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This blog is dedicated to the topics of Course materials, Innovation, and Technology in Education. it is intended as an information source for the college store industry, or anyone interested in how course materials are changing. Suggestions for discussion topics or news stories are welcome.

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Friday, May 24, 2013

Money Makes the Apps Go 'Round

What’s the quickest way to get app developers interested in creating educational applications? Flash a wad of cash.

That’s essentially what Instructure is doing, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. The company, creator of the Canvas learning management system, has partnered with a number of other LMS companies to offer a “bounty” for the development of the best new educational apps using the Learning Tools Interoperability standard (LTI).

LTI enables apps to run properly on different LMS platforms, eliminating the need to construct separate apps for every platform.

The “bounty” is being offered in the form of a competition that concludes June 10. Every submission that meets the eligibility criteria will receive $250 and the best ones will get $1,000.

The competition is intended to attract developers’ attention to opportunities and needs in educational technologies. “It’s become clear that ed tech does not have the type of ecosystem that other sectors have. It’s hampering innovation,” Instructure founder Brian Whitmer told The Chronicle.