Case Studies

Kaplan

Client: Kaplan K12 and College Prep

Project Sponsor: Tom Cheng

Kaplan provides higher education programs, professional training courses, test preparation materials and other services for various levels of education.

Kaplan Test Prep sells preparation materials for standardized tests through tutoring, on-site classes, asynchronous and live programs, print books, and digital products. With programs for individuals, schools, and businesses, Kaplan Test Prep offers preparation for more than 90 standardized tests.The company is a pioneer in the for-profit education industry, with a brand name that is synonymous with quality, innovation and integrity. Kaplan offers a wide range of products and services for learners of all ages - from kindergarten students mastering basic skills to professionals looking for career advancement.

Challenge: Improve Administrators and Educators classroom performance.

Optimize the study and learning process through customized adaptive learning experiences tailored to each user's knowledge level. Students identify where they need to spend more study time; instructors get real time data for maximizing class performance to help them get better SAT and ACT scores.

Kaplan also needed an administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of electronic educational technology tool.

Solution: Create a Learning Management System to help Kaplan achieve his goal.

Edify’s team worked closely (around 3 years) with Kaplan engineering team developing a customized Learning Management System

Some student features developed were:

• Take assignments and quizzes
• Send internal messages to other users
• Gradebook
• Calendar
• Forum
• Performance Dashboard and reports

Some instructor features developed were:

• Assign quizzes and assignments
• Class gradebook
• Manage forum topics
• Manage calendar activities
• Class performance dashboard and reports
• Email notifications

Edify’s team participated actively during different project phases, the team collaborated not only coding but also designing and architecturing the backend and frontend application. The project was built following high quality coding standards and under the Scrum methodology.

Some technologies and tools applied:

• Java 1.6.x
• Spring Framework 2.5.x
• Spring Modules MVC, Rest, Tiles
• Hibernate 3.x
• JSP (Java Server Pages)
• HTML
• CSS
• Javascript, jQuery
• Maven
• MySQL 5.x
• Jira (bug tracker)
• jMeter (performance testing)
• jUnit (unit testing) + Spring Testing
• Velocity (template engine)

Result: We created two tools to help Kaplan achieve their goals, an LMS called Smart Track and a student tracking tools called Test Prep.

With a team effort between Edify and Kaplan we were able to create a robust learning management system integrated with metrics and data analysis reports to help teachers, schools and Kaplan track every important aspect of the most relevant process for each type of user. Not only did Edify help build the technology needed, we contributed throughout the whole process with our knowledge based on more than 10 years of experience in thisindustry. The result was amazing!

Why Edify?

Our decades of experience in enterprise software development creates an effective but flexible team that match existing processes and infrastructure for the minimum cost and maximum efficiency.

Our team has been central in the development of a variety of educational, learning, and content management systems. Our customers rely upon our pragmatic computer science practice with a comprehension of the education and knowledge marketplace. We offer strategic solutions that encompass our customers' organizational culture, business needs and lifecycle development processes.