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Concentric Sky is a software development company located in Eugene, Oregon. The company was founded in 2005 by Wayne Skipper, and grew to nearly 90 employees prior its sale to Instructure in April 2022. In 2015, Cale Bruckner was promoted to President of the company. Skipper continued to serve as CEO until the company's sale. Concentric Sky is the maker o
Badgr
and is a well-known contributor to the development of open technology standards focused on advancing equity outcomes for learners and workers.


History

Concentric Sky grew steadily from its founding in 2005. In 2008, the company announced a partnership with GoldMoney to create an iPhone app to allow the transfer of digital units of gold. In 2009, the company formed a partnership with
Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...
to launch a series of
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
apps for the K-12 education market. That same year, the company released the official iOS app for
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
's
Astronomy Picture of the Day Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is a website provided by NASA and Michigan Technological University (MTU). According to the website, "Each day a different image or photograph of our universe is featured, along with a brief explanation writt ...
and also developed the website for film maker Michael Moore's '' Capitalism: A Love Story''. In 2010, Concentric Sky Founder Wayne Skipper was asked to submit expert testimony to the Federal Trade Commission regarding
Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
's acquisition of Admob. That same year, the company partnered with the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
to develop a series of data visualization apps and partnered with National Geographic to design and build a series of official study apps for the
National Geographic Bee The National Geographic GeoBee (called the National Geography Bee from 1989 to 2000 and the National Geographic Bee from 2001 to 2018, also referred to as the Nat Geo Bee) was an annual geography contest sponsored by the National Geographic Soc ...
. In 2010, the
Internet Engineering Task Force The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standards organization for the Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster or requirements and a ...
voted to make the company a development partner. In 2011, the company partnered with the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
to develop a data visualization app to support the UN's annual reports. That same year, the company was named "the only App Developer officially endorsed by Mashable." In 2012, the company designed and built an
iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating ...
version of the ''
Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...
''. The app received widespread recognition, including an Appy Award. In 2013, products featuring Concentric Sky's work for partner Cengage Learning won 2 Codie awards. That same year, the company's work resulted in a US
patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...
for usability improvements to
electronic medical records An electronic health record (EHR) is the systematized collection of patient and population electronically stored health information in a digital format. These records can be shared across different health care settings. Records are shared throu ...
. In 2014, the company joined the Open Badges movement and launched th
Oregon Badge Alliance
with partners including
Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering c ...
. Later that year, the company released an open source Android viewer app for
Khan Academy Khan Academy is an American non-profit educational organization created in 2008 by Sal Khan. Its goal is creating a set of online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short lessons in the form of videos. Its website also in ...
content. In 2015, the company led the development of Open Badges 2.0 in partnership with
MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and p ...
spin off, Collective Shift. That same year, the company launched th
Badgr
project with partner edX. The use of Badgr grew rapidly, and by early 2018 the product had grown to serve nearly 10,000 organizations around the world. In 2016, the company announced a broad partnership with Collective Shift focused on advancements in education technology and workforce readiness. Under this partnership, the company develope
LRNG
and took over development of GlassLab Games, which included the educational variants of several popular
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s including
Civilization A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). ...
and
SimCity ''SimCity'' is an open-ended city-building video game series originally designed by Will Wright. The first game in the series, ''SimCity'', was published by Maxis in 1989 and were followed by several sequels and many other spin-off "''Sim ...
. GlassLab Games was shutdown at the end of 2018, and Concentric Sky worked to release many of the games open source. In 2017, the company became a founding member of the
IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operat ...
Industry Consortium for Learning Engineering, and announced partnerships with the California Community Colleges System,
Georgia Department of Education The Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) is an American agency that governs public education in the state of Georgia. The department manages funding and testing for local educational agencies accountable for student achievement. The departmen ...
, and
SURFnet SURF is an organization that develops, implements and maintains the national research and education network (NREN) of the Netherlands, It operates the national research network formally called SURFnet. SURF as a network is a backbone computer net ...
. The success of the company's Badgr product led to Founder Wayne Skipper being interviewed broadly in the education community, as well as Badgr's inclusion in the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
Joint Research Centre The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission's science and knowledge service which employs scientists to carry out research in order to provide independent scientific advice and support to European Union (EU) policy. The JRC is ...
's 2017 "Blockchain in Education" report. That same year, the company offered digital badges to commemorate The Great American Eclipse, and another product featuring the company's work for partner Cengage Learning won a Codie award. In 2018, the company expanded the
digital badge Digital badges (also known as ebadges, or singularly as ebadge) are a validated indicator of accomplishment, skill, quality or interest that can be earned in various learning environments. Origin and development Traditional physical badges have ...
s ecosystem by releasing an open technology standard calle
Open Pathways
and by creating a program to award digital badges to learning content aligned to the
Next Generation Science Standards The Next Generation Science Standards is a multi-state effort in the United States to create new education standards that are "rich in content and practice, arranged in a coherent manner across disciplines and grades to provide all students an inter ...
. That same year,
Mozilla Mozilla (stylized as moz://a) is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, spreads and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting exclusively free software and open standards, w ...
announced the retirement of th
Mozilla Backpack
and the migration of its users to Badgr, the company announced a new suite of open source tools for edX, Badgr was selected as the native badging solution for the Canvas
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 lear ...
, the company announced a 4 year partnership with the
community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior se ...
