The Minerva Project, an edtech startup that aims to create a new breed of elite university, announced that it is in the process of raising a $70 million Series B from a Chinese investment consortium led by tutoring service provider TAL Education Group with participation of Yongjin Group and ZhenFund and its existing investor Benchmark Capital. This round brings the total funding raised to $95 million. Benchmark Capital was the sole investor in Minerva’s $25 million round in April 2012. The Chinese consortium invested $25 million in this round with TAL contributing $18 million, and Yongjin Group and ZhenFund contributing the remaining $7 million. To date, 70% of the Series B round has been allocated and 30% will be allocated by the beginning of 2015. Founded by Ben Nelson, the Minerva Project is a hybrid between online education platform and the experience of living on campus. Minerva creates dormitory clusters in major cities across the globe and encourages its students to spend their semesters in different cities. The Minerva Project just recently opened its doors to a first class of 29 students. The rate of acceptance for this class was 2.8% which is lower than any Ivy league university and part of Minerva’s mission to become an elite education provider. The first class is currently not paying tuition, but students will eventually have to pay between $10.000 to $20.000 per year for a bachelor’s degree which would still be significantly lower compared to the established institutions in higher education the Minerva Project aims to compete with. Related The Campus of the Future: Hybrid and Lean Links minervaproject.com | Twitter

