 | |
| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | CD-ROM software internet |
| Founded | 1970 |
| Founder | Gordon B. Bleil |
| Defunct | 2017 |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
| Parent | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |
| Website | Official Website |
Edmark Corporation (or simply Edmark) was a publisher of educational print materials and an educational software developer in Redmond, Washington. [1] They developed software for Microsoft Windows and MacOS in several languages and sold it in over a dozen countries. [1]
Edmark was founded in 1970 by Gordon B.Bleil by combining the assets of Educational Aids and Services Co. a small supplier of educational materials and programs and L-Tec Systems Inc. which had developed programs from its research. The Child Development and Mental Retardation Center of the University of Washington under the direction of Dr. Sidney Bijou had conducted research into the operant conditioning and reinforcement theories of B.F. Skinner as applicable to human learning. From this research they developed academic programs which for the first time proved the viability of teaching reading to people with severe mental limitations. Bleil adapted this research into The Edmark Reading Program which for the next decade was the principal product of the company.
Bleil left the company to return to banking in 1980 and retained no interest in the company.
They began developing software in 1992. [1] Edmark was listed on NASDAQ. [1] Their audience was children between the ages of 2 and 16 years. [1] Edmark had more than 65 industry design awards. [1]
In 1989, their children, Richard, Lucy, Heather and Chris became directors. [1] Richard became the chairman, Heather became the CCO, Chris became the president and Lucy became the CEO in October 1989. [1] Edmark hired former teacher Donna Stanger as vice-president of product development in October 1991. [1]
In 1992, Edmark released Millie's Math House and KidDesk. [1] Sally Narodick resigned as CEO in September citing the stress, and Donna Stanger became the CEO [2]
Edmark was acquired by IBM on November 13, 1996 for $102.3 million ($15.50 per share for two-thirds of Edmark's shares) to expand its presence in home software. [2] [3]
In September 2000, it was sold to Riverdeep Interactive Learning [4] for about $85 million. [5]
As of 2017, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt offered the Edmark, Edmark House Series, Mighty Math, and Thinkin' Things brands as licensing opportunities on its website. [6] HMH sold the rights to many of Edmark's products to Rise Global in 2021. [7]
Computer Gaming World in 1993 stated that "Bailey's Book House combines the best of educational theory with a loving attention to detail and an engaging presentation ... a real winner". [25]
Davidson & Associates, Inc. was an American developer of educational software based in Torrance, California. The company was founded in 1984 by husband-and-wife Bob and Jan Davidson, the latter of whom led the company as president until January 1997. Specializing in the production of edutainment software, the company was acquired by CUC International in February 1996 and served as the base for CUC's CUC Software division, being made responsible for the sales and distribution of the combined company.
Now Software was the producer of Now Up-to-Date & Contact, a calendaring software and contact manager for individuals and groups, for macOS and Windows. The company was incorporated in 1989.
In 2005 and 2006, Apple switched the CPUs of Mac and Xserve computers from PowerPC to the x86 architecture from Intel.
Living Books is a series of interactive read-along adventures aimed at children aged 3–9. Created by Mark Schlichting, the series was mostly developed by Living Books for CD-ROM and published by Broderbund for Mac OS and Microsoft Windows. Two decades after the original release, the series was re-released by Wanderful Interactive Storybook for iOS and Android.
Theatrix Interactive, Inc. is a now defunct software company that produced such computer games as Hollywood, Hollywood High, Bumptz Science Carnival, Snootz Math Trek, and the Juilliard Music Adventure. The company was founded in 1982 by Joyce Hakansson with the ambition to create educational software.
Faronics Corporation is a privately held software company with offices in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Pleasanton, California, United States, Singapore and Bracknell, UK. Faronics develops computer software for multi-user IT environments.
Reader Rabbit is an educational game franchise created in 1984 by The Learning Company. The series is aimed at children from infancy to the age of nine. In 1998, a spiritual successor series called The ClueFinders was released for older students aged seven to twelve.
SoftKey International was a software company founded by Kevin O'Leary in 1986 in Toronto, Ontario. It was known as The Learning Company from 1995 to 1999 after acquiring The Learning Company and taking its name.
Star Wars: DroidWorks is a 1998 edutainment computer game and the premiere title from LucasArts subsidiary Lucas Learning. It uses the same engine as LucasArts' previous title Star Wars: Jedi Knight. The creators aimed to create a game that would be both appealing and nonviolent. The game's original release date was moved up by months, which resulted in the development team cutting some planned game features.
