Since the advent of VoIP, countless edtech startups have tried to leverage the technology to build learning platforms that connect learners and teachers from across the world. Most of these early startups are long gone but thanks to faster Internet connections, better hardware, new protocols like WebRTC and video calls entering the mainstream, live video lessons have seen a renaissance. ClassDo is one of those new startups aiming to build a global marketplace for lessons of all kind. Based in Tokyo but with an international team, ClassDo has attracted users from all continents mainly through word of mouth. Introduce your startup and give a short description of what you are doing. ClassDo enables teachers and students from 100+ countries to discover each other, for live face-to-face online lessons. While many education solutions are single country or single region, ClassDo truly removes all country and currency barriers - It provides seamless payments among teachers and students worldwide by unifying disparate currencies into one global standard of "lesson credits", multilingual support, and also supporting low bandwidth countries for video chatting and book sharing without any software installation. ClassDo is also part of the very disruptive "Sharing economy" movement. In the same way that Uber allows people to share their cars without being part of a taxi company and AirBnB allows people to share their homes without working for a real estate firm, ClassDo allows teachers to set up their own online without being hired by a school. Who are the founders, how did you meet, what are your different roles in the startup. Chiew Farn Chung - CEO Brief profile : Wrote first program at age 13, represented Singapore for International Computer Programming Competition at age 15. More than 10 years of business/tech experience at Japanese manufacturers and top tier global investment banks. Edward Middleton - CTO Brief profile : President of the Tokyo Linux Users Group since 2007. Open source contributor. Expert in scaling large server architectures. Yee Whye Teh - CSO (Chief Scientific Officer - Algorithms) Brief profile : Professor of Statistical Machine Learning at Oxford University. Research papers quoted 7000 times according to Google Scholar. Edward & Chiew have both been members of the Tokyo Linux Users Group for more than a decade. Yee Whye & Chiew have been schoolmates since 13 years old. What is the main problem in education that you aim to solve. 3 problems : You cannot find someone with the relevant knowledge around you ClassDo allows you unfettered access to any teacher/knowledge across 100+ countries. Timezones are automatically converted for you, and you don't have to worry about payments in a foreign currency. Too narrow a definition of "online education" Education is not just about STEM subjects or languages. It's knowledge - a local indonesian who advise you on the best homestay experience, a chef who can advise you on how to open a Japanese restaurant, someone who can help you publish your first book etc. No tech skills or too much administrative work ClassDo is designed based on the "it just works" mantra. No installation needed. Searching, Booking, Classrooms and Payments are all integrated and automated - just concentrate on the lesson. In which markets / regions are you active. What markets / regions are next. ClassDo's users are not concentrated in any single region but instead distributed evenly across all five major continents. North America (19%), South America (9%), Europe (16%), East Asia (25%), South East Asia (18%), Africa (4%), and Middle East (8%). Who is your target audience. Students - who are seeking knowledge, but cannot find a suitable teacher around them. Or cannot be bothered to search on badly done individual pages/forums/blogs around the web for someone. Teachers - who want to offer their knowledge globally, not just to students around them. But has no technical skills to set up their own online school, or cannot handle the admin work involved in global payments. On ClassDo, a user can be both a student and a teacher - learning something new while teaching something they have expertise on. How do you engage with your target audience. How do you convert them into users of your product. Each user have their own "portal" - their very own online school. For example user "Kirsten"'s portal will be http://kirsten.class.do Teachers - invite them to set up their own online school on the ClassDo platform Students - allow them to discover all these online schools that teachers have set up. What is your business model. How much does your product / service cost. Teachers do not pay any fees or commissions. Students buy credits to take paid lessons. The more credits they buy at a time, the cheaper each credit costs. ClassDo earns a small amount to run servers when students purchase credits. If you raised funding, how much did you raise. Who are your investors. If not, are you planning to raise funding. Completely bootstrapped at this point. Since inception, we make a profit for every paid lesson. Some world-class investors have gotten in touch with us. We are very interested in finding a good partner to grow. Are there milestones you are especially proud of and would like to share. 80% of ClassDo's users are via word of mouth. We grew to 100+ countries since launching 19 months ago. We were actually caught by surprise and had to scramble to cope with the growth. ClassDo staff speaks 12 different languages. We got ClassDo's video chat technology to work in developing countries. Teachers in Kenya for example, are earning money from the developed world by offering their knowledge, without having to leave the country to become a migrant worker. What are the next steps in growing your startup. Enable more teachers and students around the world to discover each other. Links classdo.com | Twitter

Here’s a quick recap of a few of the highlights from day 1 of BbWorld 2012… I missed the flash mob, and if you did too, here you can check it out…

This video was shown to kick-off the Blackboard Corporate keynote at BbWorld 2012 and exemplifies the challenges and opportunities in serving active learners in the 21st century>

To start off the coverage for our September event on multilingualism in Europe, we chose an Infographic from movehub.com which illustrates the respective second language for every European country. A few of the findings come as little of a surprise. Of course, English is a strong second language in many countries in Europe including France, the Scandinavian countries with the exception of Finland and Italy. Russian has also maintained its strong position in several of the Eastern European countries including the Baltic states and the Ukraine. What is maybe even more interesting, certainly with regards to our event, is the role immigration plays. We can see this historically in the example of Finland where a small however influential Swedish minority has established Swedish as an official language that Finnish pupils are required to learn as a first foreign language in elementary school. Our presenter Niss Jonas Carlsson of Brain Glass is going to explain the challenges involved for Finland more in detail in his presentation and will also introduce us to the challenges Sweden is faced with when it comes to language learning, not the Swedes having difficulties learning English but immigrants to the country learning Swedish. More recently and economically motivated is the boom of English language learning and teaching in Poland. And since so many Poles have migrated to Britain, Polish has become the strongest second language in the country. A third example for the impact of immigration on language is the strong Turkish population in both Germany and Austria which Kirsten will give you some information about, especially in the context of requested linguistic proficiency in German for family reunifications. All in all, we can conclude that there is far more linguistic variety in Europe than English only which can be explained by a plethora of historic and cultural relations that make Europe this multilayered and interesting continent it is. However, English, French and Russian being the top three second languages in Europe is mirrored worldwide with English taking the top spot (55 countries), then French (14 countries) and Russian (13 countries).

