Desire2Learn Harnesses the Power of Big Data, Delivers Predictive Analytics to Improve Learner Performance

KITCHENER-WATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 7, 2013) -

Editors Note: There are three photos associated with this press release.

Desire2Learn Incorporated ("Desire2Learn"), a leader in providing innovative learning solutions, today unveiled the newest Desire2Learn Learning Suite, marking a significant step for technology's role in advancing learning globally. With this release, Desire2Learn is bringing the power of predictive analytics to the learning industry-empowering instructors to better engage learners, guide learning outcomes and ultimately improve global course and degree attainment rates.

Featuring Student Success System™, an analytics engine that delivers fact-based and accurate insights on learning progress, the new Desire2Learn Learning Suite will improve learner engagement and instructor's insight into each individual's learning path.

"Harnessing the power of big data and analytics has transformed many industries, yet to date, the analytics to support next generation learning has been missing from education," said John Baker, President and CEO, Desire2learn. "With today's release, Desire2Learn will be delivering predictive analytics to millions of learners who will benefit from more successful outcomes. With this innovation, we can now provide valuable insights that will improve completion rates, lead to higher outcomes, and allow for the development of more impactful personal learning experiences."

The new Desire2Learn Learning Suite also includes advancements to mobile learning with Binder™, a powerful mobile learning app, and ePortfolio, an interactive resume that enables learners to develop rich portfolios and build upon them after they graduate.

POWERFUL NEW BENEFITS FOR INSTRUCTORS, LEARNERS & ORGANIZATIONS:

Instructors and Organizations Gain Deeper Insights

Student Success System: Building on its acquisition of Degree Compass three months ago, Desire2Learn continues to incorporate the power of predictive analytics into education. While Degree Compass uses predictive analytics to help learners optimize their course selection, the new Desire2Learn Student Success System helps instructors lift outcomes by anticipating learner challenges and progress.

The Student Success System provides instructors with rich, predictive data visualizations that compare and contrast at-risk learners with their peers, detects overall course risks and monitors a learner's progress. Real-time insight and visualizations into a learner's capabilities, peer dynamics and learning trends enable institutions to synthesize outcomes, engagement and assessment data to anticipate issues and adapt feedback and guidance accordingly. While most learning technologies primarily focus on these "at risk" learners, Student Success System also provides important insights for all learners.

Learners will be More Engaged and Instructors will be More Productive

Desire2Learn Binder: The Desire2Learn Binder mobile app offers learners the option of using their tablet to consume content - providing more choice and greater opportunities to personalize their learning experience. Deeply integrated with the Learning Environment, this latest release introduces Dropbox.com and Microsoft^® SkyDrive^® integration, enabling Binder users to engage with all types of learning resources in a way that is both familiar to them outside of the Learning Environment, while also supporting their increasingly busy lifestyles.

Seamless Discussions Experience: To promote engaging learning experiences, the updated Discussions tool encourages learners to engage in dialogue by providing a more natural and fluid user experience. Learners can participate in discussions directly from their course content without needing to switch applications, view a topic rubric from within a discussion to help them understand how they are being assessed, or easily send an email or page to a classmate by simply hovering over a user's profile.

Optimized Content Experience: Recognizing that a significant amount of time is spent on developing course content and grading assignments, this latest release offers options to save time on day-to-day tasks. The introduction of HTML templates provides instructors with rich, pre-defined templates to choose from when creating new course resources within Learning Environment, allowing them to focus on the content, not the presentation. The Desire2Learn content templates are designed to meet accessibility and mobility best practices to help instructors meet and exceed the requirements for learners of all types (e.g. supporting screen readers and other assistive technology) and using any device. The process of grading and providing feedback on assignment submissions has also been significantly streamlined via new offline grading enhancements made to the Desire2Learn dropbox tool, including simplified assignment mark-up capabilities.

Learners Receive Employment Support

ePortfolio for Life: Employers today are more interested in understanding what learners have accomplished, not just the degree they have attained. With ePortfolio and myDesire2Learn™, graduates can now continue to develop rich portfolios and build upon them after school. Learners can move their existing school content and personal artifacts, such as learning experiences and achievements, to the cloud so they can take their ePortfolio with them after graduation -- like an interactive resume. All learners receive 2 GB of free storage with myDesire2Learn.

More than 750 institutions participated in the creation of the newest Desire2Learn Learning Suite, which will be available to new and existing customers, and over 10 million users of Desire2Learn solutions. To learn more, visit http://Desire2Learn.com/products/learning-suite/, contact us at Sales@Desire2Learn.com or call 1-888-772-0325.

About Desire2Learn

Desire2Learn is helping to transform the way the world learns. Providing the next generation learning environment and solutions to engage and inspire lifelong learners, Desire2Learn helps clients break down barriers to access the highest quality learning experiences, and is recognized for its leadership in accessibility. Desire2Learn is a global leader in cloud (SaaS) based learning solutions and provides an open and extensible platform to over 750 clients and over 10 million learners in higher education, K-12, healthcare, government and the corporate sector, including the Fortune 1000. Desire2Learn has personnel in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Brazil and Singapore. For more information or to contact us, visit: http://www.Desire2Learn.com.

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