Globally leading video-based platform Echo360 has this week announced that it has merged with Turning, the world’s premier provider of learning engagement platforms for education, business, and government sectors.
This integration combines Echo360’s advanced video recording, streaming, and video content management features with Turning’s expansive suite of learning engagement, authoring, and content solutions, delivering a holistic learning engagement experience for teachers and students in a range of environments.
Additional capital from Centre Lane Partners will allow platform Echo360 to expand their current offering in response to market demand.
Growth and expansion
Operating under the Echo360 brand name, the merging will allow the platform to expand its reach both geographically and across core learning markets such as K12 education, government, and corporate learning.
Chief executive officer Murad Velani will oversee operations, leading the combined company in their services across 1000 colleges and universities worldwide.
“Our mission is to create remarkable learning experiences for instructors and learners no matter who they are, where they are, or how they choose to learn, and video is an essential tool to enable the level of engagement we strive for in service to our customers around the world,” said Velani.
“Together Echo360 and Turning deliver the scale to be the global leader in learning engagement across every sector, and expands our ability to create equitable, engaged learning for all. Both companies have remarkable talent, a track record of innovation and impact, and together provide global scale at a time when learning demands and expectations around the world are being challenged and redefined daily.”
Student engagement
The combination of Turning’s student engagement tools and Echo360’s video-based solutions is set to create a highly interactive hybrid learning environment that harnesses the instructional power and learning potential of video.
This acquisition will redefine the learning engagement ecosystem, bringing a robust video management system capability to Turning’s proven learning engagement solutions to create a transformational SaaS platform at scale that will accelerate growth for the company – Ken Lau, co-founder and managing director at Centre Lane Partners LLC
Students and faculty will be able to utilise the platform to engage with course material at a deeper level and collaborate more effectively with their peers. Students can acces content and videos at any time and can take notes that are automatically time-synched to moments within the recorded lecture. Faculty can gauge student comprehension through live quizzes and advanced interactive audience response.
To ensure the student experience is ever-improving, faculty can also access a suite of analytics and features to best track student learning and engagement in real-time. Built specifically for the cloud, instructors can use the platform from wherever they are, on any device, to record and create content, give, and receive feedback, and gain real-time insight into a student’s learning journey.
Ken Lau, co-founder and managing director at Centre Lane Partners LLC, comments: “Delivering proven Turning solutions like Dojo360, Point Solutions, and ExamView within a holistic Echo360 video learning experience to existing and new customers unlocks expansive growth opportunities, and we are committed to supporting this investment and management team.”
A hand for hybrid learning
The pandemic accelerated the need for video and digital learning alternatives within educational institutions.
Approaches that allow for hybrid and flexible learning are now a key priority for schools and students, with a recent survey showing that 73% of students preferred online learning and a further 57% of faculty preffered teaching hybrid courses following the pandemic.
Fred Singer, former Echo360 CEO who will be joining the merger’s team, said: “The fit between Turning and Echo360 is a natural one, and one that will immediately benefit the expanded segments.”
“The unexpected need to transform campus life in 2020 forced a shift in our understanding of what’s possible within a digital classroom and the broader educational technology ecosystem. Coming out of that experience, we’ve been seeing universities across the globe rethink the role of technology in creating more meaningful, more flexible, and more satisfying experiences for students and faculty alike. The combined platform supplemented with significant capital resources will ensure Echo360 continued leadership.”
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