Over the past several days at BbWorld 2012, I’ve been able to attend a variety of keynote presentations, hearing product roadmaps and exciting new product developments from Blackboard Collaborate, Blackboard Mobile, and Blackboard Learn. As others like Eric Kunnen have already done a stellar job of summarizing the major announcements from the keynotes (see Eric’s detailed summary from the Bb Corporate keynote), I figured I would simply compile the biggest takeaways for me personally from the keynotes presentations I’ve viewed. Blackboard Collaborate On Tuesday afternoon, Bb Collaborate President Maurice Heiblum kicked off the series of BbWorld keynotes with the Bb Collaborate keynote, highlighting the new features available in Bb Collaborate 12. Announcements I found most exciting included: Storage space for hosting of archives will be increased from 5GB to 500GB for each institution at no additional cost! Echo cancellation now included in Bb Collaborate 12…no more headsets needed! Bb Collaborate mobile app to be released by fall 2012 will be available to current Bb Collaborate customers at no additional cost as well! Blackboard Mobile Immediately following the Bb Collaborate keynote, I made it into the standing room only Bb Mobile keynote session. Kayvon Beykpour gave an inspiring talk, discussing "disruption" in our society today and how mobile is facilitating these disruptions at an even faster pace. The amazing sketchnote artwork is from Gerren Lamson. Announced the following day as part of the Blackboard Corporate keynote, Kayvon also announced: New "end user licence" of Bb Mobile Learn - students will be able to purchase (for iOS or Android) either year-long ($1.99) or unlimited ($5.99) access for Blackboard Mobile Learn Augmented reality being added to Mobile Central apps Blackboard Learn Michael Chasen on sharing content during Bb Corporate keynote The Wednesday morning Blackboard Corporate keynote featuring Blackboard CEO Michael Chasen and Blackboard CTO and President of Academic Platforms Ray Henderson recapped the advancements that Blackboard has made in the past year and shared some exciting announcements concerning Blackboard’s roadmap for the next year, including: Project XP - beginning with xpLor, cloud based cross institutional learning object repository for sharing course content and discussion boards, being released in beta Fall 2012. Khan Academy will be part of the content AND you can create new content to share - no matter the platform. Project XP also to eventually include open calendar and discussion tools. Enterprise course evaluation surveys coming to Blackboard in SP10 - FREE SMS system notifications coming to Bb Learn - FREE Blackboard Social coming Fall 2012 - FREE for institutions w/ Bb Community license Ray Henderson announcing that free enterprise surveys are coming to Blackboard in SP10 Ray Henderson announcing that SMS system notifications coming to Bb Learn as free new feature Ray Henderson announcing Blackboard Social to be released Fall 2012, free for institutions with Bb Community System What were the biggest takeaways for your from the BbWorld product announcements? Feel free to leave a comment with your reflections and key takeaways!

Udemy added three seasoned executives to its management team which further underlines that the startup days for the course marketplace are over. The new hires will take over roles as vice president and general manager Udemy for Organizations, vice president of business development and vice president of finance and operations. Paul Sebastien who will lead all marketing, sales, strategy and operations for Udemy for Organizations has worked for T-Mobile, Disney Mobile, Microsoft, Sony and SugarSync, and was most recently chief marketing officer at T-Mobile/Deutsche Telekom HBS. Richard Qiu who will handle content, distribution and strategic partnerships between Udemy and organizations previously led business development, sales and partnerships for TRUSTe, 4INFO and BeVocal. Dave Arnold who will help the Udemy bolster operations in the U.S. and further expand into international markets has worked for Visa, J.P. Morgan and Deloitte and for the past five years he was vice president of finance at Boku, Inc. All roles will be crucial for scaling Udemy’s business in the US and key markets overseas, a goal that the company’s CEO Dennis Yang set after raising a $32 million Series C in May. As Yang states in the press release, this is a pivotal time for Udemy as the company still has to prove that its business model works better or at least as good as those of more established players like lynda.com. In May TechCrunch reported that about 15% of the users are converted into paying customers with the majority taking free courses on the platform. On the other hand, Udemy is clearly pushing more towards B2B through its Udemy for Organizations offering. In July Udemy also announced a program for nonprofits and social entrepreneurs called Udemy Social Innovation, offering monetary grants for course creation and reduced prices for the company’s products. Further Reading Udemy Expands Leadership Team with Three New Executive Hires | Press Release Udemy Announces Social Innovation Program to Support Nonprofits Pursuing Positive Social Change | Press Release Related Links HEDLINE: Udemy raises $32 million Series C to Expand Internationally HEDLINE: Dennis Yang new Udemy CEO - Eren Bali becomes Product Lead Links udemy.com | Twitter | Facebook | CrunchBase | AngelList

Blackboard Next Generation (Version 9.1) Upgrade The upgrade to Blackboard Learn, Release 9.1 at Northern Illinois University from Release 8.0 has proven to be very successful and has been receiving a lot of positive feedback from faculty and teaching staff. This session I led at Blackboard World 2012 on Thu, 7/12/12, 8:45AM-9:15AM, Digital Content and Upgrade Center shared the strategies and practices that made the upgrade a success and can be applied to any upcoming LMS upgrade. Join in the conversation on Twitter using session hashtag #niulms and find online interactive handout, including links to download plan source files, at j.mp/niuplan This session was recorded and the link to view the archive will be added here as soon as it becomes available.

