IBL News

Author: IBL News

  • Microsoft Acquires Learning Platform TakeLessons.com

    Microsoft Acquires Learning Platform TakeLessons.com

    IBL News | New York

    Microsoft announced yesterday the acquisition of the San Diego-based learning start-up TakeLessons.com, for an undisclosed amount.

    TakeLessons offers online and offline courses on consumer-oriented subjects, including music, languages, and the arts. The platform connects students with individual tutors, both online and in person.

    With this move, Microsoft purchases a learning lineup that differs from the business and technology-related educational content available from LinkedIn Learning.

    “This acquisition is in response to the growing demand on personalized hybrid opportunities and expands our product offerings to TakeLessons consumers, a leading online learning platform,” said a Microsoft spokesperson.

    Founded in 2006, TakeLessons has raised over $20 million from a range of VCs and individuals, such as Lightbank, Uncork Capital, Crosslink Capital, and others.

    Currently, over 6% of Microsoft’s revenue comes from LinkedIn.

  • Analyst and Entrepreneur Michael Feldstein Suggests MIT and Harvard Endow a Foundation to Steward Open edX

    Analyst and Entrepreneur Michael Feldstein Suggests MIT and Harvard Endow a Foundation to Steward Open edX

    IBL News | New York

    Analyst and entrepreneur Michael Feldstein suggested MIT and Harvard University take a portion of the $800 million profit received from 2U and endow a small foundation intended to steward the Open edX code through the Apache incubation process.

    “MIT and Harvard should not have undue influence or control,” Feldstein said in a recent article while advising to follow the Apache Foundation’s incubation process “to ensure a healthy open-source community and governance practices.”

    “Once the software has passed through incubation—which is usually a multi-year process—then a new board should be elected from the community to chart its future.”

    “The initial board could consist of former EdX members and Open EdX contributors.”

    Michael Feldstein, the author of the influential blog eLiterate [in the picture above], says that Open edX is “a passion project”, and therefore MIT and Harvard are in need of an outside auditor to steward the platform.

    With another portion of the proceeds of the sale of edX Inc to 2U, MIT and Harvard should create “an educational research grant-giving body focused on improving global education and educational equity.”

    “MIT and Harvard faculty and staff would be permanently disqualified from receiving grant dollars from the foundation. A credible board of academic experts and NGO leaders would oversee the distribution of funds.”

    Regarding the transaction itself, Feldstein points to the disagreement inside MIT and Harvard and highlights the “reputational damage done.”

    “My sources inside these institutions, particularly MIT, tell me there’s quite a bit of internal upset and foment over the transaction.”

    Michael Feldstein has recently co-founded Argos Education, a start-up that uses Carnegie Mellon University’s open-source, alternative software, the Open Learning Initiative.

     

    Discussion on Twitter

  • Howard University Partially Reopens After Being Hit with a Ransomware Cyberattack

    Howard University Partially Reopens After Being Hit with a Ransomware Cyberattack

    IBL News | New York

    Howard University in Washington, DC, partially reopened Wednesday after a ransomware cyberattack forced the institution to cancel classes for two days.

    “The situation is still being investigated,” said the university in a statement. “To date, there has been no evidence of personal information being accessed or exfiltrated.”

    Online and hybrid undergraduate courses remained suspended, while all in-person undergraduate, graduate, professional, and clinical experiential courses resumed yesterday.

    The university deployed alternative Wi-Fi hot spots on campus as a way to provide access to course lecture content, academic modules, and apps requiring Internet access. However, only some apps were accessible and extended courses deadlines.

    The ransomware attack was detected on Friday.

    Howard University — one of the leading historically Black colleges and universities, with over 11,000 students — is working with FBI and city officials and installing additional safety measures to protect data.

    In recent months, the U.S. has seen a surge in the number of ransomware attacks in the U.S.

    These attacks have become a growing concern for educational institutions and school districts, as they hold troves of private data.

    Researchers recently estimated that 3,880 schools and universities have experienced ransomware attacks since 2018, costing billions in downtime and ransom payments.

    Cybercriminals have hit not only educational institutions but hospitals, pipelines, private companies, and local governments.

  • UMass Global Will Pursue to Be a National Powerhouse in Online Adult Education

    UMass Global Will Pursue to Be a National Powerhouse in Online Adult Education

    IBL News | New York

    UMass Global, the new brand created by the University of Massachusetts after purchasing of California-based Brandman University, plans to become a national powerhouse on adult education by implementing an ambitious growth strategy. It will directly compete with Southern New Hampshire and Western Governors University.