Barry O'Callaghan is a business executive and financier. Currently he is the Chairman and CEO of Rise Global. He formerly led Riverdeep for a decade, later known as EMPG and HMH. He grew the small educational software company into the largest K-12 publishing company in the American education system through a series of acquisitions that were funded by loans. As a result of cuts in school textbook purchases, excessive debt, and the end of the dot-com bubble, the company was taken over by bondholders in 2011. This almost wiped out the interests of shareholders and O'Callaghan's own fortune. After the fallout, he became CEO and partial owner of the international division, EMPGi.
KidDesk is an alternative desktop software application. The early childhood learning company Hatch Early Childhood created KidDesk; it subsequently went to Edmark, which was bought by IBM then sold to Riverdeep.
Headbone Interactive, Inc. was an American children-oriented multimedia company located in Seattle, Washington founded around 1993–1994 by Susan Lammers and her husband Walter Euyang. The company folded in October 2001 when their official website went offline.
Early Learning House is a collection of four main educational video games and two compilations for the Windows and Macintosh platforms, developed by Theatrix Interactive, Inc. and published by Edmark software. Each different game focuses on a particular major learning category with selectable skill settings for preschooler, kindergarten and elementary learners. Millie's Math House (1992) on mathematics, Bailey's Book House (1993) on language, Sammy's Science House (1994) on science, and Trudy's Time and Place House (1995) on history and geography. A spin-off, Stanley's Sticker Stories (1996), sees players create animated storybooks with the series' characters. Millie & Bailey Preschool and Millie & Bailey Kindergarten each contain the combined activities from two of the four software products. In addition the programs can be configured by an adult mode to suit students with special needs. Most of the activities in every game have two modes, one to allow learners to explore and try it out for themselves and the other for learners to follow specific tasks set by the game characters. Learners also have the option to print pictures of creative activities and record sounds in phonics activities. Later the games were re-developed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Learning Technology and re-published by The Learning Company with newer graphics and additional activities.
Madeline is a series of educational point-and-click adventure video games which were developed during the mid-1990s for Windows and Mac systems. The games are an extension of the Madeline series of children's books by Ludwig Bemelmans, which describe the adventures of a young French girl. The video-game series was produced concurrently with a TV series of the same name, with characters and voice actors from the show.
The Arthur video games franchise was a series of learning and interactive story video games based on the American-Canadian children's TV show Arthur. The games were released in the 1990s and 2000s for PlayStation and Windows and Mac OS computers.
Magic Tales is a series of interactive storybooks for children, developed by Animation Magic and produced by Davidson, which were distributed by Capitol Multimedia, Inc. on CD-ROM for Mac OS and Microsoft Windows. The series was introduced at the 1995 MacWorld trade show. The series began with the release of Baba Yaga and the Magic Geese in 1995. The stories are narrated by the central character Grandpa Mouse, who reads them to his two grandchildren while they are having a boring time. The series was titled "El Abuelo Ratón" in Spanish. Each story has twelve pages.
Thinkin' Things is a series of educational video games by the Edmark Corporation and released for Windows and Mac in the 1990s. Entries in the series include Thinkin' Things Collection 1 (Formerly Thinkin Things) (1993), Thinkin' Things Collection 2 (1994), Thinkin' Things Collection 3 (1995), the adventure game Thinkin' Things: Sky Island Mysteries (1998), Thinkin’ Things Galactic Brain Benders (1999), Thinkin' Things: All Around Frippletown (1999) and Thinkin' Things: Toony the Loon's Lagoon (1999).
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Mighty Math is a collection of six educational video games for the Windows and Macintosh platforms, developed and published by Edmark software. As the title indicates, the games are heavily oriented on mathematics. Two of each games cater for different age groups with fitting content. Carnival Countdown and Zoo Zillions are suited for Kindergarten and 2nd graders and teaches beginner topics. Number Heroes and Calculating Crew cater for 3rd till 6th graders and teaches intermediate topics. Astro Algebra and Cosmic Geometry are designed for 5th till 9th graders and teaches advanced topics. The games were all developed under Harcourt's strategy. In response to the series growing popularity, Edmark launched a website called the "Mighty Math Club" in November.
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Edmark Corporation [...] was acquired by Riverdeep in September 2000. It is now part of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Riverdeep Group bought Edmark from IBM in 2000 for about $85 million
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