Activate Learning

Challenge: Ever-changing Market Demands

Digital educational publishing in North America was a $3 billion market in 2019, even before the global pandemic forced an almost overnight shift from in-person to virtual learning. Today, an ever-expanding ecosystem of content and curricula publishers, learning management systems (LMSs), and integrators are creating new and innovative features at a dizzying pace to keep up with the changing needs of school districts, educators, and students.

Activate Learning have been a global leader in publishing K-12 curriculum since 2009. They provide standards-based classroom resources in both digital and print formats all across the US. In 2012, the company began working with Sourcetoad to digitize its textbooks in response to the growing demand for e-learning resources to complement print content. But textbook digitization was just the beginning, as more companies entered the e-learning market with enhanced feature sets which soon became requirements for the school districts Activate Learning served.

Within a few years, competing in the digital education sector required Activate Learning to regularly add features and capabilities to its solution to keep up with near-constant changes in market demands, competitors, and open source offerings. Also, the rapid adoption of e-learning technologies by school districts meant Activate Learning’s software had to be technically compatible with any number of APIs and platforms. To remain competitive, the company needed software adaptable enough to meet future market needs while maintaining performance and stability for current users.

Solution: Future-Proof Applications

Sourcetoad and Activate Learning co-created an iterative process through which the software development roadmap is regularly extended in anticipation of future needs. As the market experts, Activate Learning shares commercial intelligence, informing Sourcetoad of anticipated competitor features and emerging customer demands. As technical experts, Sourcetoad advises Activate Learning on updates to the solution’s technology stack to enhance performance, stability, and compatibility with new or emerging integrations, then builds those features into the software.

By institutionalizing the practice of looking several steps ahead for new requirements, Sourcetoad and Activate Learning are able to proactively adapt the software to meet market requirements as they’re required.

Results