New Media Consortium Awarded $3.2 Million Gates Foundation Grant to Lead Personalized Learning Initiative in Higher Ed

The New Media Consortium is the publisher of many reports and organizer of many events. They’re perhaps best known as the publisher of the Horizon Reports series.
From NMC:

The New Media Consortium (NMC), an international not-for profit organization focused on educational innovation, has received a major grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to lead a postsecondary initiative in personalized learning. The NMC will promote the adoption of high-quality personalized learning solutions, including courseware and integrated planning and advising services, to colleges and universities across the US. Over the next two years, the NMC will organize and convene key influencers and leaders in the field to move the most innovative ideas and solutions from the foundation’s vast network of grantees and partners into practice.
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The grant will focus on several areas of development within the foundation’s Postsecondary Success mission including Courseware and Integrated Planning and Advising Services (IPAS).
The Courseware initiative focuses on finding the best courseware solutions to help low-income students succeed in high-enrollment general education college courses. Through the Next Generation Courseware Challenge, seven grantees received $20 million of funding from the foundation to design and implement digital courseware offerings for this purpose. IPAS aims to develop tools and technologies that will help students navigate the path to a certificate or degree using predictive analytics to identify at-risk learners.
“Our new project stems from the growing body of work in learning and student success that is energizing conversations at every level of higher education, and we look forward to being part of this exciting community of innovators,” said NMC CEO, Larry Johnson. “For over 20 years, the NMC has helped create a wide range of communities around progressive ideas and practices in higher education. We are very excited to have this opportunity to apply the NMC’s experience and expertise gained over that time in support of the foundation’s vision and grantmaking. Our two organizations share a deep commitment to improving student outcomes, access, and success in postsecondary education. I can’t wait to see where this collaboration takes us!”

Direct to Complete Grant Announcement (2 pages; PDF)

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