Jose Ferreira, Knewton Founder & CEO
Jose Ferreira, Knewton Founder & CEO
The Knewton platform is a cloud-based, adaptive learning technology that continuously analyzes student data to provide the most relevant learning activities to each individual student at that particular moment in time. The program makes its recommendations to the student by harnessing not only that student’s data, but the data that is collected from all students. Knewton has recently partnered with several well-known educational publishers, including Pearson and Wiley, to power their online assessment systems.
The company was founded by Harvard MBA graduate Jose Ferreira in 2008, and in 2011 it was named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum at Davos, and Mr. Ferreira was elected to the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Education in 2012.
Technology Pioneer 2011: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR2TTPNfjAE
When you look back at history, all the great moments that defined the human race were about education – Greco-Roman civilization, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution. I’m convinced that we’re on the verge of the fourth big revolution.
-JOSE FERREIRA, KNEWTON FOUNDER & CEO
Mr. Ferreira has an extensive background in entrepreneurship, investment and education. Prior to founding Knewton, Mr. Ferreira was Partner at New Atlantic Ventures (formerly Draper Atlantic), investing in new media and SaaS companies. His background also includes being the founder and CEO of DizzyCity, Inc., and he was also the Managing Director of New Markets at Kaplan Inc. where he led a group responsible for redesigning the company’s courses.
The members of Knewton’s executive team is also exceptionally impressive and have extensive backgrounds in technology and education, with prior experience at many well known companies and organizations, including AOL, PayPal, Audible.com, LinkShare, Blackboard, eCollege, eSchool Solutions, Educational Testing Service (ETS), the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) and The Princeton Review.
REFERENCES:
http://www.knewton.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jose-ferreira
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2011/11/01/pearson-knewton-team-up-to-personalize-college/
Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
joeltremblay 4:38 pm on September 25, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Isn’t this just an updated form of standardized testing though? The credentials of the team are impressive to be sure and if it works it would really be something, but if the data is being analyzed and acted on by a computer how is this better for the students who are already lacking in face time to begin with?
coralk 8:55 am on September 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I actually think of this as the opposite of standardized testing – the system learns about each individual student and provides that student with the specific learning activities that they need in order to learn best. It helps them make the most of their study time by feeding them questions about the topics that they are having the most trouble with. From their website:
The platform is continuously adaptive, meaning it responds in real time to each student’s activity on the system and adjusts to provide the most relevant content. Some Knewton recommendations are straightforward: having trouble with algebraic expressions involving fractions? The platform may serve up a video lesson on how to multiply fractions. Other times the recommendation may veer seemingly off-course: struggling with a uniform rate word problem? The platform may recommend a reading comp exercise – having determined that weak critical reading skills are more likely at fault than gaps in math knowledge.
joeltremblay 11:55 am on September 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Don’t get me wrong, it’s an interesting idea, especially if it works. However it seems to function on the same premise as Google/Facebook advertising by tracking your progress and then using algorithms that are sometimes accurate. The reason I compare it to standardized testing is that regardless of the adaptive nature of the program, is that it still requires a broad based approach, at least initially, to focus in and gauge the trends or directions that the student is moving in. This to me, is an updated form of standardized testing because it doesn’t individualize the learning until it has the opportunity to learn more about you and instead using a blanketed methodology that may or may not be useful depending on the learning style. Good article though and definitely thought provoking.
rebecca42 11:57 am on September 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
We use a somewhat similar program called Reading Plus in our district. It tests reading skills and constantly changes what level the students are at based on their current performance. It’s great for this specific area and even though initially I was skeptical it has worked wonders for many students. It is nowhere near as complex as Knewton, but it follows a similar idea, where it assesses student need and assigns levelled activities based on student needs.
kstackhouse 9:29 am on September 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Interesting to see that it is using cloud-based technology. I am curious to see how other companies will take advantage of the cloud movement. I think more gain be gained than the basic sharing possibilities associated with the cloud. The act of collaboration and creative work within the cloud will be an interesting tool in education and business.
Ken
adi 12:32 pm on September 28, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I see this as a good option for paced learning. Maaaaannyyy years ago I went to an experimental school in Iowa City, called Ernest Horn School. For all subjects there were a set of files full of activities that each student would work through at their own pace. The teacher, rather than teach everyone at once, became a kind of facilitator. Depending on how we did, what came next in terms of the content of each students’ individual course. What Knewton has done ,is to take this idea online. It sounds like an amazing system, even if not always very accurate. I also think that Ferreira did a great job of partnering with a key player to make this a success; what better than a major publishing company. It’s what we read about this week; the need to not only have a great idea, but to make sure you partner with people who can make the idea grow.
coralk 2:02 pm on September 28, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Yes – I agree. A lot of the MyLabs containing Knewton are just being released now and I’ve been reading about the new MyFoundationsLab with Knewton (developmental reading, writing and math) to see exactly how it works. From what I’ve seen so far the system asks the student to take an assessment and builds a personalized learning path for that student, but then as they start to work through their learning path, it changes based on how they are doing. There are also features built in for instructors, such as alerts when students are in trouble, and information on topics that the system is recommending for the student that are not covered in that particular class.
stammik 11:41 am on October 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Here is a terrific profile of Jose and adaptive learning, published at Mashable today:
http://mashable.com/2012/07/17/knewton-adaptive-learning/