Follett Higher Education, a leading educational service provider, has recently announced that it has acquired Indianapolis-based Willo Labs, the leading technology platform that gives campuses complete control over their digital learning access and makes it easier to achieve academic, equity and total privacy goals with digital course materials.
Launched in 2016 by Andy Hall, Kate McKain, and Matt Hanger, Willo Labs was designed to address the proliferation of digital learning platforms in higher education and K-12, which creates challenges and confusion for students, instructors, IT teams, and campus stores. It provides a single connection and platform for colleges, schools, and digital content providers to link and manage digital course materials in the learning management system. The company is connected to over 1,400 institutions in the United States and Canada.
Commenting on how Willo will help the company, Emmanuel Kolady, CEO of Follett Higher Education, said,
“This is a tremendous opportunity for Follett to enhance its services for students and instructors, making their experience even more seamless and secure. Willo is the best-performing course materials EdTech platform out there. By bringing the company under the Follett Higher Education umbrella, we will be better positioned to support institutions, enhance security and privacy, and further strengthen the learning experience.”
Willo’s platform makes it possible for institutions to access thousands of digital learning tools with a single LMS integration, allowing students to get all their learning materials quickly and easily with just one click. Willo also offers cutting-edge security and privacy features, ensuring student data is fully protected.
With the integration of Willo, campus IT teams will no longer need to maintain hundreds of individual integrations with digital learning materials, leading to improved security and better student data privacy controls, said a press statement.
Andy Hall, Co-founder & CEO of Willo Labs, said,
“We’re thrilled to partner with Follett Higher Education. Follett is a recognized leader in campus retail, course materials, and ecommerce with a focus on helping students and campuses succeed. This partnership will expand Willo’s reach to millions of students and build upon our mission to help learning institutions become champions of digital access and delivery.”
The joint forces will make it easier than ever for institutions to scale digital content delivery, including the increasingly popular inclusive and equitable access programs that lower the cost of course materials and improve access for students, added the statement.
Follett Higher Education President Ryan Petersen added,
“Willo’s commitment to affordability has been made clear time and again through their transparent pricing that ensures the lowest possible costs for students and stores. We’re excited to bring this seamless digital platform with the most cost-effective pricing to Follett campuses, while simultaneously returning Follett to its roots by offering these services to the students and institutions served by independent campus stores.”
Over the coming months, Follett said it will integrate the Willo platform into Follett ACCESS, a course materials distribution model, to offer simple access to digital course materials, as well as improved privacy controls while maintaining the Brytewave e-reader experience students know and love.
Follett Higher Education supports over 6 million students through its 1,100 physical and 1,750 e-commerce collegiate retail stores across North America.
