IBL News

Author: IBL News

  • Michael Bloomberg Gives $150M to Harvard University to Create a Center for Cities

    Michael Bloomberg Gives $150M to Harvard University to Create a Center for Cities

    IBL News | New York

    Billionaire Michael Bloomberg gave through his philanthropic arm $150 million to Harvard University to establish the Bloomberg Center for Cities. The announcement was made yesterday.

    This center will build upon the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, which worked with 159 mayors and 800 of their advisers since it was launched in 2017 with an initial $32 million investment.

    According to a press release, the Bloomberg Center for Cities aims to assist mayors and their teams in order to advance organizational practices in city halls and create new research and instructional materials.

    “Mayors are the most creative and effective problem-solvers in government — and that’s exactly the kind of leadership that the world urgently needs,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, 108th mayor of New York City and founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies. “Building on our partnership with Harvard, this new investment will help more city leaders learn from one another and get even more big things done locally.”

    “The University is home to many people who are committed to serving the public and improving communities through deep expertise, useful knowledge, and wide-ranging research,” said Harvard President, Larry Bacow.

    “Bloomberg Philanthropies and Harvard University have created camaraderie among dozens of mayors from across the globe, allowing us to collaborate and find synergy as we all address our top priority — meeting the everyday needs of our residents,” said Randall Woodfin, Mayor of Birmingham, Ala.

     

  • Coursera Files for IPO. It will be listed on the NYSE as “COUR”

    Coursera Files for IPO. It will be listed on the NYSE as “COUR”

    IBL News | New York

    Coursera.org filed its IPO (Initial Publica Offering) prospectus with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) yesterday. The Mountain View, California-based company will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “COUR” likely sometime next month.

    The number of shares and price range have yet to be determined. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup will be the lead underwriters.

    Coursera was valued at $2.4 billion by private markets in October 2020. Other sources valued it at $5 billion. The start-up raised $443.1 million in venture funding since it was founded in 2012.

    The learning platform—which offers access to online courses and degrees from top universities—reported on its filing $293.5 million in revenue in 2020, a 59% growth rate from 2019. Net losses widened by roughly 20 million year over year, reaching $66.8 million in 2020. The net loss was $46.7 million loss in 2019.

    Registered users grew 65% in 2020. The company added 12,000 new degrees, at an average acquisition cost of under $2,000.

    “Our revenue significantly increased due primarily to an increase in the number of enrollments during the Covid-19 pandemic,” the company’s IPO prospectus stated.

    “Likewise, we have experienced a significant increase in our operating costs associated with our services, primarily driven by our freemium offerings and marketing efforts. As the pandemic made remote work and online learning more widespread, it is uncertain what impact the tapering of the Covid-19  pandemic could have on our operating results.”

    • Prospectus S-1

     

     

     

  • University of Florida Professor Facing Blame in a Student’s Suicide Is Put on Leave

    University of Florida Professor Facing Blame in a Student’s Suicide Is Put on Leave

    IBL News | New York

    A tragic story that exposes the ugly underbelly of Academia.

    Huixiang Chen, an international student from China and Ph.D. candidate, committed suicide on June 13, 2019 [In the picture above].

    Amid a lengthy investigation, the University of Florida has put the professor of computer engineering Tao Li on leave.

    Friends of student Huixiang Chen said that Professor Li pressured, threatened, and mistreated him, Inside of Higher Education reported.

    In the suspension letter to Li, the Department Chair, John G. Harris, prohibited him from engaging in “any activity that involves any aspect of your position, including business travel, consultation with faculty, staff or students.” The letter also commands Tao Li to cooperate with all ongoing investigations or be terminated immediately.

    “I feel my mentor has no academic integrity,” Chen—in the picture—wrote prior to his death.

    Many graduate students complain that their advisers and mentors have so much power and treat them unprofessionally.

  • Twitter Will Allow Content Creators to Charge $4.99/Month

    Twitter Will Allow Content Creators to Charge $4.99/Month

    IBL News | New York

    Twitter unveiled this month its new paid subscription service called “Super Follow”. It is due to be launched this year.

