In an effort to clear the way for an upcoming separation of its College bookstore and Nook business from its retail business, Barnes & Noble bought out Microsoft’s from their joint venture for $120 million in cash and common stock. Announced in April 2012, NewCo was planned as a spinoff of Barnes & Noble’s digital and college business and fueled by a $300 million initial investment from Microsoft, representing 17.6% of the joint venture and setting the valuation north of $1.7 billion. Microsoft also agreed to invest another $300 million through 2017. The separation is planned for August 2015 and Barnes & Noble hopes that the clearer structures will attract new investors for its struggling digital business. Pearson, which acquired a 5% stake in Nook Media in 2013, has also received a buy-back offer under the same conditions as Microsoft. Both companies state changed circumstances for ending the partnership. For Barnes & Noble the Nook business did not turn into a strong sales channel as initially hoped. In the last quarter, Nook sales fell 41%, digital sales like ebooks 21%. Barnes & Noble also announced a partnership with Samsung to sell color tablets under the Nook brand while laying off most of its own tech staff. For Microsoft the Nook partnership does not seem to fit into the new focus on its core businesses, either. Signed under former CEO Steve Ballmer, the partnership falls in a time before the acquisition of Nokia and the launch of own hardware like the Surface tablet. Further Reading Barnes & Noble, Microsoft End Nook Pact | WSJ Barnes & Noble and Microsoft End Nook Partnership | New York Times Here’s How Much Money Microsoft Lost Per Day On The Nook Deal | TechCrunch

Do you struggle to keep track of all your favorite websites and other online resources? Have you ever lost your folder of Internet bookmarks from your Web browser or wished you could access them from ANY computer? Would you like to share the links to your favorite online resources with your colleagues or students? Social bookmarking is a technique of storing, classifying, sharing and searching links through the practice of folksonomic tagging using a cloud-based service. During this online session on 10/31/2012 I introduced several popular free social bookmarking tools (Diigo, CiteUlike, Pinterest) and explored practical applications for implementing social bookmarking activities in the classroom. | view podcast in iTunes | view mp4 | view slides

When Albert Einstein died in 1955 he left the world a treasure trove of more than 80.000 documents, from postcards to notebooks and love letters. Over the past decades Princeton University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem which is disposed of the copyright by Einstein’s will, have worked together to collect, sort and publish these documents in 30 volumes. Curated by Dr. Diana Kormos-Buchwald, The Einstein Papers Project already published 13 volumes, covering the work and life of the physicist until 1923. The 14th is planned for early 2015 and will contain 1000 documents. Last Friday Princeton University launched Digital Einstein, a central place on the Internet for everyone around the world to browse the vast archive in digital format. Digital Einstein will also enable visitors to switch between the German and English versions of his texts as well as to download them as all documents are published under open access. Currently the archive features 5000 digitized documents including Einstein’s birth certificate and violin test results. via The Verge | New York Times

Here’s a handy timeline that highlights the "social" nature of the Internet and the fact that social media has a much longer history than one might initially realize…

Everspring, a Chicago-based edtech startup that helps universities to get their courses online, has raised a $10 million venture round from Park Loop and existing investors Carrick Capital Partners and Accretive reports Crain’s Chicago Business. Everspring raised another $10 million earlier this year and currently counts University of Kansas, Kent State University, the College of William and Mary, and Auburn University as its customers. Founded in 2011 by the former CEO of Kaplan Higher Education Jeff Conlon, Everspring follows the business model of 2U, which was founded in 2008 and had its IPO earlier this year. Both companies invest large sums upfront in the creation and marketing of the online-degree courses and then get a share of the tuition cost. 2U just celebrated its most successful quarter so far with $28.4 million in revenue, 39% more than last year. At a recent talk 2U’s co-founder and CEO Chip Paucek attributed the success of his company to the business model. "If you are not focusing on the business model, it's easy to innovate yourself to death. I will not take credit for everything at 2U, but I will take credit for keeping it focused." Paucek told the audience. The Landover-based edtech company now has nearly 800 employees but Everspring is also growing fast. One year ago the startup had 10 employees, 30 in May 2014 and today Everspring has a staff of 50. Other than MOOC platforms like Coursera, edX, or futurelearn and iversity in Europe that add new courses to their portfolio on a regular basis, 2U and Everspring grow much slower based on their selectiveness in terms of partner universities and degrees. Therefore, it will also take a while until they saturate the market and grow into being direct competitors. For now there seems to be enough room for both companies to grow and an Everspring IPO in 2016 or 2017. If 2U does not acquire its competitor, that is. Further Reading Ed-tech startup Everspring gets $10 million more | Crain’s Chicago Business 2U co-founder Chip Paucek tells techies to stay true to the business model | Washington Business Journal

