One year after John Yoo took over as CEO of Teachers pay Teachers from its founder Paul Edelman, the teacher resource marketplace shuffles its leadership again. Adam Freed, who joined TpT’s board of directors in May as part of its venture round, takes over as CEO. Yoo will go back to his roots as former head of product and focus on mobile strategy and classroom initiatives. Freed was COO at Etsy between August 2010 to December 2012. Given the similarities between Etsy and Teachers pay Teachers his appointment as new CEO makes a lot of sense. Like TpT, Etsy is powered through a group of highly motivated and creative people who sell their handcrafted goods on a global marketplace. The values and dynamics that are shared by the community are probably fairly similar which means that Freed will be able to implement quite some of his experiences from Etsy’s marketplace into the TpT community. Freed also has extensive experience leading global teams and initiatives at Google which should be beneficial for TpT’s international growth plans. UK-based TES Global just recently announced that the next version of its TES Resources platform will introduce paid downloads, making it a direct competitor of TpT. According to TechCrunch, TpT paid out over $86 million to teachers since its launch in 2006, $45 million worth of content was sold in 2013 alone. All in all 22 million pieces of content were traded. Teachers either pay for the material out of their own pocket or from discretionary funds dedicated to school supplies. For comparison, TES Resources sees 4.5 million downloads of its free classroom materials every week and teachers have created a catalog of over 1 million resources. But only a small fraction of the nearly 6 million TES Resources members creates material whereas TpT has 40.000 active sellers compared to 800.000 buyers. Further Reading TpT Welcomes Our New CEO, Adam Freed | TpT Blog Following Its May Financing, Teachers Pay Teachers Names Former Etsy Exec As CEO | TechCrunch Related Links HEDLINE: Teachers Pay Teachers raises from Spectrum Equity, Tiger Global and True Ventures | EDUKWEST Next Version of TES Resources will introduce Paid Downloads | EDUKWEST Europe TES Global acquires Digital Lesson Platform Blendspace | EDUKWEST Links teacherspayteachers.com | Twitter | Facebook

Eight year old Gabriel Dispenziere is a student who interacts with his peers and teachers using a web conferencing application and mobile device. He sits at a desk in his house and participates in the activities from a distance due to an extreme food allergy he experiences. He isn’t allergic to just specific foods. He is allergic to all foods and any remnants on a person so he is unable to attend school or be around others that may have food particles on them. He cannot eat any food and is fed through a feeding tube at night. Gabriel is not able to be around anyone who has food on their hands, body or breath or he will have an allergic reaction due to his rare health condition. Gabriel is very intelligent and skipped first grade. He is unable to attend school as he cannot risk being exposed to food particles on peers or airborne. But this year Gabriel has been to partially experience being part of a classroom for the first time due to the use of technology. Gabriel has an iPad at his desk and there is an iPad mounted to a rolling stand in the classroom so that the students can see and interact with Gabriel as well as with his teacher. Gabriel and the students use Facetime to contact and interact with one another from a distance. He can now raise his face, participate in paired or group activities safely and securely from his iPad at home. Gabriel was diagnosed at age two with eosinophilic esophagitis commonly known as EoE. It is a rare condition that causes the esophagus to inflame from allergic reactions to various food products. Unlike Gabriel, some are only allergic to a handful of foods but Gabriel is allergic to all food products. With the recent addition of using Facetime, Gabriel is able to ‘attend’ school even though he has never been able to set foot in classroom or school building. If he leaves the house he has to be very cautious where he goes to avoid all food products. Gabriel is not allergic to sugar so he gets lollipops as treats and got cotton candy and snow cones on his birthday. You can read the full article at http://riverheadlocal.com to find out more details about his health condition. He has spent a great deal in the hospital and every day he gets to ‘attend’ school is a blessing.   Photo credits: Riverheadlocal.com

Edmodo has raised a $30 million venture round led by Index Partners, bringing the total amount of funding raised to $87 million according to Xconomy. Investors participating in the four venture rounds to date include Learn Capital, Benchmark, Union Square Ventures, Greylock Partners and others. With that amount of money raised it is highly unlikely that Edmodo will ever become an acquisition target which means that all signs are now set on an IPO as we saw with other startups in the edtech space. Chegg raised $252 million in ten rounds. 2U raised $95.9 million in six rounds before its IPO earlier this year. Instructure raised $39.1 million in three rounds and hinted that the next step would be the stock market. There is of course a difference between 2U and Chegg on the one hand and Edmodo and Instructure on the other. Whereas 2U and Chegg had a clear business model from day one, Edmodo and Instructure followed the path of organic growth and adding paid options later on. In the case of Edmodo offering the platform for free brought the product into the hands of over 35 million users, teachers and students, in over 220.000 schools across the world to date. That the platform is now adding premium options like professional development courses and its analytics suite Snapshot is another sign that Edmodo is preparing for an IPO. The team has been famously tight lipped about its business model but EdSurge shared that Edmodo charges $7500 for a six week PD course and that Snapshot is priced between $1275 to $2000 per school per year. If half of the 220k schools signed up for the small plan, Edmodo would be making over 140 million per year. For comparison, Chegg had digital revenue of $18.7 million and 2U reported $24.7 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2014. All in all there is huge potential in Edmodo as it has managed to become more than just another edtech product. In November 2012 I wrote that "A second candidate for an IPO might be Edmodo. Similar to 2U the platform, Edmodo is building a product and not just a feature. It’s a platform that adds new features, and has seen great traction amongst its users." Index Ventures gave a similar reason why it invested in Edmodo in a blog post "There are many characteristics of successful start-ups. But at the core, there are three models that we love the most: businesses that are marketplaces, businesses with network effect and businesses that become platforms for an ecosystem. In Edmodo, we see an opportunity for all three of these models in a sector that has fundamentally been a technology laggard. We’re thrilled to back one of the world’s most promising education startups, and we can’t wait to work side-by-side with the team as they continue to transform the education sector." Further Reading Bringing innovation to our educational systems: Why Index invested in Edmodo | Index Ventures Edtech Companies Foresee Boost from New K-12 Standards | Xconomy Edmodo Raises $30M Round Led by Index Ventures | EdSurge 2U, Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2014 Financial Results | PR Newswire Related Links Chegg outsources Textbook Distribution to Ingram in its Transition to Digital Company | EDUKWEST All is well in Edtech Land | EDUKWEST Links edmodo.com | Twitter | Facebook | CrunchBase

My dear friend and mentor, Miguel Guhlin, wrote a blog post about gamification and how to make learning fun for our students by creating mystery adventure quests. When students are having fun and learning, achievement soars along with motivation and engagement in the learning process. I so appreciate the generous amount of time Miguel spent writing the blog post and sharing amazing feedback about my book and gamification in the classroom. I was hesitant to write the book. Would anyone want to read what I had to say? Would anyone buy the book? I had a lot of fears but pushed through and wrote a manuscript and found a publisher. I do hope people find value in the book and what I share. I explain ways to use lots of technology resources and web tools in the classroom to create mystery adventure quests and general technology lessons. If you feel so inclined to purchase my book know how much I appreciate the support. Enjoy if you purchase the book! Be sure to read Miguel’s blog post regardless of whether you purchase the book or not. He makes some great points about transforming learning integrating technology and gamification into the classroom. His comments are more than feedback on my book. They are priceless.