The same day Udemy announced its three new management hires, lynda.com shared that itself made an important new hire. Andrew Wait becomes Chief Revenue Officer, overseeing the company’s strategic direction including, global expansion, marketing, customer experience and enterprise sales. Wait will report directly to CEO Eric Robison. Before joining lynda.com, Wait was president at EF Englishtown from January 2012 to June 2014. During that period he doubled the company’s revenue, accelerated subscriber growth and opened new markets according to his LinkedIn profile. During his time as SVP and GM at Ancestry.com from March 2006 - July 2010, Wait grew the company’s revenue by 24% and drove 70% growth in the US by the end of 2009 among other tasks, concluding in a successful $575 million IPO in November 2009. In his new role at lynda.com, Wait is expected to prepare the company for an IPO similar to his work at Ancestry.com. In an interview with Pando Wait states that the two companies are similar. Both were growing nicely over a long period of time but hit the mid-stage blues. "It was full of potential, but operating on infrastructure designed to get it to market - to support $30 million in revenue, not $100 million. The company definitely needed another generation of management and infrastructure." Nevertheless, lynda.com has maintained a stable growth rate since its investment round 20 months ago which would bring this year’s revenue to $200 million and 2015 to $300 million estimates Pando. As a first step to get the company more lean and up to date with the latest technology and user experience, lynda.com is opening a new office in San Francisco to attract fresh talent in marketing, engineering, product management, and user interface and experience. The following step is going to be a more aggressive expansion into new markets with Asia being on top of the list. Wait also plans to further acquire companies or products when it makes sense reports Pando. Earlier this month lynda.com acquired the video library of Interface Technical Training, adding more than 2,500 videos teaching business, technology and creative skills to its content list. Further Reading Former Ancestry.com and EF Englishtown Executive Andrew Wait to Drive lynda.com Growth as new Chief Revenue Officer | Press Release lynda.com Acquires IT Training Video Course Collection From Interface Technical Training | Press Release Lynda.com levels up, hiring its first ever CRO while IPO rumors loom | Pando Related Links Udemy hires Seasoned Execs - Focus on Scale and Growth Links lynda.com | Twitter

Recap and a few highlights from day 2 of BbWorld 2012, June 11, 2012

There are many factors to consider when implementing corporate language training programmes, including student motivation, emphasis on communication skills training, as well as social and mobile learning tools. But there’s another issue that has stood out particularly in recent years and that is data protection. Online language training is an innovative and flexible way of boosting your employees’ business communication skills, but do you know where their personal data will be stored when working with a provider? This white paper showcases the potential risks of cloud-based learning and offers you some useful guidelines for managing your corporate training so that you comply with European Data Protection Regulations and ensure the safety of your learners’ personal data. To download this white paper, please fill in the form below. [email-download download_id="1" contact_form_id="9661"] By entering your information and downloading the white paper, you agree to our Privacy Policy. Picture License  Some rights reserved by perspec_photo88  

I gave this presentation as part of the online session, "Using Twitter for Teaching, Learning and Professional Development in Higher Education" January 28, 2011. More details, including session handout and links to online resources, are available at j.mp/twitterinedu

When the ancient Greeks decided they wanted to teach a class, they started by simply talking to their students. It was all oral lecture. That worked for awhile, but as humanity’s understanding of the world advanced, the topics became more complicated and they just couldn’t remember it all. So they needed a way to gather together all of the different things people were discovering and talking about. How did they bring it all together? Well, there was this technology called the alphabet, and they used it to start writing information down. Then educators quickly figured out that just pages of information wouldn’t cut it, so they started putting all their lesson pages in order, and bound them together. Now, keep in mind this wasn’t just a book that was full of stories that someone dreamed up. No, the author had to do a lot more legwork. He or she had to seek out the latest information, verify that it was correct, and put it all together in a cohesive way that the instructor could follow. Add Gutenberg’s press along the way and voila, you have what we all know and love today (well maybe love is too strong of a word), the course textbook. And that worked...for a long time. For centuries, textbooks made it easier to educate the next generation efficiently and consistently. But then it became a business. And for lots of reasons -- mostly the wrong reasons -- books became expensive, really expensive. And sometimes so expensive that it actually made students think twice about taking the courses they needed. How often is textbook pricing an issue? At one point or another 65% of students have opted against buying a textbook due to price. So instead of the solution, they became part of the problem. Many educators who care about their students recognize this and are moving away from what was once such a valuable teaching tool, and trying other approaches such as writing their own texts, scouring the web for other resources, or even going back to the old standby, the oral lecture sans text altogether. How’s that for progress? Luckily for us, and unlike the ancient Greeks, we live in a time where we have something amazing -- the Internet. And it’s a free-flowing river of information that is always gurgling along with novel approaches to describe, illustrate and assess concepts. Plus, at this stage of it’s evolution, that information is pretty college-level course-worthy. The problem is that high quality content is also mixed in there with distractions of cute cat pictures, the latest viral video sensation on YouTube and fake articles from the Onion. No, I don’t think Barnes & Noble is giving away unlimited free tablets - or are they? So we have a solution--and it’s simple. We just went back to basics and are doing what the Greeks set out to do -- use the latest technology to gather the best information available in one place -- and make teaching more efficient. And just like a classic textbook, we use experts to help figure out what the best information is, and how to organize it. Now, the only difference is that those plain, flat written pages have blown up in ways the Greeks could never have imagined. We use videos, games, interactive tools, and more - the best that the Internet has to offer. Nicely and neatly packaged and aligned to your syllabus and learning objectives. And because we don’t have to create this all from scratch, we can keep the costs where they should be - affordable. That’s it. That’s our big idea. And it’s what our app does for you. We have courses already created that you can just start using today. Or, we can customize them for you, or if you don’t see what you need, we can work with you to create brand new ones. We keep them fresh and up-to-date and do the legwork for you. Come see the simple solution that will get the mission of educating our next generations back on track. Picture Plato i sin akademi, av Carl Johan Wahlbom (ur Svenska Familj-Journalen)" by http://runeberg.org/famijour/1879/0077.html. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

I was really excited to learn nearly a year ago that Tanya Joosten was working on a new book on social media for educators. When the book availability was announced, I went out that same day and purchased it on Kindle but had to put off reading it until I finished a few other pressing projects. While on my flight to BbWorld 2012 I finally read through the entire book and must admit it is the book I wish I would’ve written on the topic. The author does a fantastic job in the book of laying a rationale and foundation for incorporating social media into teaching and learning, then shares best practices for selecting the right tool for an intended learning outcome. Strategies for assessing and documenting the effectiveness of using these tools are also shared. Even though the book is focused on higher education, the tools and techniques can be easily generalized for K-12 classrooms or organizational learn­ing. The best practices and faculty development tips can be informative for individuals involved in any kind of professional development or network-building. This book is a must-read for any educator who is considering incorporating social media into their teaching. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about the educational opportunities that social media affords. For those who teach education or social media courses, you should take a closer look at Tanya’s book as a possible course text. You can request an evaluation copy or purchase a copy on Amazon. To connect with Tanya, you can find her at tanyajoosten.com or follow on Twitter @tjoosten.

