Enlearn, a Seattle nonprofit developing a platform for adapting and personalizing digital educational materials, has revealed its first commercial partner.

enlearnEnlearn’s education technology platform will provide the basis for a new product for schools from Voyager Sopris Learning, one of the largest U.S. educational publishers of intervention and supplementary materials in grades K-12. Enlearn will make the official announcement at the SXSWedu conference in Austin next week,

Details of the new product itself have not been announced, but the subject area is English language arts (ELA) and reading comprehension. That, by itself, is significant, notes Enlearn CEO John Mullin.

“Our platform applies generative adaptation to both math and ELA (including reading comprehension), not just math like other adaptive providers,” Mullin says. “VSL clearly recognizes the huge need for and potential benefits of adaptation in ELA, and we’re excited to be able to help them improve teaching and learning in this area.”

Enlearn’s platform is one of a number of attempts to personalize learning for students using technology, including those by DreamBox Learning in Bellevue.

Zoran Popovic
Zoran Popovic

But Enlearn’s pedigree is somewhat unique in that it’s a nonprofit founded by Zoran Popovic, well-known for the computer-based protein folding “game” Foldit. Popovic serves as director of the University of Washington Center for Game Science. The Enlearn platform, which works with curriculum materials on tablets and the web, has been piloted in schools in Seattle, Federal Way and Minnesota.

The most recent pilots, Mullin says, used a math curriculum from JUMP Math of Toronto.

Popovic will describe what Enlearn calls it’s “generative adaption” approach to customizing materials on-the-fly for individual students next week in Austin at SXSWedu, the education-focused event in the SXSW family of conferences and festivals. Popovic’s presentation takes place on Tuesday.

Previously on GeekWire: Seattle nonprofit Enlearn tackles thorny task: Personalize school with technology

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