    UMass Global announced that it will build on Brandman’s track record of helping employers build talent pipelines.

    Marty Meehan, President at The University of Massachusetts, stated that “UMass Global will be essential to millions of adults in Massachusetts, California and across the nation as job markets have been disrupted and employer needs and priorities have shifted.”

    The target audience of UMass Global, a nonprofit affiliate of UMass, will be adult learners seeking to complete their degrees and accelerate their economic mobility.

    It took two and a half years and discussions with more than 100 potential partners to approve this initiative.

    Finally, this week, the University of Massachusetts and Chapman University announced the transfer of control of Brandman University to UMass.

    “UMass has found an excellent partner in Brandman University as both institutions push forward with meeting the growing needs of adult learners,” said Chapman University President Daniele Struppa.

    Chapman began serving the active military in the late 50s, which eventually grew into what is now a recognized leader in adult learning in Brandman.

    About 36 million Americans have some college but no degree, according to the National Student Clearinghouse.

     

  • Scottish Peter Vardy Foundation Launches an Open edX-Based Platform to Educate GenZ Leaders

    Scottish Peter Vardy Foundation Launches an Open edX-Based Platform to Educate GenZ Leaders

    IBL News | New York

    The Glasgow, Scotland-based Peter Vardy Foundation launched this month its educational platform GenZ Leaders.

    Based on an Open edX ecosystem powered by New York firm IBL Education, this platform “is aimed at equipping every young person in Scotland with world-class leadership skills and decision-making capabilities,” said the organization.

    The GenZ leadership knowledge and skills program has a potential reach of 360 schools and 290,000 young people in Scotland before expanding further into the United Kingdom and internationally.

    Four secondary schools across Scotland are now taking part in a pilot.

    The GenZ Leaders is the latest and most wide-ranging initiative from the Peter Vardy Foundation, the charity organization used by the Peter Vardy automotive group to distribute 10% of its profits to good causes.

    “GenZ is the first step in creating a world-leading digital leadership program which will work to complement existing provision and be delivered by teachers to help pupils get to the best post-school destinations,” explained Peter Vardy, GenZ Leaders Chairman.

    “We want to give every young person the skills to follow their hearts and create their own future,” said Becca Dobson, the Director of Education at the GenZ Leaders team. 

    The Peter Vardy Foundation has committed to funding the educational program for its first three years. The lessons will feature acknowledged thought leaders and will be delivered by staff using a blended learning approach.

    Educational content will cover six topics: Leadership, Organisation, Communication, Resilience, Initiative, and Oracy. Upon completion, badges and certificates will be awarded.

    [In the picture above from left to right: Samantha Bedford, Chief Operating Officer; Victoria Vardy, Chief Education Officer; Peter Vardy, Founder & Chair; Becca Dobson, Director of Education; and Elizabeth-Anne Collier, Programme Manager]

     



  • The Ten Top Most Valuable EdTech Start-Ups: A Mix of Chinese, Indian, and American Companies

    The Ten Top Most Valuable EdTech Start-Ups: A Mix of Chinese, Indian, and American Companies

    IBL News | New York

    Five American companies are among the ten most valuable EdTech companies worldwide, while Indian and Chinese start-ups are ranked first.

    “The global EdTech is a broad and diverse field that includes not only the hardware and software programs used in remote learning but also the most effective ways of teaching people new knowledge and skills,” said Ahsan Ullah in an article written in Yahoo analyzing the rising of this industry, accelerated by the pandemic.

    Education research company HolonIQ predicted that the annual growth rate of EdTech will continue growing 2.5x until 2025, and the global expenditure will reach $404 billion in total. The education technology sector will make up 5.5% of the $7.3 trillion global education market by 2025.

    The EdTech companies’ top 10 are ranked according to their market capitalization and valuation.

    1. BYJU’S: Valuation of $16.5 billion. Based in Bangalore, India, and with 40 million users, of whom 3 million are annual paid subscribers, Byju’s provides online courses and enables students to prepare for exams such as IIT-JEE, NEET, IAS in India and international examinations such GRE and GMAT.

    2. Yuanfudao: Valuation of $15.5 billion. A Beijing-based platform that provides K12 online courses and tutoring to 400 million users.

    3. Chegg, Inc (NYSE: CHGG): Valuation of $11.56. An American company founded in 2005 by two Iowa State University students, that provides 25,000 textbooks titles for students with standardized test preparation, career preparation, and study materials on its website. It offers products like Cheap Textbooks, Chegg Coupon, Solution Manual, eTextbooks.

