Edsby
| File:Edsby-standard.jpg | |
| File:EdsbyScreenshot.jpg | |
| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
Type of site | Learning management system |
| Founded | April 2010 |
| Key people | Steve Asbury, Jon Asbury, Scott Welch, John Myers |
| Industry | K-12 education |
| URL | edsby |
| Registration | Required |
| Users | Undisclosed |
| Current status | Active |
Edsby is a cloud-based software application that blends social networking with class and student management. It is intended to promote engagement between K-12 students, teachers, parents and school administrators.
Edsby, originally named CoreFour, was founded in April 2010 by the three original founders and architects of the FirstClass email and groupware product used widely in education, along with a longtime co-worker.[1] It offers K-12 school districts an array of online social learning tools–from gradebooks, attendance trackers, and parent-teacher communication features to content management and social classroom interaction–connected to their existing student information systems.[2]
Business model
The company is privately held. The company has had one funding round so far; it has collected around two million US dollars.[3][4]
Many education software companies pursue a freemium revenue model, giving away some functionality in a bid for wide adoption by end-users teachers and students, while planning to charge for other capabilities in the future. Edsby does not give away a free version. It sells its system directly to school districts and private schools and charges a traditional per-user charge, publicizing a penny-per-user-per-day pricing structure.[5] Also unconventionally, while other social learning tools rely on teachers to enter student and class data, Edsby synchronizes bi-directionally with school districts' legacy student information systems and creates and manages classes, students and teachers by leveraging districts' existing databases, speeding deployment and district-wide adoption.[6]
One significant usage of Edsby is the school district of Hillsborough County Public Schools. Edsby is deployed to all of the 194,000 students and 15,000 teachers at 260 schools in the district.[7] Edsby replaced a more expensive system, Edline, in September 2013 for grade books and parent engagement. District educator reaction has been positive, with some end-user grousing.[8]
Awards
The Edsby learning management system was named among District Administration's Readers’ Choice Top 100 Products for 2014.[9] In 2014, CIO Review called Edsby one of the 20 Most Promising Education Tech Service Providers.[10] Edsby won a 2014-2015 Readers’ Choice Award from eSchool News.[11] Edsby was the top winner of the 2013 Backbone Magazine Start Me up Innovation Campaign.[12] Edsby was voted company with the most potential to become a $1B company at the 2013 Mindshare Learning/MaRS EdTech Summit.[13] The company was also awarded Startup of the Year at the 2012 TechConnex Technology Leadership Awards on May 24, 2012.[14]
References
- ^ "Edsby takes home the top prize". Backbone Magazine. 2013-06-06.
- ^ "Edsby Gets Funding to Help Districts Deploy Social Learning Tools". EdSurge. 2014-01-21.
- ^ "CoreFour Announces Investment Round to Accelerate Growth of the Edsby Social Learning Platform". PRWeb. 2014-01-22.
- ^ "Edsby Gets Funding to Help Districts Deploy Social Learning Tools". EdSurge. 2014-01-21.
- ^ "Edsby: If You Want People to Use Your Software, Make Design a Priority". Backbone Magazine. 2013-06-25.
- ^ "Edsby Gets Funding to Help Districts Deploy Social Learning Tools". EdSurge. 2014-01-21.
- ^ "Hillsborough County Public Schools Selects Edsby Gradebook for District-wide Deployment". PRWeb. 2013-04-02.
- ^ "Hillsborough school district rolls out Edsby grade book system". Tampa Bay Times. 2013-09-02.
- ^ "K12 leaders pick favorite products". District Administration. 2014.
- ^ "Edsby: Unique Social Learning for School Districts". CIO Review. 2014.
- ^ "50 top ed-tech products, straight from educators". eSchool News. 2014.
- ^ "Edsby takes home the top prize". Backbone Magazine. 2013.
- ^ "4th Annual MindShare Learning Canadian EdTech Leadership Summit". 2013.
- ^ "TechConnex Technology Leadership Awards 2012 winners list". TechConnex.