eLearning Authoring Software: 4 Reasons Instructional Designers Love It

eLearning authoring software is helping publishers, universities and corporations produce online courses and training programs at an unprecedented rate. In this post, we break down the top 4 reasons why.

eLearning authoring software is a creative tool used by instructional designers to create and deliver high-quality eLearning content.

There are two general types of authoring software:

  • Standalone software that offers advanced authoring capabilities. Standalone authoring tools also have publishing functionality, but they need a destination to deliver the content (learning platform, website, mobile or web application, etc). Standalone software can fully integrate with a learning management system as an all-in-one solution. 
  • Prebuilt authoring tools with limited authoring and publishing capabilities, included in learning management systems or all-in-one solutions.

In this blog, we’re focusing more on standalone eLearning authoring software.

While each type has unique specialisations, having dedicated authoring tools for creating learning content offers a number of benefits for publishers, univeirsities and businesses.

Reason #1: Better Learning Outcomes

The main benefit of eLearning authoring software is how easy it makes the process of creating customised learning content. Using advanced features and multimedia functionality, course designers can rapidly create more engaging and interactive content. And that can have a profound impact on learning outcomes.

In online courses, interactivity is defined as requiring students to engage with content through different senses, tools or actions. Courses with higher levels of interactivity tend to provide greater learning outcomes. 

For example, an exercise requiring students to read a passage, listen to audio and complete a question uses multiple touchpoints to reinforce a concept, producing a better learning result.

Reason #2: Content and Asset Management 

To create better learning outcomes with more engaging and interactive content, you need more than just a way to create said content. You need a way to manage it all in one place. This is where online authoring tools excel. 

eLearning authoring software provides full flexibility and overview of your assets when it comes to storing and structuring your content. This is helpful because you will likely reuse the same content for different learning products in order to stay as efficient as possible and get the most out of each created piece of content. 

Another component of content and asset management is version visibility. This allows you to identify which piece is the latest version so you can quickly update content or even restore an older version as needed. This also provides full control over all your media and other assets. You know exactly when it was uploaded, by who, as part of what content and learning product. Then, you can update or replace the asset with just one click everywhere. 

Lastly, content and asset management needs to be backed by high security and performance. Standalone authoring tools offer state-of-the-art shared or dedicated cloud-hosting solutions, providing instructional designers with the utmost security and performance of their data and assets. 

Reason #3: Production & Project Management

Another benefit of authoring software is that it offers robust production and project management capabilities alongside content creation.

In the same way that marketing teams or video developers use project management software to track their deadlines and resources, authoring software can serve as a production management tool to help instructional design teams.

eLearning authoring software allows designers to work with different stages and workflows to match editorial workflows, such as “in progress,” “final draft,” “approved” and “published.” Also, you can work with different user roles and rights to seamlessly get your offline team processes and responsibilities mirrored online. If wished, you can easily and safely work with outsourced capacities. 

This is particularly useful for design teams and publishers who have to work on concurrent projects, meet deadlines and track the performance of their work. With a more structured way to create and manage learning content, many teams find that their designers can work faster and more flexibly.

Reason #4: Integrations

A final benefit of authoring software is its ability to integrate with your learning management system (LMS) or learning experience platform (LXP) software or solution. Using industry standards such as xAPI or Scorm, most common authoring applications allow you to publish a course to a connected LMS or LXP for users to enjoy.

However, eLearning software integrations are most successful and beneficial to instructional designers when the standalone authoring tool integrates with an LMS or LXP from the same brand. To understand why, let’s look at all possible combinations:

Standalone Authoring Tool + Different Brand LMS/LXP

When you use a standalone authoring tool and an LMS or LXP from different vendors, complications may arise during publishing.

For example, content may not display precisely in the platform in the way it was initially authored, and publishing processes may require cumbersome manual import/export. Also, when it comes to updating your content, you may have to update the same content piece in each single course – instead of clicking once to update across everything. 