500 Startups announced its 10th accelerator batch last week. It will be the second batch in San Francisco with 28 startups from across the globe participating. Ten of the startups did not raise money prior to joining the accelerator program, 24 of them are already generating revenue. 500 Startups is among the most active investors in edtech. In this batch three startups are in education technology. Monkimun Monkimun is a Madrid-based educational game studio that specializes in language learning apps for children between 2 and 8 years of age. Founded in 2014 by Cristobal Viedma, former head of platform at Viki, and Marieta Viedma, Monkimun has gathered over 200k downloads in 25 weeks and signed a deal with Telefonica to pre-install the apps in their tablets. In June Monkimun released Monki Chinese Class, the first app in a line of products called Monki Class. Video Links monkimun.es | Twitter | Facebook | AngelList StudySoup Launched in 2012 by UC Santa Barbara students Sieva Kozinsky and Jeff Silverman, StudySoup started as a distribution platform for electronic versions of course material to save students money. In March, StudySoup launched a peer to peer marketplace for study notes, guides and tutoring services, generating over $10k in revenue per month. Links studysoup.com | Twitter | Facebook | AngelList Uguru Launched in April 2014 by Michael Koh and Samir Makhani at the University of Berkeley, Uguru is a marketplace for on demand peer to peer tutoring. Uguru matches learners with peers who have aced the same class with the same professor before. Bookings are on demand and can therefore be scheduled on short notice. The price for one hour of tutoring is between $15 to $20 USD. Links berkeley.uguru.me | Twitter | AngelList Further Reading 500 Startups Announces Batch 10 in San Francisco | 500 Startups

Many educators know and are constantly challenged to introduce new and innovative ways to reach their students and foster enthusiasm for the learning process. As an alternative to the textbook and current events model, global projects provide a unique look at the educational process by introducing students to cultures and classrooms at a global scale. If you have been looking for a way to enrich your curriculum or increase the rigor and relevance of your learning activities, join me Thursday, July 30, 2015, at 7pm EST/6pm CST as we talk about what this strategy entails and easy ways to introduce participation in global projects to re-energize your teaching.

Last week we wrote about the 60+ edtech startups that are in risk of becoming seed orphans and therefore face an uncertain future. edshelf, an imagine K12 alumnus, is on the brink of shutting down but its co-founder Mike Lee decided to make a last stand in order to buy some additional time and turn his startup around. edshelf is a socially curated directory of edtech tools that aims to help educators navigate the huge choice of educational apps, desktop programs and electronic products based on recommendations of its community. Since its launch in 2012, edshelf has managed to gather a core group of users who use the product on a regular basis. The community currently has over 15k members, mostly tech/IT administrators, coordinators, integrators, specialists, trainers, librarians and early adopters. The database covers over 4000 apps and products, 95% of which are ranked or reviewed by the community. When edshelf co-founder Mike Lee broke the news that his co-founders and team already had to leave the startup and that he would have to shut down the site in early July, it was this group that started the Twitter hashtag #saveedshelf to gather support. Based on this Lee decided for a last attempt and started a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. Today with 13 days to go, the campaign has raised $12,343 with a campaign goal of $30,000. At first glance this it is looking not that bad but here is the catch: Lee will only receive the money from Kickstarter if he manages to raise $30k or more. If he doesn’t reach the campaign goal all the money pledged goes back to the funders and edshelf shuts down. I asked Mike if he plans to set up a second campaign if he does not succeed on Kickstarter, maybe on Indiegogo where you have the option of keeping the money you raised without reaching the campaign goal. He told me that he hasn’t any plans to do so. Of course, even if Lee and the edshelf community manage to raise the $30k it just means that he bought himself some extra time because the biggest problem that edshelf is facing is its lack of a business model. According to Lee this is the first thing that he will be working on. I asked him if he already has some ideas to get edshelf to break even and beyond. He told me in an email that the startup has already been offering sponsored listings in the edshelf Weekly newsletter. As a next step Lee plans on offering premium accounts on edshelf to vendors, where they can manage their product listings, get basic listing analytics, etc, as well as sponsored listings in edshelf's search results. He is also going to explore a possible premium "edshelf for Schools" product as some schools have expressed an interest in this. What about charging users directly and create constant, recurring revenue? Lee states that "I've considered charging for a premium service too, though I don't know of any edtech companies that have done that with much success. Within the edtech ecosystem, the parties with the financial means are companies and schools. So far, I've had an easier time reaching companies than schools, so my near-term plan is to keep on doing what has been working, and multiply it. But since some teachers have expressed an interest, I'll certainly explore a premium subscription service too." All in all finding the right business model will remain a tough nut to crack. Kindertown, another edtech startup in the review space was acquired last year, most likely because it wasn’t able to survive on its own. Common Sense Media which goes beyond apps and tools is supported by several foundations including the Gates Foundation. Then there is the option of outside capital. Lee does not want to raise money from investors for the moment but manage to grow organically. "If at some point outside investment can help edshelf grow faster, than I'll consider it. In my opinion, outside investment is best used to help a company grow faster, not to grow in the first place." Right now the future of edshelf is still uncertain. With less than two weeks left and not even 50% of the money needed raised, Lee and his community have to go all in to gather the financial support. If you want to support edshelf, check out the campaign on Kickstarter and share Lee’s story on social media using the hashtag #saveedshelf. Links edshelf.com | Kickstarter | Twitter

