IBL News

Author: IBL News

  • Open edX & Learning Platforms Newsletter | August – September 2022: Open edX, 2U, Coursera, Degreed, Litmos, Canvas LMS…

    Open edX & Learning Platforms Newsletter | August – September 2022: Open edX, 2U, Coursera, Degreed, Litmos, Canvas LMS…

    [ Newsletter format  |  Click here to subscribe ]

    AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2022 – NEWSLETTER #46  |  Breaking news at IBL News  |  Noticias en Español

     

    Open edX

    • The tCRIL Organization Releases Nutmeg, the 14th Version of the Open edX Platform

    • Amgen Foundation Will Invest $30M on Open edX-Based LabXchange Platform

     

    2U / edX Platform

    • 2U Offers edX Universities a New Revenue Sharing Program

    • 2U Inc. Receives an Offer of $1 Billion with a Premium of 50%

    • 2U / edX Offers Scholarships for Cybersecurity and Data Analytics Boot Camps in Tulsa

    • 2U Presents Quarter Results While Transitions to Operate Under the edX Brand

    • EdX Announces Two Career Courses with META on Augmented Reality

     

    Coursera

    • Coursera Slightly Improved Its Financial Results for the Second Quarter of 2022

    • Meta Delivers Five New Certificate Programs in Coursera.org in Software Engineering

    • Skillsoft Will Now Include on Its Platform the Coursera Enterprise Content

     

    Learning Platforms: Transactions

    • SAP Litmos Training Platform Sold to a Private Equity Firm

    • Varsity Tutors Acquires Codeverse, a Platform that Teaches Kids to Code

    • Degreed Buys Its Former CEO’s New Company and Puts Him to Lead a New Strategy

    • Class.com Completes the Acquisition of Blackboard Collaborate

     

    Learning Platforms: Results and VC

    • Edmodo.com Will Shut Down Its Platform and Service on September 22

    • Canvas LMS Reported a Revenue Increase of 22% During the Second Quarter

    • Docebo Reported an Increase in Sales and Profits in the Second Quarter

    • Territorium Raised $4.4 Million In a Seed Round Led by Cometa Investment

    • German Learning Platform CoachHub Raises Another $200 Million

     

    Learning Platforms: Functionalities

    • Learning Platform Kahoot! Issues an Add-On for Google Classroom

    • Instructure, the Maker of Canvas LMS, Announces New Features and Partnerships

    • Engageli Announces that Its Learning Platform Will Expand into the L&D Market

     

    Initiatives

    • OpenStax Will Make Available for Free the Bestselling Organic Chemistry Textbook

    • Harvard Business School Will Offer Its Two-Year MBA Program for Free to 200 Students

     

    2022 Events | All of the Key Conferences Listed!

    • Education Calendar 2022  – AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER | NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | Conferences in Latin America & Spain

    This newsletter was created in collaboration with IBL Education, a New York City-based company specializing in AI-driven, skills learning platforms and predictive analytics. We also film and produce courses for universities and business organizations. Read the latest IBL Newsletter   |  Archive of Open edX Newsletters

  • Online Learning Newsletter | August – September 2022: Student Loan Forgiveness, Higher Ed, Trends, Initiatives…

    Online Learning Newsletter | August – September 2022: Student Loan Forgiveness, Higher Ed, Trends, Initiatives…

    [ Newsletter format  |  Click here to subscribe ]

    AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2022 – NEWSLETTER #52  |  Breaking news at IBL News  |  Noticias en Español

     

    Higher Ed

    • Biden Announced Its Plan to Cancel $10,000 in Student Loan Debt for Most Borrowers

    • The U.S. Government Cancels $3.9 Billion in Loans for Deceived ITT Students

    • Higher Ed’s Data and Analytics Infrastructure Is Outdated, Finds an Educause Report

    • A Majority of Higher Ed Institutions Were Hit by Ransomware Attacks

    • New York State Government Alerts of Scam Practices in Higher Ed

     

    Universities

    • Harvard University Starts the Search for Its Next President

    • The University of Michigan Appoints a Canadian and Asian Descendant as Its 15th President

    • The University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) Buys the OPM Business of Zovio

