Transforming education across the globe.
We have a long track record in anticipating the needs of educators and delivering life-changing technology. Our solutions cross borders, surpass technical limits and support transformational learning.
About Janison
Janison is an Australian-owned, ASX-listed education technology pioneer whose team of experts and developers innovate online assessment and learning solutions for global corporations, governments and education bodies. When we began more than 20 years ago, we saw the opportunity that digital technology offered to improve the way we educate and learn – and knew that we could make a major impact.
Our Story
We’ve always thought big
From a NSW country computer lab in the 1990s building early online content before websites were even invented, to delivering world-first assessment events for millions of candidates globally.
It began as most ideas do: with a problem that needed solving.
In the NSW country town of Tamworth in 1998, before most of us even understood the concept of a website, teacher Wayne Houlden saw how his local tertiary institution could offer courses to regional students by distance if only it had the tools to build and deliver them online.
Using just released web technologies, he built one of the first ever learning management systems, which delivered courses remotely and allowed teachers and students to interact, and annotate documents and web pages online. Janison was born. And along with it, a trailblazing approach to creating technology that enriches how we educate and learn.
Within a year, Janison’s products were being used nationally – and capturing the attention and imagination of global education technology thought leaders, government departments, tech giants including Google and Microsoft, corporations and even the military. They would go on to embrace Janison’s forward-thinking solutions for delivering professional training, education and exams.
Having elevated the online learning experience for several industries across Australia, Janison next set its sights on the world stage – and embraced the opportunity to digitise exams and tests at massive scale. By the time we listed as a public company, our platforms were being used to deliver online assessments in more than 100 countries.
Janison has always thought big and delivered on its promises. We understand how technology can make a difference to learning and anticipate what learners and educators will need next.
A brief history
Since the earliest days of the World Wide Web, we’ve been delivering high-impact, complex projects at state, national and international level. Here are some of our milestones.
Janison sets another global benchmark with NAPLAN Online, successfully delivering the exam 100% online for the first time to 1.2 million students in schools across Australia, running more than one million tests in a single day at the event’s peak. Months later the company secures a prized deal with Cambridge University Press & Assessment to deliver its assessments globally.
Off the back of its acquisition of test developers Quality Assessment Tasks (QATs), Janison also adds Academic Assessment Services (AAS) to its portfolio, the largest independent schools’ assessment business in Australia. Executive and PhD student Sara Ratner is appointed as Janison’s inaugural Chief Academic Officer, bolstering the company’s education leadership as it reaches 50-50 employee gender balance.
This year’s NAPLAN Online delivery sees 800,000 school students completing their tests online and a record number doing so concurrently. The NSW Department of Education’s Check-in assessment expands its reach due to high demand and is praised by the Grattan Institute as offering the best post-COVID schools data set to date.
A seismic shift for the Janison brand as we become sole provider of PISA for Schools in Australia.
Janison continues to flourish even amid the global grip of COVID-19, securing major assessment projects including Chartered Accountants, Check-in, University of London, Selective Schools testing and global partnerships with Go1 and D2L. Successful delivery of ICAS 2020 exceeds expectations.
The company celebrates a $7 million capital raise, plus a landmark deal to remotely deliver university entrance exams for Czech Republic assessment provider SCIO. It acquires UNSW Global’s Educational Assessments business, including the prestigious ICAS exam.
Janison welcomes its new CEO David Caspari to lead the company into its unprecedented next stage of growth. David takes the reins as the COVID-19 pandemic hits populations, economies, businesses and education.
Janison’s reach grows in leaps and bounds as we join forces with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). As its chosen platform to deliver its PISA-based Test for Schools (PBTS) online, Janison Insights is now powering online tests in high schools across Russia. Next stop… Brazil and the US.
We relocate our head office to Sydney – marking our presence in world markets by establishing a headquarters in a global city. We also acquire Language & Testing Consultants Australia (LTC), expanding our assessment arm and examinations client base.