Prebuilt Authoring Tool Within LMS/LXP

Alternatively, you can opt for a prebuilt authoring tool within an LMS or LXP, making the publishing and updating process much smoother. However, you miss out on the benefits of standalone eLearning software—including engaging content with a lot of variety, powerful content and asset management features, production, workflow and project management features, and more.

Standalone Authoring Tool + Same Brand LMS/LXP (All-In-One) 

This leads us to an all-in-one solution that offers a standalone authoring tool and an LMS/LXP from the same brand, perfectly tuned to each other and seamlessly integrated. You get the benefits of both worlds: Full features of a standalone solution and smooth and quick publishing and updating processes. 

Conclusion

Instructional designers are creating online courses and digital training experiences faster than ever thanks to eLearning authoring software. From better learning outcomes to project management functionality, authoring software offers a number of benefits for publishers, universities and businesses looking to level up their online courses.

Need eLearning tools for authoring, distributing and managing your content? Avallain can help. Tell us more about your needs today.

What Is eLearning Software?

Demand for engaging and informative online courses has never been greater. But producing these types of content at scale is no easy task. In this post, we’ll break down what eLearning software is and how it helps organisations create better courses. 

eLearning software is a digital tool that a company, organisation or individual uses to create learning content and experiences online. In some ways, eLearning software is an umbrella term that comprises numerous subcategories of specialised learning software.

While researching eLearning software, you’re likely to come across dozens of synonyms for the term. These include, to name a few:

  • Learning management system
  • Online training system
  • Content authoring tools
  • Digital instructional design
  • Digital learning software
  • Instructional design tools
  • Online training platform for business
  • Learning experience platforms

Each subcategory of eLearning software provides unique specialisations or features. But one thing they all have in common is their ability to create or distribute content and learning experiences online.

Traditionally, learning software was delivered offline, but this is becoming less common every day. Now the industry-standard for learning is the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, which offers a higher level of performance and flexibility.

How Does eLearning Software Work?

Producing an online course involves two steps: creation (or authoring) and distribution. eLearning software provides course designers a virtual environment for each.

The administration environment is where platform administrators will manage courses, products and the platform. The environment is also designed to provide the optimal user and learning management experience for the organisation operating the platform.

The frontend environment is where the end users, such as teachers, trainers, students and learners engage with the content and courses, as well as with each other. The design of this environment is focused on providing a positive user experience for the person taking – and the person grading – the course.

Types of eLearning Software

While there are dozens of providers of eLearning software – each with their own specialisation – they all fit into four general categories.

Comprehensive or All-in-One Software

Comprehensive eLearning software delivers both authoring and distribution functionalities in a single package.

This allows you to create, deliver and manage the entire learning experience, from inception to engagement with end users.

All-in-one software has become popular because you get the benefits of two platforms for the price of one, without losing functionality. 

Authoring functionality for all-in-one solutions is usually either built-in, which often limits their capabilities, or achieved through seamless integration with a more robust authoring tool that has better features and functionality.

Some providers also offer solutions that allow you to customise your learning platforms, such as adding your own branding. These solutions check all the boxes of comprehensive software, but allow for a greater degree of customisation and flexibility.

It’s worth noting that a cutting-edge all-in-one solution should offer the capabilities of both a learning management system (LMS) and a learning experience platform (LXP), depending on the individual requirements and demands of its users.

(More on that in a bit.)

Online Authoring Tools

Online authoring tools are solely dedicated to the creation of eLearning content. They cannot deliver the content to end users. However, they do have the capability to export content via API (such as xAPI and SCORM) or by publishing directly to a connected learning platform.

Authoring tools have three main use cases:

  • Publishers use them to both digitalise their educational content and create more interactive digital content
  • Corporates use them to create and maintain high quality training courses for their employees
  • Agencies use them to create content that they can then sell to publishers or corporates

Learning Management System

A learning management system (LMS) is a software application for the administration, and delivery of educational courses and training programs. Put simply, an LMS helps you manage every stage of delivering a learning experience to an audience.

There are standalone learning management systems on the market, but in many ways LMS represents a range of functionality that other applications provide. For example, an all-in-one solution might provide LMS features.