Cross-published on Fair Languages. Skype today officially launched the Skype Translator Preview with a video showing how the technology can be used to connect classrooms across the globe. In the demo a class from Tacoma in the USA and a class from Mexico City play a game of "Mystery Skype", asking each other questions to determine in which city they are located respectively. Of course, the technology works very well in the video but we have to keep in mind that this video has been shot in a controlled environment. Nevertheless, the excitement and fun the kids have during the session clearly shows. At today’s launch, Skype Translator Preview supports two spoken languages: English and Spanish. 40+ other languages work with instant translation in the Skype text chat. As we mentioned in November, Skype Translator Preview currently only works on devices running Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 and you need to register for the waiting list. The Verge points out that entering the registration code MTT1724 might get you a quicker invitation. For those who are interested in knowing more about how the technology behind the Skype Translator works, Microsoft shared some additional info on the Skype blog. Essentially, the more people will use the product, the better it will become as it is based on machine learning and with a global user base of 300 million, Skype will have no shortage of data to mine. During the preview period, Skype’s algorithm will be trained in the tasks of Speech Recognition and Machine Translation which are essential to translating the spoken language correctly. The algorithm has to learn how to notice and remove disfluencies like "ahs" and "uhms", how to recognize sentences and where to add punctuation. For a more detailed overview about the process you can head over to the Skype Garage blog or watch the video below. Those who are worried about what happens to their data on the Internet have to keep in mind that with the Skype Translator Preview their translated calls will be recorded and analyzed as part of the machine learning process. Though the data is not attributed to a Skype ID there will still be a recording stored on Skype’s servers for analysis. Further Reading Skype Translator Preview - An Exciting Journey to a New Chapter in Communication | Big Blog Skype Translator - How it Works | Garage & Updates

Social media has been seeing quite the boom in terms of, well, every aspect of your life. But just how many people are actually using LinkedIn? How many blogs are there? Who uses Google+ and why? A new infographic spells it all out in a fun scrolling visualization!

