Author: IBL News

IBL News | New York

The edX organization, now owned by 2U Inc, this month released its 2022 Impact Report, with views from surveyed learners and educational leaders.

Within 10 years, edX was scaled from 150,000 learners to over 40 million in 196 countries. These are other achievements highlighted in the report.

• About 13,000 learners earned MicroMasters program credentials in the last five years.

• Over 6 million enrolled in credit-backed or credit-eligible courses.

• 80% of all edX learners are outside of North America.

• 3,500 online programs across 30+ subject areas.

• edX Impact Report (PDF)

Now, together with @2UInc, our potential impact is even greater. Join our movement, and meet our mantras, in the 2022 Impact Report: https://t.co/TQOdMgp389 pic.twitter.com/6fRTZb7iVK

— anant agarwal (@agarwaledu) December 15, 2021

The 2022 edX Impact report shows the powerful changes @agarwaledu and the @edXonline team have driven in higher education over the past 10 years. #mindblown I’m excited to have them by my side as we unlock the potential of learners everywhere in the next decade. https://t.co/qoM6ws5zw0

— Chip Paucek (@chippaucek) December 15, 2021

IBL News | New York

MOOCs have reached worldwide — excluding China — 220 million learners and 3,100 courses, according to Dhawal Shah, CEO and Founder at ClassCentral.com.

In 2021, 40 million new learners signed up for at least one MOOC, compared to 60 million in 2020, when the pandemic hit.

In terms of content, Dhawal Shah predicts that in 2022 MOOC providers, such as Coursera, edX, and Future Learn, will expand their catalog through business partners taking advantage of the lucrative enterprise segment.

Their dependence on university partners is declining as more and more courses are created by companies every year, such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook.

In a column published at EdSurge this week, Dhawal Shah makes sharp observations regarding the MOOCs players’ performance:

• Since Coursera went public on the NYSE in March 2021, raising $519 million, its stock has been steadily falling. The predicted revenue is over $400 million in 2021, with a loss of $100 million. The company paid its university partners $281 million.

• For Coursera, enterprise-based subscription service is already its fastest-growing segment, with 70 percent year-over-year growth, compared to 29 percent for “consumer,” that is, purchases by individual students.

• edX acquisition by 2U for $800 million in cash in July “weakened edX” since it took away its biggest, or probably only, ideological advantage over Coursera with of its non-profit status. edX CEO Anant Agarwal transitioned to ‘Chief Open Education Officer’ at 2U.

• edX waived all the membership and annual fees for its members, and none of the edX Consortium members left.

• Signs of edX-2U integration. EdX.org has started promoting other 2U acquisitions: GetSmarter Courses and Trilogy Bootcamps.

• 2U stock price didn’t show a positive impact of edX acquisition. It’s lower than it was before the acquisition. The company is valued at $1.6 today.

• Providers have found their audience from a monetization perspective): Professional Learners: learners taking courses for potential career benefits. To target them, providers launched 70 online degrees and some 17,000 micro-credentials.

IBL News | New York

David J. Malan, Professor of the Practice of Computer Science at Harvard University, announced this month the release of a new version of its highly rated entry-level course CS50 on January 1, 2022.

The CS50x 2022 course, as it is named, will include video in 4K, new content, and codespaces at GitHub.

This class, posted on edX.org, is one of Harvard’s largest classes. “It uses tools to make teaching introductory computer science easier,” according to their creators. It is intended for majors and non-majors, with or without prior programming experience.

Topics include abstraction, algorithms, data structures, encapsulation, resource management, security, software engineering, and web development. Languages include C, Python, SQL, and JavaScript, in addition to CSS and HTML. Problem sets are inspired by the real-world domains of biology, cryptography, finance, forensics, and gaming.

This is CS50x 2022, available on @edXOnline on January 1, 2022. 🥂 Now in 4K HDR, with new-and-improved content and @code, plus @GitHub Codespaces. Register at https://t.co/0uYgZCA5qz. FAQs at https://t.co/NFx7t8mD5O.https://t.co/ksA1b9jcj2#education #community

— David J. Malan (@davidjmalan) December 22, 2021