Digital learning company McGraw-Hill Education, US, has acquired Area9 Aps, an adaptive learning company, which the company has partnered with to deliver personalised learning experiences through technology since 2007. In January 2013, McGraw-Hill Education purchased a 20 percent equity stake in Area9. The latest agreement covers the 80 percent of the equity in Area9 that McGraw-Hill Education did not already own. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition marks the culmination of a longstanding relationship between the two companies and solidifies McGraw-Hill Education's position as the leader in adaptive learning, a method of education that helps drive student performance by making learning more personalised and efficient. McGraw-Hill LearnSmart, the result of the first collaboration between McGraw-Hill Education and Area9, immediately became the leading adaptive study tool in higher education upon its release in 2009. At the Consumer Electronics Show in 2013, McGraw-Hill Education expanded the number of products built on the LearnSmart technology with the release of the LearnSmart Advantage™ suite of adaptive learning products, which included SmartBook™, the first-ever adaptive e-book for higher education.
Area9 is the second major acquisition that McGraw-Hill Education has recently made in the area of adaptive learning. In 2013, McGraw-Hill Education acquired the ALEKS Corporation, a developer of adaptive learning technology for K-12 and higher education targeted toward the subjects of math and chemistry.
The LearnSmart Advantage suite of adaptive learning products continually assesses students' knowledge and skill levels to design personalised study paths that help students improve in the areas where they need to improve the most. By allowing students to focus their outside-of-class study time on the topics and concepts that are most challenging to them, McGraw-Hill Education's adaptive solutions have been shown to help students study more efficiently, develop greater proficiency, and earn better grades.
