Itslearning

Itslearning AS
Stock company
Industry Educational
Genre Learning management system
Founded 1999 in Bergen, Norway
Headquarters Bergen, Norway
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Ulf Sven Ivar Mattsson (Chairman)
Arne Bergby[1](CEO)
Website itslearning.com

Itslearning is a digital learning management system developed by the Norwegian company itslearning AS and designed for both lower and higher degrees of education: from kindergartens and primary schools to colleges.[2]

Itslearning is among the top 15 LMS for higher education worldwide, with about 1% of the market in Europe.[3]

History

The system was created by a group of students at Bergen University College in 1998 as a master's project on the topic of "virtual classrooms".[4][1] A group of teachers asked whether the system could be created, and after receiving a sum of start-up money from the College itslearning was created following year in 1999, and Bergen University College became the first user of the system.[4][1] The company was first established as "it:solutions".[4]

In 2004, Arne Bergby became CEO of itslearning.[4] As of 2015 Bergby owns 9.16% of the holding company in ownership of itslearning.[1] A U.S. office was opened in 2009 in Massachusetts.[4] In 2013, itslearning acquired SkoleIntra, and in 2015 Fronter.[4] In 2014, 40% of the company was sold to the Swedish private equity fund EQT. The company at the time was valued at 600 million NOK ($73 million).[1]

Itslearning experimented and abandoned some markets such as Spain and Italy, where it was difficult to generate revenue.[1]

As of 2016, the company headquarters are in Bergen, Norway, with offices in Atlanta, Berlin, Boston, Copenhagen, Enschede, Helsinki, Milton Keynes, Malmö, Mulhouse, and Paris.

Content

The system is an arena for communication and cooperation, as well as a tool for administration, evaluation and following up on students/pupils. Itslearning is specially adapted for schools, and enables publishing of subject schedules, and individual or group messages (as to a class). In project assignments, students can create groups where files may be uploaded, or ideas discussed. It's also possibly to create and publish tests and competitions in the system. Assignments may be published with or without a deadline, and hand-ins may be uploaded digitally, with options for grading the hand-in digitally and displaying the assessment to the student. There is also access to ePortfolio, which allows each member to create a presentation of themselves. Such homepage contains a blog, and possibilities to upload pictures, etc.

Users

Itslearning claims to have over four million active users worldwide, mainly in the United States, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Brazil.[1] Over 900.000 users exist in Norway alone,[5] one of the few countries where Moodle is not first by market share.[6]

In Norway, the system is used extensively by several schools and educational institutions: itslearning is used by universities such as Norwegian School of Economics, BI Norwegian Business School, Norwegian School of Information Technology and University of Stavanger. Additionally, it is used by primary, middle and high schools. The county municipalities of Akershus, Buskerud, Hordaland, Hedmark, Nordland, Nord-Trøndelag, Rogaland, Sør-Trøndelag, Vest-Agder and Vestfold all use itslearning in high schools.

Several US school districts use itslearning as its school platform, including Dallas, Clear Creek,[7] Oslo and Stockholm.[8]

Reception

The few publicly available evaluation of itslearning indicate that its users are satisfied with the system: a survey carried out in 2003 showed that a high percentage of users at Bergen University College were pleased with the system.[9] A second survey carried out in conjunction with a master's degree showed that 67% of students at different faculties at Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Sør-Trøndelag University College are satisfied or very satisfied with itslearning.[10]

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lilleby, Jan. "Nedturen har vært å prøve oss i markeder vi ikke har lyktes i". E24. E24. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  2. ↑ Østerbø, Kjell. "Itslearning blir størst i Europa". Bergens Tidende. bt.no. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  3. ↑ "Blackboard, Moodle still LMS leaders". www.insidehighered.com. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 2017-09-07.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "About us". itslearning.com. itslearning. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  5. ↑ Jørgenrud, Marius. "Da Itslearning krasjet måtte de fly inn nye komponenter. Opptil 2 millioner brukere rammet". Digi.no. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  6. ↑ "Europe Report: Moodle Market Share Leader Almost Everywhere". Moodle News. 2016-12-14.
  7. ↑ "Texas District Adopts itslearning LMS -- THE Journal". thejournal.com. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  8. ↑ "Elevens lärande viktigt när Stockholms stad väljer ny leverantör". Mynewsdesk. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  9. ↑ Rapport: Evaluering av It's learning
  10. ↑ Masteroppgave: User Acceptance of Information Technology - An Empirical Study of It's Learning
  11. ↑ E-læringspris til it's learning
  12. ↑ Pris til It's learning
  13. ↑ Dataingeniører vant Etablererpris
  14. ↑ Rising star winner
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