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SelfStudy Raises $3 Million in Seed Round Led by the IARS

By Henry Kronk
May 30, 2018

On Wednesday, SelfStudy announced they have received seed round funding to the tune of $3 million led by the International Anesthesiology Research Society (IARS). The AI-powered cloud platform has an ambitious goal. With its algorithm, it hopes to personalize learning in professional fields by partnering with industry leaders and content providers. Its product is officially available for commercial licensing.

The algorithm used by SelfStudy was initially a project of leaders at MIT and the IARS. In numerous—if not all—medical fields, research and new sets of best practices tend to develop at a lively pace. It isn’t easy for practicing professionals to both keep abreast of these developments while doing their job.

Delivering Personalized Training with an Artificially Intelligent Platform

SelfStudy
SelfStudy in action.

Using machine learning and item response theory, SelfStudy constantly reevaluates a given field, assesses the importance of professional development content, tracks learners’ progress, and matches them with the most relevant material.

“We built SelfStudy360 to transform the way organizations deliver their content and formal learning programs,” said SelfStudy CEO Brenda McLaughlin. “Our mission is to accelerate the mastery of new knowledge through personalized learning. To achieve that goal we use proven education methodologies and the most advanced technology available so professionals can always have the knowledge they need to be the best at what they do.”

The company recently premiered their product at the IARS Annual Meeting along with the Digital Now conference. Reactions were positive in both venues. The IARS has officially adopted the platform for ongoing training to its members.

“Some users expressed interest in seeing even more material available through IARS360; in particular, articles from outside journals not specific to anesthesiology but to related interests, such as neurosurgery,” McLaughlin said. 

Education program managers were impressed that SelfStudy360 could provide such a powerful experience without requiring further development or tagging of files. SelfStudy360’s compatibility with an existing LMS and other systems already in place was also a hit.”

Where SelfStudy Is Headed

McLaughlin and CTO Cart Reed have also seen some interest in using their platform in high school, university, and with language learning.

“We will continue developing to our product road map, and expanding our sales and marketing efforts. We are also looking to build our client base across different disciplines,” McLaughlin said.

On the product side, we are improving the curation workflow for our customers, in particular by simplifying question creation by auto-generating questions from text and videos. We’re also adding new tools to provide early warning systems for teachers and curators using statistical analysis and user feedback.” 

We’re also in early development of a new discovery tool that displays what the system thinks the user is thinking about. This display changes from second to second as a user opens new items, favorites articles or takes questions. As such, it presents what is at the top of someone’s mind at the moment — along with the complexity and difficulty of activities that engage them. It gives teachers insight into an individual or a group of students’ interests, engagement, learning path, and performance to inform their decisions about what to present next.”

Cover Image: Marcelo Leal, Unsplash.

4 Comments

    • Mike — you know not what you speak of, my friend. Kaplan University has been the leader in online education and learning technology for a number of years. As with all learning institutions, there are some dark moments and therefor some disgruntled students – who follow a career path to only find out that they made poorly in formed choices. The degree is as REAL and as VAID as the one you received from Purdue. The Higher Learning Commission – the SAME one that accredits YOUR degree from Purdue University, would not give them accreditation if the school did not meet or exceed their standards. Purdue University Global will adhere to the same collegiate standards as Purdue University does and probably more – considering the wild criticism people like you impose they have to be.

  1. Kaplan is and has been a school unrealistic expectations for students! Highly upset with Kaplan because my educational purposes were not in the best interest of the school! I have outstanding balance of 53,000 only to be unable to complete my degree and too, the admission department explained to me, the school woul give me a certificate! Wth! Personally I had “no idea,” the school degree plan in child and family welfare had changed to adolescent and youth administrative! That simply means I waste money and Kaplan stole money because I would have never attended Kaplan under those measurements! I’m contacting the educational department and explain to them, the classes Kaplan charged me for were a complete waste because I did not need the classes and to think my education has been placed on because of Kaplan University! I’m taking a stand because I was not an average student, above average while attending Kaplan! All that did read will read more about me in the near future because I am going to show this school up!

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