CanopyLAB Secures $3 Million Investment round led by Sparkmind.vc
CanopyLAB, the EdTech company whose vision is to change the way we learn by combining artificial intelligence, virtual learning, social media, and empowerment through learning, announced it has attracted a $3 million funding round. $1.5 million consists of venture financing and $1.5 in venture debt from the Danish Growth Fund combined with soft money from the Innovation Fund Denmark, amongst others. The funding will support CanopyLAB’s international expansion in K-12 and corporate learning focusing on LATAM and Africa.
- Published in About, Edtech insights, LMS, News, Onboarding, Partnerships, Press Release, Spanish, Transición digital educativa
ACAMPADOC, the successful International Documentary Film Festival, was broadcast worldwide using the CanopyLAB platform
ACAMPADOC, the successful International Documentary Film Festival, was broadcast worldwide using the CanopyLAB platform
Por Keyla Pérez, Head of Content de CanopyLAB
2020 taught us a powerful lesson: if we are able to adapt quickly to a sudden change in circumstances and context, we are more likely to achieve our goals. In the case of Irina Ruíz, director of ACAMPADOC, the pandemic changed her team’s plans completely. Adapting to the circumstances allowed her to not only overcome the challenges that distance poses to a film festival, but to also reach countries that the festival had never reached before.
How to broadcast a Film Festival online successfully?
“We were the first institution to promote documentary films in Central America during the pandemic, teaching 17 online documentary film and heritage courses synchronously through Zoom, which was all possible thanks to CanopyLAB. We must say that both the students and teachers were very satisfied with the experience ”. – Irina Ruíz, directora de ACAMPADOC.
For more than ten years, ACAMPADOC has brought young talented people from Latin America and the rest of the world closer to promote the preservation of cultural heritage. Each year, ACAMPADOC showcases its students’ film productions in the International Documentary Film Festival. Furthermore, face-to-face workshops are organized to train future talents in the production and making of documentary films.
Nevertheless, lockdown and social distancing disrupted the plans that had been made for ACAMPADOC 2020. However, cancelling the festival was not an option: “This year, we had high expectations for the admission of new students who find in the festival a space for training and promoting their documentary film productions and, therefore, we could not cancel it,” says Irina.
Therefore, both the film festival and the training courses had to be redesigned and offered online. For Irina and her team, this transition seemed to be an impossible task since they did not have a suitable online platform or professional assistance. They realized that they needed a platform where they could upload course content all while maintaining a social connection between teachers and students.
After a lot of research, they decided to try different learning platforms, and that is how they found CanopyLAB, a platform that suit their needs perfectly given its user-friendliness, ability to participate in video calls without leaving the website and social network, which enabled interactions among all the participants.
“CanopyLAB allowed us to give basic, practical-theoretical, and intensive training that facilitated our students’ learning and as a result, we have 19 short films this year,” says the director.
A platform that can connect filmmakers around the world
From setting up meetings with her teaching staff to figuring out the things they could do online, to the creation of courses, Irina points out that the platform’s friendly design made the teachers’ work easier. They were able to create the festival’s courses and share the materials in an organized and safe way. Moreover, the chat function and the CanopyLAB news section allowed the interaction between students and their teachers, allowing constant communication in real-time.
Through the implementation of CanopyLAB’S platform, both the 9th ACAMPADOC International Documentary Film Festival and the Film School went ahead successfully.
“This experience was highly appreciated by our students. In fact, they were so impressed with our performance that we were invited to the University of Costa Rica to give a presentation on participatory methodologies, where I highlighted how CanopyLAB was the platform that gave us the seed to grow in an environment that was new to us and obtain the results we achieved, which exceeded our production goals. Many people in this business are surprised by what we have achieved given that it has not been possible for them yet ”, Irina concludes.
ACAMPADOC has many plans for 2021 and because of the success they had with the 2020 festival, they hope that new students will sign up and beat the records that they achieved last time.
“This experience was highly appreciated by our students. In fact, they were so impressed with our performance that we were invited to the University of Costa Rica to give a presentation on participatory methodologies, where I highlighted how CanopyLAB was the platform that gave us the seed to grow in an environment that was new to us and obtain the results we achieved, which exceeded our production goals. Many people in this business are surprised by what we have achieved given that it has not been possible for them yet”,- Irina Ruíz, directora de ACAMPADOC.