Twitter has become a common tool for communicating and collaborating that is part blog, part social networking site, and part mobile phone/IM tool. During this session at the 2012 SLATE Conference, October 12, 2012, Jason Rhode shared his experiences of incorporating online resource sharing chat activities, via Twitter, for mobile learning in an online course, as well as practical recommendations for those considering utilizing Twitter in teaching and learning. Participants were encouraged to bring their Twitter account to participate and use hashtag #twitterinedu Also, this HootCourse was setup and used as an example of creating a restricted Twitter group for a course. Click here to join our backchannel on HootCourse! Session Goals Build a foundation for why educators may wish to incorporate Twitter into their teaching, learning, and professional development Give examples of what a few other educators have done thus far implementing Twitter in their teaching Share the experiences of incorporating online resource sharing chat activities, via Twitter, for mobile learning in an online course Provide practical recommendations for those considering utilizing Twitter in teaching and learning Suggest available tutorials, resources and tools for those interested in getting started Foundation Photo courtesy @inju on Flickr Why should educators consider incorporating Twitter in their teaching? Here are just a few reasons: Extend learning experiences beyond the "walls" of the classroom Bring in current events to the curriculum Engage students within lecture-based instruction Connect students from across multiple sections or institutions Reach out to experts in the field Pull the world into your classroom Introduce students to informal professional development What other reasons come to mind for why educators may want to use Twitter in their teaching? Tweet your ideas using hashtag #twitterinedu Examples Here are a few examples of educators who have already leveraged Twitter in their teaching 50 Ways to Use Twitter in the College Classroom 36 Interesting Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom Academic Excellence in 140 Characters [YouTube] - Summary of study by Rey Junco on the effects of Twitter on student engagement and grades. Hotseat at Purdue University - Social networking-powered mobile Web application at Purdue University, creates a collaborative classroom, allowing students to provide near real-time feedback during class and enabling professors to adjust the course content and improve the learning experience. Students can post messages to Hotseat using their Facebook or Twitter accounts, sending text messages, or logging in to the Hotseat Web site. @skipvia’s ED329 web site (includes Twitter/PLN assignment and evaluation) Twitter in the high school classroom? [YouTube] - High schoolers at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, MN are being engaged in the classroom in a whole new way. By using social media tools and giving them access to the Internet, students are able to learn in different ways. Having discussions about their English class online has increased their level of attention and engagement in their studies. Twitter Experiment at UT Dallas [YouTube] - Monica Rankin, professor of History at UT Dallas, wanted to know how to reach more students and involve more people in class discussions both in and out of the classroom. She shares her recommendations for other educators here. Twitter chats with online, graduate-level in-service teachers - Jason Rhode’s reflections on his incorporation of twitter chats into his teaching Are you aware of other examples of educators using Twitter? Tweet links to examples using hashtag #twitterinedu Literature What research has been conducted thus far on the use of Twitter in education? Here are links to a few studies: The Twitter experience: The role of Twitter in the formation and maintenance of personal learning networks The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades The networked student model for construction of personal learning environments: Balancing teacher control and student autonomy Use of microblogging for collaborative learning (p. 71-80) In addition, Jason Rhode maintains a collection of articles on Twitter in education bookmarked here. Have another research article you’d recommend be added to this list? Tweet links to articles using hashtag #twitterinedu Photo courtesy @rosauraochoa on Flickr Experiences In my summer 2012 course, EDT 6060 - Trends and Future of Technology in Education, I tried for the very first time incorporating a required Twitter chat exercise into the weekly activities. My goal in doing so was to expand the discussion beyond the scope of the typical Blackboard discussion space and to encourage my students to begin engaging in conversations with others within the field. Since we were looking at current events within the field of educational technology, this was the perfect course to incorporate such an activity on Twitter given the plethora of resources and fantastic ongoing conversations that take place on Twitter. At the conclusion of the course, my students reflected on their learning experiences in the course. Here are a few quotes from my students concerning the Twitter chats that I wanted to share here in support of these sort of social networking activities within the online learning environment: Even if a teacher/colleague has not yet embraced technology, they should still try to read journal articles either in print or online to stay breadth of the current technologies being offered. Perhaps one of those articles will spark an interest - as it is that spark that will move us into action. I think that people are scared by Twitter or have not experienced it enough to know that it is a way to view up to date information on topics of interest. I would bet that many teacher view Twitter like they view Facebook, as I was one of those in the past. All it takes is one person to force the teachers to use Twitter and they will start to see the benefits. And, I would like to say thank you Dr. J. for forcing me to Twitter, as I love it! I never thought Twitter could be used in such a professional way for my job! I am so thankful to add this skill to my ways to keep up with new and changing educational advances! I feel really proud of the progress that I’ve made (using Twitter in this course), but there’s a whole world on Twitter to explore and learn more about edtech. The articles are fascinating! Twitter is awesome! I will definitely be checking it often and am going to let staff know of its benefits next year. For anyone interested, below are the instructions for the Twitter chat assignments that I included in my course syllabus. You’re welcome to make use of these instructions or revise for your specific needs. If you find this idea helpful and/or if you plan to try in your own teaching, leave me a comment and let me know! Twitter Resource Sharing Chat Instructions In addition to engaging in discussion with classmates via the discussion board in Blackboard, you will share resources and engage with the broader educational community regarding current trends and future of technology in education on Twitter. In doing so, you will continue to expand your perspective beyond the "walls of our course" on the issues we’ll be exploring together.personal learning network and expand your If you haven’t already setup a free Twitter account in a previous class, please do so and be prepared to "tweet" using it throughout the course. For more information on getting started with Twitter, see https://sites.google.com/site/twitterinedu Each week, you are expected to post a minimum of 5 tweets per week using both hashtags #edt6060 and #edtechtrends (only tweets that include both hashtags will be considered as intended for this class chat via Twitter). At least one tweet must have a link to an online resource regarding current technology trends of future of educational technology that hasn’t already been shared by your instructor or classmates thus far in the course At least one tweet must have a link to an online resource related to the topic(s) from the required reading(s) for the week that hasn’t already been shared by your instructor of classmates thus far in the course. At least one tweet must be a public reply to a fellow classmate (beginning your tweet @username of the Twitter user you are responding to). At least one tweet must be a public reply or mention to someone else not a member of the class (including somewhere in your tweet @username of the Twitter user you are responding to or mentioning). One tweet may be a retweet (RT) of someone else Using your preferred Twitter client, save searches of hashtags #edt6060 and #edtechtrends and follow the streams for each hashtag throughout the course. Also, make an effort to follow at least one new educator on Twitter each week. For a directory of educators on Twitter, you may want to search Twitter directories such as wefollow.com, twellow.com, or tweetfind.com What has your experience been using Twitter in your teaching, learning, or professional development? Tweet your experiences using hashtag #twitterinedu Recommendations Image courtesy @rosauraochoa on Flickr Here are recommendations for those getting started teaching with Twitter: Setup an account for yourself and follow a few other educators. The first step is for you yourself to initially become comfortable with using Twitter and to learn from your own experience whether or not Twitter is right for you. After you setup a free account at twitter.com, then follow a few others. For starters, you may want to follow me at @jrhodee and my NIU colleagues @slrichter and @jeffminor. Other great places to find other Twitter users include directories like WeFollow.com or Twellow.com Use a Twitter app. While you can use Twitter from any web broswer, it is even easier to do so from a tablet or smart phone. If you have a mobile device, find an install a Twitter app and start using it. In the tools section below, links to recommended apps are shared. Try participating in a Twitter chat. As you begin following other educators, you may see mention of participating in a "twitter chat." This is simply a specified time during the week when individuals with similar interests engage in a chat on a specified topic using a chosen hashtag. Create a separate account for your class **optional**. If you’d like to keep course-specific tweets separate from your individual Twitter account, you can setup a separate Twitter account for your class. Examples include @wd1231 & @edt6030. Select a hashtag for your class and include it in your posts regarding the class. Select a unique hashtag and search Twitter to see if it is already in use. If not, then begin using it yourself to establish. Have your students who use Twitter follow you and use the designated hashtag in their course-related tweets. Include in your syllabus or other course information areas your Twitter username (or the Twitter username you’ve setup for your course) and remind students that they can follow you on Twitter. Set clear expectations for students on Twitter use in your course. Decide how you will use Twitter and then clearly communicate to students your expectations for their use of Twitter (if you require or simply make it an option) and let them know how/why you will use it. Post announcements, news, and other information items of interest using your selected hashtag. At a minimum, you can use Twitter to post news items for students. Set clear expectations for students on Twitter use in your course. Decide how you will use Twitter and then clearly communicate to students your expectations for their use of Twitter (if you require or simply make it an option) and let them know how/why you will use it. Create a list for each section and/or all students and add students to the list for easy sorting and viewing without following. If you prefer to not follow your students (personal preference), you can create a list and add all your students to your list. Once doing so, you’ll be able to easily view all tweets for a class section. Save a search of your course hashtag for easy access. Once saving a search, you can easily then return to that search from within your preferred Twitter app on Twitter.com Follow your institution. See if your institution is on Twitter, and follow! Don’t feel like you need to read all tweets from users your follow. Twitter is more like a stream than a pond…information just keeps flowing by constantly. Just dip in and dip out as you are able and enjoy! What recommendations do you have for educators looking to get started teaching with Twitter? Tweet your experiences using hashtag #twitterinedu Tutorials and Guides Want to get started with Twitter? Here are some suggested tutorials and printable help guides: 7 Things You Should Know About Twitter [PDF] 7 Things You Should Know About Backchannel Communication [PDF] Jason Rhode’s 10 Tips for Getting Started Teaching with Twitter Personal Learning Networks for Educators [YouTube] by @skipvia Social Media for Educators: Strategies and Best Practices Twitter Tips for Educators by @hopkinsdavid Twitter in Education, What Next? by @hopkinsdavid Twittering, Not Frittering: Professional Development in 140 Characters Twitter in Plain English [YouTube] Teacher’s Guide to Social Media VIDEO TUTORIAL: Why Tweet? A Personal Journey Through the Twitterverse [YouTube: 4 min] VIDEO TUTORIAL: Twitter Basics [Vimeo: 20 min] VIDEO TUTORIAL: Professional Development Through Twitter: 7 Steps to Free and Continuous PD [YouTube: 13 min] VIDEO TUTORIAL: Teaching with Twitter [YouTube: 14 min] VIDEO TUTORIAL: Extending Twitter [Vimeo: 18 min] Know of another Twitter tutorial that you’d recommend for educators? Tweet links to tutorials using hashtag #twitterinedu Resources book by @tjoosten Here are additional suggested resources offering additional perspectives and best practices for educators on teaching with Twitter: Jason Rhode’s list of educators on Twitter 1,048+ educators on Twitter (list at WeFollow.com) 20 Terrific Twitter Chats for Every Kind of Educator How to Use Twitter to Grow Your PLN by @EutopiaBetty Misconceptions About Twitter by mediendidaktik Mom, This is How Twitter Works (not just for mom’s) Professors use Twitter to increase student engagement and grades Teaching and Learning with Twitter - some thoughts and resources by Michael C Johnson regarding the educational potential of Twitter Twitter breaks down barriers in the classroom - look at how microblogging services are reshaping modern communications Twitter Handbook for Teachers Have another Twitter-related resource for educators that you recommend? Tweet links to tutorials using hashtag #twitterinedu Tools Recommended free and/or low cost tools include: Audioboo - mobile app for iOS, Android & Nokia, easily record audio podcasts from your mobile device and post directly to Twitter (free) Bit.ly - create and track custom short URLs (free) Bufferapp.com - setup free account to "buffer" your tweets to be sent later, also makes it easy to tweet via email (free) Flipboard - app for tablet or smart phone to create magazine-style view of tweets for specific course hashtag (free) HootCourse - create secured Twitter channel for your course (free) HootSuite - powerful Twitter management tool, allows for scheduling of tweets (free & premium versions) IFTTT.com - automate various types of posts to/from Twitter (free) Packrati.us - bookmark your Twitter links (free) Screenr.com - easily record screencasts up to 5 mins. in length with no software to install and share via Twitter (free) Tweetbot - preferred Twitter app for iOS, syncs multiple iOS devices using iCloud ($??) Twijector - utility for showing stream of Tweets full-screen during class (free) Twitcam - live stream via Twitter; Twitcam posts your video description and link to Twitter for all your followers to see. While broadcasting, chat with your viewers via Twitter right from your broadcast page. Once you’re done going live, video is archived and displayed on the same page. twitrand - select random twitter follower TwitterFeed - utility for automatically posting new items from any RSS feed to Twitter (free) Twtpoll - conduct polls easily via Twitter (free) Visible Tweets - utility for showing random tweets for a specified hashtag, transitions between (free) Do you use another Twitter tool that you recommend? Tweet your suggested tools using hashtag #twitterinedu