This year I did not attend the ISTE (International Society of Technology Educators) conference and participated in the Google+ #notatiste15 community instead. There were some great posts about sessions that were shared live via Periscope and other means of broadcasting sessions live. I learned a great deal even though I didn’t attend in person. Attending virtually felt like I was right there with the other participants thanks to those that live streamed their sessions. The #notatiste15 community was on the ball and shared so many ways to participate virtually. Sue Waters of the Edublogger created a Flipboard magazine which I can’t wait to view. She curated ISTE posts and links and I know it will be an excellent resource. Jen Wagner, Vicky Sedgewick and Craig Yen did great job moderating links, posts, articles, etc. about ISTE and sharing them with the community. I was totally lost until I saw how they were posting and sharing in the community. I even shared a few tweets about events at ISTE for the #notatiste15 community. I learned how to use Google draw to create a virtual ISTE badge with colored ribbons and even made my own ribbon. It is small and difficult to read but I learned how to do it by myself which I am pretty proud of! Simple I know but new to me. The badges were so interesting and creative. I never got my badge in the Google slidedeck but I hope someone will do that for me. I tried but was never successful. My next personal goal and challenge will be to host a Google Hangout (GHO) by myself. I plan to have a specific topic with guests and host a short session with the guest experts and I discussing whatever topic we select. What topic is trending: how to host a GHO, gamification, publishing your own book, creating Flipboard magazines? Leave a comment with your suggestion and I will line it up and schedule it. I am more familiar with hosting webinars in Adobe Connect or Blackboard Collaborate - so much so those come naturally to me. GHOs, not so much. So thank you to all who shared in the #notatiste15 community (https://plus.google.com/communities/102762507417207490264). I learned so much and cannot thank everyone enough. I even got to share about my book, "Kid Detectives Classroom Gamification Learning Activities: Mystery Adventure Quests". That was super exciting for me as I am really proud of this accomplishment. I share all of this to say the past week I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried a few technical things that were new to me and participated in live Periscope sessions that were also new to me. I took some learning risks and it greatly paid off. It reenergized me enough to try new things and expose my vulnerabilities and weaknesses. I am still learning and I hope you are too. Now I am off to edit the expanded version of "Kid Detectives"!

To commemorate the July 4th celebration, we are lowering the price of my book "Kid Detectives Classroom Learning Activities: Mystery Aventure Quests" to $17.76 including shipping! Take advantage of this sale price until July 7th when the price will return to $19.99. Help celebrate July 4th and get your signed commemorative copy mailed to you right away! To order, leave a message on the contact form of this website. I look forward to hearing from you!

This will be the first of a series of posts where I will share step-by-step tips for some customized online course development practices that I’ve recently attempted and found to be successful in my own online courses. Many of these tips will specifically deal with building a course in Blackboard, but the principles can certainly be applied to course design within other learning management systems. For years, I’ve been a big fan of podcasts and have found them to be a fantastic tools for professional development as well as for fostering "presence" in my blended and online courses. As an auditory learner myself, I prefer to learn through audio in conjunction with text and have for years looked for ways to incorporate audio into my teaching. If you are brand new to podcasting, I encourage you to view this 8 minute introduction to podcasting I recorded a number of years ago as well as to read Educause’s 7 Things You Should Know About Podcasting for a background into the educational potential of podcasts. While podcasts may not be for everyone, there is indeed no shortage of literature on podcast or evidence pointing to the educational benefits of podcasting. Here I’ve bookmarked just a few articles I’ve come across on the merits of podcasting in education. Podcasts, whether they be audio or video, are viewable either online or a mobile device. A true podcast is far more than just an audio or video file, but also all a user to subscribe to receive new episodes automatically. For those who teach with Blackboard, there was at one time a very slick open source building block by the OSCELOT group (OSCELOT Podcaster) that replicated functionality pioneered by Learning Objects for creating and hosting podcasts directly within the course. This open source building block was broken when an institution upgraded to Blackboard Learn 9.x and at the time of this post, still isn’t yet working. For that reason, I began several years ago experimenting with alternative approaches to creating a course podcast. My initial efforts involved creating a course podcast using Hipcast, but in search of a cheaper (ie: free) solution, I then tried using the free AudioBoo service for recording, posting, and sharing podcast episodes directly from my mobile device via the free AudioBoo app (version for iOS and Android available). sample course podcast created using AudioBoo, available at audioboo.fm/ionsn1111 After several other approaches, none of which were much more successful, I finally came across a workflow that has worked quite well for me for creating and hosting course podcasts using Audacity, Dropbox, Feeder, and FeedBurnerwhich I will do my best to share here. The tools and workflow that I am about to share is how I have gone about creating the following course podcasts: Web Design Principles for Online Educators [RSS] [iTunes] Using Technology to Build Learning Communities [RSS] [iTunes] Trends and Future of Tech in Education [RSS] [iTunes] Social Networking in Online Learning [RSS] [iTunes] For that sake of this tutorial, I will be using my course podcast, EDT 6030 - Using Technology to Build Learning Communities as the sample course podcast I’ll be referring to as I provide additional details. Sample course podcast found by searching in Podcasts app on iOS Step 1: Record an Audio File (.mp3) The very first technical task that must be completed is to simply record a file which will be the first episode of your podcast. Personally, before I record a podcast episode, I like to write a script that I read from when I record. In my course, when posting a link to the podcast episode, I include a link to the transcript for those who would prefer to read the transcript. Once I have a script, I then recording using Audacity on my computer. Audacity is a free audio recording software tool for either Mac or Windows that you can download from here. After downloading/installing Audacity, go ahead and record a sound file and export as a mp3 file. This will be your first podcast file. Save this file on your desktop. Step 2: Setup Free Dropbox Account If you don’t already have a free Dropbox account, click here and sign-up for your own account. Then, follow the instructions to install Dropbox on your computer(s) and setup a folder that will serve as your Dropbox. After having done so, you will locate on your computer within your Dropbox folder a "Public" folder. **NOTE - For new accounts created after July 31, 2012, a Public folder won’t be created. Instead, individual files in any folder can be shared online. If you don’t have a Public folder, you’ll need to enable public access to that particular file. Step 3: Create a Course Folder in Your Dropbox to Save Podcast Files to Within your Dropbox Public folder (provided you setup your Dropbox account before July 31, 2012), create a folder for your course. I use a prefix of ~ in front of my course folders so I quickly can see which folders are course folders apart from other folders I may have. Then, save the audio file(s) already recorded for your podcast into this newly-created course folder in your Dropbox. After doing so, when you login to your Dropbox at dropbox.com, you’ll see this folder you created on your computer automatically uploaded to your Dropbox and any files you added will also be uploaded. Here’s a quick video tour of my public Dropbox folder where my for my course audio files are located. Step 3: Create Podcast RSS Feed In order for students to subscribe to your podcast, you need to have an RSS feed for your podcast that students can subscribe to. I personally use and highly recommend the software Feeder for creating and editing podcast RSS feeds on Mac. A comparable tool that works well on Windows that I’ve also used and do also recommend is FeedForAll. Using Feeder, give your podcast a title, description, add a thumbnail, etc. Basically, just fill in the fields that Feeder prompts you to create. After adding feed details, then add the first episode (ie: "item") to your podcast. To do so, you will just add a new item to the podcast feed and include the title and a description for the episode. You’ll also need to add the URL for where the episode file is located. Here’s a quick tutorial demonstrating how to create a podcast feed and add a new item. Feeder creates a file with a .xml extension that I save within my Public folder in Dropbox, in a sub-folder I create for my course. When I save this file in my Dropbox public folder for my course, the public URL for my podcast feed then becomes: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7112775/~edt6030/podcast.xml. Technically, this is the file that students can subscribe. However, I recommend taking the following 2 steps to create a more user-friendly RSS feed that you can also track, as well as to submit your podcast feed to iTunes if you’d like easy access to your podcast. Step 4: Create User-Friendly and Trackable Version of Your Podcast RSS Feed Using FeedBurner While your students can technically subscribe to the RSS feed (.xml file) at the URL for that file located in your Dropbox folder, it is preferable to instead provide students with a FeedBurner version of your feed, for the following reasons: A FeedBurner version of the feed is a much more user-friendly version. Compare the following two versions of the same course podcast feed: Podcast feed XML file in native format displayed within browser Same podcast feed, FeedBurner version displayed within the browser If you ever decide to move your podcast .xml file to another location, if students are subscribed to the FeedBurner version, they won’t ever have to re-subscribe. The FeedBurner version tracks number of subscribers and downloads. So, only providing students the FeedBurner version of your podcast feed, you’ll know how many are download and how many times each episode is downloaded. Creating a FeedBurner of your podcast feed is quick and simple! Here’s a quick tutorial demonstrating the easy steps to create a user-friendly and trackable podcast feed using FeedBurner. Step 5: Submit Your Podcast to iTunes for Easy Access for Your Students This is technically an optional step, but one that I go through in order to make it easy for my students to find my podcasts from within iTunes or any of the many podcasting apps on mobile devices in order to subscribe. To submit your feed to the iTunes Store: Open iTunes. Click the green iTunes Store icon on the left side of the iTunes window. From the top navigation bar in the iTunes Store, click Podcasts. From the Podcast Quick Links section on the right, click "Submit a Podcast." Follow the instructions on the Submit a Podcast page. Note that you will need a valid iTunes account, and you will need to be logged into iTunes. If you are not logged in, iTunes will prompt you to enter your Apple ID and password before accepting your submission. Logging in increases the likelihood of valid contact information for each submission. You will not be charged for submitting a podcast. If you have created an RSS feed with all of the recommended iTunes tags, you will see a summary page immediately after you submit your feed URL. If you have not included , , and tags in your feed, you will see a second screen prompting you for this information. Please note that you can change this information at a later date by including the tags in your feed. Your RSS feed is considered the current and authoritative source for information about your podcast. Next Steps… At this point, you’ve completed your initial setup of your course podcast…congrats! From this point forward, you simply now maintain your podcast feed, recording new episodes and adding them as new items to your podcast feed. As you do so, your students will automatically receive your new episodes in whatever podcatcher they may prefer to use. More Samples Here are a few more samples of podcast-related resources and samples from my experience podcasting in my courses: Course Podcast - How to Subscribe for Students Module 1 Introduction Podcast Episode Transcript as HTML File Leave a comment and let me know if you found this tutorial helpful and/of if you have other questions about creating your own course podcast using these steps provided. I’d also love to take a peek at your own course podcast if you don’t mind sharing.

