One of the world’s biggest education publishers has joined with one of the most dominant and iconic software companies on the planet to bring colleges a new—and free—learning-management system with the hopes of upending services that affect just about every instructor, student, and college in the country

September 15, 2011. Pearson, the world’s leading learning company, is announcing today the acquisition of Connections Education from an investor group led by Apollo Management, L.P. Through its Connections Academy business, the company operates online or ‘virtual’ public schools in 21 states in the US—serving more than 40,000 students in the current school year. These virtual charter schools are accredited and funded by the relevant state and are free to parents and students who choose a virtual school in place of a traditional public institution or other schooling options.

In November, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation made its first foray into the US education space with the $360m (£228m) purchase of Wireless Generation. Dame Marjorie Scardino, the chief executive of Pearson, was not fazed. On discovering that Mr Murdoch could become a rival to another of her businesses (News Corp’s Harper Collins is already a [...]

Pearson buys Schoolnet for $230m: Schoolnet, which was founded in 1998, offers a system for allowing teachers to deliver personalised learning for students and serves more than 5 million US pupils through partnerships with states and districts.