Learning Experience Platforms

A learning experience platform (LXP) is a new type of application that’s having a huge impact on the way the industry thinks about learning content. An LXP is essentially all-in-one publishing software but with a higher level of features and functionality that fosters a better user experience.

LXPs help you create personalised learning experiences through a number of innovative features, including:

  • Gamification
  • Personalised dashboards
  • Advanced reporting capabilities 
  • Artificial intelligence 

Conclusion

Engaging online learning experiences don’t happen by accident. eLearning software makes it easier than ever to create and deliver courses to users anywhere.

Need eLearning tools for authoring, distributing and managing your content? Tell us more about your needs today.

Avallain Joins codemantra’s Partner Program To Offer Document Accessibility to Educational and Professional Training Customers

This article was initially published on codemantra’s newsroom.

Avallain has joined the codemantra Partner Program to introduce document accessibility compliance to their global education and professional training customer base. The award-winning Swiss EdTech and e-learning solutions provider supports leading brands worldwide with its international team of experts. Drawing on 20 years of experience, Avallain offers innovative digital learning solutions in multiple languages, powered by its state-of-the-art authoring tool and easy-to-navigate Learning Management System (LMS).

“We are pleased to partner with codemantra and appreciate their expertise as the market leader for AI-based document accessibility compliance,” said Ignatz Heinz, President, and co-founder of Avallain. “The ability to offer accessibility compliance to our customers adds value to our products and services. As digital learning has evolved, it is pivotal for us to consider the critical importance of accessibility and enable our customers to provide access and inclusion. We continuously define our product roadmap with accessibility in mind and offer comprehensive editorial guidelines for our customers’ content creation process. codemantra’s expertise will add to our efforts and enhance our Avallain product portfolio with the introduction of the document accessibility compliance.”

codemantra has been offering digital document compliance technology and services to a wide array of customers in financial services, insurance, K-12 education, higher education, and government agencies.  By leveraging its accessibilityInsight™ platform that employs machine learning to accurately tag content elements, codemantra can automate the document remediation and compliance process by up to 80%. accessibilityInsight™ validates accessibility compliance by completing over 100 automated document checks against the WCAG and PDF/UA standards.

“Avallain is a leader in the education and professional training industry and our partnership helps service their customers in a unique and increasingly important way,” said Barry Bealer, Senior Vice President, Strategic Alliances at codemantra. “By developing digital learning content that is accessible, Avallain’s customers can now also benefit from codemantra’s expertise and validation that their content meets international and country-specific accessibility mandates.”


codemantra is a global leader that provides an AI-driven Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) platform. The platform automates digital document accessibility compliance, extracts, classifies and captures document insights, and transforms any document into any desired digital format. codemantra has consistently delivered high-quality solutions and services to over 300 global customers in multiple markets including publishing, financial services, public sector, non-profits, and K-12 and higher education. Headquartered in Boston, codemantra also has offices in London and Chennai, India. For more information, please visit  www.codemantra.com.

Founded in 2002, Avallain is an award-winning Swiss EdTEch and e-learning solutions provider, working with leading premium brands worldwide. The company’s mission is to unlock human potential with innovative technology-enhanced education and to enable businesses and organizations to create highly interactive e-learning content solutions. Co-founders and EdTech pioneers Ursula Suter and Ignatz Heinz lead the international Avallain team across five continents, representing more than 14 nations. The company is an active participant of the UN Global Compact and aims to advance the SDGs by achieving a zero-carbon footprint and contributing to positive social change in Sub-Saharan Africa with its Avallain Foundation.

Swiss Scale-Up Avallain secures a 7-figure investment from Round2 Capital

Round2 Capital, an Austrian investment fund for growth financing, has invested 7 figures in Avallain. Round2 Capital is among Europe’s premier revenue-based financing ventures. This innovative approach to financing, which focuses on growth-stage companies, is easier to obtain than bank loans and offers more favourable conditions than venture capital. Round2 Capital invests in leading technology and software scale-ups in Europe. Avallain, the award-winning e-learning and edTech scale-up, plans to invest the funds in its product development pipeline for corporate use cases and in its international market expansion efforts.