Canada-based Desire2Learn raised an $85 million Series B led by a large institutional asset manager with participation from Columbus Nova Technology Partners, Graham Holdings, Four Rivers Group, Aurion Capital and existing investors New Enterprise Associates and OMERS Ventures. Silicon Valley Bank also provided debt financing in this round. The investment brings the company’s total funds raised to $165 million. Key Takeaway Founded in 1999, this is only the second round of venture funding that D2L raised. An $80 million Series A took place in September 2012, followed by a series of acquisitions in 2013-14 including Degree Compass, Wigio, Knowillage and Achievement Standards Network. Last month D2L founder and CEO John Baker announced rebranding of its core product, an integrated learning platform (ILP), to Brightspace. "We’re focused on helping our clients improve productivity, learner achievement and satisfaction, increase retention and graduation rates and inspire greater engagement overall." - John Baker The company’s offering for K-12 and higher education is built around data analytics and mobility. Teachers can track student performance and identify students at risk early on. Through Degree Compass, university students get personalized recommendation for courses and degrees based on their skills and interest. Brightspace is currently used by over 1100 clients and has 15 million users in 25 countries. Brightspace can be used for free by individual educators. Schools, districts or national education departments pay for the service and get more analytics tools in return. New Zealand has adopted the platform for its public K-12 schools. D2L has around 800 employees around the globe, the largest part is located in the company’s headquarter in Canada. D2L’s global offices are located in Brazil, Singapore, Britain and Australia. "Ultimately, Desire2Learn is helping educators deliver personalized learning the way that Amazon.com delivered a personalized shopping experience." states Jon Sakoda, partner at New Enterprise Associates in WSJ. Though Baker declined to share the current valuation of D2L he stated in 2012, at the time of the Series A, that the company was already profitable. Since then the company’s value is up significantly, he told Bloomberg. He then shared with Reuters that even after the massive Series B venture capital investors still hold a minority stake in D2L. Baker also stated that there were no immediate plans for an IPO and the focus was now on growing D2L’s global reach and to launch new products. "We’re seeing very rapid growth in Europe, we’ve seen triple-digit growth in Latin America and Asia Pacific." Baker told Bloomberg. Further Reading D2L Raises $85 Million in Strategic Financing | Press Release D2L raises $85 million in Strategic Financing | Brightspace Blog Canada's Desire2Learn raises $85 mln for global e-learning push | Reuters Desire2Learn Raises $85M to Deliver ‘Personalized Education’ | Wall Street Journal Desire2Learn Raises $85 Million to Bring Classrooms Into the 21st Century | re/code Desire2Learn Scores $85 Million in Second Funding Round | Bloomberg Desire2Learn’s $85 Million Deal | EdSurge Links d2l.com | Twitter | Facebook

If you are looking for an elegant way on your mobile device to follow BbWorld and Bb Collaborate Connection Summit conversations on Twitter, consider creating a custom section on Flipboard for following saved Twitter searches #BbW12 and #BbCollab. Here’s a quick tutorial on how to do so. I have my Flipboard sections configured and will be following the Twitter conversations at BbWorld via Flipboard on my iPad and iPhone. How about you?