- Published in Casos de Éxito, COVID-19, LMS, Transición digital educativa
Implementing your cloud-based LMS has never been easier
Picking a learning management system or learning platform can be super stressful. Especially if you are doing it in a bit of a hurry with a set deadline. But you never have to compromise on quality, because it has never been easier to compare solutions. In addition, generally the price point is a lot lower than it was a few years ago. That always happens with technology; as demand increases and the technologies are democratized, price inevitably goes down.
- Published in English, LMS, Onboarding, Pre-boarding, Resources, Spanish, Transición digital educativa
You don’t have to cancel extracurricular activities due to COVID-19. Learn how an Argentinian civil society organization nailed moving chess classes online.
Before COVID-19, El Caballito de Palermo, a multidisciplinary civil society organization in Buenos Aires, Argentina dedicated to supporting the development of children’s cognitive and emotional competencies based on the game of chess successfully held classes where
ten teachers and 50+ partners taught 1,000 students chess over one year.
- Published in Casos de Éxito, COVID-19, English, Functionality, LMS, Resources, Spanish, Transición digital educativa
How can your institution encourage extracurricular activities to continue online during the pandemic?
The importance of extracurricular activities or after-school activities is obvious; They help students improve their knowledge and skills, they form friendships, they help develop life skills and help form the student as an individual.
- Published in Casos de Éxito, COVID-19, English, LMS, Resources, Spanish, Transición digital educativa
Don’t cancel debate club: The importance of digitizing extracurricular activities during COVID-19.
Extracurricular activities or after-school activities have been sacrificed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making it a risk to meet in person in many places.
- Published in Casos de Éxito, COVID-19, English, LMS, Resources, Transición digital educativa
Harnessing the power of role models: How DigiPippi is closing the gender gap for women in technology through youth mentorships
Did you know that there are still IT university programs with 0% female enrolment? This is just one fact that drives the DigiPippi volunteer mentorship program that aims to connect girls ages 7-13 with female role models to foster curiosity and passion for the world of technology. With the support of CanopyLAB, DigiPippi has created a virtual academy where volunteers learn about the Digippipi method, which includes how to become a role model for girls in tech, host IT workshops and use social media for outreach courses, all while connecting with their mentees in a social online setting.
- Published in English, Interview, LMS, Partnerships, Spanish, Transición digital educativa
Teacher Natalia Bernal on transitioning to remote teaching at an all-girls school in Colombia
This post is a reflection written by Natalia Bernal who is a teacher at an all-girls school in Bogota, Colombia. While the transition to remote learning has received massive media attention, we aim to highlight the voice of the teacher and their experiences, challenges, and resilience during COVID-19.
- Published in Casos de Éxito, COVID-19, English, Spanish, TeacherLAB, Transición digital educativa
Digitize your courses through 8 simple steps
At CanopyLAB, we work hard to make it as easy and intuitive as possible to develop engaging digital courses, allowing the end-user to learn and develop just as they would have if they took a course at a physical location.
- Published in About, COVID-19, Edtech insights, English, LMS, News, Transición digital educativa
The top 5 features you need to learn new skills online
Shockingly, the Wall Street Journal revealed that 90 % of knowledge learned in corporate training doesn’t stick simply days after the training has been completed.
- Published in English, LMS, News, Onboarding, Pre-boarding, Spanish, Transición digital educativa
Your brilliant questions answered: “What is the LAB?”.
“Your brilliant questions answered” is a blog series where Chief Learning Officer Lise Andersen-Alstrup answers your most pressing questions about CanopyLAB, learning, adaptive learning, elearning, onboarding, SDG #4, edtech and much more.
Feature series: Show me the exercises baby
Ah, exercises! No, we aren’t talking about squats, lunges or any other physical exercise that keeps your body in shape. BUT, we do want to keep our learners’ minds in shape. To do this, CanopyLAB enables various exercises that encourage learners to test, anchor, expand and revisit their knowledge while developing 21st Century skills.
- Published in English, Feature series, Functionality, LMS, Spanish, Transición digital educativa
Commentary series: What are the different adaptive quizzes?
The Commentary series is a series of reflections on learning shared by the CanopyLAB co-founders Christian Skræm Juul Jensen and Sahra-Josephine Hjorth