Motivation is a crucial ingredient when it comes to successful learning. Therefore, we are going to take a closer look at motivational factors in language learning at our upcoming event "Multilingualism in Europe" and discuss how citizens of the EU can be motivated to learn at least two foreign languages. In this Startup Profile we learn about StudyPact, an edtech startup that adds a crowdfunded motivational layer on top of learning apps and products. The concept is easy: as a learner you get paid when you reach your study goals. If you miss your goal, you have to pay a fine which is then used to reward other successful learners. Introduce your startup and give a short description of what you are doing. StudyPact is study motivation platform. We let you take stake in your study goals to make sure that your motivation to get started converts into a long term study success. More specifically we pay you for studying, but charge you if you don't follow up on your goals. Who are the founders, how did you meet, what are your different roles in the startup. We are three co-founders: Toby is our CEO. His background is Big Data and deep passion for behavioral design. Paul is our design genius and holds a half finished PhD in UX design. Evan is our master of mobile. If it fits in your pocket, he can make an app for it. The three of us met at a startup weekend contest 2 years ago, which we ended up winning. We have been working together ever since. What is the main problem in education that you aim to solve. Games vs Education is a battle that is increasingly being lost by education. Engagement and addictivity to make you start another game has been massively improved since I quit gaming 8 years ago. Today anybody can fall for games and get lost in them. Education on the other hand, with its (video) lectures and written study material is essentially still the same. If we as a society want to succeed, then we need to get education on the same level. People have to be able to freely choose between entertainment and learning. The amazing thing is that it is the first time in history that we are able to create products that can captivate & engage for years and at the same time reach billions of people. All we need to do is apply those same principles in education! In which markets / regions are you active. What markets / regions are next. Our current focus is the English speaking world. Who is your target audience. Our target audience has long term study goals. Language learning which takes many years is the prime example. How do you engage with your target audience. How do you convert them into users of your product. We are currently growing organically through our strong community of motivated users who love our product. What is your business model. How much does your product / service cost. Our service is free and even pays you for studying, if you finish your study goals each week. It will only cost you, if you fail on your own study goals. If you raised funding, how much did you raise. Who are your investors. If not, are you planning to raise funding. We joined the Open Network Lab accelerator early this year and are currently raising a seed round of $500k. Are there milestones you are especially proud of and would like to share. We are currently available on Android and have integrated with over 150 study apps and learn platforms. What are the next steps in growing your startup. We are currently in the first stage of three to become a global education platform: 1) Consumer (now): Our revenue comes from consumers and is based on commissions through the current pact model. 2) Partnerships (6 month+): We are currently in talks with several big study platforms to help them retain their users longer. Revenue will then come from our partners. This will free us up to add motivational services that do not rely on money to keep you motivated. 3) Recruiting (2 years+): There are 1 billion people coming online for the first time in the next 5 years - mostly from 3rd world countries who don't have access to formal education. Combine that with free online education, globalization and a college debt bubble and you begin to ask: "How do you hire them?" With increasing number of partnerships and users, we will know exactly how and what you study and will be in the perfect spot to become the LinkedIn for Online Education At the same time, we will always remain true to our vision: "For a smarter world" Links studypact.com | Twitter

One of the many highlights for me from BbWorld 2012 was to accept on behalf of all the colleagues I work with at NIU, the 2012 Blackboard Catalyst Award for Community Collaboration. This award recognizes leaders within the Blackboard user community who encourage collaboration, and share advice, insight, content, and effective practices with fellow educators outside their own institutions. Accepting the 2012 Blackboard Catalyst Award from Ray Henderson, President and Chief Technology Office, Blackboard Our center was recognized for its long history of collaborating with others in the support of teaching with technology, sharing advice, insight, and best practices. This was the second year in a row our Center was recognized with a Blackboard Catalyst Award, with last year’s award being for excellence in professional development. I am indeed blessed to work with an amazing team of colleagues at NIU and look forward to the future as we together we continue to make every effort at being "catalysts" in support of the the teaching mission of NIU.

Pluralsight, a Salt Lake City-based online training platform for technology professionals, has raised a $135 million Series B led by Insight Venture Partners with participation of ICONIQ Capital and Sorenson Capital. The round brings Pluralsight’s valuation close to $1 billion reports TechCrunch. Pluralsight previously raised a $27.5 million Series A in January 2013 from Insight Venture Partners. Key Takeaway Founded in 2004 by Keith Sparkjoy, Aaron Skonnard and Fritz Onion, Pluralsight became one of the trusted online course providers for tech and creative professionals. According to WSJ, the company’s revenue grew from $16 million in 2012 to $38 million in 2013 and will surpass $85 million this year. With the fresh round of funding, Pluralsight now aims to grow its footprint in the corporate space as well as developing new courses, related interactive content and certifications. "We have this vision of Pluralsight becoming the de facto training module in corporate groups. We see Pluralsight emerging as its own certification standard." Aaron Skonnard, co-founder and CEO of Pluralsight told TechCrunch. Companies pay $300 per year per seat to the e-learning startup, individual learners pay $29 per month to get access to the entire course library. The customer base spreads across 150 countries with most users coming from the U.S., U.K. and India. Analysis Similar to lynda.com, Pluralsight grew organically over a long period before raising its first outside investment last year. Pluralsight then acquired four smaller competitors in eight months, boosting its content library to over 3000 courses. Skilled workers to fill the programming and creative jobs are in high demand. Therefore, we are currently experiencing a massive spike in funding and activity among startups and established companies alike that cater the space through their respective e-learning portals. Udemy is currently preparing for its European entrance by opening an office in Dublin and has also hired three seasoned executives to focus on scale and international growth. Skillsoft, another Dublin-based established player in the field of e-learning for tech professionals, got acquired for $2 billion back in March. lynda.com is also acquiring smaller competitors in the space to beef up its course library and has hired a Chief Revenue Officer to prepare the company for an IPO. Given this massive Series B round, Pluralsight now also is a candidate to join the stock market. Further Reading Pluralsight Raises $135 Million in Series B Funding Led by Insight Venture Partners | Businesswire $135M in Series B funding: What it means for you | Pluralsight blog E-learning Co. Pluralsight Raises $135M in Record Round for Utah | Wall Street Journal Pluralsight Raises $135 Million At A Valuation Approaching $1 Billion | TechCrunch Related Links HEDLINE: Pluralsight acquires Digital-Tutors for $45 million Udemy hires Seasoned Execs - Focus on Scale and Growth Udemy to open first Overseas Office in Dublin lynda.com hires former Ancestry.com and EF Englishtown executive Andrew Wait as CRO HEDLINE: Skillsoft acquired by Charterhouse for $2 billion Links pluralsight.com | Twitter | Facebook | CrunchBase