Following Round2 Capital’s deepening of its two-year partnership with the Munich-based cyber security company Myra Security at the start of November through a multi-million investment, CEO and Co-Founder Dr. Christian Czernich now announces a further seven-figures of funding. The new member of the Round2 Capital family is the Swiss company Avallain, which offers state-of-the-art e-learning and EdTech solutions for customers such as Oxford University Press. Avallain was advised by i5invest, who view this investment as an important step towards scaling Avallain’s new product for corporate clients.

Christian Czernich, CEO & Co-Founder Round2 Capital Partners, announced: “Avallain is a leading European player in the EdTech market. With this investment, we add a third Switzerland based company to our portfolio. Founders Ursula Suter und Ignatz Heinz show a strong track record of independently building their business and establishing an impressive customer base, particularly in the academic market. We are happy to provide the growth capital to expand their offerings to the corporate world!“

Round2 Capital is unique among investment funds. The Vienna-based company represents a new breed of alternative financing providers for tech companies and has been a pioneer of revenue-based financing in Europe. Revenue-based finance, which is widely used in the U.S.A. for financing technology and software companies, was introduced by Round2 Capital in Europe in 2017. Several other financing providers in the UK and Germany have since followed suit. This innovative financing model helps to finance scale-up companies without personal guarantees or rigid repayment schedules and without dilution of ownership. In return, Round2 Capital receives a small portion of the company’s revenue until a predefined ceiling or cap is reached. Round2 Capital finances leading European technology scale-ups in this way. Avallain is Round2’s 13th investment within the European market.

Ursula Suter, Co-Founder of Avallain, states: “Both the long-term trends and the immediate COVID situation demonstrate the need for and fast-growing adoption of advanced edtech solutions such as those we have offered since 2002. Our tools offer tremendous potential benefits that our market and our audience are greatly in need of. The additional financing will provide a powerful boost for our market rollout of these products. Round2 is an attractive option for founders like us who strive to achieve significant growth without prematurely diluting our brand or ceding control.”

Avallain will use the investment to extend its offerings to corporate clients and to scale Avallain Magnet for the corporate training and education market.

About Round2 Capital

Round2 Capital is a fast-growing European investment firm that manages 30 million euros worth of assets. The company is a strong partner for European scale-ups that have digital and sustainable business models. Headquartered in Vienna since 2017, Round2 has been the pioneer of revenue-based financing in Europe. The Company is active in several European countries with a focus on Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Nordics. Up till now Round2 Capital invested in 13 different companies, Avallain being its latest investment. With this third investment in Switzerland, Round2 Capital further strengthens its market position.

About Avallain

Founded in 2002, Avallain is an award-winning Swiss EdTEch and eLearning solutions provider that works with leading premium brands worldwide. The company’s mission is to unlock human potential through innovative technology-enhanced education and to enable businesses and organizations to create highly interactive e-Learning content solutions. Co-founders and EdTech pioneers Ursula Suter and Ignatz Heinz lead the international Avallain team, which spans five continents and has staff members from over 14 countries. The company is an active participant in the UN Global Compact and aims to advance the SDGs by achieving a zero-carbon footprint and contributing to positive social change in Sub-Saharan Africa through its Avallain Foundation.

Source: Round2 Capital Press

Picture: Ursula Suter and Ignatz Heinz ©Avallain AG

Avallain boosts its visual identity to thenew age of digital education

To us at Avallain, the year 2020 bears special significance, as we approach the beginning of our third decade in business. For us, this is a cause for introspection as much as celebration. We are proud to say that Avallain has quickly evolved from a 3-person company into one of the world’s leading providers of software solutions for digital education. To represent this tremendous forward momentum, we have decided to develop and re-design Avallain’s visual identity.