    4. Zuoyebang: Valuation of $10 billion. A Chinese educational platform for online courses, live lessons, and homework help for kindergarten to 12th-grade students.

    5. Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE: BFAM): Valuation of $8.61 billion. An American EdTech company founded in 1986 that offers full-service center based-child care and educational advisory services. It has 26,800 employees.

    6. Duolingo, Inc (NASDAQ: DUOL). Valuation of $5.05 billion. The Pittsburgh-based language learning platform, was co-founded by Luis Von Ahn, the inventor of CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA, and Severin Hacker in 2011.

    7. VIPKID. Valuation of $4.5 billion. A China-based start-up for English learning. Today, it connects 800,000 million paying students with 90,000 teachers in the U.S. and Canada. It uses AI in online teaching.

    8. Articulate: Valuation of $3.75 billion. A US-based firm that allows users to develop interactive courses that work on their LMS.

    9. Udemy: Valuation of $3.3 billion. A US-based marketplace that connects 40 million students seeking to improve their skills with 70,000 expert instructors that offer 155,000 online courses in 65 languages.

    10. ApplyBoard: Valuation of $3.2 billion. A Canadian start-up that connects international students, recruitment partners, and academic institutions in one platform. It has partnerships with 1,500 institutions.

     

  • Tutor.com Reaches 21 Million One-to-One Tutoring Sessions

    Tutor.com Reaches 21 Million One-to-One Tutoring Sessions

    IBL News | New York

    With 3,500 tutors providing online tutoring and homework help sessions to students, the New York City-headquartered Tutor.com announced that it reached 21 millionth one-to-one tutoring sessions served since its incorporation in 2000.

    The company reported that at peak times, it was serving 7,500 tutoring sessions a day.

    As an affiliate of The Princeton Review, Tutor.com powers tutoring and homework help programs for colleges and universities, K–12 school districts, state and local libraries, companies offering employee benefit programs, and agencies like the U.S. Department of Defense Coast Guard Mutual Assistance Program.

    It offers 250+ subject offerings, with math remaining the most popular. The next most requested subjects (in order) are English, Science, and Drop-off Writing Review.

    “As the pandemic entered its second year, demand for Tutor.com’s services remained strong; during the first six months of 2021, the number of requests for Tutor.com services that the company met was more than 30 percent greater than during the comparable period in 2020,” said the company.

  • Andrew Ng-Backed Education Company Workera.ai Raises $16 Million

    Andrew Ng-Backed Education Company Workera.ai Raises $16 Million

    IBL News | New York

    The Palo Alto-based learning platform Workera.ai announced it raised $16 million in Series A. The funding was led by New Enterprise Associates and included existing investors Owl Ventures and AI Fund, as well as luminaries in the AI field such as Richard Socher, Pieter Abbeel, Lake Dai, and Mehran Sahami.

    To date, the Californian start-up has secured a total of $21 million, including a seed round of $5 million last October.

    Since the last quarter of 2020, the company claims that it has acquired over 30 customers, including Siemens, across industries like professional services, medical devices, and energy.

    Founded in 2020, Workera.ai offers personalized learning plans through targeted resources based on the current level of a person’s proficiency to close the skills gap.

    It tests and maps out with AI and machine learning the skill sets within a company, so the client knows what they have.

    The start-up says that its library has more than 3,000 micro-skills and personalized learning plans.

    The founders of Workera, Kian Katanforoosh, and James Lee, COO, previously worked with Andrew Ng, Coursera co-founder and creator of education start-up deeplearning.ai, and now Workera’s chairman. Now, Workera features itself as a deeplearning.ai company.

    Kian Katanforoosh, CEO at Workera, says that he will use the new funding to invest in more talent and build out new products. He explained on TechCrunch that he wants the company to better understand natural language processes at a granular level to assess people more precisely.

    The spending on AI skills is expected to surpass $79 billion by 2022.

  • “With OPMs, Colleges Forfeit Their Future,” Explains Robert Ubell In His Latest Book

    “With OPMs, Colleges Forfeit Their Future,” Explains Robert Ubell In His Latest Book

    Mikel Amigot, IBL News | New York

    “When colleges turn to OPMs, rather than building their own digital capacity, they forfeit their future by neglecting to strengthen their virtual infrastructure,” analyzes online learning expert Robert Ubell in his latest book “Staying Online. How to Navigate Digital Higher Education,” published by Routledge and scheduled to be released this upcoming September 7.