I’ve never used my blog before to vent….so this will be a first.  But, after my recent nightmare of an experience flying home from BbWorld 2012 on United, flight 6115, service from MSY to ORD on Fri, 7/13/12, I feel obligated to share my experience publicly in hopes that United may take notice and respond.  I’ve already submitted this complaint to United’s Customer Care form, but am skeptical that I’ll ever receive a response.  If I do, I’ll gladly share United’s efforts at making the situation right. — Date: 7/13/12 Flight: 6115 Departure: New Orleans, LA (MSY) Arrival: Chicago, IL (ORD) While our flight was scheduled to depart at 6:15AM from MSY, due to the crew needing some additional rest, the flight was originally delayed until 7:45AM. This delay was understandable. However, the following events were absolutely ridiculous. The issues began once we boarded the plane at around 7:15AM. A full flight, we were informed by the pilots that there was a mechanical issue concerning a hydraulic pump that would need service. After deplaning at approximately 7:40AM, we were informed initially that we would be delayed approx. 1 hr. while the airplane was serviced. Every hour or so, the delay was extended another hour. Passengers needing to get to Chicago to connect with another flight seemingly were being booked on other airlines. However, those of us, myself included, who’s final destination was Chicago ORD were simply expected to wait for the plane to be fixed. As the afternoon dragged on, those of us waiting in the gate area no longer were provided with any updates on an estimated departure time. Not until 5:00PM, after repeated requests for information, did a gate agent finally say that a part needed to fix our plane was arriving by another plane, and it would be approximately 7:30PM before we could leave. The agent did at that time finally provide me with a $20 food voucher. By 7PM, we were instructed by the gate agent that we were switching planes and would need to depart from another gate. Upon arrival at the new gate, we were quickly checked in and asked to board the plane so that we could depart before the crew would "time out" for the day. Once boarded, the crew deliberately delayed our departure so that they did indeed "time out" and for the second time, we were told to deplane. After waiting at the airport for 15+ hours, the flight was cancelled and United put me up for the night in a hotel, booking me on a 7:30AM flight the next morning on American to ORD. The gate agents were furious at the crew, telling us passengers that there was no reason we couldn’t have left, as all that needed to happen was for the door to be closed and we would’ve been cleared to takeoff. Speaking with another traveler who is 1k and has flown for more than 100k mi/yr for past 10 yrs, he had never seen or heard of such horrendous service. We all should’ve been booked on other flights much earlier that day, or another plane should’ve been made available. Rather than waiting until the evening to then cancel our flight and then expect those of us flying directly to ORD to take a flight the following morning, every effort should’ve been made to get us to our destination that same day. The crew should be reprimanded for deliberately sabotaging our departure on our replacement aircraft. Unfortunately, those of us few remaining passengers who really needed to get to our final destination at ORD were caught in an obvious power struggle between the crew airline gate personnel, which was incredibly unprofessional at best, but I would describe as childish. I will think twice about ever flying United ever again and will certainly not be recommending United to others following this incident. The meager $200 travel voucher that the gate agent finally provided me with hardly compensates for the situation, especially considering on my flight to New Orleans the flight was overbooked and the airline was offering $400 transferrable vouchers for anyone who would voluntarily be bumped to a later flight. How is it United that someone who voluntarily gives up their seat is offered a $400 transferrable voucher, yet someone who spends the entire day in the airport and after the flight is finally cancelled, is offered a $200 nontransferable voucher? Again, if United reaches out in an effort to truly make amends for this debacle, I will certainly share those developments here. **Update 7/30/12** I did receive the following email back from United in response to my complaint, along with a $250 travel voucher to be used within the next year. Dear Mr. Rhode; Thank you for contacting United Airlines. I am sorry we were unable to respond to your request sooner. The merger of United and Continental Airlines has been a successful one, but there have certainly been challenges. An airline merger of this size has never been accomplished before now. Some facets of our airline may be different, but our fundamental commitment to our valued customers has never wavered. Please be assured we do understand your concerns, and they have been documented for review and appropriate internal action. Please visit us online at www.united.com as additional travel needs arise. While my reply is brief and not as detailed as I would like, I want you to know I very much appreciate your business. To thank you for your patience and loyalty, we are sending an electronic travel certificate to you under separate cover. You will receive the travel certificate within the next three business days. We are building an airline that will earn your confidence and approval, and we look forward to welcoming you on board your next United Airlines flight. Sincerely, Dan Thompson Senior Manager

