Acrobatiq Launches Today, Aims to Improve Learning Outcomes in Higher Ed

PITTSBURGH, July 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Acrobatiq, a subsidiary of Carnegie Mellon University, announced today that it will offer customizable courseware, learning analytics capabilities and consulting services to educational institutions looking to improve learning outcomes for students, beginning in August. The new company is a spinoff from CMU's successful Open Learning Initiative (OLI), a recognized leader and pioneer in online learning since 2001.

OLI's approach—building learner-centered courseware informed by the science of learning—has measurably improved learning outcomes in repeated studies. This approach will comprise the foundation of Acrobatiq's learning methodologies.  

The formation of Acrobatiq will make new courses available, and expand the activity of OLI by launching data-driven analytics products and consulting services. The Company will accelerate the pace of innovation and provide a financially sustainable model to develop courses and analytics more quickly, while also making them more widely available to four-year universities, community colleges and for-profit schools across the country.

Acrobatiq's management team features several key members of the former OLI team, including two of OLI's founders. Other members of the Acrobatiq management team have held senior positions at large, global higher education companies.

"We are thrilled to have the backing of CMU and the talent we need to bring the proven findings of OLI to market on a larger scale. With Acrobatiq, more institutions and their faculty and students will benefit from data-driven courses and learning analytics built on the science of how people learn," said Acrobatiq CEO Eric Frank.  

Acrobatiq is also committed to supporting current OLI users without interruption, and will honor all agreements institutions had with OLI, even those that were discounted or free. It will continue to maintain a catalog of free and openly licensed courses that can be accessed globally, and will continue to make its tools available to education researchers at no cost.  

The OLI approach will continue to be part of CMU's ongoing work in the area of technology-enhanced teaching and learning. CMU will continue to leverage OLI and other educational technologies to promote the important research breakthroughs in applied learning for which the University is famous. 

*OLI is a trademark of Carnegie Mellon University

About Acrobatiq

Acrobatiq is a science and technology-enabled education courseware, learning analytics and consulting company founded at Carnegie Mellon University. It is built on CMU's historic strengths in cognitive science, human-centered user experience design and software engineering. Acrobatiq enables faculty and institutions of higher education to produce measurable improvements in learning outcomes for students, helping to create a world in which every student can realize his or her fullest potential.

SOURCE Acrobatiq