Monthly Archives: September 2010

Chegg + Kno = Apple for Higher Ed?

Two very interesting announcements from the textbook market today that underline my first thoughts about Chegg and the Kno from a couple of months ago.

The first one is that textbook rental platform Chegg just closed another funding round, adding a whooping $75 million USD to the war chest, ramping up the total funding to nearly $220 million USD.

The second announcement came on TechCrunch Disrupt where the manufacturer of the Kno tablet stated that they will also deliver a cheaper one screen version of the device.

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The New Lingueo – Tidy, Clear and with Lesson Packages

After three years Lingueo, the Paris based language learning / teaching platform changed the look and feel of their website. If you have watched my interview with the founders on EDUKWEST you know that one of the main premises of the team is to keep it as simple and straight forward as possible.

The new page clearly stays true to that, in addition it offers some new features for students.

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R:ED September 19th to September 25th

  1. Facebook Has Quietly Implemented A De-Facto Follow Feature
  2. Why Our Schools Suck, The Movie
  3. Kiva Adds Student Loans To Microlending Marketplace
  4. The Latest Galaxy Tab Video Spot Makes A Solid Case For the 7-inch Android Tablet
  5. The Global Education Race
  6. Sweet Seeds: Zynga Raises $500K In Two Days To Build School In Haiti
  7. vChatter Launches A PG-Rated Version Of Chatroulette
  8. Twitter to Release a Real-time Analytics Solution This Year [REPORT]
  9. Mark Zuckerberg Donates $100 Million to Newark Public Schools
  10. How Universities Can Win Big with Location-Based Apps
  11. The End of Education Is the Dawn of Learning
  12. Project 10100 Winners

Everything you know about learning platforms is wrong!

Okay, that’s probably not true, but I needed to get your attention somehow. Apologies.

A few weeks ago, though, Vikrama Dhiman posted an article entitled “Seven Reasons Online Learning Platforms May Never Take Off.” That article sparked a terrific dialog about the shortcomings and potential for learning marketplaces online (marketplaces being what ‘platforms’ actually referred to).

Vikrama touched on some important points, but I think that he ultimately missed the mark. The problem, as I see it, doesn’t address “why online platforms may never take off”, but why they haven’t yet.  Ready for it?

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YouTubeSocial – Watch Videos simultaneously with your Students

I just came across this nifty service on TechCrunch and thought I should share this with you as I think there are some interesting possibilities to use this in online education.

YouTubeSocial is a service that enables you and your friends to watch any video on YouTube simultaneously and you can even chat with them whilst watching the clip.

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Blackberries on the iPhone – Busuu launches its Mobile Applications

Busuu is now the second language learning community to have its own iPhone applications that connect seamlessly with your online learning profile on the platform.

And if you watched my interview with Michael Schutzler of Livemocha the other day, you know that it will only take a little more time until this Seattle based community will launch their own.

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Review of the Second TWiST Paris Meetup on September 17th

Last Friday TWiST came back to Paris for its second edition. Like the first time, Lingueo was so kind to provide us with their office as venue, helped me with tech support and co hosted our guests.

On that night we had four startup pitches, two of them directly related to online education and the two other in a more indirect way.

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YongoPal Sucks! Conclusion: Let’s fix it

That’s the conclusion of Darien Brown after being in business for just about six months and his four week trip to the source of their clients and hence revenue of their product, South Korea.

In a blog post published today Darien gives not only a detailed reflection on what he and his co-founder Jon Hickey singled out as their mistakes but they also announces the relaunch of their service on November 1st.

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R:ED September 12th to September 18th 2010

  1. YouTube Starts Testing New Live Streaming Platform
  2. Livemocha looks to crack Rosetta Stone with new language service
  3. Scribd Redesign Is An Attempt To Become A “Social Network For Reading”
  4. Barnes & Noble Projects $1B In Digital Revenue, 25% Market Share By 2013
  5. 5min Brings 200K How-To Videos To Dailymotion
  6. Coming Soon: Mind-Reading Cell Phones
  7. Lifeplayer, the MP3 Radio for the World’s Most Forgotten
  8. Foursquare Targets College Students with New Universities Program

Language resources and Web 2.0 : the latest hype or new perspectives?

Following the invitation of the University of Luxembourg I have the pleasure of attending a panel debate on the challenges (and controversies) of social media and their role in the development of language resources and in empowering language learning communities.

This should get interesting.

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Apples & Pears: Big Launch Day for Rosetta Stone and Livemocha

Today is the big day for two education companies. Rosetta Stone launches its brand new version 4 TOTALe flagship product and Livemocha launches its new range of Active Courses in partnership with Harper Collins.

I love the smell of language immersion in the morning!

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R:ED September 5th to September 11th 2010

  1. Breaking down language barriers with a pocket picture guide
  2. Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits
  3. Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education
  4. Tablet Maker Kno Raises $46 Million for Dual-Screen Digital Textbook
  5. Campus Dibs Is A Groupon For Colleges: Smart Move
  6. Maths graduates in Punjab are being taught the British syllabus so they can give private lessons by phone and via the web
  7. Prezi Meeting Brings Collaboration to Web-based Presentations

The Hard or the Soft Way? Thoughts on the Kno and Inkling

You might remember the Kno, a dual screen tablet device for the educational market, which aims to be a replacement for textbooks. When it was revealed at the D8 conference earlier this year people who saw the Kno described it as “two iPads, glued together – but bigger”.

Yesterday, the company announced that it closed a $46m debt-and-equity round led by Andreessen Horowitz that also has investments in Zynga, Skype and Foursquare.

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enrolled.in – The exclusive Social Network for Universities

enrolled.in already has its place in the great book on the history of the internet. It is the second company to get a funding offer on a live webcast by an angel investor who is no other than Jason Calacanis.

Last week this new social network that is targeting universities only, opened its gates to sign ups.

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