BOSTON, March 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Learning
company Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt and LearnLaunch today announced the winner of
the $10,000 World Languages Design
Challenge to support innovative approaches to World Languages
teaching and learning.
The winner, Chris Hammer,
presented what was determined to be the most innovative idea that
identified, articulated and resolved a challenge to
help today's World Languages learners develop the linguistic
skills and cultural experiences they need to become global citizens
and leaders.
Chris is the creator of Charlala, a conversational language
practice platform that offers teachers a new system to assess oral
proficiency, monitor student progress and expose students to a
variety of authentic speaking experiences with native speakers.
Since launching, Charlala has grown its user base to 12,000 engaged
users and is on a mission to bring its authentic interpersonal
speaking practice to students and teachers around the world.
Out of a pool of nearly 40 applicants, seven finalists were
selected to participate in a Finalists Pitch session on
March 1 at HMH headquarters at 125
High Street in Boston. The
finalists were scored based on degree of innovation, commercial
viability, partnership potential, and overall impressions by a
panel that included Jim O'Neill,
General Manager, Core Solutions at HMH, Eileen Rudden, co-founder of LearnLaunch, and
Paul Murphy, Vice President, Digital
Product Management at HMH.
"HMH is committed to encouraging creative thinking and
innovation when it comes to tackling education's challenges. We are
thrilled to recognize Chris Hammer
and his platform Charlala as the first-ever World Languages Design
Challenge winner," said Murphy. "We were so impressed with the
well-developed, innovative ideas presented by each of the
finalists, and we look forward to working with Chris to explore
bringing this effective idea to World Languages classrooms."
Finalists included:
- Winner, Chris Hammer: A
Spanish teacher and World Languages curriculum specialist based in
Forest Park, Ill., Hammer
recognizes the focus on communicative proficiency and authentic
activities in today's world language classrooms and seeks to
address the lack of support for interpersonal speaking practice and
assessments.
- Elizabeth Black: An
entrepreneur based in Washington,
D.C., and co-founder of Bee-Bilingual, Black and her team
focus on addressing the important fact that most U.S. elementary
schools do not have the time, staff or funding to offer students
world language instruction at the ages when they can most easily
acquire additional languages.
- Dr. Peter Dublin and
Jonathan Bower: CEO and
president, respectively, of Flink Learning based in Cambridge, Mass., Dublin and Bower seek to
address the lack of language literacy products for young children
to accompany in-school instruction.
- Jennifer Huang: A
mechanical engineer and founder of Hihilulu based in Boston, Mass., who—inspired by watching her
children learn and imitate other languages while watching
cartoons—Huang seeks to address the lack of high-quality,
culturally-relevant content available, especially in an
early-learning environment.
- Richard Wade Kimbrough: A
game designer and professor of game design at Emerson College from Allston, Mass., Kimbrough and his team are
working to address two problems with current second language
acquisition curricula: 1) tools that create authentic and immersive
environments are not as effective outside of the classroom; and 2)
traditional means of measurement and assessment fracture authentic
and immersive environments.
- Wade Steadman: Founder
and president of Steadman Productions from Boston, Mass., with more than 20 years in
video/film production and educational media, Steadman focuses on
the challenges teachers face when trying to utilize video content
in their World Language classrooms.
- Daniel Verdugo: A high
school Spanish teacher at Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Mich., Daniel holds a bachelor's
degree from the University of
Barcelona. Working with students on a daily basis, Daniel
recognizes the need for students to be involved in the development
of content, focusing on relevant aspects of Hispanic culture and
developing digital literacy.
Chris Hammer will be awarded the
$10,000 final prize and will work
closely with HMH over the next several months to explore bringing
the idea to market.
About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (NASDAQ: HMHC) is a learning
company committed to delivering integrated solutions that engage
learners, empower educators and improve student outcomes. As a
leading provider of K–12 core curriculum, supplemental and
intervention solutions and professional learning services, HMH
partners with educators and school districts to uncover solutions
that unlock students' potential and extend teachers' capabilities.
HMH serves more than 50 million students and 3 million educators in
150 countries, while its award-winning children's books, novels,
non-fiction, and reference titles are enjoyed by readers throughout
the world. For more information, visit www.hmhco.com.
About LearnLaunch Institute
LearnLaunch Institute
catalyzes a community that drives innovation to transform learning
and increase achievement. Our education innovation ecosystem
mobilizes educators, entrepreneurs, learners, investors, and
industry affiliates. As a nonprofit, the Institute offers learning
opportunities and connections to individuals, support services to
schools, and a district network. We believe in expanding access to
learning that is engaging, personalized, and effective. Edtech is a
critical component of achieving this vision at scale. For more
Information and our upcoming events, visit www.learnlaunch.org or
follow us @LearnLaunch. LearnLaunch Institute is a part of the
LearnLaunch family, which includes LearnLaunch Accelerator and
coworking space LearnLaunch Campus. Learn more about our full
family of services at www.learnlaunch.com.
Contact
Leah
Riviere
Senior Communications Manager
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
617-351-5020
leah.riviere@hmhco.com
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