Pearson has notified customers that LearningStudio will be shut down as a standalone LMS over the next 2-3 years. Created from the Pearson acquisition of both eCollege and Fronter, LearningStudio has been targeted primarily at fully-online programs and associated hybrid programs – not for simple augmentation of face-to-face classes. The customer base has mostly included for-profit institutions […]
Launch Of Moodle Users Association: 44 members sign up, mostly as individuals
The Moodle Users Association (MUA), a crowd-funding group for additional Moodle core development, announced today that it is open for members to join. Technically the site was internally announced on its web site last Friday, but the press release came out today. As of this writing (Thurs evening PST), 44 members have signed up: 37 at the […]
Inside Higher Ed: One year after selling majority stake in company
One year ago I wrote a post critical of Inside Higher Ed for not doing a blanket disclosure about the sale of a majority stake to a private equity firm with other education holdings (most notably Ruffalo Noel Levitz). Subsequent to the disclosure from the Huffington Post, IHE put up an ownership statement disclosing the ownership change […]
It’s Called Data Analysis And Not Data Synthesis For A Reason
I’ve never been a big TEDtalks fan, but recently I’ve been exploring some of the episodes, partially based on peer pressure. @PhilOnEdTech @mfeldstein67 y'all should do a weekly PTI style podcast rundown of the issues raised each week in edtech. — Glenda Morgan (@morganmundum) January 15, 2016 In the process I ran across a talk from […]
The Massive Decline In Larger Education Company Market Caps
After our coverage of Blackboard’s CEO change last week, we were both interviewed by the Washington Business Journal, with the following lede: Analysts and sources I spoke with Monday, both on and off the record, said the decision to bring on Bill Ballhaus as CEO was a combination of Bhatt failing to make progress building […]
Parent Company of University of Phoenix Could Be Sold to Owner of McGraw-Hill Education
Apollo Education Group, parent company of the University of Phoenix as well as Apollo Global, is in “advanced talks” to be purchased by Apollo Global Management, owner of McGraw-Hill Education and of Cengage debt. Got that? To clarify, the Apollo Education Group is the parent company of the University of Phoenix, and they have a […]
Blackboard Replaces CEO Jay Bhatt: What happened
Just over four years since Providence Equity Partners acquired Blackboard and three years after they brought in Jay Bhatt to replace co-founder Michael Chasen, the company announced another change in CEO. Blackboard has removed Jay Bhatt and replaced him with Bill Ballhaus. The official reason from the announcement: Today, we are fortunate to be joined […]