I’ve lost track of the number of conferences I’ve attended where I’ve loathed having to carry around a bulky laptop to take notes and use in giving presentations. BbWorld will be my first conference where I will attempt to go completely laptopless, using only my iPad to present and combo of my iPad and iPhone to take notes and moblog (aka: mobile blog) my experience and takeaways. The BbWorld app, social media feeds viewable on Flipboard, and utilities like IFTTT all make it possible to have access to all conference-related content and conversations as well as easily contribute via social media, all from your mobile device of choice. Have you gone laptopless already? What suggestions do you have for a newbie? Or, maybe you are going laptopless for the first time at BbWorld 2012? Leave a comment and share your experience! You’ll be able to follow mine at jasonrho.de/bbw12 Photo courtesy incredibleguy on Flickr

Fiverr, an Israel-based startup and one of the drivers behind the so called Gig Economy, raised a $30 million Series C from Bessemer Venture Partners, Accel Partners, Qumra Capital and additional private investors. The round brings the total funding raised to $50 million. Founded in 2010 by Shai Wininger, Micha Kaufman and Guy Gamzu, Fiverr is a global marketplace for services from creatives and other professionals with offices in Tel Aviv, New York and Miami. Like the company name suggests, offers start at $5 but customers can add extra services like faster delivery of the product by paying for so called Gig Extras. Along with the funding comes a relaunch of the website with the aim to make it easier for customers to find and book the right person for the job. Categories include Graphics & Design, Online Marketing, Writing & Translation, Video & Animation, Music & Audio, Programming & Tech, Advertising and Business. Why is this important? Freelancing and the gig economy are increasingly promoted as the future of work for the vast majority of people. With the coding hype still in full swing, sites like Fiverr draw a more realistic picture of what most workers in the creative and tech space can expect as salaries or freelance income down the line. "By 2020 the number of independent workers is predicted to double, with online freelancing increasing at an even faster rate," says Fiverr Co-Founder and CEO Micha Kaufman. Erez Shachar, Managing Partner at Qumra Capital adds "As the future of work is increasingly dominated by freelancers, entrepreneurs and independent workers, Fiverr is positioning itself as the home for this rapidly growing community. We're excited about investing in a company that is central to the success of millions of participants in the Gig Economy." While established portals like Amazon Mechanical Turk or Freelancer and oDesk, which recently merged, are more suitable for business customers with more complex tasks, the offers on Fiverr also appeal to a broader audience. Another difference is that on Fiverr the freelancers offer their services to customers whereas on classic freelancing portals customers come with a specific task and search for a freelancer to work on it. Fiverr calls its new 3.0 version Services as a Product or SaaP and aims to reduce the friction of ordering an online service to a minimum. No negotiation or complicated contracts, just a few clicks. "Like eBay and Amazon, customers simply browse, search, and buy, selecting from more than 100 categories and millions of services. It's as easy as buying a book online." says Adam Fisher, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. Over the years the offerings on Fiverr have become much more professional, so have the customers who now order gigs for copywriting, translations, proof reading, logo and web design and other small creative tasks. Disruption Of course, there are growing pains. Sacha Greif, a designer from Paris and Internet entrepreneur just wrote a post titled "What Kind of Logo Do You Get for $5? - An epic tale of deception, stolen artwork, and crappy logos" on Medium, though you have to take the post with a grain of salt. Like eBay and Amazon, Fiverr mainly relies on a rating system from its buyers and most of them seem to be happy with the results they get. Greif’s post is from the perspective of an established designer who plays by the rules of the design community like don’t copy other artwork or use templates from stock photo marketplaces. The problem is that these marketplaces don’t tend to play by these established rules when career changers enter the game. I saw pretty much the same in language teaching when all of a sudden "everyone" could be a teacher thanks to the Internet, not to use the overused term ‘disruption’ here. According to Fiverr there is a gig sold every 4.7 seconds with most of them costing more than $5. Fiverr takes 20% commission. The marketplace sees a high return rate of customers and the first Fortune 500 companies are starting to use the marketplace according to Wall Street Journal. Further Reading Fiverr Raises $30 Million to Fuel Global Growth of World's Largest Marketplace for Services | Marketwired Fiverr Raises $30M for Online Services Marketplace | Wall Street Journal What Kind of Logo Do You Get for $5? - An epic tale of deception, stolen artwork, and crappy logos | Medium Links fiverr.com | Twitter | Facebook | CrunchBase

In my quest to go "laptop-less" at BbWorld, I plan to present from my iPad using the free SlideShark app. I’ve found SlideShark to be by far the simplest and most elegant solution for converting a PowerPoint to an iPad-native presentation for displaying. First slide of presentation shown from iPad using SlideShark Here’s how the service works in a nutshell. You sign-up for a free account and download the app onto your iPad. Then, when you have a PowerPoint presentation finished, you upload from your computer to your online account. Next, simply launch the Slideshark app on your iPad and after you’ve logged into your SlideShark account for the first time, you’ll see all your uploaded presentations. Tap the "Download" button to download any presentations you’ll be giving so that you have them stored locally on your iPad (in case you experience Wi-Fi issues). Displaying your presentation is then as simple as plugging your iPad into the projector and clicking the green "play" button. If you’d like to ditch your laptop and simply present from your iPad, give SlideShark a try! Sign-up for free using this link and both you and I get some extra free storage! http://www.slideshark.com/r?r=356863 SlideShark app open on my iPad, BbWorld presentations loaded If you do plan to present from your iPad, remember your dongle Do you also use SlideShark? Or, perhaps you have found another approach for presenting PPT from iPad? Leave a comment and share your impressions of SlideShark and/or recommendations for other PowerPoint presentation alternatives.