    This feature will allow account holders to directly monetize their audience on Twitter by charging a monthly fee. This service will compete with existing services like Patreon and OnlyFans.

    The “Super Follow” subscriptions will allow users to get exclusive content, deals, and community access to creators for $4.99/month. These subscriptions will include the option to “Cancel Anytime.”

    Launched in 2006, Twitter recorded its first profit in 2018 and it expects to double its revenue in 2023.

    Twitter also unveiled it was testing a live audio discussion service—similar to audio-only social network Clubhouse.

  • Newsela Raises $100 Million to Accelerate K-12 Schools’ Transition into Digital Textbooks

    Newsela Raises $100 Million to Accelerate K-12 Schools’ Transition into Digital Textbooks

    IBL News | New York

    American EdTech companies raised a record-setting up $2.2 billion in 2020, an increase of 30% over 2019.

    The latest VC fundraiser is Newsela, a startup taking on textbooks.

    K-12 instructional content platform, Newsela announced it raised $100 million in Series D investment funding. It gives the company the unicorn status associated with a billion-dollar valuation.

    The investment was led by new investor Franklin Templeton and existing investor TCV, with participation by Owl Ventures, Tao Capital Partners, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Waycross Ventures.

    Newsela was founded in 2013 in New York City as a SaaS platform to shift from legacy paper-based materials and textbooks to digitally delivered content in K-12 schools across the country.

    Now it claims 37 million registered students and 2.5 million registered teachers in 90% of all U.S. schools. Its 2020 annual recurring revenue grew 81% over 2019, with new bookings surging 115%.

    Matthew Gross, Founder & CEO of Newsela, said: “Education leaders are breaking free from the limits of an antiquated marketplace; School administrators are taking this opportunity to future-proof their schools, and they’re not looking back.”

    Newsela has a catalog of 14,000 standards-aligned texts across 20+ genres, curated from 175 publishers, including the Associated Press, National Geographic, The New York Times, Scientific American, USA Today, Atlanta Black Star, Human Rights Watch, and Encyclopedia Britannica.

    All content is then made ready for classroom instruction by reproducing every text at multiple reading levels, adding assessments, lesson ideas, and professional development. Educators can remix, modify and bundle resources into comprehensive, engaging lessons, or choose from a wealth of pre-built collections.

     

  • Pearson Acquires Spotlight Education to Improve Its Data Reports

    Pearson Acquires Spotlight Education to Improve Its Data Reports

    IBL News | New York

    Pearson announced it acquired Spotlight Education in order to provide improved data information and infographics about student performance and progress. The transaction amount was not disclosed.

    Spotlight Education turns data into personalized video reports in 30 languages. Founded in 2010, the company based in Davis, California has a staff of 20 employees, all of whom will join Pearson.

    In addition to assessment reports, Spotlight provides customized college and career guides that use a student’s data to plot a course to specific colleges and careers, including a timeline of specific, recommended action steps, and college-by-college recommendations.

    “No one can deliver clear information about student learning like Spotlight, and no organization can reach as many learners, parents, and educators as Pearson,” said Josh Newman, Spotlight CEO and Founder.

     

  • Live-Voice Chat Clubhouse, a New Social Way to Connect and Learn

    Live-Voice Chat Clubhouse, a New Social Way to Connect and Learn

    IBL News | New York

    The audio-chat app Clubhouse has reached a valuation of roughly $1 billion and a ton of buzz, despite the fact that it remains “invite-only”.

    It started last summer with Silicon Valley venture capitalists and tech workers who wanted to connect with one another during the pandemic. Specifically, the app was launched by two Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Paul Davidson and Rohan Seth, who later got funding from Andreessen Horowitz.

    Now it has two million users. Recently, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg appeared on Clubhouse and the platform nearly crashed.

    This social networking app lets people gather in audio chat rooms to discuss various topics, listen to conversations and interviews. Topics of interest can be tech, business, books, or health. Rooms—”clubs”—are divided into two groups: those who are talking and those who are listening.