What it means to represent Avallain’s identity

In 2000, two years before the official founding of the company, Ursula Suter and Ignatz Heinz, co-founders of Avallain came together to decide upon the brand that would represent their new company for years to come. They quickly agreed that the Avallain logo would have to be more than just a recognizable symbol – it would need to represent the very identity of the company they were hoping to build.

Since the founding days, the core of this identity has always been the will to use education technology as a way of enhancing human lives all over the world. Thus, Avallain has always focused on the human element, from learners and teachers to our customers as well as our own staff, and symbolized by our use of the symbol “ningen” – the Japanese word for “human”. Thereby, the original concept of the Avallain corporate identity was born.

Our human-centered symbolism was a statement of intent as much as a brand: Today, some twenty years later, we have successfully aspired to the ideal of an international company identity, building relationships and understanding with as many cultures and countries as possible by putting people at the center.

Avallain now holds a presence on five continents and employs over 15 nationalities in our staff. Representing our international approach, our focus on the human element and our values of harmony, stability and humanity leading toward exceptional quality and achievement, the Avallain visual identity went through some slight changes in design over the years.

Avallain has 20 employees and is working for Oxford University Press.

Avallain reaches 90 staff and serves 5 Million learners.

Times have changed, our values remain

When we decided to re-design our visual corporate identity, we knew we wanted to keep all of these ideals intact, as they still accurately reflect on the work Avallain does throughout the world of today. We also wanted to represent the current forward momentum of digital education, allowing the human “ningen” to move boldly – but not hastily – into the future.

Thus, our new visual design was born, representing Avallain’s commitment to its original values while commemorating the company’s new, dynamic role in the world of digital education.

Japanese sign for “human” → Reduced shape of the sign → Design mark for Avallain

Our new visual design reflects the identity of Avallain while also signifying the stability which we offer our customers as well as learners and teachers all over the world in an age of unprecedented change.

At the same time, the very act of changing our logo represents our commitment to ceaseless creativity and our willingness to improve upon the old whenever such a change is truly necessary – be it in terms of changing corporate identities or technological innovation.

Avallain fully prepared to grow and lead the digital education market momentum, ready for the next decades. 

Richmond boosts e-learning during the Coronavirus crisis – powered by Avallain

The ability to communicate in English is an important skill that can have a tremendously positive effect on job prospects in a globalised world while opening up opportunities for further education as well. If students miss classes due to Coronavirus lockdowns, the repercussions are equally significant to their lives. Thus, we are thrilled that Richmond, one of the market-leading publishers of cutting-edge English language teaching materials, has boosted its digital content and made access to their learning platform easier and cheaper for learners throughout Latin America during this global health crisis.

Since the Richmond Learning Platform is powered by both Avallain Author and Avallain Unity, we are proud to be a small part of this generous offer to Latin American learners. As Ursula Suter, Executive Chairwoman and Co-Founder of Avallain puts it: “With Richmond making access to their high-quality learning materials even easier and more affordable for select users in Latin America, they can now use their time in quarantine to keep up with their studies without taking unnecessary risks. E-learning is actively helping to flatten the curve while improving the lives of students at the same time.”

Richmond is equally pleased with this development: “Providing effective English-language education to students in Latin American countries is vitally important to us,” says Deborah Tricker, Group Publishing Director at Richmond Santillana, “and we are happy to be able to continue to do that in the current global health crisis through the innovative digital content we offer on the Richmond Learning Platform, powered by Avallain. The company has been a huge support throughout this endeavour, providing us with cutting-edge e-learning technology at individualised prices and helping us every step of the way.” Avallain will further support Richmond to ensure the stability of their learning platform during the crisis.

National Geographic Learning’s online learning platform, powered by Avallain, has been nominated for an SIIA Codie Award

Update (20.05.20): We are proud to announce that Our World 2e Online Learning Platform has won the 2020 SIIA Codie Award for Best ESL, ELL, or World Language Acquisition Solution.