Another world first. In May 2018, we successfully deliver the first NAPLAN Online exam to 200,000 students at 1,400 schools across Australia. 99.9 per cent of the 668,529 individual tests are completed successfully online, and with no slowdowns – earning international attention for Janison.
Recognition comes for Janison Replay, which is now delivering British Council’s language proficiency exam, Aptis, in almost 100 countries. It wins us an iAward and a spot on the Australian Financial Review’s Top 100 Most Innovative Companies list.
Janison celebrates its 20th year by setting a bold goal to power education outcomes for 25 million learners by 2025. We acquire Ascender Learning, expanding our offering of mandatory and compliance training.
Janison lists on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) with a market capitalisation of approximately $60 million. It follows a successful $10 million capital raising to fund our global growth initiatives.
We unveil our bold, new brand and colours, including our wheel logo which visually represents the unending nature of life-long learning – one of our core commitments.
We solve the British Council’s challenge of delivering English proficiency exams to parts of the world with poor internet connectivity by building a world-first: Janison Replay. The application is one of the first to adopt Google’s newest technology, allowing uninterrupted tests even amid dropouts.
Janison launches the Westpac Learning Bank and creates a suite of LMS features which will form the backbone of Janison Academy. It delivers the very latest social learning features to more than 40,000 Westpac staff, plus a complete end-to-end content library.
Our online assessment platform matures and continues to deliver successes and transformative education insights for government department clients. We rename it Janison Insights. We also tip our hats to the evolution of our LMS into a next-generation, learner experience platform (LXP) by renaming it Janison Academy.
Consolidating our move into the Asia-Pacific market, Janison opens its Singapore office. We also launch the Rio Tinto College, a global solution in multiple languages for one of the world’s top 50 companies. It wins us the LearnX platinum award.
We win the iAward for eLearning for Deloitte Leadership Academy – a portal whose gamification features including missions, badges and leaderboards, transform professional development at the global firm. The platform is featured in and praised by the Harvard Business Review the following year.
Our groundbreaking work delivering the VALID science exams in NSW wins Janison international recognition: a Brandon Hall Excellence Award in Technology.
Janison Cloud Assessment captures the attention and imagination of the Singaporean Government. As part of the country’s national digital transformation strategy, we build the tools for the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) to deliver its examinations online.
Within one year of its launch, 100,000 users are engaging with our online assessment platform, Janison Cloud Assessment, which is available on the Microsoft’s Azure cloud, making it scalable and accessible. It wins us the national iAward – putting us in the company of fellow winners that year which included the creators of Google Maps, and Huawei’s E5 WiFi 3G modem.
Another world-first: the first standardised, large-scale online assessment to nearly 40,000 students from 650 schools in one day. We address the scalability, delivery and security challenges of running these NSW science exams, now known as VALID, with an innovative approach – using Microsoft’s then newly-released cloud service, Azure.
Janison celebrates its 10-year anniversary and becomes a Microsoft Gold Partner.
Another pioneering project – an online training platform for Royal New Zealand Navy servicemen on ships and submarines. We build offline servers that let crew access the platform even without internet connectivity, allowing them to continue their training in situ while out at sea.
We launch our new learning product, Janison LMS, offering a fresh new interface for administrators and learners. The Governance Institute of Australia, Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), TAFE NSW, NSW Ambulance and Workcover WA are among its first clients.
We build sophisticated, immersive learning platforms for some of the earliest thought leaders in online learning, including The Yale Center for Instructional Media and Innovation. This suite of online courses wins us our first set of national awards for innovation and creativity.
We build The Learning Place for Education Queensland. Its chat system lets students communicate using avatars – at the time, a groundbreaking tool. It becomes an online environment where researchers, teachers and authors can talk to students in the most remote parts of Queensland.
We build a national online forum platform for the World Congress on IT – one of Australia’s first international technology conferences. Keynote speakers include Bill Clinton and Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Craig Mundie. The platform allows for real-time chat and forums between 1,200 delegates.
International education thought leader Elliot Masie publishes an online post in praise of Janison Toolbox. It attracts thousands of visitors from around the world to Janison’s website – generating so much interest that at one stage heavy traffic crashes the site.