Osmo, a startup that connects physical games with an iPad experience, has raised a $12 million Series A led by Accel Partners with participation of Upfront Ventures and K9 Ventures. Accel Partners' Rich Wong will join Osmo’s board of directors. Founded in 2013 by former Googlers Pramod Sharma and Jérôme Scholler, Osmo has received over $2 million in pre-orders including those from over 2000 schools. Osmo aims to get children back into playing with physical toys while extending the experience through interacting with an iPad app that delivers the background for the different games. Using its proprietary Reflective Artificial Intelligence technology, Osmo expands the playing field and engages creative thinking and social interaction, allowing any object to interact with the digital device. "Osmo is a natural fit for parents and teachers because it adds a small but powerful layer of technology on top of a platform (the iPad) that children already know and love." states Rich Wong in the press release. Accel Partner has been a leading investor in education technology startups such as Lynda.com, Educreations and Wyzant. Video Links playosmo.com | Twitter

In July 2011, Blackboard announced the release of Blackboard Collaborate™ 11 web conferencing, the first product that combined the best of both Elluminate Live! and Wimba Classroom. Drawing from the best elements of these two long-competing products, it boasted a new, modern interface that represented a tremendous leap forward. However, it also meant that schools using Wimba Classroom faced an upgrade process that was more significant than any upgrade before. Wimba Classroom customers not only had to learn the new user interface, they also had to learn a new administrative system as well. In this presentation at 2012 SLATE Conference, learn how the technology team at Northern Illinois University balanced other technology upgrade initiatives and staffing requirements in order to ensure a smooth-yet-quick upgrade to Blackboard Collaborate, and ultimately, enjoyed a much easier upgrade experience than they anticipated.

One month after participating in Udacity’s $35 million Series C, German media company Bertelsmann takes another step to strengthen its e-learning portfolio as it announced the acquisition of Relias Learning from private equity firm Vista Equity Partners for an amount in the mid-hundreds of millions USD. Created in 2012 through a merger of Essential Learning and Silverchair Learning Systems, Relias Learning offers SaaS solutions for the senior care and health services market. The company has over 4.000 institutional clients with 2 million learners who can chose from a library of over 2.500 online courses. The current CEO Jim Triandiflou will continue to manage the business following the acquisition. The deal is Bertelsmann’s biggest purchase in the U.S. since the acquisition of publisher Random House in 1998 and comes just shortly after the media company acquired the full ownership of Europe’s largest printing and publishing firm Gruner + Jahr earlier this month. Video Links reliaslearning.com

This infographic gives a nice introduction to learning analytics and how they may be used to impact education in the future. An Infographic by Open Colleges

Chinese online English school 51Talk has raised a $55 million Series C led by Sequoia Capital with participation of existing investors Shunwei Capital and DCM. The round brings the total funding raised by 51Talk to over $70 million including a $12 million Series B in December of last year. Founded in 2011, 51Talk has currently 50.000 paid users who are taught by over 2.500 English teachers who are mostly home-based in the Philippines. The company plans to ramp up its staff to over 8.000 teachers by the end of 2015 according to 51Talk’s co-founder and COO Shu Ting. He also estimates that there are between 20 to 30 million people interested in learning English in China alone. Based on the Series C 51Talk will focus on growth and not profit for the next three years according to its other co-founder Huang Jiajia. The funding will be used to upgrade the technology platform, IT infrastructure as well as the core curriculum. Currently 51Talk is targeting adult learners but an expansion into English courses for children and its international expansion are planned among the next steps. The English language learning space in China has heated up significantly over the past couple of months. Besides several sizeable rounds for smaller startups in the space TutorGroup, a direct competitor of 51Talk in the Chinese ESL space, raised more than $100 million in February and March. Links 51talk.com

Skype is now accepting applications for previews of its upcoming Translator feature. Demoed at re/code’s Code conference in May, Skype Translator lets people communicate via VoIP even if they speak different languages. The feature is based on the work of the Microsoft Research team and includes speech-recognition, automatic-translation, and machine-learning technologies. Microsoft acquired Skype in May 2011 for $8.5 billion. With Skype Translator speech is translated in real time and displayed as scrolling text at the bottom of the call window. During the test period Skype will be supporting translations for Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. People interested in testing the new feature can register via Skype’s website. The feature will only work on PCs, laptops and tablets that run Windows 8.1 for the time being. Video

Amazon.com made a major play for the textbook market with the introduction of Whispercast for Kindle," which could give schools and businesses a simple, scalable online tool for deploying Kindle devices and Kindle content. The technology, from the world’s largest retailer, is designed to provide a single access point to allow users to easily purchase and distribute Kindle books and documents. This would include purposes of education of course, but could also be used for marketing and employee incentive programs. The program isn’t just limited to Kindle ereaders, as it is software-based and could be used with the Apple iPad and iPhone, as well as Android devices, PCs and Macs. More info about Whispercast is at whispercast.amazon.com What are your thoughts about the new Whispercast service? Is it something your school, university, or business will explore? Will this kind of service provide the impetus for "bring your own device" initiatives to become more mainstream in K-12?

