Impact at Scale: The Learning Platform Series

It will soon be easier to create a sequence of powerful learning experiences for students — and do it consistently well at scale. More than a thousand people powered by a half a billion dollars of venture funding are hard at work on next-gen platforms.

For the next six weeks we’ll be reviewing progress on next-gen learning platforms. We’ve already discussed how learning will work in the near future,  what next-gen learning platforms should do, and how and why students should own their own learning record.

What are we looking for? The districts and school developers we’re working with want a platform that:

• Powers personal learning plans
• Supports development of standards-aligned projects
• Makes it easy to to combine proprietary, open, district, and teacher developed content
• Combines formative assessment in a standards-based grade book
• Integrates with other system, provides single sign-on for lots of apps, and
• Connect students, parents, and teachers anywhere on any device.

The series includes product reviews on leading platforms including:

• Buzz by Agilix
• Canvas by Instructure
• Edsby
• ItsLearning
• Peak from FuelEd
• Edmodo
• Mileposts by Silverback
• Realizeit
• Fishtree
• Schoology
• Gaggle

What should we add to the list? Comment below or tweet us with @Getting_Smart with #LearningPlatforms.

This blog is part of the Learning Platforms Series brought to you by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. For more, stay tuned in for the final published project, Getting Smart on Next-Gen Learning Platforms and check out additional posts in the series:

• Smart List: 20 Learning Platforms
• Beyond the LMS: What Next-Gen Learning Platforms Should Do
• How Learning Will Work in the Near Future: 12 Features of Next-Gen Platforms
• Engagement and Employability Driving Next-Gen Platforms
• Instructure Raises $40M, Launches Corporate Training Platform