    • A Leading Cognitive Scientist Will Be the First Woman to Lead Dartmouth

    • A Singapore Firm Buys a Private U.S. University and Will Create a Version in the Metaverse

     

    Trends

    • A Cengage’s Report Reveals that the Degree Stigma Causes Employment Crisis

    • Half of the Students Prefer a Hybrid Class Format, While Faculty Favor In-Person Learning

    • Learning Soft Skills Is Critical to Be Hired, Says a Majority of Employers

    • Skill-Based Premium Pay: An Effective Way to Attract IT Talent, Says Gartner

    • About 222 Million School-Aged Children Around the World Need Education Support

     

    Initiatives

    • AWS Introduces Paid Subscriptions for Learners Looking to Bolster Cloud Skills

    • Google Releases an Android App that Encourages Children to Practice Reading

    • YouTube Launches the Shorts Feature to Compete with TikTok

    • FINRA Will Invest $90M Coming from Fines to Robinhood to Educate Newer Investors

     

    Open Source

    • An AI Model Named BLOOM, Larger than OpenAI’s GPT-3 and MetaAI’s OPT, Will Be Open Sourced

    • META Engineers Build a Universal Translator of 200 Languages in Open Source Software

     

    Financials

    • College Endowments Lost 10% In the Last Year

    • O’Reilly Says Its Business Grew at 45% Through Its New Platforms

    • ClassDojo Achieves the Unicorn Status at a $1.25 Billion Valuation

    • Web3 Learning and Talent UK’s Neol Attracts $5.2 Million from Investors

     

    2022 Events | All of the Key Conferences Listed!

    • Education Calendar 2022  – AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER | NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | Conferences in Latin America & Spain

     

    This newsletter was created in collaboration with IBL Education, a New York City-based company specializing in AI-driven, skills open source learning platforms and predictive analytics. We also film and produce courses for universities and business organizations. Read the latest IBL Newsletter   |  Archive of Open edX Newsletters

  • Biden Announced Its Plan to Cancel $10,000 in Student Loan Debt for Most Borrowers

    Biden Announced Its Plan to Cancel $10,000 in Student Loan Debt for Most Borrowers

    IBL News | New York

    U.S. President Joe Biden announced loan debt relief for millions of Americans yesterday. Democrat lawmakers praised the initiative, and Republicans railed against it, claiming that forgiveness is unfair to those who tightened their belts to pay for college. Market analysts expressed their fear that this debt forgiveness could exacerbate inflation.

    The Education Department estimates that 27 million borrowers qualify for up to $20,000 in relief.

    Biden said he would cancel $10,000 in debt for those earning less than $125,000 per year and $20,000 for those who had received Pell grants for low-income students. (Around 60% of borrowers have received Pell grants, and the majority come from families making less than $30,000 a year.)

    Current students are also eligible for debt relief as long as they were dependent on their parent’s income.

    Around 45 million people owe $1.6 trillion for federal loans taken out for college in the U.S.

    In remarks from the White House, President Biden said: “All of this means people can start finally to climb out from under that mountain of debt and finally think about buying a home or starting a family or starting a business.”

    He also announced that a pandemic-era pause on student loan payments, which has been in effect since March 2020, would expire at the end of the year.

    • CNBC: Here’s what President Biden’s student loan forgiveness means for your taxes

  • Edmodo.com Will Shut Down Its Platform and Service on September 22

    Edmodo.com Will Shut Down Its Platform and Service on September 22

    IBL News | New York

    The popular collaboration tool for 12-K instructors, Edmodo.com, with 100 million users, announced this month that it will shut down its free platform and service, including the mobile apps, on September 22, 2022. Seen as a competitor to Schoology and Google Classroom, Edmodo social platform has been operating for 15 years.

    The accounts of teachers, students, and parents are expected to be permanently deleted after the platform is shut down. ​​”You can be assured that your personal data will not be shared, transferred, or sold to any 3rd party and, in fact, once permanently deleted, it will not be accessible or recoverable even by Edmodo,” said the owner of the company, China-based, publicly-traded NetDragon Websoft, that paid $137.5 million for Edmodo in 2018.

    Users will need to manually export their files and information to a personal device or drive before the Edmodo platform shuts down.

