IBL News

Author: IBL News

  • Fast Company Selects the Most Innovative Educational Companies

    Fast Company Selects the Most Innovative Educational Companies

    IBL News | New York

    The most innovative companies in education are trying to supplement traditional schooling and democratize access to education, especially when the COVID-19 pandemic blasted online education and exposed its many challenges.

    Following these criteria, Fast Company magazine chooses the ten most innovative corporations in education, analyzing everything from online classes and digital textbooks to AI tutors.

    Among the transformers, Fast Company selects Duolingo and Coursera, which are expanding their reach into new markets.

    Others are offering a new spin on music education (like the app Trala), monetization on course creation (Maven), or enhancing early childhood education (Lovery and A Kids Company About).

    Here is the complete list, along with a brief explanation elaborated by Fast Company:

    1. Maven — For empowering creators to monetize their expertise as courses
    2. Duolingo — For translating its language-learning app to test English proficiency
    3. Coursera — For helping Indian businesses and universities invest in online learning
    4. Pearson — For making textbooks more affordable—and less biased
    5. Trala — For adding rosin to the bow of online music instruction
    6. Lovevery — For creating low-tech toys to support early childhood development
    7. A Kids Company About — For building a topical kids’ multimedia brand
    8. Sketchy — For taking the pain out of test prep
    9. Riiid — For turbocharging tutoring with AI
    10. PowerSchool — For supporting school districts as they reopened

    • Fast Company: The World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2022

  • Stanford University Ends a $1.7M Contract with a Russian Entity

    Stanford University Ends a $1.7M Contract with a Russian Entity

    IBL News | New York

    Stanford University announced that it is ending what appears to be one of the last remaining active Russian contracts among colleges in the U.S.

    It’s a $1.7 million, three-year agreement with an unidentified Russian entity for “online access to business-related professional development courses.”

    Dee Mostofi, Stanford’s Assistant Vice President for External Communications, ensured that the institution was “in full compliance with U.S. sanctions.”

    “Stanford is in the process of ending an agreement that provides online access to business-related professional development courses through a licensee,” he explained while refusing to provide further details regarding this contract.

    Other universities, like MIT, the University of Colorado, and Arizona State University, among others, have also cut student, research, and financial ties from Russia.

  • Docebo Increased Its Net Loss to $13.6M in 2021 Despite Gaining Known Brands

    Docebo Increased Its Net Loss to $13.6M in 2021 Despite Gaining Known Brands

    IBL News | New York

    Learning platform Docebo (NASDAQ: DCBO; TSX: DCBO) increased its net loss to $13.6 million in 2021, compared to $8.0 million in 2020. It had a negative cash flow generated from operating activities, compared to a positive $4.8 million in the prior year.

    Meanwhile, revenue went up 66% until $104.2 million in 2021. Subscription revenue — representing 92% of total revenue — showed a similar increase.

    The number of customers went from 2,179 at the end of 2020 to 2,805 in 2021.

    In addition to the fiscal year 2021 results, the Toronto-based company reported the fourth-quarter of 2021 results, with a similar subscription revenue growth of 64%.

    Claudio Erba, CEO and Founder of Docebo, interpreted the results stressing, “the strength of our organic growth engine, which is led by best in class product and backed by strong sales execution, customer success, and support.”

    Among new clients signed in 2021, Docebo mentioned Align Technology, Dine Brands Global, the company behind IHOP and Applebee’s franchises, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Stanley Black & Decker, SolarEdge, ManpowerGroup, BMW in Greensville, NC.

  • “One-Third of Employees Are Shifting Their Hiring Practices into Skills,” Says WGU’s President

    “One-Third of Employees Are Shifting Their Hiring Practices into Skills,” Says WGU’s President

    IBL News | New York

    “One-third of employees are shifting their hiring practices into skills,” said yesterday Scott Pulsipher, President of WGU (Western Governors University) during a sat down interview conducted by JFF’s CEO, Maria Flynn, at the SWSW EDU conference in Austin, Texas.

    The panel titled “The Edges of Learning & Work” explored promising innovations in workforce education along with their potential for equity.

    Scott Pulsipher pointed out that his institution’s challenge is based on “how to enhance technology to improve the quality of curriculum design.” “It’s about how to better invest in technology to improve outcomes for students,” he added.

    Mr. Pulsipher insisted on the idea of mapping skills and geo-locating them. “WGU has been at the forefront of innovation with its competency-based model,” said Maria Flynn.

    SXSW EDU Launch and Student Startup Competitions’ Winners

    During the same SXSW EDU event — which concluded yesterday — organizers announced the winners of the 2022 Launch and Student Startup competitions.