The Robin Hood Foundation announced the semi-finalists of its College Success Prize. Through the competition, the Robin Hood Foundation aims to find scalable and technology-enabled tools to improve the performance of underprepared college students and thus help them to graduate in a timely fashion. Each semi-finalist receives a $40.000 development grant and support in form of workshops and coaching. The three finalists which will be announced in January 2015 receive an additional $60.000 grant and can win up to $5 million, including the Grand Prize of $3.5 million which will be announced in October 2018. The seventeen semi-finalists are a mix of edtech startups, established companies and early stage concepts. Beyond 12 The Beyond 12 "MyCoach" app helps students keep track of deadlines and milestones, and, based on the college students are attending, provides them with personalized tools and tips to help navigate their college experience. Students receive automated alerts (mimicking the nudges from a live coach) on their mobile devices that include links to the campus resources available to help them complete certain tasks. In addition, the app allows students to record completion of tasks; motivates students, in the form of points and badges, for skill and knowledge mastery; and encourages students to share their experiences with peers. Video Links beyond12.org | Twitter Carney Labs LLC College Champion will address common college freshman obstacles (e.g., time management, scheduling priorities), provide a clear channel of ongoing support and encouragement, deliver self-motivating prompts, and link communities of students to encourage connectedness at CUNY. Links mari.com | Twitter Core Skills Mastery Core Skills Mastery (CSM) is a free web-based course that monitors and responds to student issues in key math and literacy skills; problem-solving strategies and mindset; active, independent learning; and performance traits like persistence, self-efficacy, and conscientiousness. CSM incorporates an advanced adaptive learning engine, requires a significantly higher level of mastery than most competency-based models, employs an instructional model of intrinsic motivation and meta-cognition, and directly addresses learned helplessness. Links csmlearn.com | Twitter Dedicated Dedicated is a mobile app for community college students. Links dedicatedapp1.wix.com/dedicated | Twitter EdReady EdReady is a math readiness system for anyone considering attending college in the United States. The purpose of EdReady is to help prepare students to avoid remedial instruction and begin their college studies by giving them the resources they need to achieve adequate scores on the commonly used placement exams AccuPlacer, Compass, and ACT. Links edready.org | Twitter Education Advisory Board To give every student her or his own personalized pathway to success, EAB (a division of the Advisory Board Company) has built a platform that marries goals with outcomes, life with school, and needs with resources all to ensure that students stay on track through all of life's ups and downs. Links eab.com GradGuru GradGuru is a free app that helps students get through college with school deadlines, advice, and a way to earn rewards for doing to the right things. GradGuru reduces community college drop out rates and accelerates students' completion. Links gradguru.weebly.com | Twitter JumpCourse JumpCourse offers best-in-class online, adaptive learning courses to prepare students for college entrance exams as well as credit by exam (i.e., CLEP). The affordable courses offer the best in adaptive learning technology, as well as professionally produced videos, eBooks, and hundreds of interactives to ensure students are learning the material to pass their exam, and students currently boast an over 95% pass rate for CLEP. Links jumpcourse.com | Twitter Kinvolved Kinvolved is improving graduation rates of community college students with an app to increase attendance and real-time communication among student support networks. Links kinvolved.com | Twitter Kipin Hall Kipin Hall is a mobile and web based retention solution for higher-ed. The app uses a proven set of behavioral studies to help students achieve their academic goals. Links kipinhall.com | Twitter KnowRe KnowRe is an online adaptive learning program for mathematics. KnowRe believes that the most effective educational approach is one that is personalized to the needs of each individual student and that technology is the most efficient way to scale that approach. Video Links knowre.com | Twitter LimeSpring LimeSpring provides a developmental (remedial) math solution that can be used to create a blended learning environment. Using LimeSpring CUNY students have passed developmental math at a rate of 87% (as compared to the national average of ~30%) and reported increases in interest and confidence in the field of mathematics. Links limespring.com GPS LifePlan The GPS LifePlan has a history of improving community college retention and graduation rates for students. The proposed improvements to the existing customer relationship management system will increase usage and enhance the effect of participation. Links gpslifeplan.org Persistence Plus Persistence Plus is a mission-driven organization focused on increasing college persistence and completion. Using cutting-edge behavioral interventions, mobile technology, and data analytics, Persistence Plus fosters the student behaviors and mindsets that are associated with college success. Links persistenceplusnetwork.com Ponder Where social media meets critical thinking to support student-driven learning and discussion around coursework, career and life. Ponder deepens class discussion around any text or video you can browse to. Links ponder.co | Twitter Stanford Interventions Lab Many disadvantaged students fail to achieve their potential in school because they are burdened with worries tied to their marginalized status, such as the fear of being negatively stereotyped and the daily hassles of poverty that shorten cognitive bandwidth. Two brief intervention strategies, each supported by prior research, will be tested via mobile technology and will serve to make it easier for disadvantaged students, first, to make decisions better aligned with their long-term self interest, through timely reminders of adaptive but easily forgotten academic behaviors, and, second, to attain a level of academic performance more reflective of their abilities, through stress-reducing writing exercises delivered before high-stakes tests. Links interventions.stanford.edu Team InfoMe An interactive, customizable, and easily understandable platform with two main components: 1) an in-course success tool and 2) a course selection planning tool. The application will help students effectively identify, evaluate, and process the multitude of choices they are asked to make, so that they can make the right decisions for themselves and in the end, reach their goals of college success. Further Reading Robin Hood Prize: College Success | Robin Hood Foundation

Back in March 2009, I had the idea of beginning to aggregate and share the best tutorials, helps, and resources I found online, including resources from the NIU Teaching with Blackboard site that my colleagues and I develop and maintain. I went ahead and setup a free Twitter account @BlackboardTutor and using TwitterFeed, created several different automated actions whereby when I bookmarked a resource, it would automatically be tweeted. After doing the initial setup, it was years before I would again log back into this Twitter account, as new tweets were automatically posted when Blackboard helps were bookmarked or shared online. Since that time, what began initially as just a social media experiment has blossomed into a trusted resource, with currently nearly 1,900 followers to date. Desiring for this resource to continue to grow and benefit others in the Blackboard community, I approached Blackboard to see if it is a social media resource they would be willing to take over, and they gladly accepted. So, I’m pleased to report that moving forward, @BlackboardTutor will be moving to the next level as it will be more actively managed by Blackboard’s social media team. It is my hope that it will continue to be a great aggregator of newly available Blackboard support resources, tutorials, etc. that will benefit the entire Blackboard user community worldwide. Follow @BlackboardTutor and watch for many more support resources to come!

