Google acquires edtech firm Workbench Education

Google has acquired Baltimore-based education technology firm, Workbench Education.

Workbench CEO Chris Sleat -- now a product manager at Google -- announced the purchase in a blog post on the company’s website.

He wrote: “Our core mission has always been to engage learners and educators through shared, meaningful lessons and tools that they can make their own.

“As a part of Google, we will be better positioned to achieve this mission.

“The Google team shares our vision for helping educators quickly discover great lessons and rework them to use in their classrooms.”

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Workbench is an edtech platform which allows educators to build, find, customise, and share lessons and projects for their classrooms.

It also allows teachers to integrate technology such as robots or drones to promote interactive learning.

Sleat noted that the platform is already integrated with Google Classroom, a free web service which which aims to improve teacher-student document sharing and communication online.

“Workbench would like to extend our deepest appreciation to our customers, supporters, and advisers for believing in our vision and helping us build a valuable solution for educators,” wrote Seat.

“We are excited to continue working together to improve learning and help educators create, manage and share great lessons with our new teammates at Google and on the Google for Education team."

The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.