Coursekit Launches Today

Zachary Lichaa reports that Coursekit launches. A Blackboard alternative created by students – brilliant!

One month after Techstars Demo Day, Courskit has launched.

We first wrote about the startup in May when the founders raised a $1 million seed round and dropped out of University of Pennsylvania.

Since then, the "more social Blackboard" site has been quietly testing the product at 30 universities across the country. It now has about 3,500 users and 80 college student ambassadors.

Courskit is a social network for higher education. It connects students with teaches using course management tools and social media tools. It gives academic instructors a free way to post materials and engage with students regarding the subject matter at hand at anytime.

But do teachers want to communicate with their students around the clock?

Founders Joe Cohen, Dan Getelman, and Jim Grandpe believe they do.

“Our goal is to turn courses into communities online. Because when that happens, amazing things follow: people share ideas, make new relationships, ask questions, and get to know each other,” said Cohen, Coursekit’s CEO. “It transforms the learning experience from something that happens twice a week into a continuous conversation.”