The Thieme Group and the American-Danish learning technology specialist Area9 have joined forces with immediate effect: Their newly founded joint venture Thieme|Area9 develops adaptive e-learning solutions for physicians, residents, medical students, and allied health professionals. The products, designed for national and international markets, combine the Thieme Group’s high-quality specialist information with Area9’s innovative learning technology.
Area9’s Rhapsode™ learning system is based on cognitive research in the field of computer science. The developers’ stated goal is to make digital learning so efficient and interactive that learners feel they are being guided by their very own personal tutor. The highly adaptive learning system adjusts the learning content in real-time to suit the specific needs of each individual user. It registers the learner’s skill level in the relevant subject and their self-confidence in answering the questions. This allows the system to understand the users’ individual learning patterns and provide the fastest and most efficient route to content requiring more in-depth study. By the end of the process, learners have acquired both the necessary specialist knowledge and greater confidence in their own abilities.
“Our technology can only reach its full potential when it works with high-quality content. With Thieme, we’re partnering with the premium brand in medicine,” says Ulrik Juul Christensen, MD, co-founder of Area9 and member of the joint venture’s board of managers. Katrin Siems, Senior Executive Vice President of the Thieme Group and who is also on the Thieme|Area9 board of managers, adds: “This partnership allows both parties to play to their strengths fully: Area9 can deploy its outstanding knowledge in platform development, and Thieme can apply its extensive didactic and editorial expertise in preparing specialist medical content.”
By combining strong content and innovative technology, the joint venture will develop services that will put it at the forefront of the international education and training market, Christensen and Siems stated.
Initially, Thieme|Area9 is developing an offer designed to help students prepare for the first part of the United States Medical Licensing Examination® (USMLE® Step 1). While the joint venture will primarily develop e-learning platforms for the international market, Thieme also plans to use the technology for German-language services, and thereby further expand established products such as the Via Medici learning and knowledge platform.
Area9 was founded in 2006 by physicians Ulrik Juul Christensen, MD, and Khurram Jamil, MD. Today, it is a market leader in adaptive learning systems that have been successfully deployed in college education and corporate and professional training. Area9 employs over 150 people at its offices in Boston, Copenhagen, New York, Leipzig, and Riyadh. Area9 and the Thieme Group each hold a 50 percent stake in the Thieme|Area9 joint venture.
