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New Social Site Learnist Aims to Become 'Pinterest for Educators'
Online test prep company Grockit has launched a new social learning site, Learnist, which the company likens to "the Pinterest for educators and students." With it, users can collect and pin content from around the web, like YouTube videos and websites, onto digital bulletin boards, called learn boards, organized by theme or lesson.
The site lets educators order materials on their boards, allowing them to show information from most to least important, or to create lessons with sequential steps. Learn boards can be shared on other boards on the site, as well as on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Users can also comment on individual posts.
"For teachers, it’s a great way to build lesson plans integrated with learning content that is multimedia, interactive and social," said Farb Nivi, Grockit's founder and chief product officer. "Users can incorporate videos, ebooks, slides, web content, audio clips, and more into boards to make learning more engaging and interesting."
Several educators have already begun curating lessons with the site, using it to express concepts like grammar, complex fractions, and decimals.
"With Learnist, and with Grockit overall, we really aim to provide an environment that students are familiar and comfortable with to help improve the way they learn," Nivi said. "Plus, if we have the option to learn with video, sound, slides, and more, why would we stick with a 2D textbook?"
About the Author
Stephen Noonoo is a reporter, contributing editor and consultant specializing in education technology. He is on Twitter @stephenoonoo.