Ardusat, a Utah-based education company focused on enhancing student engagement through hands-on experimentation, launches a platform that will enable K-12 students to remotely control small satellites called "cubesats" carrying science experiments. The company aims to get more kids interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields by letting them track storms or study solar flares from space. It also claims that this new platform will democratize access to space for a new generation of students who won't see NASA's shuttle program in action. The platform is itself available to K-12 schools during the 2014-2015 school year, with initial participants from classes in the U.S., Brazil, China, Guatemala, India, Indonesia and Israel. Truth be told, Ardusat wants to make business with schools. Schools have to purchase the Ardusat classroom package to be able to access data from the satellites. That said, Ardusat will also produce curriculum based on its cubesat experiments that will be free for any teacher to use in the classroom. More details in the press release Ardusat Releases Satellite-Powered Web Platform, Takes STEM Education Into Space for K-12 Schools Ardusat platform will enable K-12 classes in the U.S. and internationally to easily conduct experiments in space Real-time data will be available to any classroom with an Arduino kit and free curriculum to teachers In addition, Ardusat announces partnership with Association of Space Explorers, which will host a competition for 15 classes SALT LAKE CITY — August 27, 2014 — Ardusat, an education company focused on enhancing student engagement through hands-on experimentation, today announced the release of a technology platform and curriculum that will enable K-12 students and teachers to conduct multidisciplinary experiments in space. The signature feature is the ability to control — via remote upload — experiments conducted on small satellites called "cubesats," which contain sensors built to collect scientific data. The platform will be available for the first time during the 2014-2015 academic year, with initial participation from classes in the U.S., Brazil, China, Guatemala, India, Indonesia and Israel. The release comes amid efforts by the U.S. Department of Education to increase the number of college graduates in high-demand science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Currently, there is nearly 50 percent attrition among students seeking bachelor’s degrees in STEM disciplines. The federal government currently dedicates more than $3 billion toward STEM education initiatives each year. "We strongly believe that there is a direct correlation between making STEM education more engaging and getting more students involved in these critical fields," said Ardusat President Sunny Washington. "The broad commercialization of space is opening up unprecedented opportunities to engage in space education and explore career options in STEM fields. In previous generations, kids grew up idolizing astronauts who were the select few to exceed earth’s boundaries. We want to give future generations direct access to the cosmos so they can see science-based education from a whole new perspective." Students will be able to use the Ardusat platform to find learning resources and to prepare a range of custom experiments, which could include tracking storms, studying the association of atmosphere and temperature and looking at solar flares. The experiments will be run on cubesats, which transit the planet in low-earth orbit at 4.79 miles per second. They will collect data on sensors that measure everything from light to temperature to even radiation levels. Based on the open-source Arduino standard, the technology used to access space will provide students with a meaningful way to interact with both hardware and software through their exploration. "My students and I couldn't be more eager to take part in Ardusat's release during this school year," said Rachelle Romanoff, chair of the science department at Bakersfield Christian High School and contributor to the Ardusat curriculum. "As a teacher, I'm always looking for ways to make learning an immersive experience for my students, and this is the most dramatic example I can think of for STEM education." The cubesats are capable of gathering a variety of measurements simultaneously. Any class that purchases the Ardusat classroom package will be able access data from the satellites. Ardusat will also produce curriculum based on its cubesat experiments that will be free for any teacher to use in the classroom. In connection with the release, Ardusat announced today a partnership with the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), the unique organization of astronauts who have orbited Earth, to issue the ASE AstroSat Challenge. This offers the opportunity for high-school aged students to propose their own experiment using a real satellite on orbit. The top 15 ideas will be selected by ASE, but all proposers will have an exciting experience learning about the satellite and developing their own experiment. Ardusat received initial financing through Spire (formerly Nanosatisfi), a San Francisco-based company that builds cubesats for commercial use. Ardusat experiments will operate in Earth's orbit via Spire cubesats, which are launched into space through rideshare opportunities with larger satellites or similar devices. "Under Sunny’s leadership, we see Ardusat as an incredible vehicle to radically shift the paradigm for STEM education globally," said Spire CEO Peter Platzer. "At a time when NASA's iconic shuttle program has been discontinued, this platform can be a vehicle for recapturing the imaginations of young people by giving them access to space in an unprecedented way. Ardusat’s extraordinary and unique offering will inspire innovations through real science that connects people across the boundaries of age, language and background and allows them to help unravel some of our planet's most vexing problems." About Ardusat Ardusat is an education technology company that provides the unique opportunity to connect the universe to the classroom. With our next generation learning resources, students can create their own satellite experiments and collect real-world space-data. We provide teachers with STEM curriculum resources, professional development, and hands-on materials that give students an experience that is truly out of this world. Ardusat is the exclusive education partner of Spire, a worldwide leader in CubeSat technology. ### Contacts Tyler Hoffman, Method Communications 415-548-6608, tyler@methodcommunications.com

Over the past couple of months edtech founders across the globe were invited to submit their startup to the Global EdTech Startup Awards. The awards are organized by a group of edtech incubators and accelerators including MindCet, p.a.u. education, Edtech Incubator and Socratic Labs. You might remember them from the Open Education Challenge earlier this year. The GESAwards don’t offer a monetary reward or investment but the winners will be invited to visit the different incubators over a period of four months, getting free workspace and mentoring. The four winners will be announced on September 15th, three by a panel of judges and one by the audience through social media. Makers Empire | Australia Makers Empire created a 3D design software for the classroom. The software is integrated into a complete learning program, teaching students in K-7 schools the basics of designing objects and 3D printing. Makers Empire supports Android, iOS and Windows based tablet devices. Links makersempire.com | Twitter Spongelab | Canada Spongelab is a global science community around a technology platform that enables teachers to create STEM lessons with content-rich immersive teaching tools designed around discovery-based learning. Spongelab also offers custom production services for the global education community. Links spongelab.com | Twitter EDpuzzle | USA EDpuzzle enables teachers to personalized web based video content. They can crop videos using a simple video editor, add their own voice narration and embed quizzes. EDpuzzle also offers analytics tools to track student performance and engagement. Links edpuzzle.com | Twitter mejorando.la | Spain mejorando.la is a learning portal for web professionals in Spanish-speaking countries, offering courses in digital marketing, programming and graphic design from industry professionals. Links mejorando.la | Twitter Nittio Learn | India Nittio Learn enables teachers to create interactive learning apps within minutes. The platform uses interlaced learning which mixes interaction material with teaching material in order to make learning more engaging. Links nittiolearn.com Gibbon | Netherlands Gibbon is a casual learning platform, enabling everybody learn and teach with existing content from the web through easy to use playlists. A playlist is a collection of articles, videos, presentations and more around a specific topic. Students can follow these crowdsourced playlist and learn anything, anywhere, step by step. Links gibbon.co | Twitter Infantium | Spain Infantium creates learning apps for young children based on cognitive science and adaptive learning. The startup combines its neuroscience infrastructure with content from leading creators. Links infantium.com | Twitter Lingua.ly | Israel Lingua.ly created a browser extension, helping language learners to practice new words from articles on the Internet. Learners can add new words to their practice list, review vocabulary with flashcards and quizzes and compare their progress with other community members. Links lingua.ly | Twitter BrightBytes | USA BrightBytes is an education data analytics platform, helping educators and school leaders to make educated decisions on where to spend money on technology or where training and teacher development is needed.. Its flagship product Clarity aims to make data simple, fun and actionable. Links brightbytes.net | Twitter EducaTablet | Colombia EducaTablet is a digital content distribution platform for schools and universities, enabling students to access their school and academic books anytime, anywhere. Links educatablet.com | Twitter