As cross-dressing sensation Conchita Wurst belted out her Eurovision Song Contest-winning tune across a room filled with Europe’s hottest tech start-ups, I knew it could only mean one thing: the Europas annual awards evening had officially begun.  From Berlin came Babbel, who have become one of the world’s leading language learning platforms. Used in 190 countries, with over 25 million app downloads to date, they swept to victory in the education category in exuberant style. However Busuu, Babbel’s nearest rival both in market and geography, reached a staggering 50m users this year, proving that Europe has truly emerged as the home of social language learning. Their success certainly paints a sharp contrast to their most notable competitor Livemocha, who faced an arguably disappointing conclusion to their start-up story early last year which despite its 16m users and their $19m in funding, sold for just $8.5m to Rosetta Stone.  Yet Livemocha had been falling behind for a while, and as Busuu and Babbel’s traffic and user base grew strongly, Livemocha’s seemed to stagnate.  In the social language learning market, managing customer acquisition cost is particularly important as it is an especially low margin (CPA to CLTV) model.  Generating viral growth and identifying low cost acquisition channels is therefore key. Mobile had become a key channel in which to do so and while Busuu and Babbel were quick to launch their (good) apps, Livemocha missed this trend. A discounted valuation was inevitable. But acquisition isn’t the only issue social language learning companies have to face.  On a standalone basis, Livemocha seemed to have failed to convert is substantial traffic and user base into revenue and profit, and within this lies a fundamental flaw in social language learning business models - they don’t attract serious language learners. Hobbyist language learners have always actively consumed language learning products, whether to achieve that ever illusive dream of comfortably conversing on a Spanish Holiday with the waiter or perhaps a nostalgic dream of reading Sartre in his native tongue.  These consumers were monetised often the same way; you sell them the dream, then they pay for it upfront, and then the product (historically a book or CD), languishes in the book case after just a few short sessions.  The majority of this consumer group isn’t sufficiently incentivised, or motivated enough to actually engage with the product, hence any company who builds its business model around monetising engagement is going to face an uphill struggle. In emerging markets, learning English is a route to success rather than a hobby. If a taxi driver in Rio ferrying about tourists during the Olympics and the World Cup - has rudimentary English, he will earn more.  Factor in the emergence of the Brazilian middle class, plus rising internet penetration rates, and these markets not only look attractive, but ripe for disruption.  The caveat is, however, that these consumers need insurance.  If they are going to invest both their time and their money, they need a concrete learning outcome which is often still perceived to be only achieved through structured courses in bricks and mortar institutions. Unfortunately, social language learning is broad (all subjects), global (all regions), and free, giving the perception (whether justified or not) of low quality.  Without strong evidence-based product efficacy or brand awareness, they are struggling to win the patronage of these specific users who have a high willingness to pay.  Perhaps investing into adaptive learning and personalising user journeys to improve learning outcomes will help in the future.  Either way, it will be a while before the wider populous is up to speed on these benefits. Two companies however who have managed to successfully engage such users are OpenEnglish in LATAM, and TutorGroup in China. It’s true that both these markets have proved fertile. In China, roughly half of the world’s 1bn language learners will be worth an estimated $21 billion by 2015, whereas in Brazil, the market is thought to already be worth in excess of $2bn. However, these companies have distinctively similar characteristics: they’re both focussed purely on one region, on one subject, and on one high stake user need - to gain competency in English in order to gain a better job and, invariably, a better life.  Both have comparatively inexpensive long term structured courses, focussed on annual subscriptions and the promise of fluency.  Having both raised over $115m, they are putting this money to work differentiating themselves against their offline competitors. And as these new sites start stealing market share, the dominant offline schools are taking the threat seriously.  For instance, Grupo Multi, an offline ELL chain of schools in Brazil (acquired by Pearson early this year for $721m), has actively snapped up several assets to help them compete in the digital ELL market. One such acquisition is EzLearn, who are digitalizing educational content from Wizard (their legacy ELL business) in order to help them compete in the online learning space. What is next for these two players in the English language learning world then?  Securing domestic market share looks most likely.  With an estimated ELL market size of $2bn in Brazil alone and strong competition from EnglishTown, EnglishUp (a Digital Education portfolio company) and Voxy, it is highly likely they will have a domestic battle on their hands first.  With China and LATAM heating up, who will emerge as the European champion awaits to be seen, but the probability of it being Busuu and Babbel is minimal. Their global imperialistic strategy spreads them much too thin in such a large and competitive market. And now with countries such as Turkey and Poland displaying similar characteristics sitting right on our doorstep, I couldn’t help but look round the room, and wonder who here was going to seize this opportunity that was so ripe for the taking. Disclosure: Digital Education is a supporter of EDUKWEST and EDUKWEST Europe. Picture License  Some rights reserved by batintherain

Learn how to use the Whiteboard feature within Blackboard Collaborate to present content in a visual and engaging way during an online Web conferencing session. During this online session I led 10/19/2012 we explored the options within a Blackboard Collaborate session for sharing and annotating content on the Whiteboard, including loading content on the Whiteboard, enabling access for students, drawing and writing, adding images and screen shots, and saving content from the Whiteboard for access offline. For links to archives of other online workshops offered by NIU Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, visit www.niu.edu/facdev/programs/archives

This week Skype opened up registrations for its upcoming Skype Translator feature which translates speech in real time and displays the translation as captions on the video call. Skype itself markets the feature as a replacement for language learning, albeit as a former language coach I am actually pretty excited about the technology’s potential for language teaching. Back in the days I always made the point that Skype is all you need as a language instructor. Forget virtual classrooms, interactive whiteboards and all that often unreliable software. Using Skype forces both student and teacher to focus on the essentials and its still best-in-class voice quality makes it perfect for language instruction. Along with the mentioned voice quality the chat function plays a major role when teaching a language. As a tutor you are using it (or should be using it) constantly as a note book, providing links, explaining vocabulary and giving written translations in addition to the pronunciation. With Skype Translator language tutors will now be able to even go a step further and offer total immersion, a form of language teaching I personally was never a huge fan of. The idea of total immersion is to teach a student in the target language from day one by only speaking with him or her in let’s say English. With Skype Translator, this concept would make more sense as the student will get a translation right away. Now I know, people shouldn’t use subtitles to learn a language when watching movies but I believe this form of teaching will prove to become hugely popular. The question being of course whether Microsoft is going to licence its technology one day or if language learning startups will be forced to use Skype as their VoIP client. And one doesn’t have to be a visionary to predict that Google will eventually come up with a similar offering for Google Hangouts as they have the technology to integrate in the form of Instant Translate already. Skype Translator will also mean that students will have an even broader choice of global teachers to choose from. Today it is necessary that the instructor also speaks the native language of the student, at least in the lower levels. With instant speech translation and transcription this won’t necessarily be the case anymore, opening up a far bigger pool of teachers (and students) to choose from. Picture License  Some rights reserved by dweekly

The NIU Instructional Guide for University Faculty and Teaching Assistants is a brief compilation of teaching-related information from several sources, including instructional guidebooks from other institutions, journals, and contributions from master teachers and academic support units at Northern Illinois University. The guide is meant to be a quick reference rather than a comprehensive source on teaching-related information. Topics include teaching preparation, effective instruction, assessment, classroom management, and more. The Instructional Guide is now available for download as a PDF, or in mobile and eBook formats: EPUB or MOBI. The EPUB format is a universal eBook format that can be read easily on tablets and smart phones. The MOBI format is optimized specifically for Kindle and other dedicated eBook readers. For more details and to download the guide, please visit niu.edu/facdev/resources/guide.

