5 EdTech Innovators That Drive Better Learning Outcomes

All five use the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud to get the scale, agility, security, and efficiency they need to elevate learning in schools, private sector settings, and public sector agencies.

Ellucian   
ellucian.com

Bringing SaaS to Higher Education 

Mission: Ellucian is a global company focused exclusively on higher education, with 2,900 customers serving 22 million students in 50 countries. Ellucian offers cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications across its technology portfolio, which includes enterprise resource management (ERP) and student information systems (SIS).

“Ellucian is a thought leader focused on improving student outcomes and driving change for education institutions,” says Kim Hathcock, partner account manager with AWS.

Learning impacts: Ellucian meets the needs of customers and end users by helping schools embrace the scale and agility of mission-critical applications hosted in the cloud.

Ellucian also helps campus leaders achieve sustainability goals. A project at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., illustrates how SaaS and sustainability are converging. GWU partnered with Ellucian to move its ERP and SIS platforms from on-premises environments to SaaS/cloud infrastructures. Retiring on-premises hardware reduces the university’s energy costs and simplifies IT operations, creating opportunities to focus more on its mission of educating future leaders.

Gaggle
gaggle.net

Mission: Gaggle’s cloud-based platform monitors K-12 students’ school accounts and devices, using AI to detect content that could suggest emotional problems or mental health episodes. Gaggle’s technology enables school leaders to intervene proactively and prevent tragedies.

Learning impacts: Schools rarely have enough resources to address students’ mental health needs quickly and effectively. “Almost all districts have a mental health staffing crisis,” says Stacie Ward, partner acceleration manager with AWS. Gaggle’s AI-enabled filter puts people and tools together to close this gap. “It’s also reviewed by an actual human who can then decide whether it’s an urgent threat,” Ward adds. “They have countless stories of how they were able to intervene in enough time to produce positive outcomes.”

Gaggle has also developed a service called ReachOut, a 24-hour hotline that connects students with trained counselors around the clock. Students can tap into the service via text, phone, or webchat. “It’s available to students in the way they want to communicate,” Ward says.

Pluralsight
pluralsight.com

Upskilling Teachers and Students

Mission: Pluralsight’s online learning platform provides technical training across a wide spectrum of specialties and disciplines. While the platform has clear benefits for students who want to gain skills in areas like AI and cloud computing, it also helps teachers — especially in higher education — understand the latest technology trends.

Learning impacts: Teachers pressed for time need help bulking up the technological components of their coursework. Pluralsight’s services help them complement their courses with high-quality, up-to-date content that builds in-demand skills.

For instance, Pluralsight partners with Utah Valley State University to keep professors’ tech skills current. “They’ve acknowledged that if faculty fall behind, then students are likely to fall behind as well,” says Randy Jones, partner account manager with AWS. Pluralsight provides a cloud-based sandbox where students and teachers can gain hands-on experience with the latest technologies.

Pluralsight has also developed a service called Skill IQ that provides sophisticated insights into students’ skills and proficiencies. With Skill IQ, teachers can compare students’ abilities to those of their peers worldwide

Udemy
udemy.com

Providing a Course Marketplace for Instructors and Learners

Mission: Udemy’s crowd-sourced online learning platform uses marketplace principles and cloud capabilities to match students with the teachers and coursework best suited to their individual needs.

“Udemy’s marketplace model is similar to the Uber model: Anyone can be a teacher, and anyone can be a learner,”’ says Mack Bickle, partner account manager with AWS. Students’ reviews of instructors and course materials help course creators fine-tune their work to reach a broader audience.

Learning impacts: Udemy’s platform makes it easy for instructors to craft courses based on their specific expertise. Udemy courses are available in 16 languages, giving the platform global reach. Moreover, Udemy Business offers employers a catalog of more than 20,000 courses that can be custom designed for specific disciplines and marketplace needs.

Competition lures students and employers to the best course creators, which pays off in fast-moving technology disciplines. “This marketplace model allows teachers to provide the freshest, most up-to-date content, capturing the evolution of technology in near real time,” Bickle says.
 

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