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Pearson Bets on Adaptive Learning (Again) With $25M Acquisition of Smart Sparrow

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Last week, Pearson announced it paid $25 million to acquire Smart Sparrow’s technology, in a move that the publisher says will bolster the digital infrastructure that will soon support all its future higher-education offerings. The following year, Knewton was bought in a deal that has become a poster child for education technology hype.

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Can a For-Profit, Venture-Backed Company Keep OER Free—and Be Financially Sustainable?

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New and traditional publishers are trying to offer alternatives such as open educational resources (OER), or freely downloadable and adaptable learning materials. But some providers of OER still ask for fees in return, and that has advocates concerned. Edward Watson.

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Wiley to Acquire Knewton’s Assets, Marking an End to an Expensive Startup Journey

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In the second eye-raising deal for the higher-ed publishing industry in as many weeks, Wiley, a major textbook publisher, has agreed to acquire the assets of Knewton, a provider of digital courseware and adaptive-learning technologies. She added: “Knewton will integrate into Wiley’s existing Higher Education business.

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It’s 2020: Have Digital Learning Innovations Trends Changed?

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The Online Learning Consortium (OLC), one of the 12 partner organizations of Every Learner Everywhere, was charged with identifying and understanding innovations in the digital education landscape. To those working in higher education, some of the trends presented by the team may not have come as a surprise.

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Hitting Reset, Knewton Tries New Strategy: Competing With Textbook Publishers

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And even before the management change, the company had quietly started building a huge library of courses bolted to its adaptive engine. The secret to its swift entry into publishing was OER (open education resources). Knewton’s pitch is that its mix of OER and an adaptive-learning system will set it apart.

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From Silos to Sharing: Why Are Open Educational Resources Still So Hard to Find?

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For over a decade, plenty of time and dollars have been poured into encouraging the use of open educational resources (OER). In 2007 the Hewlett Foundation’s funding helped create OER Commons. Yet many teachers still ask: “Why can’t I find the open educational resources I’m looking for?” Last year, the U.S.

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Pearson Signals Major Shift From Print by Making All Textbook Updates ‘Digital First’

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The biggest education company in the world is moving away from a production model that has been one of the main drivers in the rising cost of textbooks. And focusing on digital makes the secondary textbook market even less attractive, since students have to buy access directly from Pearson to get course materials.

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