UNESCO officially launched a free online science education resource portal in partnership with Nature Education and Roche. The project is called World Library of Science (WLoS) and aims to provide students with free access to the latest science information as well as a hub to connect and discuss with peers from around the globe. The World Library of Science wants to especially support students in underdeveloped regions by equalizing learning opportunities, improving the quality of teaching and learning and promoting the use of Open Educational Resources. At launch the World Library of Science features over 300 articles, 25 eBooks, and over 70 videos from the publishers of Nature. Through the portal students can join classes and create groups to connect with other learners and teachers. 07.11.2014 - UNESCOPRESS UNESCO partners with Nature Education and Roche to launch the World Library of Science: a free online science education resource UNESCO launched the UNESCO World Library of Science (WLoS), a newly created, free online science education resource for a global community of users. Developed through the joint efforts of UNESCO, Nature Education and Roche, the WLoS was created to give students around the world, especially those in disadvantaged regions, access to the latest science information as well as the opportunity to share their experiences and learning through discussion with their peers in a shared learning environment. Launched on the occasion of World Science Day for Peace and Development 2014, the WLoS is a science resource library stocked with over 300 top-quality articles, 25 eBooks, and over 70 videos from the publishers of Nature, the most cited scientific journal in the world. It is also a state-of-the-art digital platform that provides a community hub for learning. Users can join classes, build groups and connect with other learners. Specifically, the WLoS seeks to make science learning accessible to students everywhere in the world by: Helping equalize learning opportunities. The WLoS is open to all at no cost. It provides students with access to high-quality educational material, regardless of geography or economic circumstances. UNESCO will dedicate special attention to training teachers and students in least developed countries in how to use the WLoS, accelerating science learning in disadvantaged regions. Improving the quality of teaching and learning. The WLoS supports teachers and students worldwide by giving educators concrete ideas about how to present complex scientific concepts and students resources to fuel and complement their learning. The website provides a searchable database of content that is peer-reviewed. Strengthening science education. Scientific understanding is the foundation of sustainable development and prepares learners for employment. Promoting the use of open educational resources. The WLoS content is open. It can be tailored and shared for any educational or non-commercial use. The WLoS is founded on the idea that educational content and scientific knowledge should be free and accessible to all. Connecting communities of students and teachers. The WLoS is more than just a traditional library: it is a dynamic resource that allows users to collaborate with others, personalize their learning experience, pose and answer questions, and collaborate with others while exploring scientific concepts. The WLoS fosters knowledge-sharing and peer-learning. "The world needs more science and more scientists to face today’s global challenges, " said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova. "Achieving this requires better and more accessible science education. The UNESCO World Library of Science is a remarkable and exciting new tool that will help provide it, not only to students, but also to education planners and teachers, wherever they may be." Mariette DiChristina, Executive Editor, Nature Publishing Group and Editor-in-Chief of Scientific American, added: "Science is the engine of human prosperity that powers and enables a better future for us all. That is why it is so important to widen access to high-quality information about science and to science teaching, and why we are tremendously proud to be involved in this effort to open up high-quality content from Nature, the world’s leading science journal, and other quality sources. As we continue to add to the UNESCO World Library of Science over time, we will help share scientific knowledge and the wonder of discovery with students and teachers all over the world." Dr. John C. Reed, Head of Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, said: "As a research-focused company, we are firmly committed to promoting excellence in science across the world. The UNESCO World Library of Science is an excellent platform to enable future generations of scientists, particularly those in disadvantaged regions of the world, to have access to the latest science information and educational resources. This is why we proudly support the project as Enabling Sponsor." **** Press contact: Agnes Bardon UNESCO Media Relations Tel: +33 1 4568 1764; a.bardon@unesco.org Notes for Editors: 1. About UNESCO: UNESCO was founded in 1945, in the aftermath of World War Two, to develop the "intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind" as a means of building lasting peace. It strives to build networks among nations that enable this kind of solidarity by: mobilizing for education so that every girl and boy as access to quality education; pursuing scientific cooperation to create knowledge and understanding , and to build sustainable and greener societies; foster intercultural understanding; safeguard cultural heritage; and protect freedom of expression.. For more information about UNESCO’s work in the fields of science and education, visit: www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences.of building lasting peace. Its pioneering work has helped change the way people everywhere 2. About World Science Day: Established by UNESCO in 2001, the World Science Day for Peace and Development is celebrated worldwide on 10 November each year. The day offers an opportunity to mobilize various partners to highlight the important role of science in society and to engage the wider public in debates on emerging scientific issues and the relevance of science in their daily lives. The theme for the 2014 World Science Day for Peace and Development is promoting Quality Science Education: ensuring a sustainable future for all. 3. About Nature Education: Nature Education was formed in 2008 with a primary mission of connecting the research and discovery community with science education and innovative publishing strategies. Nature Education publications are written by scientists, and meant to explain research discovery as well as spark curiosity about what we still do not understand. With these publications, Nature Education aims to push the boundaries of science publishing and breathe new life into the global science education landscape. For more information on Nature Education, visit:http://www.nature.com/nature_education. Nature Education is part of Macmillan Science and Education. To find out more visit: www.se.macmillan.com. 4. About Roche: Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world’s largest biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and neuroscience. Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management. Roche’s personalised healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostics that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. Founded in 1896, Roche has been making important contributions to global health for more than a century. Twenty-four medicines developed by Roche are included in the World Health Organisation Model Lists of Essential Medicines, among them life-saving antibiotics, anti-malarials and chemotherapy. In 2013 the Roche Group employed over 85,000 people worldwide, invested 8.7 billion Swiss francs in R&D and posted sales of 46.8 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information, please visit www.roche.com.

