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.
