Teach360, a classroom learning solutions provider that has partnered with more than 1 000 schools across South Africa, is consolidating several long-running education platforms into a connected EdTech environment for 2027.
The programme will bring together systems responsible for commerce, school administration, identity and user management, digital-content provisioning and content consumption. It includes a new commerce platform, an administration platform for schools, and the new Optimi App.
The Optimi App will replace the previous miEbooks reader architecture. However, the project extends beyond the development of a new e-reader. Teach360 is restructuring the wider technology environment.
“The existing platforms developed over time to meet different requirements, which meant that information and workflows did not always move easily between them,” says Louise Schoonwinkel, chief commercial officer at Optimi, of which Teach360 is a registered trademark. “The 2027 programme creates clearer roles for each platform and stronger connections between them.”
Three connected technology layers
The new architecture separates commerce, school administration and content consumption into distinct but connected layers. Each layer has a specific role, with the platforms working together to connect information across the wider environment.
The Teach360 by Optimi commerce platform will manage product selection, purchasing and school booklists. The Optimi Learning Portal (OLP) will manage school organisations, users and groups. The Optimi App will provide the learner-facing environment in which assigned content is accessed.
The platforms will work together to connect content selection with learner access. The commerce platform identifies the content selected or purchased, while the OLP determines which learners or educators should receive access to it.
Identity, licensing and content entitlements will be managed by the connected back-end services rather than sitting within the e-reader itself.
Linking booklists to digital content
One way these connected layers will work together is through the use of digital booklists, which link selected content to the relevant learner groups. School booklists will operate as reusable digital structures within the new environment.
A school will be able to create and maintain a booklist in the commerce platform before publishing it to the OLP. The booklist can then be linked to a learner group representing a grade, class or subject, with changes in group membership informing the assignment of the relevant ebook licences. If a learner joins a class or changes a subject group, the updated information can be used to support the correct allocation of digital content.
This approach connects booklist information, group membership and digital-content provisioning within a single technology environment. It also establishes a link between the content associated with a booklist and the user information needed to allocate access.
Connecting existing school systems
Integrations with education data platform Wonde and school management platform d6 will allow participating schools to synchronise learner, class and group information from supported school systems.
Wonde provides secure data connectivity between school management information systems and education applications while d6 provides school administration, communication and financial management technology.
These integrations will help maintain accurate user and group information across platforms, reducing duplicate data entry. Once users, booklists and content have been connected to the appropriate groups, membership data can inform which learners or educators should receive particular digital resources.
“Schools do not all operate the same technology environment,” says Schoonwinkel. “The system needs to support direct administration and bulk imports while also giving more integrated schools the option to synchronise information from the systems they already use.”
Building a connected technology foundation
The project represents a significant modernisation and migration programme across Teach360’s existing customer base. The company’s legacy platforms have supported schools over many years, but the new architecture is intended to reduce reliance on separate interfaces and provide a stronger base for future services, integrations and automation.
“Modernising the environment gives Teach360 a foundation on which new learning services can be developed without continually extending systems that were built for an earlier phase of the business,” says Schoonwinkel. “It also gives us a clearer way to connect new services to the commerce, administration and identity capabilities already in place.”