If you don’t blink, you will catch my split-second cameo appearance (around 1:45) in this recap video from BbWorld 2012 (thanks Andrea for the heads-up!)

Although August is one of the quieter months of the year when it comes to news items for our coverage, this August brought us some interesting stories nevertheless. From Edmodo’s $30 million Series D over Desire2Learn’s $85 million Series B in the funding section to new hires at Teachers pay Teachers and new launches like Junction Education we had a lot to cover. Here are the top ten stories that got the most attention from our readers. Edmodo enters IPO zone with $30 million Series D led by Index Ventures Edmodo has raised a $30 million venture round led by Index Partners, bringing the total amount of funding raised to $87 million. 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. Read More Junction Education launches a Flipboard for College Courses Junction Education, a startup founded by former McGraw-Hill executive Vineet Madan, aims to provide instructors and students with an easy to use course platform which integrates different kinds of web content into web- and mobile based courses. Junction Education has received investment from two former heads of McGraw-Hill Education, Robert J. Bahash and Peter C. Davis, who are also advisors to the startup along with former Pearson Education Global CMO Gary L. June. Read More Overview: Three EdTech Startups in 500 Startups 10th Batch 500 Startups announced its 10th accelerator batch which 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. Read More There are over 60 potential EdTech Seed Orphans in the US According to venture capital database CB Insights there are currently 1686 tech startups at risk of becoming "seed orphans" in the United States. Over 60 of these startups are in the education and training sector, scoring the vertical a spot in the top 5. CB Insights put those startups at risk that did raise angel or seed funding in the past 13 months but did not manage to raise a seed extension or Series A yet. 13 months is the usual timeframe in which this follow-on funding takes place based on research by the analytics firm. Read More Infographic: Second Languages in Europe A few of the findings come as little of a surprise. Of course, English is a strong second language in many countries in Europe including France, the Scandinavian countries with the exception of Finland and Italy. Russian has also maintained its strong position in several of the Eastern European countries including the Baltic states and the Ukraine. Read More Radically Re-thinking Language Assessment 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. Read More Desire2Learn raises $85 million Series B for International Growth 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. Read More Startup Profile: ClassDo Since the advent of VoIP, countless edtech startups have tried to leverage the technology to build learning platforms that connect learners and teachers from across the world. Most of these early startups are long gone but thanks to faster Internet connections, better hardware, new protocols like WebRTC and video calls entering the mainstream, live video lessons have seen a renaissance. ClassDo is one of those new startups aiming to build a global marketplace for lessons of all kind. Based in Tokyo but with an international team, ClassDo has attracted users from all continents mainly through word of mouth. Read More Former Etsy COO Adam Freed new CEO at Teachers pay Teachers 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. Read More EdTech Funding July 2014: WeSpeke, OpenEd, MamaBear, ClassOwl 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. Read More

Great Britain is unusual. Geographically isolated, densely populated, and equally blessed and burdened with a history of "ruling the waves". The majority of foreign nationals in Britain have always been nationals of the Commonwealth, invited guest workers from earlier in the 20th century. The history of British power has always stood in contrast to Britain’s political need for close ties with the European Union. And over the last decade, there are two things that have really put a strain on the identity of this country: the economic crisis and the expansion of the European Union. EDUKWEST’s kick-off post on Multilingualism in Europe showed that the second language spoken on this island is now not Punjabi or Welsh, but Polish. As Britain is becoming a more multilingual place, why is education policy not following suit? Since starting my business as an independent language teacher here in Britain, I have come across more struggles and barriers to language learning in Britain than I can count. Based on original research carried out by the British Academy the number of GCSE entries in foreign languages is at 41% - compare that to 72% of the population agreeing with the EU’s "Mother tongue +2" Initiatives. So what is it that’s holding Britain back? Can we put it all down to the global dominance of world language English? The following points are observations I have made in my years as a multilingual in Britain, which go a long way towards revealing more behind the British lag in multilingualism than meets the eye. Ghosts of Educators Past Back in the 1960s, new ideas in education were sweeping the nation. Schools stopped teaching Latin in a move towards creating a more inclusive classroom experience, but didn’t stop there - many abandoned grammar teaching in both the native and any foreign languages. Language learning in British schools became a matter of reciting set pieces and focusing on teaching students the kinds of phrases that would be instantly usable. Fifty years later, this means a whole generation of adults can ask for directions to the nearest youth hostel, but very few actually know what a noun is. The damage done is not only a gap in basic education for many, but more importantly it has created a low in confidence like never before. Brits just don't believe that they can learn languages. While calls for reintroducing grammar education are returning, the generation of parents that are unable to assist their children with their English homework has contributed to creating Britain’s particular gap in confidence when it comes to acquiring any language, even their own. Combatting Difficult with More Difficult Leading organisations like the British Council are essential in supporting the British language development. But driven by political emphasis and a push towards potential future trade partners, the focus in primary education has actually moved away from the classic language choices of French, German or Spanish. Instead, schools are encouraged to teach Mandarin. Is this move towards a language that has even less in common with the linguistic construct of English a much-needed palate cleanser, or another blow to the fragile confidence of English native speakers everywhere? The Workplace Gap There seems to be an unshakeable belief in the English-speaking world that language acquisition is never more possible than in an child aged seven or younger, leading to the strong focus of education ministers on plugging the language gap. While it is undisputed that including languages in the primary school curriculum is a positive move, the positive development still stops there. With less than half of the teaching population qualified to teach a language above A1 level, the international curriculum will fail the future workforce in the same way as it is currently doing. The British workforce is experiencing a huge skills gap when it comes to its competitiveness on an international market, and without a wider commitment to saying "Languages boost employability!", Britain will always have a long way to go before it can produce graduate-level speakers of several languages. So What Can Be Done? While academics and researchers are contributing valuable work at the higher level of education policy, the real situation on the ground in Britain is far from ideal. As an independent language tutor based in the North of England, I cannot say that finding hordes of local adults who are keen to learn a language is easy. But the silver lining is clearly showing. Despite a lack of reliable statistics on adult learning in the UK, my anecdotal evidence has been encouraging. I regularly find people fluent in other languages, adults who tell me excitedly about their years spent living and working abroad. Initiatives like Routes into Languages provide an excellent push to encourage young people to take up language learning, but there is a huge deficit in the education opportunities open to the working population. The self-improvement and positivity drive that many adults experience in the United States is not as visible on British shores, and sadly language learning still has not been recognised as what it really is — a path to personal growth, increased intellectual power and much improved employability at any age. The key to boosting Britain's multilingual advantage lies in boosting the status of multilingualism itself, making it clear that personal growth, enjoyment and happiness are part of what language contributes to the learner's life. This move forward should be lead by the most qualified educators and most enthusiastic employers, bringing more language events to the population, boosting export, travel and independent education from providers serving the adult workforce and make a difference to the skills on offer today, and not in 20 years. Picture License  Some rights reserved by Stuck in Customs