Our EdTech Funding Coverage is brought to you by Digital Education. In this EdTech Funding Roundup we take a look at investments we haven’t covered in our regular news rundown in July. WeSpeke, a social network for language and cultural exchange, raised a $3 million Series B. OpenEd, a search and recommendation engine for Common Core aligned resources, raised a $2 million Seed Round. MamaBear, an all-in-one parenting app, raised a $1.4 million Angel Round. ClassOwl, a communication and organization app for college students, raised an $850k Seed Round. Language Learning Network WeSpeke raised $3 million Series B WeSpeke, a global social network for language and cultural exchange, raised a $3 million Series B. Details of the round have not been disclosed. Founded in 2010 by Michael Elchik and Jaime Carbonell, WeSpeke connects learners from across the globe for practicing language and sharing their cultures with each other. Learners get matched based on common interest and complementary languages through a patent pending technology. The funding will be used to grow the team, launch new features and further expand internationally. Video Further Reading WeSpeke Raises 3M in Series B Round | Press Release Links wespeke.com | Twitter Common Core Resource Library OpenEd raises $2 million Seed Round OpenEd, a Common Core resource library for the K-12 space, raised a $2 million Seed Round from PivotNorth Capital at a $ 10 million valuation. The startup had previously raised capital in a family and friends round of funding. Founded in 2012 by Adam and Lisa Blum and formally launched in October 2013, OpenEd provides teachers with a search and recommendation engine based on its catalog of over a million resources including videos, games, assessments and courses, most of which are aligned to the Common Core and other standards. According to CEO Adam Blum, the service is used by over 100.000 teachers and also offers an API for other edtech companies to integrate the search function in their products for a monthly fee. Other revenue streams like premium content and monthly subscriptions for teachers will be launched soon. Video Further Reading OpenEd Obtains $2,000,000 Seed Round | Xconomy Links opened.io | Twitter Parenting App MamaBear raises $1.4 million MamaBear, a all-in-one parenting app that combines location tracking with monitoring of the child’s social media activity, raised a $1.4 million angel round reports the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Parents can set up monitoring via geofencing, they can monitor their children’s activities on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter or set a speed limit for those kids who can already drive a car. Through the app parents can see who befriends their child on Facebook, they can preview Instagram uploads and blacklist certain words. MamaBear completed its beta testing in June and is now introducing premium features through subscriptions. A basic service with 5 alerts per day will remain free. Video Further Reading MamaBear app backers raises $1.4 million for growth | Tampa Bay Business Journal Mamabear Raises $1.4 Million For A Parenting App That Monitors Children’s Social Media Use And More | TechCrunch Links mamabearapp.com | Twitter Classroom Communication and Organization App ClassOwl raises $850k Seed Round ClassOwl, a communication and organization app for college students, raised an $850k Seed Round from Follett Knowledge Fund, The Stanford StartX Fund, Dorm Room Fund and angel investors, which brings the total funding raised by the startup to $900k. Founded in 2013 by Sam Purtill and Julienne Lam as an undergraduate project at Stanford, ClassOwl helps students to stay organized, manage their time and keep up to date with their teacher’s tasks. ClassOwl is a graduate of last year’s Pearson Catalyst Program. Video Further Reading ClassOwl: Student-Focused Planning App Announces Seed Round | Press Release Links classowl.com | Twitter Other Funding Rounds in July 2014 Hippocampus raises $2.4 million for Learning Centers in Rural India Sudiksha gets $50k from Pearson Affordable Learning Fund for Pre-Schools in Underprivileged Areas eHarmony for Student Housing Comfy raises $600k Seed Round Data Management Solutions Provider STI raises $3 million Galvanize raised $9.7 million for its Seed Investment Fund HEDLINE: DataWind, Maker of the Aakash Tablet, raises $28 million in IPO Online Community for College Students ClusterFlunk raises $1 million Higher Ed SaaS Provider Regent Education raises $9 million ELL Software Platform Ellevation Education raises $2 million With $1 billion in new Funding Flipkart eyes E-Learning Twitter Translation Service Fliplingo raises $150k Seed Round Education Payment Service PhilSmile raises Seed Round Test Prep Platform Wanxue raises Series C led by Baidu Exam Database Yuantiku raises $15 million Series C E-Learning Startup Taamkru raises $620k Seed Round HEDLINE: Patience.io raises Series A led by Holtzbrinck Digital

Unsure about how to upgrade from Wimba or Elluminate Live to Blackboard Collaborate 11 or 12? I participated in a panel presentation at Blackboard Collaborate Connections Summit along with Sarah Crawley, Dan Lim, Robin Smith, and David Tao where we shared our experiences about their upgrade processes. Here are my slides from my portion of the presentation. Blackboard Collaborate Upgrade Panel - Upgrading to Blackboard Collaborate at NIU I mentioned the following available online resources during my presentation: Faculty Preview Session Survey of Existing NIU Faculty Wimba Users More info about Blackboard Collaborate at NIU

I am happy to announce that we will be hosting our second event of the year in London. It will be a half-day event starting in the afternoon on September 17th. We’re excited to have Macmillan Digital Education as co-organiser of the event by our side, once again. Therefore, we decided the Macmillan London campus in Kings Cross would be the appropriate location for the event. This event is free to attend for ticket holders which wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of our event partners busuu and Speexx, and our special thanks goes to them. Sell Tickets Online through Eventbrite Together with our speakers and panelists we will be looking at the vast topic of "Multilingualism in Europe", and include different perspectives to give our audience a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities in different European markets including the UK, the German-speaking and Scandinavian countries. Below you find our programme for the event separated into three stages from pre-coverage, over the day of the event, to the whitepaper which will conclude the topic. Pre-Coverage As we cannot possibly touch upon every aspect of this large topic during the event itself, we chose to help our audience, and everybody interested in the topic of language learning in Europe, prepare themselves for the the event through our pre-coverage in this specially designed channel on EDUKWEST. Our pre-coverage is a series of articles, OP-EDs and interviews from and with people involved with the topic over the next four weeks, starting today with an OP-ED about language assessment co-authored by Voxy’s Paul Gollash and Katharine Nielson. Day of the Event Throughout the event we will be following different tracks including EU policy around "Mother Tongue +2" and how language learning is central to the EU’s language policy. We will be hearing about the impact of multilingualism on employability, how it creates cultural awareness and how this has direct implications for the workplace. These days everybody is talking about big data, and we want to explore the role data and analytics play in corporate and in-company language training. When it comes to language learning motivation is a vital factor. We will be exploring what motivates learners to start learning a second, third, or even more languages, what keeps them motivated throughout that process, and how technology can assist them reaching their goals. We will also not omit the discussion about the challenges language learning online is faced with when it comes to data protection and security, and what the differences in different European countries regarding the importance of data protection are. Whitepaper The discussions and findings of the event as well as the challenges that hinder the implementation of multilingualism in some European countries will be processed and published in a whitepaper following the event itself. The final programme of the event as well as the full list of speakers will be announced within the next week. I am very much looking forward to seeing you all on September 17th in London.

During this presentation at BbWorld 2012, my colleague from NIU, Vance Moore, and I were joined by Rajeev Arora, V.P. for Marketing & Strategy at Blackboard Collaborate, and discussed how NIU has harnessed the power of multiple Blackboard platforms to create a smooth-yet-powerful online learning environment. Northern Illinois University: Success with Blackboard Collaborate, Blackboard Learn, Blackboard Mobile, and More! We mentioned the following online resources (and included links in the provided slides) during the presentation: Teaching with Blackboard at NIU NIU Faculty Development Online Programs NIU Faculty Development Program Archives Faculty Preview of Blackboard Collaborate 11 Survey of Existing Faculty Wimba Classroom Users More info about Blackboard Collaborate at NIU NIU Mobile App Designing a Mobile-Friendly Blackboard Course More info about Blackboard Mobile Learn at NIU Blackboard Faculty Quick Guides NIU Faculty Development Blog Teaching with Blackboard Podcast