TAL Education Group, a Chinese K-12 after-school tutoring provider, led a $20 million Series C round in the online science community Guokr. TAL Education led the round, investing $15 million, the remaining $5 million came from existing investors IDG and others. Guokr is an online community for people interested in science and technology where they can share and discuss articles written by scientists, the Guokr staff or community members. Guokr claims to have 25 million visitors per month on its web portal and related mobile apps. In 2013 Guokr launched a MOOC platform and partnered with Coursera to translate and promote the courses to its user base. The Guokr MOOC platform currently has over 800.000 registered users. With the new investment Guokr plans to bring more courses from overseas providers to its MOOC portal. Other MOOC platforms in China include XuetangX which is based on edX and Kaikeba. The company is also expanding into other verticals. Guokr has published a series of books covering science, science-fiction and children books, launched a maternal and baby health app and an air purifier. TAL Education Group is currently one of the most active edtech investors coming out of China. Besides investments in Chinese edtech startups TAL participated in LTG Exam Prep Platform’s $3 million Series A in August, and in Minerva Project’s $70 million Series B in October. Commenting on the investment, TAL's co-founder Yachao Liu states "Through Guokr we can also extend our reach to a complementary customer base, the mostly college-based technology enthusiasts. This extension will solidify Guokr and our common ground in building a social community through MOOC-based science and technology content for young demographics. In addition, we will leverage the Guokr MOOC platform to connect with world class education resources, which is consistent with our recent investment in the Minerva Project, a revolutionary new provider of undergraduate education in the US, as well as our angel investment in Sharkpark, a science education company. Our investment in Guokr is therefore an outstanding opportunity to share our vision and align our interests in building new education models for the future and incorporating self-education on Internet and mobile Internet." Further Reading TAL Education Group Takes Strategic Stake in Guokr | PR Newswire Science Networking Service Guokr Secures US$20M Series C Funding Led by TAL Group | TechNode Coursera partner in China secures $20M funding to make more MOOCs | Tech in Asia Links guokr.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As a member of the 2013 steering committee, I invite you to submit a proposal for the 6th Annual Emerging Technologies for Online Learning International Symposium, to be held April 9-11, 2013 at The Planet Hollywood Resort in Las Vegas, NV. The Emerging Technologies for Online Learning International Symposium, a joint Symposium of Sloan Consortium and MERLOT, is designed to bring together individuals interested in the review and evaluation of online teaching and learning technologies. Proposals for presentations must be submitted by December 10, 2012 at http://sloanconsortium.org/conference/2013/et4online/call-for-presentations. The ET4Online Symposium offers you an opportunity to study best practices, understand applications, discover new technologies, and connect to others who share a love for and belief in the promise of educational technology. In 2012 the symposium developed a new mission statement designed to emphasize the innovation and invention that is the focus of the conference: A conference devoted to the emerging and innovative uses of technology designed to improve teaching and learning online. Symposium tracks highlight and demonstrate research, application and effective practices and noteworthy technological tools in the following areas: Learning Spaces and Communities Open and Accessible Learning Evidence-based Learning Faculty and Student Development Innovative Media and Tools Faculty, students, instructional designers, instructional technologists and academic administrators are encouraged to submit proposals which are engaging, informative and interactive. These sessions can be targeted to all attendees or beginners, intermediates, or experts. If you are interested in submitting a proposal for this conference, plan to join us for our FREE webinar "Five Tips on How to Submit a Successful Conference Proposal". The goal of this webinar is to assist you in submitting a successful abstract to the Call for Presentations. November 29, 2012 - 3:00pm - 4:00pm (Eastern Time) For today’s educator, selection as a conference presenter is often required in order to attend a conference. For every online learning conference, educators submit and conference committees evaluate hundreds of proposals in order to create a robust program for conference attendees. The number of proposals accepted for a conference depends on program size, topics covered and quality of abstracts submitted. Join this free webinar to learn from experts on the Sloan Consortium and MERLOT Conference Team what they are looking for in proposal submissions. Topics covered will include the importance of topic selection, what reviewers look for in a proposal submission, and tips from track chairs on how final selections are made. Please login or register to sign up for this webinar.

Textbooks have been with us since the dawn of time (or at least it feels that way). They have been researched, tested, reviewed, vetted and used for editions upon editions. But in a world where a first-year college student could have been born in 1996 - the year Derek Jeter won his first World Series - and would have been 11 years old when Steve Jobs introduced the world to the iPhone, their expectations are that they will be able to do much more online in their courses than read PDF pages on a screen. So where does that leave time- and budget-pressured college faculty looking to provide students with outstanding learning experiences? Between a textbook and a hard place. One place to explore options is courseware - but what it is and how to define courseware is a bit murky. So to start we’ll describe things we’ve seen that lay claim to the courseware moniker: Publisher Tools: They carry names like MyLabs, Connect, MindTap and may or may not be followed with a mysterious "Plus". For assessment-driven courses where completing frequent problem sets is a core part of the learning process the depth of configurability, massive arrays of items types, and in depth training requirements is awe-inspiring. Time savings for faculty are questionable, what we do know is they can cost more than $100 per student for only a few months of use. When was the last time you paid that for software? Adaptive Learning Platforms: This expanding class of applications claims to be able to craft a learning experience to an individual learners needs while improving course completion rates and pass rates. If the aforementioned homework tools are the equivalent of luxury cars, adaptive courseware right now are the sports cars of the space. But like Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Porsches these are tools suited to address specific needs. As an example, adaptive tools may make sense for developmental mathematics where there is a high failure rate, and it’s skill and drill, but does this really play in say, Freshman Composition, Introduction to Sociology or US History? Learning Management Systems: No, they aren't courseware in and of themselves. At it’s core, an LMS is really just an empty box into which you can plug your course materials. But fill them with enough content, applications, tools and data and they start to look an awful lot like some of the tools above. Who has the abundance of time available to find, curate and integrate learning resources into these platforms? Great question, not any faculty I’ve met recently. Courseware Service Providers: Companies like Bisk, EmbanetCompass (Pearson), Deltak (Wiley) and others will do the work to build instructor’s existing courses into online experience. Sounds too easy, so what's the catch? Watch out as the cost of doing so can be as high as 30-50% of every tuition dollar! Easy to build, sure as someone else is doing the work. Easy to update quickly and regularly, not so much. And quite a costly proposition. Open Courseware: As if that weren't enough there is courseware that uses only open education resources (OER) such as MIT OpenCourseware which may or may not include open textbooks, assignments, simulations and other tools. But why force educators to choose OER or premium resources? Shouldn't academic freedom imply instructors can use whatever resources and tools they need to help their students learn? Open, therefore, is limiting and those who spend the time evaluating and curating resources will tell you it certainly isn't free. Integrated Courseware Companies: There is now an emerging class of companies (shameless plug for my company, Junction) that combine the best of all of the above - curated videos and readings, LMS integration, basic assignment and assessment functionality (with auto-grading and gradebook) - delivered in an easy-to-use package that can be tweaked and tuned by instructors to serve the needs of their students. Heck, they can even include textbook chapters in their digital courseware and provide a rich layer of data-driven insights to boot. Call it putting the power of technology - simply and effectively - back in the hands of skilled educators who know best the needs of their specific student populations. This is the space to watch in 2015. Great courseware doesn't need to cost 30-50% of tuition, or anywhere close to it. At $40-50 per student per course Junction is usually the most affordable option available and the one 82.6% of students rate as being more or much more effective than alternatives. Picture License  Some rights reserved by Theen