Online courses, OpenCourseWare, and MOOCs have fundamentally changed how we perceive affordable and accessible education. This inforgraphic highlights how startups like Khan Academy, BenchPrep, Udemy, and others are empowering students and educators by offering hundreds of courses online for almost next to nothing. Via: OnlineUniversities.com

Class notes and peer learning community Course Hero has raised a $15 million Series A led by GSV Capital Corp. and IDG Capital, with participation of existing investors SV Angel and Maveron. GSV Capital is one of the most active investors in education technology counting startups like 2U, Coursera, Declara, Knewton, General Assembly, Parchment, Dreambox Learning to its portfolio. IDG Capital recently invested in a $15 million Series C of Chinese test preparation platform Yuantiku. Founded in 2006 by Andrew Grauer at Cornell University, Course Hero previously raised around $2 million in seed and angel funding in three rounds. The new funding will be used to grow the team and user base. Class notes marketplaces have become a popular service among students even though there is still a notion that sharing or even selling class notes and other study resources is borderline cheating and should therefore be banished. Nevertheless, edtech startups like Course Hero have managed to build sizeable audiences, raise venture capital and get exits. Notehall got acquired by Chegg, NoteUtopia and Moolaguides got acquired by Flashnotes, which itself is a class notes marketplace. Course Hero’s $15 million Series A from two leading VC firms shows that the vertical is on the upswing as it also fits well into the broader theme of the sharing economy which is represented by so called unicorns like home rental platform airbnb and ride sharing provider Uber. It might also be seen as a reaction to Brainly’s entrance in the US market. Founded in 2009 in Krakow, Poland Brainly has created a global network of homework help sites across Europe and Asia, totaling more than 30 million students. Brainly raised a €9 million Series A last month and opened an office in New York City. Course Hero has over 5 million users at universities and high schools worldwide which have access to more than 7 million course-specific notes, study guides, and practice tests via the site as well as homework help from expert tutors and customizable flashcards. Video Links coursehero.com | Twitter

Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning: An Annual Review of Policy and Practice (2012) is the latest in a series of annual reports that began in 2004 that examine the status of K-12 online education across the country. The report provides an overview of the latest policies, practices, and trends affecting online learning programs across all 50 states. Highlights from this year’s report include: Blended learning continues to be an important story in K-12 online learning (and is reflected in our report title for the first time this year). Once-fully online schools are adapting to student demand for in-person services, school districts are responding to student desire for flexibility, and full-time blended schools (typically charters) are opening around the country. 275,000 students were enrolled in fully online K-12 programs around the country in school year 2011-12. As of fall 2012, 31 states allow multi-district fully online schools. State virtual schools reported 619,847 course enrollments (one student enrolled in one semester-long course) in school year 2011-12, an increase of 16%. State virtual schools continue to bifurcate into two groups: those that are well-supported and growing (Florida Virtual School reported 303,329 course enrollments) and those that are not well-supported and shrinking or closing (Tennessee and Kentucky both closed state virtual schools in the last year). Keeping Pace 2011 included a Planning for Quality section that offered guidance to leaders who are starting and growing online and blended programs. Keeping Pace 2012 offers three possible timelines as a companion to that guide. The complete report can be downloaded from http://kpk12.com/reports.

Each year, Project Tomorrow, a national education nonprofit organization, facilitates the Speak Up National Research Project and, as part of this initiative, tracks the increasing interest and growth in the use of emerging technologies to address the specific needs and aspirations of students, parents and educators for 21st century learning environments. Since 2007, Project Tomorrow has partnered with Blackboard Inc. to create a series of annual reports that focus on key trends in the use of technology to increase student achievement, teacher productivity and parental engagement. As outlined in the Speak Up 2011 national reports, many emerging technology products and services are not only addressing instructional needs, but are also enabling greater personalization of the learning process, both in school and out of school. Within this context, the use of mobile devices such as tablet computers and smartphones combined with wireless accessibility and social media tools stand out increasingly as a game changer in this movement to more personalized learning. This new special report examines the Speak Up 2011 national findings to both answer some of the questions first posed two years ago but also to present an updated perspective on the role of mobile devices within K-12 education. The key findings from this report include: Mobile devices when combined with social media and wireless connectivity are enabling more personalized learning opportunities for both students and educators. Driven by several factors, the incorporation of student owned devices within classroom instruction is quickly becoming a viable solution for many schools and districts. Increasingly parental support for mobile learning is changing the district conversation. Changing teacher practice is the critical challenge today to expanding mobile learning. The future of mobile learning depends upon a shared vision for how to personalize learning. Here are a few more interesting stats and takeaways from this study: In 2011, two-thirds of parents of school aged children (67 percent) noted that they have a personal smartphone; an increase of almost three times from 2006. In the past three years, teachers’ access to a smartphone has more than doubled from 20 percent in 2008 to 54 percent in 2011. District office administrators are almost twice as likely now to be carrying a tablet computer (55 percent) than a simple cellphone that does not have Internet access (31 percent). and administrators’ interest in using a smartphone or a tablet computer is not dependent upon their years of experience. administrators with 1 to 3 years of experience are only slightly more likely to use a smartphone or tablet than their peers with 16 or more years of experience. 87 percent of parents say that the effective implementation of technology within instruction is important to their child’s success (50 percent label it as "extremely important"). But only 64 percent say that their child’s school is doing a good job of using technology to enhance student achievement (and only 12 percent strongly agree with that statement). Download the complete report here.

One year after the launch of the Direct-to-Profile Certifications pilot LinkedIn announced the launch of Add-to-Profile for Certifications, opening the pilot to any professional education provider interested in offering the service to its learners. Through the program, education institutions are able to add a certification widget to their courses. Learners can then simply add the certification to their LinkedIn profile with the click of a button once the course has been completed successfully. LinkedIn also introduced a new ranking of the top certification providers on the network which is based upon the number of professionals displaying those certifications in their profiles. The top spot on the list currently goes to Microsoft followed by MOOC platform Coursera. From the other launch partners we find lynda.com in ninth place, Pearson VUE in 33rd place, edX in 39th and takes Udemy the 67th spot. The ranking also features an overview of top certifications by occupation. Links addtoprofile.linkedin.com Further Reading LinkedIn pilots Direct-to-Profile Certifications with Coursera, edX, Lynda, Udemy

Ever get confused over the latest terms in the world of teaching and learning with technology? This infographic will definately help! (Click on the image to enlarge.) Thanks Jamie Nelson for sharing!

