WoodWing Software’s parent company has become “a substantial minority shareholder” in Dutch e-learning software startup Sowiso.
Based in Amsterdam, Sowiso – a spin-off company of Eindhoven University of Technology – develops e-learning technology for mathematics and related exact sciences. A cloud-based platform enables publishers and universities to create intelligent e-learning solutions.
WoodWing Holding hopes to boost the company’s growth both with funding and by leveraging its knowledge of building and operating an international software company. The investment will not affect Sowiso’s independent operation.
Its cloud-based e-learning platform is suited for complete e-learning courses and ‘massive open online courses’ (MOOC) – cloud-based courses aimed at large-scale interactive participation. All courses consist of theory, exercises and tests.
Features offered to support the learning process include extensive progress reports for teachers and students. The system is adaptive and helps students of different levels and didactic preferences by providing an optimal learning path. It not only detects errors, but also recognises what the error is – most other e-learning tools are limited to multiple-choice questions and binary correct/wrong feedback.
An authoring tool enables authors or teachers to create, manage and publish interactive e-learning content. Without the need for software programming knowledge, they can create interactive exercises. Leveraging HTML5, the system works on personal computers, tablets and smartphones – users do not need to install any software on their device.
Users already include Belgian publishing company De Boeck, the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and Amsterdam General Hospital.
"This strategic partnership will help SOWISO to accelerate its business, both domestically and across the border,” said Marc Habbema, one of the founders of Sowiso. "We are eager to expand so that students and teachers worldwide can benefit from our advanced e-learning technology for the exact sciences.”
WoodWing Holding board member Erik Schut says countries have to “turn their education upside down” to stay competitive in the global economy: “We are very impressed with Sowiso's e-learning technology and platform, which allows much better and personalised education. We are pleased to help them make a change in the global education market.”
Early this year, WoodWing Software launched a digital publishing initiative for the education sector, aimed at supporting textbook publishers to meet the challenges and opportunities of producing digital textbooks for schools.
Pictured: The e-learning platform developed by SOWISO detects and analyses errors in tests (left) and includes an authoring and reporting tool for teachers (right).