    “After more than a decade of ensuring Edmodo can stay a free tool for all, we have found that it is no longer viable for us to maintain the level of service you deserve and that we can take pride in ourselves,” explained the parent owner company, the Hong Kong-based NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited.

    This Asian company — which established China’s first online gaming portal, 17173.com, and China’s influential smartphone app store platform, 91 Wireless — said that the Edmodo platform will be offered in some countries outside the U.S. “The Company expects to realize substantial savings in operating cost, which will accelerate the path to reaching operating profitability of its education business.”

  • SAP Litmos Training Platform Sold to a Private Equity Firm

    SAP Litmos Training Platform Sold to a Private Equity Firm

    IBL News | New York

    Private equity firm Franciso Partners (FP) announced this month that it reached an agreement to buy the corporate training platform SAP Litmos (Litmos) from enterprise software provider SAP America, a subsidiary of SAP SE (NYSE: SAP), for an undisclosed amount. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year.

    The German giant SAP, which offers SuccessFactors in the corporate learning space, determined that this platform overlapped with SAP Litmos.

    “Francisco Partners will be able to provide Litmos the necessary investment, focus and experience to continue to realize its ongoing growth,” said Meg Bear, President and Chief Product Officer, SAP SuccessFactors.

    The new owner ensured that it would keep the existing leadership team. “As an independent company partnering with FP, Litmos will have more flexibility to focus all of its investments and operations on customer success and increase its customer happiness by augmenting platform capabilities, proprietary content library, and third-party integrations,” said Jason Brein and Christine Wang, Partners at Francisco Partners.

    Headquartered in San Ramon, California, and launched in 2007, Litmos was acquired by CallidusCloud in 2011, and later in 2018 by SAP. The training and course library platform claims to host over 30 million users worldwide.

    With approximately $45 billion in capital raised to date, and 20 years of experience, Francisco Partners executed divisional carve-outs of IBM’s Watson Health business (now Merative) and Discovery Inc.’s Discovery Education business.

  • The U.S. Government Cancels $3.9 Billion in Loans for Deceived ITT Students

    The U.S. Government Cancels $3.9 Billion in Loans for Deceived ITT Students

    IBL News | New York

    The U.S. Department of Education announced last week that it will discharge all federal student loans that students borrowed to attend ITT Technical Institute (ITT) from January 1, 2005, through its closure in September 2016. The decision will result in 208,000 borrowers who received $3.9 billion in loans will be discharged.

    This is the second-largest targeted debt relief action the Biden Administration has taken for defrauded borrowers. The first was the $5.8 billion loan cancellation for 560,000 former attendees of Corinthian Colleges.

    The total amount of loan relief approved by the Biden Administration nears $32 billion for 1.6 million borrowers. This includes $13 billion related to institutions that took advantage of borrowers.

    “It is time for student borrowers to stop shouldering the burden from ITT’s years of lies and false promises,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “The evidence shows that for years, ITT’s leaders intentionally misled students about the quality of their programs in order to profit off federal student loan programs, with no regard for the hardship this would cause.”

    The Department also announced that it formally notified DeVry University (DeVry) that it is required to pay millions of dollars for approved borrower defense applications.

    Finally, the Department also announced the approval of discharges for just under 100 borrowers who enrolled in the Medical Assistant or Medical Billing & Coding Program at Kaplan Career Institute’s Kenmore Square location in Massachusetts from July 1, 2011, to February 16, 2012, when the institution stopped enrolling new students.

    The Department of Education announced that it is also “working on new regulations that will permanently improve a variety of the existing student loan forgiveness programs, significantly reduce monthly payments, and provide greater protections for students and taxpayers against unaffordable debts.”

     

  • OpenStax Will Make Available for Free the Bestselling Organic Chemistry Textbook

    OpenStax Will Make Available for Free the Bestselling Organic Chemistry Textbook

    IBL News | New York

    Cornell Professor John McMurry’s bestselling textbook Organic Chemistry will be published as a free online download by Rice University’s OpenStax open educational program (OER) in Fall 2023.

    This textbook, now in its 10th edition, usually priced over $100, was first printed in 1984. Since then, it has helped over a million students.

