IBL News

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  • Robinhood Confirms that One-third of Customers’ Data Was Compromised After a Large Hack

    Robinhood Confirms that One-third of Customers’ Data Was Compromised After a Large Hack

    IBL News | New York

    Online trading platform Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD), often criticized for its shortcomings in customer support, reported a new problem: a data breach.

    The Menlo Park, California-based company confirmed yesterday that it was hacked on November 3rd when a client representative mishap allowed a hacker to steal the personal information of about five million customer email addresses and two million names. For some customers, even more personal data was exposed, including names, birth dates, and ZIP codes of about 310 people and more extensive information belonging to a group of about 10.

    The breach, one-third of customers overall, didn’t result in any financial loss for clients, said the start-up.

    According to Robinhood, “the attack has been contained and we believe that no Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, or debit card numbers were exposed and that there has been no financial loss to any customers as a result of the incident.”

    The intruder demanded an extortion payment. Robinhood informed law enforcement and continues to investigate the incident with the help of security firm Mandiant.

    The hack took place after the cybercriminal tricked a customer representative staffer by phone and obtained access to certain client support systems.

    A similar hack occurred at Twitter in July 2020. A teenage hacker used social engineering techniques to trick some of Twitter’s employees into thinking the hacker was an employee, allowing the hacker access to an internal Twitter “admin” tool, which he used to hijack high-profile accounts.

    Shares of Robinhood fell 3.5% to $35.68 yesterday in New York.

    In a separate episode last year, almost 2,000 Robinhood accounts were compromised in a hacking spree. Some complained there was no one available to call.

    The start-up that popularized free trading tripled the size of its customer-service staff in 2020, unveiling round-the-clock phone support.

    Robinhood advised customers to keep their accounts secure by visiting Help Center > My Account & Login > Account Security. “We’ll never include a link to access your account in a security alert.” 

  • Stanford University Launches a Digital Office to Help Underserved High School Students

    Stanford University Launches a Digital Office to Help Underserved High School Students

    IBL News | New York

    Stanford University launched this Fall a new digital education office that will team up with nonprofit organization National Ed Equity Lab with the goal to bridge the gap between high school and college.

    This newly formed office, Stanford Digital Education, was established by Provost Drell. It aims to spur innovation in Stanford’s online and hybrid education strategies. It intends to “marshal the University’s technological capabilities and teaching and learning expertise to reach students to have been historically underserved by higher education.”

    Provost Persis Drell stated, “through this new office, we seek to strengthen Stanford’s capacity to innovate in extending educational opportunities to those who have not had access to them before.”

    In its initial pilot, Stanford Digital Education has enrolled over 220 students nationwide in a credit-bearing introductory course, Computer Science 105, for the fall quarter.

    This course, led by Stanford Computer Science lecturer Patrick Young, is the first in Stanford’s history that offers dual enrollment with transferable college credit in collaboration with high schools nationwide.

    Through the Ed Equity Lab’s network, more courses, including introductory writing and Structured Liberal Education, will be offered this academic year.

    Matthew Rascoff, the newly appointed Stanford Vice Provost for Digital Education, is leading the effort. Earlier in his career, Rascoff was Associate Vice Provost for Digital Education and Innovation at Duke University, where he established the Duke Learning Innovation team. He also was Founding Vice President for technology-based learning and innovation for the University of North Carolina system.
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  • Google Will Grant Community Colleges Free Access to Its Career Certifications

    Google Will Grant Community Colleges Free Access to Its Career Certifications

    IBL News | New York 

    Google announced last week that it will grant community colleges and career and technical high schools in the U.S. free access to all its four career certifications.

    It will allow schools to incorporate Google’s certifications into their curriculums as part of for-credit courses.

    Currently, the search giant offers four career certifications: data analytics, information technology, user experience design, and project management. The certificates are administered by the online learning provider Coursera.

    Google IT Support Certification requires a minimum of 150 hours of an online course.

    Lisa Gevelber, from Grow with Google, said that the four certificates were recommended by the American Council on Education and would be recognized as college credit for up to as many as 12 credits, equalling some four college courses at the Bachelors level.

    The State of Connecticut became the first in the country to offer the complete Google Career Certificates suite across all its universities and colleges, starting spring next year.

    Google announced the program at an event with Connecticut state officials and U.S. Secretary of Education Michael Cardona.
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  • Canvas LMS Will Replace Blackboard as Miami Dade College’s Learning Platform

    Canvas LMS Will Replace Blackboard as Miami Dade College’s Learning Platform

    IBL News | New York

    Instructure (NYSE: INST) reported an important gain across the competitive market of the LMSs this week.

    The Salt Lake City, Utah-based, publicly-traded company announced that Miami Dade College (MDC) selected its Canvas LMS platform to serve over 120,000 students.

