonesia down the road. At the moment there is no information available about the device itself, who will be the manufacturer, which operating system it will run, or the pricing for the government. Time will tell if the Indonesian program will run smoother than India’s Aakash tablet which aims to provide students with a low-cost tablet based on Android. DataWind, the manufacturer of the Aakash had its IPO in July 2014. Back in 2011 the government in South Korea announced a $2.4 billion program to replace all textbooks with e-readers and tablets by 2015. The program was stopped only one year later. In Europe, the French government announced to provide 45.000 students with tablets by 2016. The devices will be manufactured in France, most likely by Archos, and run either Android or Windows. via Tech in Asia Further Reading E-Sabak Ganti Buku Pelajaran di Indonesia | CNN Indonesia 2 Billion Consumers Worldwide to Get Smart(phones) by 2016 | eMarketer Why South Korea Is Putting the Brakes on the Switch to Digital Textbooks | Good Picture License  Some rights reserved by Shanghai Daddy

This infographic explores how Apple is winning the battle for education technology and what gives them the edge over the sizable competition in the market.

Online learning company lynda.com has raised a $186 million Series B led by private equity firm TPG and with participation from existing investors Accel Partners, Spectrum Equity and Meritech. David Trujillo of TPG will join the board of directors. The round comes two years after a $103 million Series A, bringing lynda.com’s total funding raised to $289 million. People familiar with the deal told Bloomberg that lynda.com’s valuation was now close to $1 billion. The platform currently offers 5,700 courses and 255,000 video tutorial, generating $150 million in revenue in 2014 with 55% coming from individual subscribers who pay $25 per month to access the course library. The funding will be primarily used to acquire a number of smaller edtech companies in the field. lynda.com CEO Eric Robin told VentureBeat that the company is in the final stage of due dilligence with one and has letters of intent with three edtech companies. The acquisitions will help lynda.com to further develop its technology and further broaden the selection of content. The company also plans to add up to 250 employees to its current staff of 550 employees. Pluralsight, one of lynda.com’s main competitors, had revenue of around $85 million in 2014 and has acquired five edtech startups over the course of 15 months. The latest being Smarterer, a skill test platform that was the first acquisition outside of the content space for Pluralsight. With alternative credentials becoming more and more accepted by employers, it would make sense for lynda.com to acquire a similar startup in the space. Further Reading lynda.com Receives $186 Million Investment Led by TPG | Market Wired Lynda.com Raises $186 Million in Funding Led by TPG Capital | Bloomberg Online education company Lynda.com grabs $186M in new funding, eyes acquisitions | VentureBeat Links lynda.com

Learn how to use the Breakout Rooms feature within Blackboard Collaborate to facilitate small group discussions during an online session. During this online workshop offered 11/15/2012 we explored the options within a Blackboard Collaborate session for organizing students into small groups for discussion, including creating Breakout Rooms, assigning students to Breakout Rooms (both manually and automatically), moving whiteboard content into Breakout Rooms, and monitoring small group discussion. | view podcast in iTunes

Over the past couple of weeks Microsoft has provided us with more information and a demo of its new Skype Translator feature which translates speech in real-time and displays the translated sentences in the form of captions in the video call. Today, as reported by the New York Times earlier this week, Google announced an update to their own automatic voice translation for its Android and iOS apps. The new version of the Google Translate mobile apps will now also give live translation from spoken word into written text for select languages and also include the Word Lens technology that Google acquired last year. Word Lens enables users to translate text using the camera of their smartphone, making it possible to translate street signs or other text in foreign languages, like menus or maps. The nicest feature of Word Lens is that it uses augmented reality, meaning that the translation will be displayed directly on the sign or menu the user wants to translate. This instant translation currently works for translation from English to and from French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, and Google is working on the release of other languages. The new Google Translate apps will also feature the latest version of the conversation mode. Rumored in 2010, demoed in 2011 and launched in 2013, the conversation mode lets users talk to others in their respective languages. The newest version streamlines the experience, aiming to make conversations more fluent as users only need to tap on the mic once and the app does the rest. Google says its Translate apps have been installed 100 million times to date with 500 million active users a month, making 1 billion translations a day across all platforms. Currently, Google Translate features written translation for a total of 90 languages with 10 new languages announced in December 2014. Although the technology cannot be expected to work seamlessly in the same way like having a call where both parties share the same language - yet, it will still have implications on how people communicate or even learn a foreign language in the years to come. Maybe we shouldn’t expect all of it to come with the first update nor expect the technology to work perfectly just now, but it certainly gives us a good idea of how Google and Microsoft might imagine the future of translation and also communication assisted by technology. Further Reading Hallo, hola, olá to the new, more powerful Google Translate app | Google Language Translation Tech Starts to Deliver on Its Promise | New York Times