    Organic Chemistry has been widely recognized for its scholarship, precise explanations, innovative illustration, and applications for pre-med, allied health, biology, chemistry, and related majors.

    The industry giant Cengage has sold the rights to OpenStax. This will be the 16th textbook Cengage has published among OpenStax’s library of 57 free, openly licensed titles. Cengage will continue to produce some of the auxiliary digital material it has developed for the book over the years, such as interactive study guides, and will sell them at a lower price point than its usual products after an arrangement the company has made with OpenStax.

    “The inclusion of the McMurry text in the OpenStax platform represents a high-quality option that will significantly benefit our organic chemistry students,” said David Powers, Associate Professor of Chemistry at Texas A&M University. “Textbook prices represent a significant cost barrier to student participation in STEM education,” he added.

    “My textbook is the best-selling organic textbook in the world and has been for some time, but it’s expensive. All textbooks are expensive,” Professor McMurry said. “I liked the notion of making my work free for anyone.”

    OpenStax will pay McMurry a licensing fee for the rights, but he will donate it directly to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, a nonprofit research center seeking a cure to the life-threatening genetic disorder, in memory of his son Peter, who passed away in 2019 after a decades-long battle with the disease.

    According to a detailed report of Inside Higher Ed, OpenStax, the foremost publisher of OER materials, saw its user base grow by 183 percent from March 2020 to December of the same year, serving over 1 million more students in the 2020-2021 academic year than during the previous year.

     

  • New York State Government Alerts of Scam Practices in Higher Ed

    New York State Government Alerts of Scam Practices in Higher Ed

    IBL News | New York

    The New York State Division of Consumer Protection issued a scam warning to all post-secondary students as they head back to campus and have to make many decisions and deal with new situations. New York State is home to 300 higher Ed institutions.

    “Whether living away from home for the first time, navigating financial aid, or building credit, students have ample opportunities to get scammed,” stated the NYS Division of Consumer Protection (DCP).

    In this regard, the Secretary of State, Robert J. Rodriguez, said that “the best way for college students to avoid textbook, scholarship or rental scams is to be informed.”

    These are the main tips to prevent scams, according to the authorities:

    • Fake Scholarships, Grants, or Loans. Don’t believe anyone who offers guarantees or pre-approvals for loans or grants. The required paperwork to apply for financial aid is the FAFSA form and it’s free.
    • Unpaid Tuition Scam. Ignore calls claiming that you’ll be dropped from all classes unless you pay tuition immediately over the phone. Always call the school bursar’s office directly to verify your account status. Schools generally send an invoice to alert students of account status.
    • Fake Employment or Internship Offers. Never pay an upfront fee to move forward in an interview process or provide too much personal information, such as your SSN, during the application or interview process.
    • Buying Books Online. Scam artists set up fake websites and offer great deals on expensive textbooks only to never deliver the textbooks leaving the student out of cash and with no textbook. Learn how to identify fake website listings for textbooks and supplies. Before you buy, do your research, and confirm it’s a reputable source. Pay attention to contact information and return policies. Legitimate sites provide a physical address and working phone number in the contact section.
    • Roommate/Rental Scam. Scammers pose as an individual selling or renting a property or as someone on behalf of a property owner. Potential renters are then solicited for money in exchange for promises that the homes will be shown to them or rented to them upon completion of payment. The scam is realized when there is no home for sale, or the property is already occupied.
    • Credit Cards. If applying for a credit card for the first time, do your own research. Students are often targeted with misleading credit card offers that could be a veiled attempt at identity theft or may charge exorbitant annual fees and interest rates.
    • Understand the consequences of identity theft. Higher education students are at great risk of identity theft, but you can minimize these risks by protecting yourself and keeping your information private. It’s important that you understand the consequences of identity theft. Criminals can use your personal information to build a fake identity and open new accounts or loans under your name. Restoring credit and correcting false information can be a costly and lengthy process so it’s best to prevent it before it happens.
    • Keep all personal identifiable information private. Whether it’s in a dorm room, online, or in any social situation, keep all information and documents containing personal information private and securely guarded. Personally identifiable information is information that, when used alone or with other relevant data, can identify a person.
      • Remember to always keep a close hold on your social security number (SSN) and ask why it’s needed before deciding to share it. Oftentimes organizations include the SSN request as a formality, and it may not be mandatory. Ask if you can use a different kind of identifier.
      • Personal documents, checkbooks, credit card statements and other personal papers should be always locked securely.
      • When searching for and applying for student loans or other applications for financial aid, never share personal information via the phone or internet unless you have initiated contact.
      • Shred pre-approved credit card offers and bills before disposing of them.
    • Practice Online Safety. 
      • Social media is a great place to connect with friends or catch up with the latest viral trend but remember to save some secrets for yourself. Social media posts often reveal sensitive information unintentionally. Cybercriminals look for content that can reveal answers to security questions used to reset passwords, making accounts vulnerable to identity theft.
      • Avoid downloading free music, games, or apps. Free downloads come with a price – identity theft. Often the free apps, music, and games are tainted with keystroke logging malware.
      • Avoid using public WIFI/computer to shop online or pay bills.
      • Monitor privacy settings on all online accounts.
      • Before you get rid of your old laptop or smartphone, protect your data so it doesn’t end up in the hands of an identity thief. For tips on how to protect your data before getting rid of your devices, please see information from this Federal Trade Commission article.