Editor's Note: This post is co-authored by Paul Gollash, founder and CEO of Voxy and Katharine Nielson, chief education officer at Voxy. English language learning is fraught with ineffective products and failed instructional approaches, complicated by disparate proficiency scales and non-standard interpretations of terms like "intermediate" and "advanced." This leads to confusion about what results learners should expect after language study. It also contributes to unclear guidelines for stakeholders who evaluate learners’ proficiency, from university admissions offices to future employers. Testing monopolies, such as ETS are now unreliable. Learners have been caught cheating the system and paying for their results, and oftentimes high scorers cannot communicate adequately, while those with poor scores can easily accomplish tasks in English. Additionally, commonly used tests such as TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS, and PTE rely on different proficiency scales which makes it impossible to understand the scores of one in terms of another. Unifying scales, such as Pearson’s Global Scale of English, are a step in the right direction; however, we need to move beyond standardized tests that look at "global proficiency," and build new tests that actually identify what learners can and cannot accomplish in their target languages. We need to radically re-think how we test our learners. Since the real stakeholders in language proficiency are the interlocutors with whom learners communicate, the tasks and conversations that they need should form the basis of a truly innovative and more meaningful proficiency assessment. These stakeholders, such as the employer who needs a new hire to speak effectively with customers, or the new friend who needs to make weekend dinner plans with a language learner, or the lover who needs to be able to understand his partner’s feelings, possess the only real rubric that matters when it comes to measuring proficiency. So what do these new assessments look like? Well, to start with, they need to be grounded in what a learner needs to do in the real world. In the immortal words of Ferris Beuller, "You can’t eat an irregular verb." In other words, whether or not learners can identify the appropriate relative pronoun to fill in a blank likely has nothing to do with how well they will do in a college admissions interview or when buying a plane ticket on their first hard-earned vacation to an English-speaking country. The future of assessments, and in our opinion the future of all education, lies in project-based assessments. With project-based assessments, which simulate or otherwise model the actual experiences that a language learner will have, we can more closely and accurately evaluate the true competency of a learner. Learners' real-life performances on well-defined tasks will be the ultimate measure of their success, and the strong, clear signal of their proficiency. Up until now, this type of task-based assessment at scale has been elusive; by its very nature, task-based assessment is personalized and high-touch. Because each learner will have unique needs, he or she will also require a unique assessment. And while some tasks, like completing online forms or opening online bank accounts, can be easily simulated and scored by computer, others, such as answering interview questions appropriately or giving a business presentation, require at least one (if not multiple) human raters to guarantee that the assessment is valid and is scored reliably. However, recent technological advances have helped pave the way for personalized, adaptive instruction, and are poised to do the same for personalized assessment. And when a language learner can offer a potential employer a certification that he or she can successfully negotiate a simulated deal--rather than a piece of paper with a random score on his or her listening proficiency--the archaic field of language testing will finally live up to its potential. Picture License  Some rights reserved by Walter Parenteau

It is quite fascinating to follow Myanmar’s rise as a tech, edtech and thus startup destination in general these days given that the reign of the military junta only ended in 2011. As Myanmar is now slowly opening itself to new influences, the first telecommunications companies entered the country just about two and a half years ago. Sure, all in all we should be careful in making assumptions too quickly as the country is still in the very early stages of its modern development. Nevertheless, there are a number of indicators that confirm how the country might leapfrog some of the stages developing countries usually go through when it comes to technology. An Untapped Market The Asian Development Bank estimates a population of 61 million with an average annual GDR (PPP) of $1,711 per capita. With a very young population, 47% are under the age of 24, Myanmar is poised to adopt technology very quickly if this technology and the infrastructure are available and affordable. Mobile First Unlike following the traditional path over using a desktop computer or laptop over to owning a feature phone, and then smartphone or tablet like in many African countries or in India for instance, Myanmar’s population is pushing for a mobile first strategy. Although today only about 10% of the population own a mobile phone (and even fewer a tablet) and SIMs as well as data usage is expensive, there is fierce competition among telcos from around the world to establish themselves in the country, which will drive down prices eventually. So far Qatari company Ooredoo and Norwegian company Telenor were successful with bids for licenses some 14 months ago. Ooredoo has established a 3G network in the country. Half of Myanmar’s mobile internet users came online in the last year. 49% of internet users only use a mobile phone to access the web. Android Rules When it comes to smartphones Chinese-built Android phones that are priced around $50 are the weapon of choice. One the one hand, this is little of a surprise when we think about affordability, on the other hand $50 is not cheap when the average purchasing power doesn’t exceed $1,700. Maybe even more surprising is that people are willing to spend around $200 for a SIM (down from more than $2,000 on the blackmarket just some years ago). Social Networks Viber looks like an early winner in the messaging app space having a market share of 79% compared with Facebook Messenger which comes in second with 27% market share. That said, half of the respondents in the survey say they use Facebook, and 31% use YouTube. Education and EdTech In Myanmar a huge gap exists between highly educated and qualified people, often returning back home after having worked abroad, and the vast majority of people who often lack employability skills, admittedly something we in the West also have only started to work on more intensely in the past 12 to 18 months. English language skills, or the lack of, are another challenge. But, again, the good news is that people are willing to invest in their education and skills, and this is something we see in all the developing countries. What we see improve in the general field of tech will also translate into edtech. Investments The International Development Association (IDA) finances an $80 million credit for the country, another $20 million come from the Government of Australia through the Myanmar Partnership Multi-Donor Trust Fund. This new funding will improve and expand the Myanmar Government’s School Grants Program and Student Stipends Program with the objective to provide a quality education to all citizens. Another player in Myanmar’s education sector is Japan which just recently signed a memorandum of understanding on establishing Asia Specialty Education Center (ASEC), aiming at promoting cooperation in technological training between Myanmar and Japan. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) wants to help improve Myanmar's education status through an investment of $24.5 million. EdTech Startups A first example for educational app development is and an iPad app called Phew that helps young learners write the characters of the Burmese language. Revo Tech, the company behind Phew, plans to release more educational apps in the future. Of course, iPad users are a rare species in Myanmar when you compare with my statements above. On the other hand, the Google Play Store for Android apps is not (yet) available. Nevertheless this can be seen as a first step toward broader adoption which will happen eventually through increased competition and therefore decreasing cost of being connected and owning a device. Below you find a list of articles, giving you further insight in the market. Further Reading Students in Myanmar to Benefit from World Bank-Supported Project | World Bank Myanmar, Japan to establish Asia specialty education center | globalpost Myanmar poised to have ‘60 million citizens come online almost overnight’ | Tech in Asia Myanmar’s new mobile internet users embrace Android smartphones, pick Viber over Facebook | Tech in Asia Geeks in frontier markets: Myanmar is a sexy place to be in right now | e27 Startup aims at Myanmar’s youngest of early adopters with educational iPad app | Tech in Asia Picture: "Uppatasanti Pagoda-02" by DiverDave (talk) Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Working in a vacuum can be daunting. Who do you turn to for best practices in teaching and learning, for advice when a challenge arises, or to assist you in managing change? More than 1500 of your peers turn to a Blackboard User Group! During this panel presentation at BbWorld 2012, my colleagues Cheryl Boncuore, Ken Sadowski, Heath Tuttle, and I shared about the professional and personal benefits received from participating in a Blackboard User Group (SLATE - Supporting Learning And Technology in Education). Group leader, Ken Sadowski - winner of a 2011 Catalyst Award winner for Community Collaboration - has nurtured this 10-year old Midwest User Group from its humble beginnings to over 80 member institutions. Slides and other resources shared during the presentation are at www.slategroup.org/bbw12 To learn more about SLATE or to become involved, visit www.slategroup.org