University-Led Unizin Acquires Digital Text Platform Company Courseload
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 07/30/15
Two education technology organizations have become one. Recently, Unizin acquired
Courseload to add employees and
technology to its university-funded efforts to build the tools for managing all aspects of digital teaching and learning.
Unizin, which is housed within Internet2, consists of a group of schools funding creation of a set of applications to replace existing
campus systems licensed from learning management system providers and other companies. Housed in Austin, the consortium includes big names:
the University of Michigan, the University
of Florida, Indiana University and eight other institutional members. Each member
contributes to funding Unizin's work.
Courseload was a company that created an e-text reader platform and additional utilities for delivering digital content, whether it
consisted of open educational resources, publisher materials or faculty-compiled "course packs." The buyout provides Unizin with Courseload
Engage, an online learning and collaboration tool that delivers textbooks and other resources in digital form that can be searched,
highlighted, bookmarked and annotated.
Indiana U was an early adopter of Courseload. The institution put it in place to support a five-year e-text project. According to Anastasia
Morrone, associate vice president of learning technologies, "The inclusion of Courseload data will increase analytics capabilities and
facilitate opportunities for faculty collaboration and content sharing across Unizin institutions."
Unizin was drawn to Courseload, noted Chief Operating Officer Robin Littleworth in a prepared statement, because it "lends itself well to
the Unizin services roadmap for content and analytics." The integration of the software "will provide a complete path for faculty to create
content, deliver it across a range of student-preferred devices and gain insights to improve instruction."
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.