    This way, Blackboard, now part of Anthology, will be replaced by competitor Canvas LMS.

    “Platform reliability is more essential than ever, due to the variability of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent surge in online education,” said Melissa Loble, Chief Customer Experience Officer at Instructure.Miami Dade has eight campuses and outreach centers, offering over 300 distinct degree pathways, including associate and baccalaureate degrees, college credit certificates, digital badges, rapid credentials, and apprenticeships, and more.

    “Our mission is to change lives through accessible, high-quality teaching and learning experiences, and using Canvas will help us advance that goal,” said Dr. Malou C. Harrison, Provost at Miami Dade College.
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  • Coursera’s Stock Continues Below Its IPO Price Despite Improved Results in Q3

    Coursera’s Stock Continues Below Its IPO Price Despite Improved Results in Q3

    IBL News | New York

    Shares of Coursera (NYSE: COUR) continue falling on Thursday, despite the company’s third-quarter earnings report that beat Wall Street’s expectations on both revenue and earnings per share. In the last two days, the stock finished down over 11%, at $32.14.

    Since it went public this year in March, at $33, the stock hasn’t offered any gain. Between the IPO and today, shares had gotten as high as $65 per share.

    Analysts explained that Coursera was catching a cold from an industry peer — Chegg (NYSE: CHGG) — whose stock was cut in half after warning that higher wages and employment opportunities were luring students into the workforce instead of community colleges or regular college.

    Coursera posted showed a revenue increase of 33% to $82.7 million in the third quarter. The adjusted net loss per share was $0.06.

    Net loss was $32.5 million or 29.5% of revenue, compared to $11.9 million or 14.4% of revenue a year ago.

    Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO at Coursera, said, “Our third-quarter performance reflects the continued urgency with which companies, campuses, and governments around the world are investing in digital skills.”

    The Mountain View, California-based online learning platform expects full-year revenue in the range of $409 million to $413 million.

    Coursera claimed to host 92 million registered learners, up from 72 million last year. There are now 16,000 students pursuing degrees offered solely on Coursera by university partners. This is up 40% from last year.

    On the other hand, Coursera its Impact Report 2021. “New trends show that the combined force of online learning and remote work is creating a powerful opportunity to provide not just skills but more equitable job opportunities worldwide,” wrote Jeff Maggioncalda.

  • Class Central Starts Developing a Social Learning Platform for Open Courses

    Class Central Starts Developing a Social Learning Platform for Open Courses

    IBL News | New York

    ClassCentral.com announced it’s developing a social learning platform for open courses.

    “Class Central Cohorts are our attempt to add a social layer to free online courses,” said Dhawal Shah, CEO and Founder of Class Central.

    Currently, two courses are open to experimentation: Wharton Marketing and Dino 101.

    A Class Central Cohort features three main components: an online course, discussion forum, weekly Zoom sessions, or live streams.

    Class Central built a website where learners access the study schedule, upcoming streams and recordings, and Discourse forums.

    Coordinators accept enrollments, create a study schedule, post announcements, and weekly updates, and create events (for Zoom sessions) that are sent to learners automatically.

    The legendary Barbara Oakley, who has 4 million learners on Coursera, participated in the study groups as a student.

     

  • Accenture Finds Six Segments of Students, Based on Learning Mindsets

    Accenture Finds Six Segments of Students, Based on Learning Mindsets

    IBL News | New York

    Research from Accenture, ‘Serving all students: A survey of learner mindsets’, offered a deeper understanding of higher education students and opportunities for institutions after the COVID pandemic.

    Changes already underway — such as a reduced pool of “traditional” students, the need for lifelong credentialing and skilling, and the rise of alternative education providers — accelerated.

    “Education institutions, now more than ever, are looking to evolve how they serve existing students as well as how they adapt to serve new student segments,” said Samantha Fisher, Managing Director of Accenture’s Education Practice.

    “Learning and acquiring new skills across a workers’ career is increasingly essential for employees and organizations to flourish, and the challenge demands a deeper understanding of learning mindsets.”

    The survey by Accenture conducted a survey of 6,500+ post-secondary learners revealed six distinct segments of learners, clustered based on learning mindsets, goals, and emotions rather than demographic factors or type of institution — as noted in the graphic above.

    “Campus Enthusiasts” representing 16% of respondents, are academically-oriented young people, seeking an immersive and exploratory college experience. They are generally full-time students, with social and career extracurriculars, and most will be seeking their first professional job upon degree completion.

    “Wayfinding Intellectuals” representing 7% of respondents, are working toward their first degree, highly driven by intellectual curiosity, and often interested in staying within academia. They seek a more traditional learning experience, preferring in-person enrollment and learning.

