GLOBAL ODYSSEY: "Around the world, publishers are trying to figure out how to address personalized learning," Knewton's COO David Liu tells EdSurge. And many of them are turning to Knewton. On May 21, the NY-based startup that has become the poster child for Big Data in education announced its latest partner: Gyldendal, the largest and oldest publishing house in Norway. Knewton has now partnered with 15 publishers around the globe.
As with its other partnerships, Knewton's adaptive learning engine works in the background to "power" products that publishers build. Knewton provides the back-end technology that tags all of the publishers' content with metadata and map them onto a learning path. As students work through the materials, Knewton's algorithms will detect where they are struggling and suggest resources. The products built by the publisher then use this information to recommend other materials.
This is currently how Pearson's MyLab & Mastering and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Personal Math Trainer work. Gyldendal will use Knewton's technology to build Smart Øving, an adaptive learning application for Norweigian students.
Liu says Knewton is currently in talks to cement a similar deal with Chungdahm Learning, a South Korean education company. In addition, he says the company "will have a V1 [first version] of a consumer-facing product sometime in the fall."