system of
Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...
, and products featuring the company's work for partner Cengage Learning won another 2
Codie awards 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 ...
. Later that year, the company’s EdRec initiative was named a winner of the US Dept of Educationbr>Reimagining Higher Education Ecosystem Challenge
for its blockchain-based approach to digital transcripts, and the company’s work was featured in the book "The Interconnected Individual.” In 2019,
SURFnet SURF is an organization that develops, implements and maintains the national research and education network (NREN) of the Netherlands, It operates the national research network formally called SURFnet. SURF as a network is a backbone computer net ...
announced a plan for
The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
to adopt a national digital credential strategy based on the company’s Badgr platform, the company launched a series of tools in partnership with the California Community Colleges System designed to help prospective community college students and their families identify regional educational programs and employment opportunities, and company founder Wayne Skipper was invited to speak at SXSW EDU on the topic of “Open Standards & the Quantification of Learning." During 2019, the company’s work was featured by
Digital Promise Digital Promise, also known as the National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies, is a non-profit organization originated by the U.S. Congress as part of the 2008 re-authorization of the Higher Education Opportu ...
,
EdSurge EdSurge is an education journalism initiative provided by the International Society for Technology in Education. EdSurge publishes newsletters and operates databases used by venture capitalists, teachers, school administrators and others. In May ...
,
Educause Educause is a nonprofit association in the United States whose mission is "to advance higher education through the use of information technology". Membership is open to institutions of higher education, corporations serving the higher education in ...
, IBM, The Inter-American Development Bank, and the Technology Association of Oregon. In 2020,
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
announced the integration of the company’s Badgr product into
Microsoft Teams Microsoft Teams is a proprietary business communication platform developed by Microsoft, as part of the Microsoft 365 family of products. Teams primarily competes with the similar service Slack, offering workspace chat and videoconferencin ...
, the company co-founded th
Open Skills Network
with partners including
Western Governors University Western Governors University (WGU) is a private online university based in Millcreek, Utah. The university uses an online competency-based learning model. Degrees awarded by WGU are accredited by the NWCCU, ACBSP, CAEP, CAHIIM, and CCNE. T ...
and
Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
, the company’s Badgr product was included as part of Learning and Employment Record pilots presented by
Salesforce Salesforce, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides customer relationship management (CRM) software and applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, a ...
and
Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
to the
United States Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for bus ...
, the company launched a first-of-its-kind comprehensive learner record with the
University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School, ...
, and the company announced partnerships with The International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET), Credential Engine, and Emsi. In December 2020, Concentric Sky and partners including
Instructure Instructure, Inc. is an educational technology company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It is the developer and publisher of Canvas, a web-based learning management system (LMS), and MasteryConnect, an assessment management system. ...
and
Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...
wrote a public letter to the incoming
Biden Administration Joe Biden's tenure as the 46th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2021. Biden, a Democrat from Delaware who previously served as vice president under Barack Obama, took office following his victory ...
urging an immediate focus on education equity in order to address ongoing issues impacting the US education system. In 2021, the company announced a proposal for version 3.0 of Open Badges, bringing together the company’s work across the
World Wide Web Consortium The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web. Founded in 1994 and led by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations that maintain full-time staff working ...
and Decentralized Identity communities, the company released the Open Skills Management Toolkit in partnership with Western Governors University, and the company announced several new partnerships including Blackboard, Postman, and Open eLMS. During 2021, the company’s work was featured by the
American Institutes for Research The American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan behavioral and social science research, evaluation and technical assistance organization based in Arlington, Virginia. One of the world's largest social science research organ ...
, Futuro Health, and numerous other organizations around the world. In early 2022, the company announced partnerships with the
National Student Clearinghouse The National Student Clearinghouse is an educational nonprofit that provides educational reporting, verification, and research services to North American colleges and universities. NSC has a nationwide network of ~3,600 colleges, representing 97 per ...
, and the
International Society for Technology in Education The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on accelerating innovation in education through the smart use of technology in education. ISTE provides a variety of services to support profe ...
(ISTE). In April 2022, the company was acquired by
Instructure Instructure, Inc. is an educational technology company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It is the developer and publisher of Canvas, a web-based learning management system (LMS), and MasteryConnect, an assessment management system. ...
.


Culture

Named as one of Oregon's Top Workplaces of 2021 by
The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...
, Concentric Sky is known for its creative company culture. In 2012, the company dubbed its local metro region the
Silicon Shire In 2012 the Eugene, Oregon metro area was dubbed the Silicon Shire. Like many regions that have taken on Silicon-themed names, the Silicon Shire is home to a thriving technology sector. In 2015, the region's rapid growth led to Eugene being named ...
, and hosts Shire-themed events to promote the region including the annua
Shire for the River
fundraiser in partnership with the McKenzie River Trust. In 2013, members of Concentric Sky launched an award-winning technology design team known a
Light At Play
In 2015, this team developed a series of LED-powered art installations that were showcased in several events around the world as part of the
International Year of Light The International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies 2015 or International Year of Light 2015 (IYL 2015) was a United Nations observance that aimed to raise awareness of the achievements of light science and its applications, and its im ...
, including displays at the Smithsonian and the National Academy of Sciences.


References


External links

* {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2017 Companies based in Eugene, Oregon Software companies based in Oregon Software companies established in 2005 2005 establishments in Oregon Privately held companies based in Oregon Defunct software companies of the United States