By John Jeffay
Teachers can now bring lessons to life with scenes from more than 1,000 Hollywood movies from Fox, Marvel, National Geographic, Warner Media, Sony Pictures, and other major studios.
A new AI-powered learning platform lets them locate a clip, an entire film, or a ready-made interactive lesson to fit their curriculum. They can search by subject or keyword, customize existing lessons to their requirements, or create their own lessons for kindergarten to university classrooms.
Israel-based startup AcadeMe says it’s “reimagining education through the power of film” to keep students engaged and excited. Its platform, AcadeMe+, creates “immersive lessons that provide Gen Z learners with a unique learning experience.”
The company has an international academic streaming license for movies ranging from Darkest Hour, the Winston Churchill war drama, and the legal thriller Dark Waters, to the Christmas comedy Home Alone, and the animated comedy adventure Inside Out.
The 2017 movie Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, for example, is about four students who become trapped as their avatars – and has become the basis for structured middle-school discussions about true and trusting friendships, overcoming preconceived notions, working together for a common cause and the nature of sacrifice.
Teachers can browse or search the AcadeMe+ catalog for recommended lessons, movies, clips and teaching guides covering key subjects including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), SEL (Social Emotional Learning), humanities, and social studies.
If they’re looking for lessons on sustainability, they may be directed to the new animated movie Elemental, where creatures of the four elements – fire, water, earth, and air – live together.
If they’re discussing racism, they can incorporate the true-life Oscar-winning movie Green Book, or Hidden Figures, the story of three female African-American mathematicians.
They can also use AcadeMe+’s AI Smart Lesson Creator to quickly and easily develop their own film-based lessons. The platform’s machine learning allows them to adapt any lesson to the individual needs of each student, and to track progress.
AcadeMe+ was launched in Israel. By the end of September, it will be rolled out to 4,000 schools across 10 countries – including Turkey, India, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Greece, UAE, Germany, and UK – enriching the learning experience for an estimated 2 million students.
“AcadeMe+ ensures that memorable, engaging learning experiences are not confined to the classroom,” the company said. “It provides teachers with unlimited access to major Hollywood studios’ films in local languages and legalizes film usage in the classroom while making them available for educational screening.”
AcadeMe was founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneur Yuval Kalati, who has more than 20 years’ experience in digital entertainment and the media.
“AcadeMe+ represents a transformative step in the digital transmission of education,” he said. “We are excited to extend this innovative solution to educators worldwide.”
According to the company, the educational technology market is projected to be worth over $400 billion by 2025.
Produced in association with ISRAEL21c