    Participants can see a list of everyone who is in a conversation. A moderator oversees discussions and has the ability to let someone chime in. Two or more users can join together and start their own chat rooms.

    Clubhouse is like tuning into a live podcast or a conference call, with some people talking and most listening. When the conversation is over the room is closed, the audio-chat disappears. However, users would be able to record the conversation. That’s what a YouTube user did with a live-streaming conversation launched by Elon Musk.

    The creators’ goal for 2021 is to open up Clubhouse to everyone and help creators get paid, including subscriptions, tipping, and ticket sales.

  • Open LMS Will Release Its Moodle Modules and Enhancements as GPLv3

    Open LMS Will Release Its Moodle Modules and Enhancements as GPLv3

    IBL News | New York

    Open LMS—formerly called Moodlerooms—announced yesterday that it will open-source by the end of 2021 many of its Moodle modules and enhancements included on its Learnbook platform. The distribution license will be GPLv3.

    “Over the months to come, Open LMS will release a variety of different software components in its open-source project roadmap, contributing all of this code back to the open-source community for all educators to take advantage of,” said Phil Miller, Managing Director at Open LMS.

    Client-specific customizations, SaaS cloud architecture and management components, and data integration code won’t be released as open-source.

    While going more open source, the platform will be rebranded as Open LMS Work.

    In December 2020, the parent company, London-based Learning Technologies Group (LTG) acquired eThink Education, a large Moodle provider and Platinum Totara Partner, for $20 million in cash. In October, LTG purchased Australia-based eCreators.

    Previously a Blackboard product, Indianapolis-based Open LMS was acquired by Learning Technologies Group plc (LTG) in March 2020.

     

  • Google Classroom Adds 40 Million Users and Includes New Mobile Features

    Google Classroom Adds 40 Million Users and Includes New Mobile Features

    IBL News | New York

    Google Classroom attracted 40 million new users in the last year until reaching 150 million students—the giant of search announced.

    “As more teachers use Classroom as their ‘hub’ of learning during the pandemic, many schools are treating it as their learning management system (LMS),” explained in a blog-post Melanie Lazare, Program Manager at Google Classroom.

    Later this year, Google Classroom plans to add new features, mostly intended to simplify teacher’s workflow and integration with other tools without extra log-ins.

    Another new feature will allow teachers to set up classes in advance with their SIS (Student Information System). Pushing grades into schools’ SIS will also be available later this year.

    • Functionalities intended to provide deeper insights about Classroom adoption and engagement will be added, as well.
    • A new student engagement tracking will allow educators to see which students are engaged and which are falling behind.
    • The Classroom Android app will allow learners to work offline or with intermittent connections. Students will be able to review assignments, open Drive attachments, and write assignments in Google Docs.

    More expected features “coming later this year” are the following:

    • Better scan and submission pictures of homework through the Classroom Android app.

    • Improved grading on mobile.
    • Rich text formatting in Classroom’s posts or assignments.
    • Detect plagiarism in reports written in 15 languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Swedish, French, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese,  Finnish, German, Korean and Danish, Malay, and Hindi.

  • 2U and Guild Education Partner to Expand their Offering

    2U and Guild Education Partner to Expand their Offering

    IBL News | New York

    2U will distribute its portfolio of online short courses, boot camps, and degrees to Guild Education’s corporate clients, as an additional channel. A partnership between the two companies was announced this Tuesday. No further details were provided beyond the press release announcement.

    Guild’s platform gives access to Fortune 1000 employers to different educational pathways, while Lanham, Maryland-based 2U powers and markets programs for 75 colleges.

    “The average college student takes on $29,000 in debt; Guild is focused on helping America’s workforce access affordable education, in partnerships with employers,” said Rachel Carlson, CEO of Guild Education.

    This company—which has raised $228.5 million in venture capital to date—claims that “employees going back to school with support from Guild are more than 2x as likely to have a role change or promotion than their colleagues.”

    About 79 percent of CEOs worldwide cite their workforce skills gap as a top concern, according to PWC.