Have you wondered what Twitter is and what if any practical applications there are for teaching and learning? Perhaps you are among the 30% of faculty who now use Twitter in some capacity and you would like to learn some tips and tricks for better utilizing Twitter in education context. During this online session offered 11/30/2012 we introduced the basics of Twitter and explored best practices for using Twitter in teaching, learning and professional development. | view podcast in iTunes For links to archives of other online workshops offered by NIU Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, visit www.niu.edu/facdev/programs/archives

Since its launch in 2010 Start-Up Chile has hosted over 1000 startups from across the globe in its six month accelerator program, based in Santiago de Chile. Besides free co-working space, mentorship and a visa for the country, entrepreneurs receive a $40.000 grant in return for no equity. The program by the Chilean government comes with the objective to create a tech scene in the country. Unfortunately, due to the lack of follow-on investment opportunities most startups relocate after the six months of the program in order to raise funding or simply burn out. In order to give the best performing startups of each batch more runway and an incentive to stay in Chile, Start-Up Chile has announced its own follow-on fund Start-Up Chile SCALE. Through the fund up to 10 startups of each batch will have the opportunity to get up to $100.000 in funding. In return the startup needs to stay another year in the country and needs to have a permanent legal presence in Chile. During the extended period, the startups will have access to all Start-Up Chile resources. The follow-on funding is, like the $40.000 grant, equity-free but in order to receive it the startup needs to match the grant with a 30% outside investment. According to TechCrunch, Start-Up Chile companies have raised over $110 million with 85% coming from investors outside of Latin America. According to the website about 80 edtech startups have participated in the Start-Up Chile accelerator program. Further Reading Start-Up Chile Launches Follow-On Fund To Boost Local Growth | TechCrunch Chile’s Grand Innovation Experiment | TechCrunch Links startupchile.org/scale

As smartphones are becoming more popular, college students are relying on them more and more. This infographic depicts findings from one recent study exploring smartphone use among college students.

Pearson is planning on investing an additional $50 million in edtech startups from emerging markets through the Pearson Affordable Learning Fund. Originally launched in 2012 with a budget of $15 million the fund has already invested in edtech startups from South Africa, Ghana, India and the Philippines. Half of the startups have a female CEO. Pearson Affordable Learning Fund aims to support initiatives that have an impact on underserved, low-income learners. Besides investing in startups, the fund also runs edupreneur programs in partnership with Village Capital that aim at helping founders with their business and investability. "We believe that start-up culture can inject innovation and determination into some of the world's toughest educational systems." states Katelyn Donnelly, managing director of the Pearson Affordable Learning Fund. Pearson also announced the launch of a new social impact campaign titled Project Literacy. Through the campaign and its partners Pearson aims to accelerate improvements in literacy throughout the developing world. "The Pearson Affordable Learning Fund has already shown it is possible to address this challenge by making low-cost, high-quality schools and services accessible to parents in the developing world. We are tripling our investment in the Fund because we know that this approach works, and makes a transformative difference to lives across the world." states Pearson chief executive John Fallon. Further Reading Pearson makes new investments to improve learning outcomes in developing world | Press Release Link affordable-learning.com