Nelson and Microsoft Partnering to Transform Education in Canada

TORONTO, March 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Nelson, Canada's leading educational publisher, and Microsoft Corporation, announce a strategic partnership to explore the future of classroom learning for K–12 schools. Nelson will leverage its 103-year history of crafting world-class learning resources to create an educational ecosystem, powered in part by Microsoft and delivered to each student and teacher on a Microsoft Windows device.

Microsoft's Vice President of Worldwide Education, Anthony Salcito, and Nelson's President and CEO, Steve Brown, made the announcement during Microsoft's Education Exchange 2017, which celebrates content, pedagogy, and technology that enable student success.

"Microsoft continues to innovate its education offering and, through strong partnerships with trusted education companies like Nelson, our combined solution offerings will only get better.  We are excited about how this partnership will drive innovation in the Canadian market and beyond," said Anthony Salcito.

By pairing immersive learning resources and education-focused software with a device for each student and teacher, Microsoft and Nelson are looking to solve many of the challenges in the shifting educational landscape. Nelson also plans to use the machine-learning capabilities and analytics of Microsoft Azure to optimize the device's learning path to improve student outcomes.

"Our shared vision to empower students and innovate the learning experience has forged our partnership. Together, we will transform student learning into a fully integrated experience by merging Microsoft's technology with Nelson's pedagogical content," said Steve Brown. "Our two teams are currently deep in the development phase, with the end goal of delivering a single-device solution that will unify the current fragmented digital-learning landscape."

Pilots are scheduled for the fall, ahead of a full product launch in 2018.

About Nelson

Nelson is Canada's leading educational publisher, providing innovative products and solutions for learners of all ages. Nelson values and respects the lifelong learning continuum and dedicates its business efforts to the diverse learning needs of students and educators alike.

SOURCE Nelson