Knowledge House introduces SmarterTeams, an online course tool for collaborative, problem-based learning

Internet Strategies for Education Markets: The Heller Report, Jan, 2001

Knowledge House Inc. (Halifax, Nova Scotia, www.knowledgehouse.net) is bringing its solution for online collaborative, project-based learning (CPBL) to wider markets. The company previously offered training in medical and pharmaceutical markets, but two years ago it reorganized to create high school and college online learning offerings. Recently, the company launched Smarter Teams, a platform that supports online CPBL, a pedagogy that the company is passionate about. Now, the company is planning to both license the platform and to use it to build their own curriculum offerings. Rollie MacInnis, senior VP technology, says the company will also expand beyond their Canadian markets.

A SmarterTeams course is a cross between an online course and an online fieldtrip. Cross-curriculum courses created by Knowledge House typically run from six to eight weeks. Teams of students work on projects such as ezines, web pages, feasibility studies and formal consulting reports. Students can participate from anywhere they can get online.

Examples of modules for an employability skills program called KEY Certification include rising coastal waters, biotech, architecture through mathematics, nutrition for athletes, money management and migration's impact on history and literature. KEY will launch early this year.

Facilitators are trained to be the guide on the side, and the software's tools help them monitor how teams work together. Currently, all of the facilitators work from the Knowledge House offices. The company is also developing a training program so that a school using the platform can have their own teachers facilitate a course.

While the platform does overlap with features from other online course platforms (such as offerings from Blackboard., eCollege, JonesKnowleddge.com or WebCT), MacInnis says that SmarterTeams is more likely to be used as a companion product than as a competitor in that arena. SmarterTeams was developed on open standards such as XML, IMS and SCORM (Sharable Courseware Object Reference Model, an initiative run by the US Department of Defense to insure interchangeability of content). In addition to allowing SmarterTeams to work with other platforms, the standards allow Knowledge House to readily offer a different look and feel for different ages and to work with different devices and bandwidth. The company is, for example, running some experiments with Palm, Inc.

CPBL Markets

Knowledge House will begin their marketing of SmarterTeams and its related curriculum products in Canada. They recently received significant exposure with their prominent participation in the 14th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers held in late November. The company's work with Intels Canadian Model Schools and Teach to the Future programs are expected to provide routes to the American counterparts of those programs. Canadian partnerships with IBM and Lotus may also help the company find channels to American markets. The company also has strategic investors from Germany who can facilitate entry to European markets. A French version of SmarterTeams will soon be available, and MacInnis says that a software architecture based on technical standards facilitates translations to other languages.

In-house curriculum design, says MacInnis, will initially focus on either side of high school, though they intend to move into earlier grades in the K-12 segment. In June, Knowledge House introduced The Global Baccalaureate, an 18-month program designed for students who have completed high school and are in transition from secondary school to post-secondary education or to work. They also have a product called Team Wise, a five-week pilot developed with Chignector-Central School Board, Intel of Canada and MTT (Maritime Telephone and Telegraph).

Knowledge House has been publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE:KHI) since 1988. With it's repositioning in 1999, the company acquired MicroNet Information Systems, Innovative Systems Ltd., Silicon Island Art and Innovation Centre, and Centre for Distance Education (CDE). It sold CDE to McKenzie College in November. The company has also created a research and development fund to finance new business and program development. The fund had approximately $3 million for investments in new partnerships and proprietary program initiatives in 2000. The company has a comparable fund for 2001.?