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation published its new Open Access Policy last week which requires all recipients of grants from the foundation to make their published research accessible to the general public. The new policy comes into effect as of January 1, though the foundation commits to a "two-year transition period" during which publishers can apply for a so called 12-month embargo period to limit the accessibility of research as well as underlying data sets. The new policy is rather straight forward and contains five main elements: the research must be meta-tagged and thus be searchable on the web it must be published under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 or a similar license which covers unlimited copy and redistribution of findings and data the foundation will pay what they call "reasonable" fees to a publisher the publications will be open and accessible immediately the underlying data will be open and accessible immediately The latter two with the exception of the embargo period mentioned above. Over the past 24 month the voices in higher education and from journalists have become louder to get more and unrestricted access and reuse of peer-reviewed published research. Of course, the big scientific publishers certainly aren’t enthusiastic to make this happen. As a researcher your need to publish your work in one of the big journals, and of course publishers are interested in keeping their cash cow. From what I know and have read, if a researcher wants to make his or her research accessible to the general public journals often charge them USD $2,000 to $3,000. And everybody who needs to access those papers knows that it can quickly cost you several hundreds of dollars for one publication. It remains to be seen what the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation determines as reasonable fees. The global STM (science, technology and medicine) market in 2011 was estimated at $23.5 billion by Outsell. And journals are the a big piece of this market with $9.4 billion. So why change such a profitable system? The scientific publishers might look at their colleagues in the global newspaper publishing industry who have struggled to keep up with technological changes over the five years to 2014. One might say that scientific journals are one of the last niches virtually untouched by change. It is somewhat comprehensible that publishers want to keep things the way they are as long as possible. Although this reasoning might still be dominant among STM publishers, I recommend to read the article in The Scholarly Kitchen about Elsevier’s market position and the acquisition of Mendeley, there might also be some first signs of rethinking the situation. Annette Thomas, CEO of Macmillan Science and Education, gave the Independent an interview published yesterday in which she discusses open access to data. "Scientists have better tools to share their personal photographs or to collect their music than they do to actually share and access data," she states. Under Thomas’ leadership Macmillan has opened up to the idea of open access and invested in related startups such as Figshare and Readcube. Nature, the publisher’s leading science journal, is also a founding partner of the UNESCO’s World Library of Science which aims to provide students with free access to the latest science information as well as a hub to connect and discuss with peers from around the globe. Disclosure: Macmillan Digital Education, part of Macmillan Science & Education,  is a supporter of EDUKWEST. Further Reading Bill & Melinda Gates Open Access Policy A Snapshot of the Scientific and Technical Publishing Market An overview of scientific and scholarly journal publishing Annette Thomas interview: Cut out the middle man and bring science straight to the masses UNESCO launches World Library of Science - Free Online Science Education Resource Picture License  Some rights reserved by biblioteekje

Macmillan Science and Education announced today that from now on it will enable subscribers to journals on nature.com to share articles with colleagues not having a subscription. The same is true for readers of 100 media outlets and blogs from around the world who can now direct their readers to the original paper via a link. The links can be shared via email or on social media, though the articles come as read only hosted on Readcube, meaning they come without the possibility to copy or print them. Institutional subscribers can share any article since the first issue of nature in 1869, individual subscribers, however, are limited to the years from 1997 on.  Commercial use is excluded, instead the focus is on fostering collaboration as the possibility to annotate text is enabled in the read-only versions.  Macmillan Science and Education says nature.com has more than 10 million monthly unique visitors and this new way of opening up the journals would benefit more than 6,000 universities and organizations worldwide. Articles on nature.com to be made widely available to read and share to support collaborative research Macmillan Science and Education, one of the leading publishing and technology companies in the world, today announces the launch of a groundbreaking publishing initiative that will make it easy for readers to share an unprecedented wealth of scientific knowledge instantly with researchers and scientists across the globe. Subscribers to 49 journals on nature.com can now legitimately and conveniently share the full-text of articles of interest with colleagues who do not have a subscription via a shareable web link on nature.com. In addition, Macmillan Science and Education will take a lead on opening up public engagement with scientific knowledge to society at large by giving access to the same content to readers of 100 global media outlets and blogs. Two initiatives are being introduced: Subscribers to 49 journals on nature.com will be able to share a unique URL to a full text, read-only version of published scientific research with colleagues or collaborators in the most convenient way for them, e.g. via email and social media. Included are the world's most cited scientific publication, Nature; the Nature family of journals and fifteen other quality science journals. This new initiative will be available to scientists and students at more than 6,000 universities and organizations worldwide, and serve the more 10 million monthly unique visitors to nature.com. This sharing is intended for personal, non-commercial use. To further aid collaboration, forthcoming annotation functionality will enable subscribers to share comments and highlighted text with their colleagues. 100 media outlets and blogs across the globe that report on the findings of articles published on nature.com will be able to provide their own readers with a link to a full text, read-only view of the original scientific paper. Thousands of high-quality scientific papers will be available. Nature has published some of the leading scientific stories of our time, such as the Human Genome; the structure of DNA; Dolly the Sheep; the invention of the laser; the identification of the AIDS virus and the discovery of the hole in the ozone layer. Annette Thomas, CEO of Macmillan Science and Education said: "We exist to serve the information needs of researchers, to help them in their work, and ultimately in making discoveries in order to improve the way we all live. We have, over many decades, published a wealth of world-leading scientific knowledge through our family of journals. Today we are able to present a new way to conveniently share and disseminate this knowledge using technology from one of our innovative and disruptive divisions - Digital Science - to provide a real solution to the global problem of how to efficiently and legitimately share scientific research for the benefit of all." Steven Inchcoombe, CEO of Nature Publishing Group added: "Scientists have always shared their work, it is essential to advancing progress. Nature was established in 1869 to help scientists share, and to bring science to the public. In today's global, internet-enabled world, we think we can meet the needs of science and society better. We know researchers are already sharing content, but not always optimally. We're committed to adapting to meet the needs of the community, and to basing our decisions on an evidence-based approach. We are conducting our own "experiment" to understand how best to help sharing of knowledge in a sustainable way. Working with authors, readers, libraries and journalists, we hope to learn a lot." Timo Hannay, Managing Director of Digital Science explained: "We know researchers are already sharing content, often in hidden corners of the Internet or using clumsy, time-consuming practices. At Digital Science we have the technology to provide a convenient, legitimate alternative that encourages researchers to access the information they need and the wider, interested public access to scientific knowledge, from the definitive, original source." The technology behind this initiative has been developed by ReadCube, a Digital Science portfolio company which develops software to make research literature more accessible and connected for researchers, institutions and publishers. Its publisher technologies have already been adopted by partners such as Wiley, Nature Publishing Group, Karger De Gruyter, Rockefeller University press and many others. Nature Publishing Group have also today released content sharing principles and a new policy to support this sharing initiative, which will be refined based on usage and community feedback over a one year period. To follow updates throughout the pilot launch, please follow the hashtag #scishare. -ENDS- About Macmillan Science and Education Macmillan Science and Education has more than 5,700 employees in more than 50 markets and supplies high-quality content and innovative digital products and services to customers in 120 countries around the world. It unites all Macmillan's scientific, scholarly, academic and education businesses across the globe. Visit www.learndiscover.com and follow @MacmillanSandE on Twitter. About Nature Publishing Group (NPG) Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a leading provider of scientific journals, magazines, products and services. Publisher of Nature and Scientific American, NPG is dedicated to serving the scientific community and the wider scientifically interested general public. Visitnature.com and follow @npgnews on Twitter. About ReadCube and Digital Science ReadCube develops software to make the world of research more accessible and connected. The free ReadCube desktop application for PC and Mac helps researchers in any discipline easily organize and manage existing article libraries, and discover new literature through searches and personalized recommendations. ReadCube is supported by Digital Science, a technology business unit within the Macmillan Science and Education portfolio which serves the needs of scientific research. It offers a range of scientific technology and data solutions, from intelligent knowledge discovery tools to software applications for the laboratory and decision support systems for managers. Visit www.digital-science.com and follow @digitalsci on Twitter. To find out more about ReadCube, visit www.readcube.com and follow @ReadCube on Twitter. Contact: Grace Baynes Head of Science and Scholarly Communications Nature Publishing Group T: 020 7014 4063 | M: +44 (0) 7540 920 600 g.baynes@nature.com Contact: Lisa Hulme Digital Science and ReadCube M: +44 (0) 7941 232 333 l.hulme@digital-science.com Contact: Sarah MacDonald Head of External Communications Macmillan Science and Education T: 020 7014 6829 | M: +44 (0) 7714 916 798 sarah.macdonald@macmillan.com Further Reading Nature makes all articles free to view  

