Education Technology Company Learning.com Acquires Codesters and Vidcode

Acquisition made amid growing global demand to teach K-12 computer science and digital skills

January 24, 2022, New Orleans, Louisiana – Learning.com, a leading provider of digital skills and computer science curriculum, has acquired Codesters, an online platform and coding curriculum, the company announced today at the Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC). The purchase bolsters Learning.com’s position as a premier provider of comprehensive digital literacy and computer science curriculum for K-12 schools.

“Across the country, there’s a growing movement to provide computer science education to every student, in every school, at every grade level,” said Learning.com CEO Keith Oelrich. “Our strategic acquisition of Codesters accelerates Learning.com’s expanding presence in the K-12 computer science market.”

To date, 42 states have adopted computer science education standards – up from seven in 2017 – and 27 states require high schools to offer computer science to students. According to a recent Gallup poll, over 65% of teachers, principals and superintendents agreed that “teaching computer science is just as important as teaching core subject areas” like math and English.

As evidenced in the nationally accepted Computer Science Teachers Association standards, computer science encompasses more than just coding, beginning at the youngest ages with essential computer fundamentals and digital citizenship skills. In 2017, Learning.com partnered with Codesters to make some of its coding curriculum available to Learning.com’s EasyCode customers. Now, the acquisition will make it even easier for the 1.6 million students who use Learning.com to access the entire Codesters curriculum and move toward the goal of providing computer science to all students.

Codesters was founded in 2014 by serial education entrepreneur Gordon Smith, along with Juan Farfan, Manesh Patel, David Oblath and Prerak Shukla. These co-founders shared a vision to make computer science curriculum fast, easy and affordable for any K-12 school or district. The web-based curriculum features self-directed lessons that teach kids Python, a programming language frequently used in industry, by transitioning students from block-based to text-based coding.

Vidcode, founded by Alexandra Diracles, Melissa Halfon and Leandra Tejedor and which was acquired by Codesters in 2021, will also become part of Learning.com’s product offerings.  The company’s award-winning suite of products includes online courses in JavaScript, web development and game design. JavaScript and Python are the two most popular programming languages worldwide, according to HackerRank.

The Codesters team will be joining Learning.com, with Gordon Smith joining Learning.com’s executive team as vice president of product strategy.

“I’m extremely proud of the platform we’ve built at Codesters, and excited to reach even more students with critical coding skills as part of Learning.com’s extensive platform,” said Smith. “This is a pivotal moment in K-12 computer science education, and Learning.com is ideally positioned to bring the full range of computer science and digital literacy skills to millions of students across America.”

About Learning.com

Learning.com is dedicated to preparing students for success in our digital world. Founded in 1999, the company currently partners with 10 percent of U.S. school districts and serves more than 1.6 million students each year. Learning.com has earned more than 30 industry awards, including 2021, 2020 and 2017 Award of Excellence from “Tech & Learning;” ISTE 2017 Best of Show; “The Oregonian’s Top Workplace” for 2022, 2021, 2020, 2018, 2017 and 2016; and the “Healthiest Employers of Oregon” for 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019.

Learning.com’s K-12 curriculum solution for digital literacy, EasyTech, helps students develop computer science, digital literacy and problem-solving skills. Learning.com’s EasyCode curriculum is a comprehensive coding solution for K-12 that develops students’ coding, computational thinking and computer science prowess. EasyTech and EasyCode, both delivered through the Learning.com platform, feature scaffolded, student-led digital lessons, as well as district and school-wide reporting to measure programs efficacy and optimize implementation. By enabling schools to integrate technology more meaningfully, and cultivate digital readiness, Learning.com’s comprehensive curriculum plays a critical role in equipping all students to excel in a digital world.

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