    “Staying Online” is one of the first books to analyze the dramatic changes in higher education since the pandemic started in March 2020. Across 180 pages, the book covers the rise of MOOCs, OPMs, and the massive digital immersion of higher education due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

    In an interview at IBL News this week, Robert Ubell, Vice Dean Emeritus of Online Learning at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, columnist, and author of the essay Going Online: Perspectives on Digital Learning, pointed out “the vast differences in the digital academic economy today, with online and on-campus enrolling different sorts of students, with relatively different faculty, different infrastructure, and far more expensive recruitment strategies.”

    “Despite strong opposition, digital education has triumphed,” he states.

     

    IBL News: Would you summarize the main findings of your book?

    Robert Ubell:     Staying Online     is among the first books to recognize the dramatically changed higher ed landscape since the pandemic altered secondary education in the US and around the world.

    It covers the rise of MOOCs, OPMs, and the almost total immersion of every higher ed classroom in digital education at the height of the COVID-19 invasion.

    It traces the vast differences in the digital academic economy today, with online and on-campus enrolling different sorts of students, with relatively different faculty, different infrastructure, and far more expensive recruitment strategies.

    Despite strong opposition, digital education has triumphed.

     

    IBL News: Where will online education be within one, five, ten years?

    Robert Ubell:     As residential enrollment continues its steep decline–owing to falling high-school graduation rates in the US especially–online has stepped in to fill missing on-campus students with virtual ones.

    Today, about a third of college students are online, in 5 to 10 years, following the digitization of nearly every industry, it may represent nearly half, a totally unexpected climb from nowhere in just two decades.

     

    IBL News: What are the most important disruptive initiatives?

    Robert Ubell: Surely, MOOCs have played a decisive role in expanding the breadth of higher education. Today, with more than 180 million learners worldwide. Last year, MOOC providers launched more than 2,800 new online courses and 19 digital degrees.

    OPMs, too, have witnessed a dramatic expansion. Last year, 300 new OPM partnerships were signed, and in the first quarter of this year, 109 new ones were launched.

     

    IBL News: Would you share your view on the 2U-edX transaction? What does the deal mean for the industry and the learner?

    Robert Ubell: Harvard and MIT saw an exit strategy when 2U came calling, with hard cash to take the money-losing pit–edX–away.

    2U’s acquisition of edX doesn’t represent a change in the online economy, so much as a recognition of 2U’s financial power and Coursera’s continued to climb above all other MOOC providers.

    It leaves two edtech giants at the top, exactly where they’ve been for years.

     

    IBL News: What do you think about OPMs, and in particular, 2U?

    Robert Ubell: OPMs succeed in often generating far more enrollments than colleges on their own, but the payback is serious, handing over half of each school’s online revenue secured by their OPM partners.

    When colleges turn to OPMs, rather than building their own digital capacity, they forfeit their future by neglecting to strengthen their virtual infrastructure, a competency they will surely require as online becomes the name of the game, not just for one or two master’s degrees, but for hundreds of courses.

     

    IBL News: What’s best for low-income students in higher ed?

    Robert Ubell: Because online degrees allow low-income students to continue working while earning their degrees, digital education stands out as a key path for them to join the new economy.

    But they shouldn’t be misled by for-profits that do not provide the skills they need to succeed in the post-industrial economy.

     

  • Udemy Acquires Group Learning Platform CorpU

    Udemy Acquires Group Learning Platform CorpU

    IBL News | New York

    San Francisco – based Udemy.com reinforced its corporate learning activity by acquiring CorpU for an undisclosed amount.

    CorpU, an online development platform founded in 1997, provides cohort-based training, executive and peer coaching, and virtual environments to brands such as CVS Health, BJ’s Wholesale Club, and Rite Aid. In their group learning activities, CorpU includes instructors from Harvard, MIT, and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

    “We believe that CorpU will allow Udemy to help companies go further in upskilling initiatives and deepen collaboration and leadership capabilities through immersive learning experiences,” said Gregg Coccari, CEO of Udemy, while announcing the purchase this Monday.

    “CorpU is a powerful addition to strengthen our Udemy Business offering for organizations by elevating leadership development capabilities and helping customers achieve critical business outcomes,” added Greg Brown, President of Udemy Business.

    According to Gartner, HR leaders are finding it increasingly difficult to quickly find and develop talent with the most in-demand skills, yet 58% of the workforce needs new skills to get their jobs done. Gartner data shows the total number of skills required for a single job has been increasing by 10% year-over-year since 2017.