Versal Emerges From Beta with Design Update and New Gadgets; Announces Key Partnership With Wolfram Research and New Board Member

Tens of thousands of teachers are using Versal to flip classrooms, blend in-class and online learning, and create interactive digital lessons - with hundreds more signing up each day

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. – March 4, 2015 – Versal, a new way for anyone to create interactive online learning experiences, today announced the end of the beta testing period for its popular course and lesson publishing platform, a new partnership with Wolfram Research, and the appointment of Stephen Wolfram to Versal’s Board of Directors.

“While we’ll always be innovating new features and testing everything to offer the best possible experience, teachers in 59 countries worldwide are successfully creating online courses and lessons with Versal. It’s no longer experimental...it solves a real dilemma,” said Gregor Freund, co-founder and CEO at Versal. “Every day, millions of teachers stand in front of 30-40 students. Students from the ‘app generation.’ They’re incredibly tech savvy and demand information at their fingertips.”

Freund continued, “Videos and slide decks no longer make the grade. Online assignments have to be interactive. Versal empowers any teacher, trainer or online expert - without any coding skills - to easily create and customize incredibly dynamic, effective and fun lessons. We’re inspired by the creative ways teachers are using Versal and can’t wait to see how they transform learning in the coming years.”

Today’s announcements include:

• A partnership with Wolfram Research. Stephen Wolfram is joining Versal’s Board of Directors, and Versal and Wolfram are working together to offer teachers direct access to Wolfram’s vast catalog of interactive math and science exercises via Versal gadgets. Read more.
• A management console design refresh. A new course and lesson management console is being rolled out to be more intuitive for teachers, making organization features, invitations and publishing options much more discoverable. In addition, the Versal.com  homepage has been overhauled to better reflect Versal’s focus and commitment to the content creation process.
• New gadgets, bringing the total to 48. Gadgets are the building blocks of a Versal course, and empower teachers to create new content and interactive exercises, import videos, and curate any embeddable material found on the Web. The new gadgets include Categories, FlowKey, Math with LaTeX, and Music Intervals.

About Versal

Versal is an interactive publishing platform for online learning – free and open to anyone with knowledge and the desire to share it. Versal is ideal for individual teachers, educational institutions and organizations who want to create online courses, lessons, product tutorials, training courses and more. Based in San Francisco, Calif., the company first began pilot testing of its course creator and gadget technology in July 2013. For more information visit versal.com or connect via Twitter and Facebook.

About Wolfram Research

Founded by Stephen Wolfram in 1987, Wolfram Research is one of the world's most respected computer, web, and cloud software companies – as well as a powerhouse of scientific and technical innovation. As pioneers in computation and computational knowledge, Wolfram has pursued a long-term vision to develop the science, technology, and tools to make computation an ever-more-potent force in today's and tomorrow's world. Learn more at Wolfram.com.