Fishtree Inc. is an
Educational Technology
Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, edtech, it often refer ...
Company that provides a
personalized learning
Personalized learning, individualized instruction, personal learning environment and direct instruction all refer to efforts to tailor education to meet the different needs of students.
Overview
The use of the term "personalized learning" dates ba ...
platform for
K–12
K–12, from kindergarten to 12th grade, is an American English expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States, which is similar to publicly supported school grade ...
and
Higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...
. As of March 2015, the Fishtree platform is being used by nearly 500,000 users worldwide in multiple languages including English, Spanish, and Mandarin.
History
In 2012, Fishtree Inc. was founded by CEO Terry Nealon and CTO Jim Butler. In 2015, the company announced it had raised $3 million (€2.7 million) in venture capital funding to expand in the U.S. education marketplace. Investors in the company include New Markets Venture Partners in
Fulton, Maryland;
Recruit (company)
is a human resources Company (law), company headquartered in Japan. It was founded as "Daigaku Shimbun Koukokusha" in 1960 as an advertisement company that specialized in university newspapers. It owns the job search engine Indeed and the empl ...
based in
; and JISR Venture Partners in
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
.
In 2016, Fishtree Inc. partnered with
Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. was an American educational technology company with corporate headquarters in Reston, VA. It was known for Blackboard Learn, a learning management system. It merged with Anthology in late 2021, with the future name of the combin ...
and other educational technology providers to integrate the former's personalized learning technology with
Learning management system
A learning management system (LMS) is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, automation, and delivery of educational courses, training programs, materials or learning and development programs. The learni ...
platforms used by instructors at K-12 and postsecondary institutions.
The company also announced a deal with Jefferson Education, which included a financial investment and collaboration, that would help expand its research and data-gathering capabilities to improve the Fishtree platform.
Products
The Fishtree Platform
Fishtree is an
Adaptive learning Adaptive learning, also known as adaptive teaching, is an educational method which uses computer algorithms as well as artificial intelligence to orchestrate the interaction with the learner and deliver customized resources and learning activities ...
platform designed to support a
Competency-based learning
Competency-based learning or competency-based education is a framework for teaching and assessment of learning. It is also described as a type of education based on predetermined "competencies," which focuses on outcomes and real-world performance ...
model. Teachers and school administrators use Fishtree to automate curriculum planning and management tasks, such as authoring lessons and courses, recording grades, finding teaching resources, personalized learning, and tracking student trends.
Its web-based software uses
Machine learning
Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence.
Machine ...
to collect and assess relevant and personalized
Learning analytics in real time as the student engages with course content, and then assign differentiated instruction based on the student's needs. It is also notable that Fishtree provides access to
Open educational resources for teachers to use in the classroom.
Awards
In 2014, Fishtree won the
Software and Information Industry Association
The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) is a trade association dedicated to the entertainment, consumer and business software industries. Established in 1984 as the Software Publishers Association (SPA), the SIIA took its new na ...
NextGen Most Disruptive and Overall Mobile Award.
References
{{Reflist
Education companies established in 2012