    “Junior Specialists” are the largest cluster, representing 31% of respondents. They are motivated by real-life application of coursework, internships, and building networks to enter an identified field upon graduation. Most are enrolled or plan to enroll in a four-year institution full-time and committed to pursuing a degree in a professional field, such as healthcare or business. They tend to be relatively more reliant on loans and scholarships, have lower-incomes, and be less interested in school culture and social opportunities.

    “Evolving Professionals” representing 23% of respondents, have higher incomes and more work experience. Driven by intellectual curiosity, they are looking to expand their interests and career options rather than developing specific skills tied to their employer. Many are studying technology or business. A majority are pursuing a traditional degree, but a sizable minority are enrolled in or intend to enroll in a certificate program. They tend to be older than the previous three segments, and many have started families.

    “Mid-Career Climbers” representing 14% of respondents, seek to advance their careers through special credentials closely tied to their current or a future employer. They tend to work full-time, and place a premium on program flexibility (e.g., full online or online hybrids), and are the most likely group to enroll in certificate programs and institutions outside of colleges and universities.

    “Trajectory Transformers” representing 9% of respondents, are striving to achieve career advancements by changing roles or industries by obtaining specific skillsets in a short amount of time. They focus heavily on value and potential outcomes, are the oldest group with the most work experience, and are among the most price-sensitive learners. Many are or will be first-generation college students.

     

  • Udemy’s Stock Recovers Until Reaching Its IPO Price of $29 Per Share

    Udemy’s Stock Recovers Until Reaching Its IPO Price of $29 Per Share

    IBL News | New York

    Udemy Inc (Nasdaq: UDMY) recovered on Monday, November 1, with a jump of 6.25% to $29.05 after a failed IPO debut last Friday.

    On Monday, November 1, Udemy’s stock grew above $29 of the IPO offer price, giving the company a market value of $4.02 billion.

    San Francisco-based Udemy.com sold 14.5 million shares Thursday at the top of a marketed range of $27 to $29 to raise $421 million.

    The company was valued at $3.2 billion in private investment last year.

    Udemy’s revenue for the first six months of the year was $251 million, up from $201 million the year before. Its net loss narrowed to $29 million from $52 million a year ago.

    Udemy provides online video courses across a variety of categories, including web development, marketing, and business. The company said it had more than 201 million course enrollments last year with over 44 million users globally.

    In the risk-factors section of the prospectus, Udemy acknowledges that it’s in a highly competitive market, including Coursera Inc., Pluralsight Inc., and LinkedIn Learning.

    Its corporate customers include Citigroup Inc., Jaguar Land Rover, PayPal Holdings Inc., and Box Inc.

    Udemy’s biggest investor is Insight Partners, which with its affiliates owns more than 30% of the company’s shares after the listing. Other top shareholders, according to Udemy’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, include MIH Edtech Investments, which is a unit of Prosus NV, and Norwest Venture Partners.

  • UPenn Becomes the First Ivy League School to Accept Enrollment Payment in Crypto

    UPenn Becomes the First Ivy League School to Accept Enrollment Payment in Crypto

    IBL News | New York

    UPenn’s Wharton School launched an online executive education program that will accept enrollment payment in various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USD Coin, becoming the first Ivy League or U.S. business school.

    In a written statement last week, the University of Pennsylvania’s (UPenn) announcement came alongside the launch of its six-week the “Economics of Blockchain and Digital Assets” course, which will begin on January 3, 2022.

    “We designed this program for business professionals and executives from a range of backgrounds, including traditional finance, management, and tech,” said the Program’s Academic Director, Wharton professor, and Blockchain author, Kevin Werbach. 

    The school will partner with blockchain consulting firm Prysm Group to offer the certificate program.

    PwC expects blockchain to boost global GDP by US$1.8T by 2030, indicating that the applications of this technology are only beginning to reveal themselves. Furthermore, Deloitte found that 83 percent of businesses are discussing or working on cryptocurrencies in the context of solutions or strategies.

     

  • edX Launched a First MicroBachelors Program with IBM in Cloud Application

    edX Launched a First MicroBachelors Program with IBM in Cloud Application

    IBL News | New York

    edX Inc., now part of 2U, recently announced its first MicroBachelors program with IBM in Full Stack Cloud Application Development.

    This program of 11 courses in seven months and at $600 is credit-backed and worth up to three college credits from Thomas Edison State University.

    It is designed for learners with no prior programming or cloud experience and sets them for an entry-level role as a full stack developer — one of the top 15 tech jobs for 2021.

    The development of edX MicroBachelors programs is supported by American Student Assistance, Boeing, Lumina Foundation, the Truist Foundation, Walmart, the Jeremy M. and Joyce E. Wertheimer Foundation, and the Yidan Prize Foundation.

    “IBM is committed to creating learning content on edX that is accessible, affordable, and relevant, and this MicroBachelors program does just that,” said Rav Ahuja, Global Program Director IBM Skills Network.