This content was written prior to the renaming of Watermark products in July 2021, and refers to an old product name. To learn more about the new names for Watermark products, read our press release here.
With Digital Measures, Watermark becomes the market leader in outcomes assessment and faculty activity reporting solutions for higher education. Together, they put better data into the hands of administrators, faculty, and students to drive meaningful improvements in student learning and institutional quality.
NEW YORK, NY—June 27, 2018 – Today, Watermark announced that Digital Measures, the leading provider of web-based faculty activity reporting software, joined the Watermark family. With this addition, Watermark becomes the market leader in outcomes assessment, accreditation management, and faculty activity reporting solutions to help colleges and universities streamline core institutional processes while capturing and using better data to drive improvements at all levels of the institution.
Digital Measures is a pioneer in the field of faculty activity reporting for higher education. Since 1999, Digital Measures has partnered with 3 of the 5 largest U.S. universities to achieve reporting success. Working closely with over 350 partner institutions and more than 400,000 faculty members, the company has gained a deep understanding of faculty needs, as well as the complexities of faculty activity reporting. Digital Measures was driven by a mission to help faculty more easily and efficiently document their teaching, research, and service activities and track progress for review processes, while simplifying inefficient reporting processes for administrators.
With a streamlined, centralized approach for capturing and reporting this information, the company’s flagship product, Activity Insight, and its Workflow Module have helped institutions more effectively leverage faculty activities and accomplishments and helped faculty prepare for annual performance, promotion, and tenure reviews.
“We deeply value the experience Digital Measures has in understanding faculty activity reporting processes at institutions,” said Kevin Michielsen, CEO of Watermark. “That kind of experience is invaluable and aligns well with our mission of helping institutions use better data to improve learning and institutional quality.”
“We understand that teaching and learning take place and are captured in many different areas and systems across campus. Being able to measure only a part of that picture is insufficient for an institution. By combining our experience with that of Digital Measures, we’re bringing together a more comprehensive set of solutions that better support and provide members of the higher ed community with the educational intelligence needed to improve institutional outcomes.”
Matt Bartel, CEO and Founder of Digital Measures, commented, “We are excited to join the Watermark family and look forward to strengthening our commitment to support faculty. With the opportunity to draw feedback from a client base of over 1,400 institutions worldwide, we’re eager to contribute to Watermark’s vision for an integrated educational intelligence system that empowers administrators, faculty, and learners with better-connected data to make evidence-based decisions.”
The Watermark team is excited to begin working with the Digital Measures team. “We believe Matt is an innovator in this space and recognize the company’s deep commitment to supporting faculty,” Michielsen said. “Digital Measures will play a key role as we work together toward this vision.”
In 2017, the three largest providers of ePortfolio and assessment management solutions for higher education –Taskstream, Tk20, and LiveText – joined forces to become what is now Watermark. With the addition of Digital Measures, Watermark now has over 65 years of combined experience developing software for higher education, supporting over 1,400 institutions across the globe. As one company, employees will be dedicated to serving this growing user community with innovative solutions and world-class support services that empower institutions with better data to make improvements at all levels.
“Thanks to Watermark’s rapid growth over the last year and half, we’re seeing a significant increase in the number of colleges and universities who look to Watermark for technology solutions to improve learning outcomes and institutional effectiveness,” said Nari Ansari, Principal at TCV – Watermark’s majority investor. “We believe Digital Measures will further strengthen Watermark’s position and accelerate work toward a vision for an educational intelligence system.”
Terms of the transaction are not disclosed. Tyton Partners acted as exclusive financial adviser to Digital Measures and Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP and Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. served as legal counsel.
To learn more, visit www.watermarkinsights.com.
Watermark’s mission is to put better data into the hands of administrators, faculty, and learners everywhere in order to empower them to connect information and gain insights into learning which will drive meaningful improvements. Through its innovative educational intelligence platform, Watermark supports institutions in developing an intentional approach to learning and development based on data they can trust. For more information, visit www.watermarkinsights.com.
Digital Measures seeks to empower universities to succeed at a higher level by helping them leverage faculty teaching, research and service information more effectively. The company’s flagship product, Activity Insight, simplifies faculty activity data collection and reporting, and its Workflow Module brings the same efficiency to faculty reviews and more. Digital Measures had partnered with three of the five largest U.S. universities to achieve reporting success. Since its inception, the company has fostered a culture of innovation focused on best-practice technology use and guidance for simplifying institutional processes. For more information, visit www.digitalmeasures.com.