We often hear complaints about what students say and do online, but we often neglect to look into educators helping them manage their online reputation. This infographic is geared toward adults, but it can serve as a great starting point for conversations and activities that educators can engage in with students to help them to establish an active digital footprint that represents who they want to be perceived as online.

Early rumors of a $75 million round for the anonymous messaging app Yik Yak that were first reported by TechCrunch turned out to be a $62 million round led by Sequoia Capital. Though there is no official statement of the round, TechCrunch dug up the SEC filing yesterday. It’s the second funding round for Yik Yak this year, having raised a $10 million Series A in June led by DCM. From the start Yik Yak made people’s eyebrows raise, mine included. An anonymous messaging app for students seemed to be an invitation for disaster, making it easy for bullies to target their next victims. TechCrunch just reported on a copycat app called After School that was banned from the iTunes App Store today due to cyberbullying and bomb threats posted using the app. The app also targeted high schoolers, a demographic Yik Yak pro-actively banned from using the service earlier this year as a result of similar events. In the end, the way Yik Yak managed to more or less contain cyberbullying through geo-fencing and other precautions to prevent younger users to access the network while still maintaining a fast growth track has surely been one reason the team attracted sizeable investments. Nevertheless, $62 million for a messaging app that lets college and university students post anonymous updates that can be seen by everyone in a 1.5 mile radius must be a sign of a tech bubble, right? It’s either this or another clever bet by Sequoia as it surely is not about what Yik Yak is today but about what it might become. First of all, I find it very hard to understand the need for Yik Yak, and I suppose this is a generational issue. The app seems to make a lot of sense to college students though as the adoption rate of Yik Yak does not show signs of a slowdown, and it now covers 1.000 colleges and universities in the US. Taking a look at Sequoia’s portfolio you will find a ton of tech companies that in their early days surely didn’t look like the next big thing. Apple, Google, LinkedIn, YouTube, Zappos, Instagram and PayPal are only the tip of the iceberg. And even though Sequoia missed out on Facebook the fund already turned a profit on the social network twice as it acquired Instagram for $1 billion and WhatsApp for $22 billion. The latter racked in a return of over $3 billion from a $60 million investment. Is Yik Yak the new WhatsApp? Hence, there is of course speculation if Sequoia thinks that Yik Yak might turn out to be a second WhatsApp. Jim Goetz, the partner who made the deal with WhatsApp will now also join Yik Yak’s board of directors. Is Yik Yak the new Facebook? I think here it gets really interesting. In an interview with GigaOm’s Carmel DeAmicis in October, Buffington and Droll stated they were building Twitter for the next generation. And the way Yik Yak works today is indeed pretty similar to Twitter’s stream of updates. The major difference is that updates are tied to certain locations which makes Yik Yak a hyper-local version of Twitter which could be used in many ways to drive revenue down the line. If a student shares an update about a craving for tacos, restaurants in a 1.5 mile radius could offer coupons to give you just one fairly obvious use case. Like Facebook pivoted from a location based social network for universities into a global social network, it is not that much of a stretch to predict the same for Yik Yak. It has the potential to become the next big social platform, natively mobile and anonymous. Mobile First and Anonymous Facebook is currently having a hard time making the switch from web based app to mobile. If unbundling its different services like messenger and groups on mobile devices will help Facebook to stay relevant is one question, the other one being whether its users still trust the company with their data. In every survey about trustworthiness and customer happiness Facebook is getting bad results. The only reason people still use it is because their contacts are on there, as well. Looking at the fast growth of Yik Yak one can see that this does not need to be the case five years from now. One of the reasons Facebook acquired Instagram and WhatsApp was to prevent users from switching to other forms of social networking, may it be around pictures or messaging and the more users Yik Yak will attract, the more relevant it will become over time. Which leaves us with three scenarios. Either Facebook will shell out a couple of billions and acquire another potential heir to the social network throne, Yik Yak will become a fierce competitor for Facebook, or it will burn out and die. Further Reading Yik Yak Is Close To Closing On Roughly $75 Million | TechCrunch Yik Yak, Big in Schools, Is a Hit With Investors Too | WSJ Yik Yak’s New Funding Round Confirmed As Sequoia Leads $61M Investment | TechCrunch Yik Yak raises funding to face a surprising competitor: Twitter | GigaOm The dark horse rises: Could Yik Yak be the real winner among anonymity apps? | GigaOm Yakety Sax: Why Yik Yak's Huge New Funding Round Isn't As Ridiculous As It Sounds | Fast Company After School Is The Latest Anonymous App Resulting In Student Cyberbullying And School Threats | TechCrunch