PreK-12 Market Headlines
StudySync Doubles Accounts with Schools
BookheadEd Learning, LLC — Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Award-Winning Supplemental Curriculum Now Serves; Tens of Thousands of Students Across North America
ORLANDO, Florida (Jan. 25, 2012) – On the eve of its first anniversary, StudySync (www.studysync.com) the web-based supplemental curriculum from BookheadEd Learning, LLC, announced today that it has nearly doubled its accounts with teachers and administrators, and now reaches tens of thousands students in the U.S and Canada.
The company made the announcement at FETC 2012, the Florida Educational Technology Conference, under way in Orlando through Feb. 26. At FETC on Thursday, StudySync’s Ryan Bubalo will discuss how technology can increase student engagement and promote social learning.
Aligned to the Common Core and aimed at middle school and high school students, StudySync enlists broadcast-quality video, digital media, mobile platforms and social learning to advance reading, writing and critical thinking. Since its launch in January 2011 with 12 lessons, StudySync has seen near-100 percent growth with a marked increase in educator participation, via trial, pilot, and paid accounts.
StudySync’s exclusive multimedia content is likewise expanding at a rapid clip. SyncTV now includes some 50 episodes, and the StudySync library is approaching 400 unique titles. Another 100 titles are in development, with release anticipated in the first quarter. In 2011, the company completed a dozen middle school SyncTV episodes with a new set and a younger, high school-age cast for grades 6-9, and expects to have 20 completed by February.
“On a number of important fronts, the response to our offering has been gratifying, particularly as our teachers report an increase in reading and writing among their students using StudySync,” said BookheadEd CEO Robert Romano, who attributed StudySync’s growth to the enthusiasm of its users – teachers, administrators and students alike. “It’s been especially encouraging to see the product expand organically, as teachers and students experience our approach to social learning and engage with classic and modern texts in a compelling new way.“
Romano cited the spate of industry awards and critical acclaim that have contributed to StudySync’s momentum. District Administrator named StudySync one of the Top 100 Products of 2011, Scholastic included StudySync in its “Top Software Picks for 2011,” and the product earned the EdTech Digest “Cool Tool” Award, while HowToLearn.com dubbed StudySync one of the year’s Best Back-to-School Websites. And in conferring its EDDIE Award on the software, ComputED Gazette called StudySync “stunning…flawless” and “an impressive example of 21st Century innovation that should be made available to all high school students.”
Extending Momentum into 2012
StudySync enters the new year looking to build on these milestones by expanding its accessibility, scope and subscription rate. StudySync has already added closed-captioning, voice-over reading, and annotation capability to its texts in order to enhance learning for all students. Future developments pre-ready glossaries and writing prompts specific to the Common Core for all library texts and lessons, as well as the development of a mobile app and a refreshed corporate website. Meanwhile, monthly rollouts of new content, along with enhancements to the interface and to tech support, promise to make the software even more collaborative, effective and seamless.
According to Romano, these changes “promote engaged learning and directly address the needs of today’s teachers and make StudySync an “indispensible tool for teachers looking to engage multimedia technology for collaboration and social learning.”
In addition to monthly expansion in features, titles, and content, strategic initiatives will begin in the first quarter of 2012 with expanded educational research that aims to strengthen StudySync’s value proposition, and a market expansion concentrated on English language Learning and charter school markets at the district and state-wide levels.
About BookheadEd Learning, LLC
BookheadEd Learning connects high school and middle school students to the great ideas of mankind through technology, multimedia, and a rich library of classic and modern texts. StudySync, its award-winning flagship product, uses web-delivered educational tools – including broadcast-quality video, digital media, mobile platforms and social networking —to help teachers inspire higher levels of students’ reading, writing, critical thinking, academic discourse and peer-to-peer collaboration. Based in Sonoma, Calif, BookheadEd is comprised of educators and experts who believe “Together We’re Smarter.” To learn more about BookheadEd Learning and its StudySync educational platform, visit www.studysync.com.
