Amazon’s latest venture lets teachers buy and sell educational resources

By Trevor Mogg Published November 13, 2019

Amazon has just spotted a pie in which it doesn’t have its finger, and has consequently acted to address the matter.

The company’s latest venture gives K-12 educators across the U.S. the opportunity to buy and sell digital educational resources.

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Called Amazon Ignite, the platform can help to ease the pressure on time-pressed teachers, while offering K-12 creators the chance to make a few extra bucks with their carefully crafted learning materials.

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“Ask a teacher what they want most and there is a good chance they will answer, ‘more time,” Amazon said in a blog post about its new marketplace.

“In fact, a study revealed that teachers are spending up to seven hours each week beyond their regular school day searching online for ways to keep their lessons fresh, and for differentiated content to support different types of learners in their classroom.”

Amazon Ignite lets teachers search for lesson plans and worksheets by grade level, topic, resource type, or theme, and spans a wide range of subjects.

Similar to the book section on Amazon’s main site, potential buyers can also “look inside” to review the materials as well as read reviews left by other teachers who’ve already bought the content.

How it works for sellers

Educators looking to sell their work through Ignite need to create a profile before uploading their first batch of materials. Each submission will be reviewed before appearing on the site, which should happen within two business days.

Amazon says items on the marketplace can potentially reach “millions” of people nationwide. A sale will earn the creator a 70% cut of the selling price, while for products under $2.99, Amazon will deduct a $0.30 transaction fee per resource sold.

At the current time, Ignite is invitation only, but teachers can find out more about the marketplace here and also express an interest by signing in to the site.

Of course, Amazon Ignite isn’t the only storefront offering materials of this type, with existing marketplaces such as Teachers Pay Teachers already buying and selling lesson plans, with some teachers having found great success through the platform,

These apps for teachers can also help to make things a little easier in the classroom while ensuring the kids get the best education possible.

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Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

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