    In the first competition, the award winner was the Pala Indian Reservation, California-based Our Worlds, Inc. This company provides place-based, primary source, educational content about Native Americans in Extended Reality 360 degrees across the world.

    The six finalists pitched innovations ranging from platforms supporting emotional literacy education to speech AI.

    The Student Startup Competition winner was AUesome, based in Sunnyvale, California. This company was selected for its work to make therapy more accessible and affordable for children on the autism spectrum.

  • U.S. Secretary of Education Asked for a Disruption of the System Since “It is not Designed for Everyone”

    U.S. Secretary of Education Asked for a Disruption of the System Since “It is not Designed for Everyone”

    IBL News | New York

    The U.S. Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, said yesterday in Austin, Texas, during a keynote talk at the SXSW EDU Conference that “the current educational system is broken because it is not designed for everyone.”

    Mr. Cardona — who also visited the Austin Community College District’s Highland Campus on Wednesday and Blazier Elementary School — joined three students for a panel discussion on how to reimagine education.

    The keynote featured an introductory message by A Starting Point cofounders and actors Chris Evans and Mark Kassen. The session, titled Reimagining Education with Students at the Center, was moderated by journalist Dana Brown, who focused the conversation on how education systems that meet the needs of today’s students can be created.

    “Let’s disrupt the system together,” he addressed an audience of educators, teachers, leaders, and attendees interested in the subject. “We’ve normalized disparities, and now we need to proportionally disrupt the system; it didn’t work for everyone.”

    “Educators need to be supported; we can start by not passing legislation that undermines educators,” he added.

    Miguel Cardona — in the picture above — garnered applause from the audience in several moments. “This is our moment; we need to think outside the box.”

    Regarding the ongoing cultural war due to the political divide, the U.S. Secretary of Education said, “nobody wants a bully, especially when it happens to the most vulnerable students.” “Our focus is how we can better serve students.”

    The SXSW EDU Conference & Festival attracted this year (March 7-10, 2022) thousands of attendees and tens of speakers interested in innovation in the education industry.

  • Chegg Hires a Former VP of edX for Shaping a New Learning Strategy

    Chegg Hires a Former VP of edX for Shaping a New Learning Strategy

    IBL News | New York

    Chegg, Inc. (NYSE: CHGG) announced this week that it named digital education expert and former Vice President of Learning at edX, Dr. Nina Huntemann, as its first Chief Academic Officer, a newly created role.

    Dr. Huntemann will be responsible for shaping and implementing Chegg’s learning strategy, as well as measuring its impact.

    She also will be focused on deepening Chegg’s relationships with faculty and administration.

    Before joining edX, Nina Huntemann was a tenured professor at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts, in the Department of Communication and Journalism. Dr. Huntemann joined Santa Clara, California – based Chegg at the end of 2021.

    “We are confident that her experience and forward-looking insights will help us deliver on our promise to provide students with the tools and services they need to succeed,” said a representative of Chegg.

    On her side, Dr. Huntemann said: “I believe that digital tools and services, when developed with academic experts and backed by sound pedagogy, can complement the classroom and accelerate learning.”


    Teachable Hires Mark Haseltine



    Another ex-edXer, Mark Haseltine — in the picture, above — made a move into another start-up. Teachable.com announced him as its new Chief Product & Technology Officer.

    Mark Haseltine built and led technology teams at edX as CTO and GoDaddy. Most recently, he served as Chief Product & Technology Officer at RepTrak.

  • Amazon Will Fully Pay College Tuition to Its 750,000 American Employees

    Amazon Will Fully Pay College Tuition to Its 750,000 American Employees

    IBL News | New York

    Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) will offer career advancement opportunities through fully-funded college tuition to its 750,000 hourly American employees who have stayed over 90 days in the company.

    To achieve it, the e-commerce giant will partner with 140 national and local universities and 40 other educational providers, following its Career Choice program, “designed to help frontline employees grow their skills for career success at Amazon or elsewhere.”

    The program will allow employees to pursue a Bachelor’s degree, earn industry certifications, build skills through English language proficiency and high school completion programs.

    The Amazon employees will be able to take classes online, in-person at a local campus, or on-site in one of the more than 110 Career Choice classrooms located in fulfillment centers in 37 states.

    The announcement, which took place last week, brings into the program schools, like Southern New Hampshire University, Colorado State University Global, Western Governors University, and National University.

    Amazon is also partnering with GEDWorks and Smart Horizons to provide high school completion and GED preparation, Voxy EnGen and goFLUENT to provide English language proficiency training, and Outlier to provide college preparation courses. Amazon will provide these services for free to their employees.