In 2018, National Geographic Learning (NGL), a part of Cengage, approached Avallain with the idea of producing high-quality digital learning materials to accompany their world-renowned “Look” and “Our World” product line of English-language teaching materials. Today, we are happy to announce that the Our World 2e Online Learning Platform has been nominated for a 2020 SIIA Codie, one of the industry’s most prestigious awards. This nomination is a great recognition of the effort that went into the NGL online learning platform – and a testament to the highly advanced technological foundation of the platform, provided by Avallain.

What is the best way to learn English as a second or foreign language?

NGL’s Our World 2e Online Learning Platform provides primary English learners with learning materials from innovative interactive activities and games to stunning video and audio content. These digital materials are designed as supplements that augment the classroom experience with individualised learning paths that perfectly accompany the print edition of Our World. Meanwhile, teachers enjoy a robust Learning Management System to guide their students through activities specifically chosen for their individual learning progress. The Avallain platform is also appropriate for secondary and adult learners.

This two-pronged approach is made possible with Avallain technology. NGL first draws from Avallain Author’s pre-designed learning activity “blueprints” to create a highly varied assortment of individualised learning activities to accompany the print version of Our World, then Avallain Unity packages all of this into a coherent and intuitive learning platform, with an accompanying learning management system for teachers.

“By nominating NGL’s learning platform, the SIIA Codie Awards judges have recognised that great e-learning requires both amazing learning materials and a robust but flexible technological foundation to build upon,” says Ignatz Heinz, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Avallain. “National Geographic Learning has been able to produce a staggering amount of high-quality learning materials in a concise time frame, and we have continuously supported them throughout this process. This is how you keep refining all aspects of your learning platform, and I think this SIIA Codie Award nomination will not be the last for NGL.”

Free access to digital textbooks: VERITAS and Avallain support Austrian schools

Since 2018, VERITAS, the largest educational publisher in Austria, has been offering its complete range of textbooks digitally. With interactive e-books, this innovative range of products supports learning success through individual content and targeted feedback – regardless of location. It was created with Avallain Author, our market-leading authoring tool, and made accessible via our feature-rich learning platform architecture Avallain Unity.

Throughout much of our planet, the Covid-19 virus is preventing everyday school life as we’ve always known it. But times of crisis are always a starting point for innovation and solidarity as well. In order to help teachers, parents and students to bridge the time between classes and to ensure the continuity of education, VERITAS and Avallain now offer free access to the entire digital offer described above.

“The individual learning success and continuity in education for all students in Austria is a heartfelt concern for VERITAS. We are pleased that with the support of Avallain we can provide schools in our country with free, fast and stable access to our digital learning offer”, says Mag. Nikolaus Donner, Managing Director of VERITAS.

“The advantages of digital education are numerous and, in addition to the possibilities for creating highly individualised learning experiences, the independence of location is a significant added value – especially in the current situation. We are proud that we are able to support our long-standing customer VERITAS with our technology and a service tailored to the crisis to keep school education in Austria running”, explains Ignatz Heinz, Co-Founder and President of Avallain.

Free access is available now at https://www.scook.at/.

Business Continuity through Digital Education solutions

In this challenging moment for our world, we in Avallain remain committed to playing our part, bringing to bear our 20 years of experience in the Digital Education industry.

More than ever, companies, institutions, and individuals need continuity in the central pillars of daily life. Education is one of these pillars, and we believe that if deployed well, online learning tools could greatly reduce the impact of the current situation to at least this aspect of our lives.

Preparedness and proactivity

As a digital company with a 100% smart work/home office setup and 100 team members in 15 countries, we had a head start. However, we are still working hard to ensure that we support one another in terms of homeschooling and family support.

School closures in many countries have radically changed the usage landscape. We are seeing exponential increases in platform use as homeschooling and distance learning initiatives take hold. So working closely with our clients, we responded quickly to increase infrastructure monitoring and capacity, ensuring an uninterrupted high level of performance.

Ultimately, we are in uncharted waters, so if things get tight, we will rely on our formal Business Continuity Plan, which has been designed over the past years to allow us automatically to implement fallback options and communication plans in times of crisis. Any client can ask for a copy of this, or for further details about our preparedness.

