With the long-term rise in Ed Tech investments – starting in roughly 2007 – many analysts have been predicting a fall for several years. Maybe not a bubble burst like we saw in 2001, but a real drop in activity and volume. Now we also find out that there is also a 70% drop in mergers and acquisition […]
Educational technology
Instructure Releases 4th Security Audit, With a Crowd-sourcing Twist
In the fall of 2011 I made the following argument: We need more transparency in the LMS market, and clients should have access to objective measurements of the security of a solution. To paraphrase Michael Feldstein’s suggestions from a 2009 post: There is no guarantee that any LMS is more secure just because they say they are […]
Say What? Buzzfeed follows up on D2L story with solid reporting
In a post last month I questioned the growth claims that D2L was pushing to the media based on their recent massive funding round. A key part of the article was pointing out the lack of real reporting from news media. It is worth noting that not a single media outlet listed by EDUKWEST or […]
D2L raises $85 million but growth claims defy logic
Yesterday D2L announced a second round of investment, this time raising $85 million (a mix of debt and equity) to go with their $80 million round two years ago (see EDUKWEST for a useful roundup of news and article links). While raising $165 million is an impressive feat, does this funding give us new information on […]
Three Makes a Movement: Branson creates youth panel for student voice in ed tech
Based on my involvement in the Evolve conference sponsored by the 20 Million Minds Foundation, held in January, I wrote a series of posts covering the discussions around online education and educational technology. The three main posts: Evolve Conference Analysis: Move Past Status Quo and Focus on Student Success Evolve Analysis: Student Success in Online Requires […]
Six Months After Layoffs: No signs of growth at Desire2Learn
Late last year I wrote a post about Desire2Learn’s laying off more than 7% of the workforce, speculating that something had changed at the company. In particular, I didn’t buy the company line about continued growth. In the end, I have trouble believing that these recent cuts are solely based on improving Desire2Learn’s growth without needing […]
Instructure releases their third public security audit
In the fall of 2011 I made the following argument: We need more transparency in the LMS market, and clients should have access to objective measurements of the security of a solution. To paraphrase Michael Feldstein’s suggestions from a 2009 post: There is no guarantee that any LMS is more secure just because they say they […]