    Regarding this initiative, Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, said: “Higher education is our nation’s most powerful engine of social and economic mobility, and this initiative will both expand access to postsecondary education and increase the number of learners who succeed in completing their degrees.”

    Since its launch in 2012, Career Choice has provided education for 50,000 employees, according to the company. Career Choice is one of nine free skills training and education programs that Amazon offers to its employees as part of its Upskilling 2025 pledge, intended to train 300,000 employees after a $1.2 billion investment.

    The Seattle – based company, said, “Career training is just one of the industry-leading benefits that Amazon offers to its team.” It added: “Amazon pays employees an average starting wage of $18 per hour, which is more than double the federal minimum wage, and provides comprehensive health benefits, paid time off, up to 20 weeks of fully paid parental leave, and additional benefits for employees and their families.”

     

  • Well-Funded Go1 Corporate Library Will Offer Custom Lessons from Pluralsight

    Well-Funded Go1 Corporate Library Will Offer Custom Lessons from Pluralsight

    IBL News | New York

    Pluralsight (NASDAQ: PS) announced that it partnered with the Australian corporate education library Go1. No financial details were disclosed.

    This deal essentially means that Go1 customers will have access to custom content from Pluralsight Skills to create learning paths for roles such as Software Developer, Security Professionals, and Agile leaders.

    Both companies stated that they designed the offer with “the aim to address the global tech skills shortage, which continues to expand.”

    The tech skills shortage affects over 85 million people, representing an estimated $8.5 trillion in lost annual revenue by 2030, according to research from Korn Ferry.

    “Our partnership with Pluralsight creates a critical tech-skilling pathway for Go1 customers to experience the industry’s leading tech courses to join a future-ready workforce,” said Basem Emera, VP of Partnerships and Alliances at Go1.

    Go1‘s centralized content library, with tens of partners, serves 3.5 million corporate learners. This company has raised over $280 million in funding from investors, including AirTree Ventures, Blue Cloud Ventures, Larsen Ventures, Madrona Venture Group, M12, Our Innovation Fund, Oxford University, Salesforce Ventures, SEEK, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, TEN13, and Y Combinator.

  • China’s Harsh Regulation on Education Resulted in 200K Layoffs and $100B Wiped Off

    China’s Harsh Regulation on Education Resulted in 200K Layoffs and $100B Wiped Off

    IBL News | New York

    China Communist Government’s regulatory crackdown on the nation’s for-profit education industry has resulted in over 200,000 people being laid off and $100 billion lost, according to an analysis by ClassCentral.com.

    Last year, after a series of fines and restrictions, China’s Government ended up with a harsh regulation that marked the end of an era for the for-profit tutoring industry in China.

    Education stock plummeted by 90% (as shown in the graphic below), and many companies went bankrupt.

    This collapse also affected to stock prices of Chinese companies listed in the U.S. and Hong Kong.

    Additionally, these measures impacted tens of millions of students from kindergarten through grade nine.
    .

    Company Market Cap

    (Feb 16, 2021)

    		 Market Cap 

    (Jul 26, 2021) 

    		 Market Cap 

    (Jan 24, 2022)

    		 Loss* 
    New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (EDU) $33.49B $3.27B $2.78B -$30.71B
    TAL Education Group (TAL) $52.54B $2.84B $2.44B -$50.10B
    GSX Techedu Inc. (GOTU) $27.67B $0.64B $0.63B -$27.04B
    Youdao, Inc. (DAO) $4.25B $1.06B $1.76B -$2.49B
    China Online Education Group (COE) $0.55B $0.06B $0.04B -$0.51B
    Total $118.5B $7.9B $7.7B -$110.9B

    * The market cap loss is calculated from Feb 15, 2021 to Jan 24, 2022.

    • The Report of ClassCentral.com

  • A Vulnerability on a Popular App on Campuses Allows to Open Unlocked Doors

    A Vulnerability on a Popular App on Campuses Allows to Open Unlocked Doors

    IBL News | New York

    A vulnerability on an app called GET Mobile allows opening remotely unlocked doors on campuses.

    TechCrunch reported about it yesterday through a featured article titled “How a simple security bug became a university campus master key.”

    This app, developed by CBORD, a technology company that brings access control and payment systems to hospitals and universities, fixed the bug last month, but some customers didn’t receive any notification, according to TechCrunch.

    GET Mobile allows students at universities to pay for meals, get into events and even unlock doors to dorm rooms, labs, and other facilities across campuses.

    Students found the vulnerability after examining the CBORD’s lists of commands available through its API.

    They described it as a “master key” to his university — at least to the doors that are controlled by CBORD.