Dr. Akiba Covitz to Spearhead Widespread Adoption of Foundry College’s Proprietary Learning Platform
San Francisco, Calif. — May 21, 2020 — Seizing upon the opportunity to grow its active learning technology business, Foundry College, a new kind of college that offers live, face-to-face classes in an online environment, today announced the appointment of Dr. Akiba Covitz as Chief Executive Officer.
Founded in 2018 by Dr. Stephen M. Kosslyn, Foundry College leads the active learning revolution by delivering education via the Forge, a proprietary technology platform purpose-built for effective learning. Dr. Kosslyn will remain with Foundry College in the dual roles of President and Chief Academic Officer.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced most colleges, universities, and businesses to bring their classes and employee development online, leading to significant interest in technology that replicates a classroom experience. Earlier this year, Foundry launched a new line of business offering the Forge learning platform to educational and corporate partners. The Forge replicates and improves upon a physical classroom experience by engaging students in active learning, providing faculty with real-time data to support student learning, and facilitating a sense of community between students and faculty. Effective immediately, Dr. Covitz is responsible for spearheading widespread adoption of this innovative technology.
Dr. Covitz led business development at numerous ed tech companies, including serving as founding Vice President for University Relations at edX. He served as senior vice president for Strategic Relationships at Academic Partnerships, an online program management provider, and was recently head of business development at Minerva Project. Dr. Covitz also served as senior advisor to such organizations as Entangled Solutions (now part of Guild Education) and the Inter-American Development Bank.
“Foundry College’s interactive technology platform, the Forge, is the ideal active learning environment for schools and companies looking to move online and offer far more than what are basically teleconferenced versions of lecture classes,” said Rob Hutter, founder and managing partner of Learn Capital and a member of Foundry College’s Board of Directors. “Learning organizations looking to provide the same kind of value online - possibly more - than they do in-person need options that deliver that experience. Forge delivers this.”
“Akiba Covitz’s depth and breadth of traditional and ed tech experience is tailor-made for the next phase of Foundry College,” said Kosslyn. “We began developing the Forge two years ago as the remedy to the problems with asynchronous online courses. By providing an active learning environment, students comprehend and retain information far more effectively than with traditional learning methods, offering a more authentic learning experience that leads to greater success after they move into the workforce. I’m thrilled to pass the torch to Akiba, which will allow me to focus more on the Foundry College experience.”
Those interested in exploring Foundry College’s Forge platform, curriculum or pedagogy—for upcoming sessions of classes, recruitment and orientation activities, or learning and development needs—should contact partnerships@foundrycollege.org.
About Foundry College
Foundry College is a new kind of college that offers live, face-to-face classes in an online environment that promotes the community of a traditional classroom experience. Every class combines live, instructor-led lectures with small-group active learning sessions to ensure that new skills and knowledge are effectively integrated, retained, and can be put into immediate practice. Foundry College’s proprietary learning management system, the Forge, can host up to 200 students and uses performance data to facilitate student learning and success. Created by a team led by Dr. Stephen M. Kosslyn, Foundry College launched in 2018 and is headquartered in San Francisco. www.foundrycollege.org.
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