eSpark, described by its founder and CEO as the
Pandora radio for education, targets students in grades K-8. Students are given
a custom playlist of apps and then asked to rate how much they like the app or
how much they are learning, similar to the way Pandora listeners rate songs
played, according to an article in TechCrunch.
Desire2Learn, which develops cloud-based
learning systems, changed its funding strategy, in part, to keep up with the
rapid pace of change in the online learning market. Blended learning programs,
personalized learning, and open online courses have all contributed to that
growth. Desire2Learn has responded by hiring 200 new employees in the past
year, according to a report in Reuters.
Finally, the online educational startup
Straighterline recently announced it will begin allowing college professors to
attract online students to their for-credit courses through Straighterline and
even set their own price for the course.
The company landed $10 million in investment
capital last April and plans to use the funds to expand its marketing to
institutions across the country. It already offers online learning in nearly 40
courses for a fee of $99 a month and a $39-per-course registration fee. Its
long-term goal is to create a platform where students can pick and choose
courses created by professors for credit.
“The idea is the student has those choices,”
Burck Smith, founder of Straighterline, told The Baltimore Sun. “It’s really
an experiment in creating a market for professors and students to meet up.”