Human-centered and technology-driven solutions

An essential component of our Digital Education strategy is to address the growing need for real-time interaction and features that enable teachers and learners to minimise the impact of the absence of face-to-face lessons.

Central to this has been an immediate need for live video integration within learning platforms, which allows realtime interaction and online classes without much preparation. We have reacted quickly to this need, and this month are rolling out the first integrations with virtual classroom / conferencing tools.

Our commitment to education

Avallain is keen to help you to support learners and teachers in the challenging weeks to come.

During this public health crisis, we are offering a limited number of free accounts to our leading Avallain Author authoring tool for creating interactive e-Learning content.

Anyone interested can apply directly to info@avallain.com or through the contact form on our website. Our team will help speed up the process of implementation and delivery to ensure the continuity of learning. For institutions, and education departments, we also offer limited free consulting to help implement a fast, accurate, seamless and appropriate solution for the current needs.

We have over 20 years of experience in technology-enhanced education for institutional learning, and now more than ever we understand the value of cooperation and delivering fluent combinations of our own and third party technology as needed.

Appropriate solutions for challenging times

For language schools needing to switch instantly to an online solution, we have a ready-made product suite to offer that will bring you online seamlessly in minimal time.

Our content production department can help create a critical starting mass, and through our long collaboration with the leading educational publishers, we can easily enable access to the best digital learning solutions in the market.

A word of hope and thanks

On behalf of all Avallain members, we thank all the professionals who are keeping up their essential work in these times, including those who keep education running. Driven by education and science, our collective effort, clarity of focus and creativity will see us through this crisis.

Our best wishes to all our clients, partners and friends in the education world.

Avallain and EDIA partner on creating Smart Content for Educational Publishers

Avallain (avallain.com), a Swiss-based company, that provides award-winning education technology and tools to create, manage and disseminate educational content, and EDIA (www.edia.nl), Dutch-based, EdTech company applying Artificial Intelligence to create smart content for educational use, have announced a technical and commercial partnership.

Avallain and EDIA will work together by integrating EDIA’s Smart Content capabilities into Avallain’s online authoring tool Avallain Author and learning platform architecture Avallain Unity. EDIA applies natural language processing (NLP), a form of Artificial Intelligence, to create metadata. Its technology analyses educational texts in order to determine readability levels on the CEFR framework, extract keywords and classify topics in a taxonomy. EDIA’s capabilities will further enhance Avallain’s powerful tools and offer educational publishers easy access to metadata automation. These services can be applied both in the process of content creation in Avallain Author, where authors and editors get better tools to add metadata, and in the learning content management in Avallain Unity, where automated tagging can be used to tag and analyze existing content portfolio.

“We are very pleased with our cooperation as we have complementary technology that will help educational publishers in their digital transformation”, says Walter Montenarie, Chief Commercial Officer at EDIA. “The two companies work very well together as we share the same values and are determined to make an impact on education.”

“Our clients have the highest standards when it comes to developing and delivering digital learning products. We are proud to be providing them for more than 15 years with the tools and experience they need to implement these standards and excited about the cooperation with EDIA. Because EDIA’s Smart Content capabilities will add lasting value to our solutions and in EDIA we have found a new partner on our journey to empower companies all around the globe to unlock human potential with technology-enhanced education.” says Ignatz Heinz, President and Co-Founder of Avallain.

About Avallain

Founded in 2002, Avallain quickly took on the role as a pioneer in Digital Education. Located in the idyllic canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland, this was the ideal starting point for what was to come. Ever since our first steps in Digital Education, Avallain has grown into an international premium supplier with staff all around the globe and proud to be working with some of the world’s most ambitious brands, serving millions of learners in various educational settings. Together, our sole aim is to achieve a positive impact on human potential with technology-enhanced education.

About EDIA

EDIA education technology was founded in 2004 and is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In 2006, EDIA launched its first AI product for education, which used machine learning and natural language processing to curate online text sources for vocabulary training. The product won several international awards and is still widely used today. In recent years EDIA transformed into a SaaS platform by applying Artificial Intelligence technology to analyse text.