  • Varsity Tutors Acquires Codeverse, a Platform that Teaches Kids to Code

    Varsity Tutors Acquires Codeverse, a Platform that Teaches Kids to Code

    IBL News | New York

    Nerdy Inc. (NYSE: NRDY), the owner of live online tutoring and classes platform Varsity Tutors, announced yesterday the acquisition of Codeverse, a platform that teaches kids to build apps and games with real code, for a non-disclosed amount.

    “Coding is one of the fastest-growing segments in education, yet the tools and resources for students have not kept up with the increasing demand,” said Chuck Cohn, Founder, and CEO of Nerdy.

    Varsity Tutors will integrate Codeverse’s tools as part of its membership offering.

    Codeverse was founded by husband and wife duo Craig Ulliott and Katy Lynch with a mission to “teach a billion kids to code.”

    Nerdy’s flagship business, Varsity Tutors provides 3,000+ subjects and multiple formats through its platform, including one-on-one instruction, small group classes, large format group classes, and adaptive self-study.

    In the second quarter of 2022, Nerdy reported revenue of $42.2 million, up 29% compared to the second quarter of 2021. Gross profit of $28.8 million in the second quarter increased 35.2% year-over-year. The company claims to hold no debt and $121.0 million in cash on the balance sheet.

    Among its investors, Nerdy has Learn Capital, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and TCV. To date, the company has raised over $107 million.

    https://youtu.be/uUo9weedgi0

  • AWS Introduces Paid Subscriptions for Learners Looking to Bolster Cloud Skills

    AWS Introduces Paid Subscriptions for Learners Looking to Bolster Cloud Skills

    IBL News | New York

    Amazon introduced AWS Skill Builder and Team subscriptions this month. These are courses about cloud technologies that include hands-on training.

    The foundation courses are available online for free; there are over 500 free courses. The announced subscriptions offer more exclusive content to advance learners’ cloud skills and prepare them for AWS Certification exams.

    The AWS Builder Labs will provide hands-on guided, practical exercises to develop skills for common cloud scenarios. Learners will receive a sandbox AWS account for the duration of the lab.

    The Individual subscription is offered monthly at the price of $29 per month or annually at the price of $299 per year. The subscription can be stopped at any time.

    Team subscriptions cost $449 per learner each year, though high-volume discounts are available. This plan includes enterprise-focused features such as the ability to assign training exercises, progress reports, and integration with a company’s single sign-on (SSO) provider.

    Last November, Amazon launched a bunch of free cloud skills products, such as AWS Skill Builder. Now, the e-commerce giant intends to monetize the offering through monthly subscriptions.

    In the last years, the “big three” cloud companies have introduced training courses to sway developers and companies over to their ecosystems.

    Last year Google introduced Google Cloud Skills Boost with the goal of training 40 million people. Similar to Amazon’s new effort, it charges $29 or $299 on a monthly or annual subscription.

    Despite the global economic climate and a $2 billion loss, Amazon last week reported continued strong cloud growth, with AWS revenues jumping 33% year on year to $19.74 billion in Q2.