Jobs in the creative industry play an increasingly important role for the economy of many countries. The OECD just recently published an interesting report on the growing connection of tourism and the creative industry in countries like South Korea, China, Italy, Japan, the United States and New Zealand. Besides classic creative jobs in photography and design, so called maker shops are getting more attention in tech hubs across the globe. Besides working on projects that are powered by Arduino chipsets, 3D printing is a massive driver for the growing popularity of the maker movement. It is already successfully used in medicine, fashion, construction or even space travel. Makers Empire from Australia wants to prepare today’s students for their future jobs that might very well involve 3D printing through its 3D design and printing app. Introduce your startup and give a short description of what you are doing. Makers Empire makes the world's easiest to use 3D design and printing app. It is designed so students as young as 5 can get started in 3D design and printing. We bundle our software with a Learning Program that is designed for teachers and educators. It includes: Volume licensed software (iPad/Android) Lesson and unit plans Professional development Web portal Support We believe that in the near future 3D printing skills will be seen as essential for every student graduating school ready for work or further study. Who are the founders, how did you meet, what are your different roles in the startup. There are 4 founders of Makers Empire: Jon Soong, Roland Peddie, Anthony Chhoy and Lap Leung. Lap and Jon met in primary school a long time ago! Roland met Lap and Jon at Adelaide University where they were all studying engineering/computer science. Anthony came on board as Makers Empire formed. Jon Soong: CEO Roland Peddie: CTO Lap Leung: Director of Sales Anthony Chhoy: COO/CFO What is the main problem in education that you aim to solve. The NMC Horizon Report recently stated that 3D printing will dominate STEM learning in the next few years. It engages and excites students whilst introducing them to skills they will need to compete in tomorrow's job market. Traditionally 3D design software has been used by engineers and architects - CAD software that is very precise and difficult to use. Software companies have tried to introduce these to schools and have found success with students about 13 years and up. Below this the software is too difficult to use for most students. Makers Empire software is purposely designed for touch devices (iPad/Android) and allows students as young as 5 to design and print in 3D. Allowing younger students to participate in this technology gives them an advantage - they can start with this fantastic technology sooner. It also gives the less technically inclined students an introduction to 3D design and printing - an experience they might otherwise miss out on. Not every student will become a scientist, engineer or architect but it is still important for them to understand this technology. In which markets / regions are you active. What markets / regions are next. We launched in Australia in August 2014. We have a number of schools who have bought our Learning Program in Australia. We launch with a 3D printer distributor and IT services partner in Hong Kong in September 2014. We have agreements with distributors in Spain and Indonesia and are currently localizing our software for these countries. About half a dozen more territories are currently being negotiated. We have had interest from some UK schools and our Learning Program is now aligned against England's National Curriculum - we will be making a push into the UK in early 2015. Our software is currently being trialed in New York by Stan Silverman in their mobile "STEAM" van for the schools in New York state. Who is your target audience. Primary/elementary schools. School students aged 5-13. How do you engage with your target audience. How do you convert them into users of your product. We are currently talking to schools, clusters of schools and government departments to get them using the Makers Empire Learning Program. We have attended a number of conferences and have a number on the calendar for the rest of the year. This is something that we are currently experimenting with - to find the best way to market and sell our program. What is your business model. How much does your product / service cost. Our business model is selling our Makers Empire Learning Program to schools. The Learning Program comprises: Volume licensed software for iPad/Android Lesson and unit plans Professional development Web portal for teachers Support Our pricing is: $999 AUD/USD per 100 students each year. All licensed schools have access to all current and new software. If you raised funding, how much did you raise. Who are your investors. If not, are you planning to raise funding. We have raised: $75,000 from Colin Kuchel - a local (Adelaide, Australia) angel investor $25,000 from Andrey Shirben - a Sydney/Israel angel investor who plans on getting quite involved with the B2C marketing We are planning on raising more money in the near future. Are there milestones you are especially proud of and would like to share. We have built the worlds easiest to use 3D design and printing software! What are the next steps in growing your startup. Sales and marketing - figuring out how to get the Makers Empire Learning Program into as many schools as possible Innovation - continue innovating around our Learning Program and software Anything else you would like to add. Look out for our new "Ollie Customizer" app for the new Ollie robot toy. Customize your Ollie robot by designing and 3D printing mods. Links makersempire.com | Twitter