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Start-Ups
Adaptive Math Learning Platform KnowRe Raises $6.8M (Tech Crunch)
KnowRe, an online math learning site for secondary students, has raised a new round of $6.8 million. The funding was led by returning investor SoftBank Ventures Korea, with participation from KTB Network Partners Fund, Partners Investment, and SparkLabs Global Ventures. In a statement, KnowRe co-founder and co-CEO David Joo said the company�s Series A �allows us to scale our distribution in the U.S. on the heels of strong demand from schools and districts at our launch and further our product development and offerings for the U.S., Korea, and broader Asian markets.� KnowRe was first profiled by TechCrunch in January 2013, when it raised $1.4 million from SoftBank Ventures Korea for its adaptive learning platform. The site�s technology personalizes lessons for each student depending on their progress.
The 11 Hot NYC Startups That Killed It At EdTech Accelerator Demo Day (Alley Watch)
After months of preparations, they�re ready to take on the world. Of education. Here�s a sneak preview of the eleven companies that are going to kill it at Kaplan EdTech Accelerator Demo Day. And they�re anything but par for the course.
Edtech Investments Hold Steady at $315M in Q3 2014 (edSurge)
It�s Fall in the U.S., and Fall brings change. Green leaves turn to red, shorts turn to pants, the baseball-playing Chicago Cubs turn to baseball-watching Chicago Cubs. Inevitable change. In Q3 2014, however, US edtech venture capital investment broke this trend and held steady at $315M according to analysis from EdSurge. This figure is down just slightly from the $327M reported in Q2 2014. Forty-nine separate deals were reported in Q3, down from 67 in Q2. The post-secondary category lead the way in number of deals in Q3, with 17 out of the 49 reported (35%). A series of six deals for companies in the �MOOCs and courses� subcategory and as well as others in the �Persistance and Retention� and �College Prep� groups drove up this total.
Industry
DreamBox Learning CEO: How tech will shape the future of schools (Geek Wire)
Jessie Woolley-Wilson has big ideas about education technology. I sat down with the CEO of DreamBox Learning � an adaptive math learning system used by students in all 50 states and more than 20 districts in Washington � to get her take on what�s possible, what�s critical and what�s in the way.
LearnLaunch Campus Celebrates Oktoberfest with Boston�s Edtech Community (EdTech Times)
Edtech supporters came together last week to celebrate education technology in true Oktoberfest fashion. LearnLaunch Campus hosted the event with live music, food, and of course, some Oktoberfest beer. Caroline Smith, the event�s organizer, said the event was meant �to help connect edtech related companies with teachers and community members.� Around 170 people from the northeast came to exchange ideas at the campus which also houses the LearnLaunch Institute and LearnLaunch Accelerator. The campus is Boston�s only co-working space dedicated to edtech startups. The accelerator has graduated 13 companies from two cohorts. Graduates include EduCanon, Intellify Learning, and Gradeable. Interested edtech startups in becoming part of the new cohort can apply here. The deadline is October 31st.
In The Classroom
Report Finds Teachers Underutilize Resources for Digital Games in the Classroom (Mind Shift)
While more teachers are using digital games in the classroom, how they decide which games to use and why is less standardized, according to a teacher survey of 694 K-8 teachers by the Games and Learning Publishing Council called Level Up Learning: A National Survey on Teaching with Digital Games. The report finds that teachers learn about games through informal means, such as peers within the school or school district, and could benefit from more explicit training programs. By not having a more formal process, the report finds that �teachers may not be getting exposure to the broader range of pedagogical strategies, resources, and types of games that can enhance and facilitate digital game integration.�
Changes to Google Classroom Give Teachers More Control (EdTech Magazine)
Since Google debuted Classroom this summer, its audience has grown. The company now estimates that its Apps for Education userbase amounts to 40 million educators and students worldwide. Google announced the figure in an Oct. 14 blog post that, along with a series of new features being integrated into Classroom. The app is the latest addition to Google's Apps for Education lineup, and it was designed to help streamline communications and assignments between teachers and students. The search engine giant regularly iterates on its products. When EdTech interviewed Classroom's product manager, Zach Yeskel, in August, he said there were still improvements to be made to the app, including permissions and additional control options.
Higher Education
Galvanize Announces GalvanizeU, A Year-Long Bootcamp That Gives You A Master�s Degree (Tech Crunch)
Tech education startup Galvanize has announced a program that offers practical skills needed to land a job as a data scientist and awards participants an accredited Master of Engineering degree in one year. The year-long program, which will begin in January 2015, will cost you a whopping $48,000, which sounds crazy until you remember that in this space, there are programs that ask you for $12,000 for one-fifth the time in order to get a certificate that says you can code in JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS. The 30 students accepted into the program (applications open October 29) will become versed in Python and the math and statistics background knowledge expected of big data analysts in the field today.
Viewpoints
The Education of Everything (Huffington Post)
From early childhood through higher education and beyond, there is little debate that the iPad -- still less than five years old -- is transforming how we learn. Yet the flipped classrooms, personalized learning programs and real-time student assessment tools that the iPad and similar devices enable are really just appetizers for what we should expect over the next half decade. Technological advancements involving connected objects and wearables (the so-called Internet of Things), along with hyper-personalization and an exponential increase in the volume and sophistication of digital content will transform all walks of life.
Technology and Just-in-Time-Learning (edSurge)
While technology has transformed almost every aspect of modern life, our higher education system has barely changed. Universities teach young adults today in much the same way they did in medieval Europe: �Sage on Stage,� the model where a professor lectures in a unidirectional manner to a roomful of hundreds of students. Today�s technology and new insights into using it, however, present very real opportunities. The promise of improving learning outcomes while increasing retention and graduation rates is something we can no longer ignore.
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Vision ME, New iPad Classroom Workflow Management App, Now Available
 Yesterday, Netop announced that the Vision ME iPad classroom workflow app, designed to make teaching in iPad classrooms easier and more effective, is now available in the App Store. "Teachers are hungry for a simple, engaging way to teach in paperless classrooms,� said Kurt Bager, CEO of Netop. �Our commitment is to create solutions that help teachers use technology in ways that maximize instructional time. We�re confident that Vision ME will allow educators to more effectively and easily integrate iPads into teaching and learning.� Vision ME combines teaching tools with mobile device management (MDM) capabilities to provide a classroom workflow app that engages students and improves learning outcomes in iPad classrooms. It allows teachers to present lessons directly on classroom iPads, showcase student work, blank student screens, block Internet access with the click of a button, administer web-based tests and quizzes, and more.
Teachers: Win a share of $2 million in Samsung technology for your school!
 The national education contest reaches students in grades 6-12 through a school-based model that encourages students to combine their creativity and STEM knowledge to become the innovators of tomorrow by asking them to answer this challenge: Show how STEM can be applied to help improve your local community. The $2 million contest is open to all public middle and high school teachers and students in the U.S. Prizes are awarded throughout the competition, starting with 255 State Finalists, from which one winner from each state receives a video technology kit to compete in the video phase of the contest. Fifteen finalists chosen from that pool win additional prizes in technology and the opportunity to be chosen as one of five Grand Prize Winners - three by a panel of judges, one by Samsung employees, and one by public online voting. The five grand prize winners are honored at a special awards ceremony in Washington, D.C.
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