- International award recognises and celebrates innovation in English language teaching (ELT)

RendezVu, the NovaUCD-based elearning company, today announced that its ExamSpeak product has been shortlisted for a prestigious ELTons 2012 Innovation Award following a worldwide call for nominations.

RendezVu is the only Irish company among the 36 companies shortlisted in 6 award categories. RendezVu has been shortlisted in the Digital Innovation category.

The ELTons, run by the British Council and sponsored by Cambridge ESOL, are the only international awards that recognise and celebrate innovation in English language teaching (ELT). Now in its 10th year, the awards reward educational resources that help English language learners and teachers to achieve their goals.

 
Paul Groarke, founder, RendezVu

ExamSpeak is an English practice environment which prepares students for the Cambridge KET (Key English Test) speaking test by simulating the exam in real-time. The ExamSpeak exam room is a place where students can go through an exam, introduce themselves, meet other test takers, interact and answer the examiner's questions in real-time.

To succeed, learners need to show they can take part in a conversation in English by answering and asking simple questions, using both written and spoken responses. By reporting on grammatical and pronunciation errors, to both the learner and the teacher, ExamSpeak eliminates mistakes, builds fluency and shows how to maximise each answer.

ExamSpeak allows learners to build confidence by practising as often as they like in exam conditions, but without the pressure of the exam.

On being shortlisted for an ELTons 2012 award, Paul Groarke, founder, RendezVu said, "We are delighted to have been shortlisted for this prestigious award. To be shortlisted for this international award our ExamSpeak product was evaluated by 10 experts in the English language teaching field. This is great independent validation for us, showing teachers and schools that our ExamSpeak product provides the kind of one-to-one feedback that learners need for their speaking exam."

RendezVu, an Enterprise Ireland funded high-potential start-up company, was founded in 2008 by Paul Groarke who has over 20 years experience working within the technology sector, including Baltimore Technologies.

RendezVu, headquartered at NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at University College Dublin, has already won a number of Awards including the NovaUCD 2008 Start-Up Award and the David Manley 2009 Emerging Entrepreneur Award.

RendezVu recently released its second product at the 2012 IATEL(International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language)conference which was held last month in Glasgow. ExamSpeak: KET for Schools is directed at younger learners of English preparing for speaking exams. Over 30 schools have already signed-up to use this product.

The other companies shortlisted in the Digital Innovation category are Terakki Foundation Schools, EF Education First Ltd, Stealth Education, Cambridge English Online Ltd and L2.

The winners of the 2012 ELTons Awards will be announced at an awards ceremony, to be held in London, on 23 May 2012.

The complete list of shortlisted companies is available via www.britishcouncil.org/learning-eltons-2012-shortlist.htm

ENDS

18 April 2012

For further information contact Micéal Whelan, University College Dublin, Communications Manager (Innovation), e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie, t: + 353 1 716 3712 or Paul Groarke, CEO, RendezVu, e: paul@rendezvu.com, t: +353 1 716 3615.

Editor’s Notes

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational and cultural relations. www.britishcouncil.org

The ELTons (British Council Innovation Awards) are offered to outstanding new language learning products and services, and aspiring ELT authors, that use innovative ideas to help learners achieve their goals, or to innovative research which has clear practical benefits for English language teaching.  www.britishcouncil.org/learning-eltons

RendezVu’s ExamSpeak is a next generation English language learning platform which provides an immersive environment for English language students who are preparing for their speaking exams. www.examspeak.com

NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre, is the hub of innovation and knowledge transfer activities at University College Dublin. NovaUCD is responsible for the commercialisation of intellectual property arising from UCD research and for the development of co-operation with industry and business. NovaUCD as a purpose-built centre also nurtures high-tech and knowledge-intensive enterprises such as RendezVu. NovaUCD has been funded through a unique public-private partnership that includes AIB Bank, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers, UCD and Xilinx.