Swift Education Systems is an EdTech startup with university roots, based in Chicago, Illinois.

We develop teacher-friendly instructional technology for K-12 and University classrooms. Our current focus is on DiLL, a software-based alternative to the traditional language lab, used by language instructors to facilitate real-time conversation practice between students to increase oral fluency.

• 2004

  DiLL began as an academic project between students and faculty at Northwestern University's Multimedia Learning Center to "re-imagine" its hardware-based lab. The project's original goals for DiLL were:

  
  

  All software; no proprietary hardware required.

  Easy to use for teachers and learners.

  Reliable - "It just works."

• Northwestern's old hardware based Tandberg lab (computers are unconnected).
  Note the teacher's console, a common source of frustration for instructors to operate.

• Tinkering in the MMLC under the watchful eye of faculty advisor professor Licheng Gu, Director of the African and Asian Languages program at Northwestern.

  
  

  DiLL was built over iterative cycles with constant consultation from university professors and students.

• To create an open and more flexible environment, fixed carrels were replaced with mobile MacBooks.

• 2006

  District 214, a Blue Ribbon school district comprised of seven high school campuses, heard about DiLL and decided to pilot the software in a couple of its schools. This experience helped the DiLL development team gain a better understanding of users' needs, especially at the K-12 level. DiLL continues to be used across all their high school campuses today.

  Learn how DiLL is used at John Hershey High School.

• 2012

  In 2012, due to growing interest, DiLL was spun-off from Northwestern and exclusively licensed to Swift Education Systems, an education technology startup founded by a team of Northwestern alums, including Zасhаrу Sсhnеirоv, DiLL's co-creator and lead developer.

• 2016

  Today, the growing Swift team continues to maintain and build upon the DiLL platform. We now work with over 150 schools across the U.S. (and 7 countries abroad) that span flagship state universities, elite private universities, small independent boarding schools, and large public school districts.