We build one of the earliest Learning Management System (LMS) platforms, called Janison Toolbox, for TAFE NSW. The groundbreaking interface allows students to access courses remotely, email peers and teachers, take part in forum discussions and submit assessments online.
Janison grows its team to four employees and moves into its new premises in Coffs Harbour on Australia’s Mid North Coast.
Janison is registered as an Australian company in Tamworth, regional NSW.
We realised the opportunities that the new technologies could bring to students worldwide. Our motivation was to make education accessible and wider communication feasible. Through the years we have been inspired by the educators we have worked with and partnering with them to help transform learning has been an important component of our success.
Jacquie Houlden
Co-Founder
We understand the value and benefits that blending technology and education practice can provide. We have a proud and successful history of being prepared to put forward bold ideas and take risks early on; devise and build new capabilities for educators and learners long before they are common place. It’s a spirit of innovation that continues to this day.
Wayne Houlden
Co-Founder
We understand the value and benefits that blending technology and education practice can provide. We have a proud and successful history of being prepared to put forward bold ideas and take risks early on; devise and build new capabilities for educators and learners long before they are common place. It’s a spirit of innovation that continues to this day.
Wayne Houlden
Co-Founder
We realised the opportunities that the new technologies could bring to students worldwide. Our motivation was to make education accessible and wider communication feasible. Through the years we have been inspired by the educators we have worked with and partnering with them to help transform learning has been an important component of our success.
Jacquie Houlden
Co-Founder
Who we are
Our team thinks big and always has. Get to know some of the company leaders who continue to shape Janison’s bold vision for transforming education.
Our Mission
To unlock the
potential in every
learner
Our Vision
To power education
outcomes for 25 million learners by 2025
Our innovations get us noticed
Janison has always thought globally and anticipated the needs of a digital future. Our commitment to pushing the envelope for education technology has earned us recognition within our industry and beyond.
We’re proud that our client projects and innovation have earned us awards, including:
- 2022: The Student Assessment Online Reporting Team at the NSW Department of Education won the Highest Quality Education category at the NSW Premier's Awards 2022 for Check-in assessments, a partnership between the Department and Janison created in April 2020
- 2021: Janison’s Global Head of Support Rebecca Niemiec was shortlisted for the B&T Women Leading Tech Awards
- 2021: Janison Chief Technology Officer George Gorman was recognised as one of the top 10 technology and digital leaders in Australia on the CIO50 List
- 2020: Janison Chief Technology Officer George Gorman was recognised as one of the top 50 technology and digital leaders in Australia on the CIO50 List
- 2018 Australian Financial Review Top 100 Most Innovative Companies – 61st place
- 2018 iAward – NSW (Government & Public Sector)
- 2016 Brandon Hall HCM Excellence Awards – Silver Award for Excellence in Learning
- 2016 Platinum award at LearnX for LearningBank (Westpac)
- 2016 Microsoft Australia Partner Award for excellence in Platform and Innovation
- 2012 Ranked #15 on BRW’s list of Australia’s Most Innovative Companies
- 2012 iAward for eLearning – Deloitte Leadership Academy SA
- 2012 Microsoft Education Partner of the Year
- 2011 Telstra Regional Business of the Year (Australia)
- 2011 Microsoft Education Partner of the year (Australia)
- 2011 Australian Excellence in eGovernment Award
- 2011 iAward winner for eLearning Excellence Australia
Wrk+ 2023 Best Place to Work
We are proud to have been ranked as one of Australia’s best places to work in 2023! This reflects our commitment to our team’s preferred working methods, our employee benefits, our dedication to getting people together, and more.
Bring your passion and talents to Janison
Join us in reshaping how we deliver education around the world. Be part of a dynamic team that invents, innovates and thinks ahead by creating technology that has a real impact on learning.
Want to learn more about our tailored solutions?
Chat to one of our assessment or learning consultants today.
or call us on 1300 857 687 (Australia) or +61 2 6652 9850 (International)