IBL News

Category: Top News

  • The EdX Organization Adopts a More Commercial Structure Appointing a New Co-CEO

    The EdX Organization Adopts a More Commercial Structure Appointing a New Co-CEO

    Mikel Amigot | New York

    The edX nonprofit organization, created by MIT and Harvard University, decided to adopt a more business and less academic-focused structure with two running CEOs.

    According to the unexpected announcement made yesterday, Adam Medros, currently the COO and President, has been promoted to co-CEO, joining Anant Agarwal in this position.

    In a way, the move follows Coursera’s aggressive commercial direction when it replaced Rick Levin, former President at Yale, for Jeff Maggioncalca as CEO. Maggioncalca was mainly hired to find a successful business model and IPO-ing the company.

    Adam Medros, a business manager who moved from TripAdvisor to edX two years ago, with no previous experience in higher education, “will partner with Agarwal to drive the company’s continued growth and innovation, in service of its non-profit mission to increase access to high-quality education for everyone, everywhere,” edX said.

    Anant Agarwal, an MIT professor who has been teaching for 31 years said, “Adam’s dedication to the edX mission and his partnership have been invaluable to me in my role as Founder and CEO of edX and I look forward to further deepening our collaboration.”

    The official announcement highlighted the new business orientation that the learning organization is adopting, “Agarwal and Medros will continue to work with the edX partner network, made up of the majority of top-ranked universities in the world and industry-leading companies, to deliver stackable learning experiences that help learners and employers alike address the future of work.”

    In the last months, Adam Medros –who he stayed in TripAdvisor for 13 years– has been working in new business strategies to make edX a financially sustainable organization.

    He provided his views in an interview with IBL News recorded in March.

     

  • Introduction to Java Programming Course Reaches 500K Enrollees

    Introduction to Java Programming Course Reaches 500K Enrollees

    IBL News | New York

    The Introduction to Java Programming free course on edX.org is about the set a milestone by reaching an enrollment of 500,000 people, IBL News learned. Today, in the course, there are over 497,000 enrolled from 210 countries. The course is developed in English and Spanish.

    In conversation with IBL, Carlos Delgado-Kloos, Lead Professor in the class and VP of Digital Education at the University of Carlos III of Madrid, explained that he achieved that impact by implementing instructors’ team-work practices, using of LTI tools and adding pedagogical tips, among other techniques.

    “Cloud computing is a ripe technology and MOOCs are the consequence,” he stated.

    Carlos Delgado-Kloos, who was recently recognized with the Open Education Consortium award, elaborates on how MOOCs can empower learners in developing countries [see the interview below].

     

  • A Spanish University Builds a Futuristic Eco-Campus with Outside Classrooms

    A Spanish University Builds a Futuristic Eco-Campus with Outside Classrooms

    IBL News | Madrid, Spain

    The University of Malaga, in Spain, is building a futuristic eco-campus for students to take classes outside.

    Spanning a surface area of 52 acres, this innovative campus will include a green infrastructure suitable for everyday activities, such as studying, meeting and reading. The goal is to improve the climatic comfort and connectivity within an educational setting.

    A Madrid-based architectural firm called Ecosistema Urbano is designing this interactive infrastructure after winning in 2016 a public contract to transform an old campus into an environmentally-friendly and digitally connected space.

    It will be a geological garden in the works, a tropical garden, and a digital water curtain.

    By using high-tech capabilities, learners will be able to visualize real-time information and manipulate physical aspects of public space in an almost futuristic fashion, as shown in the picture below.

    Outdoor comfort will improve through solar-powered climate conditioning systems such as evaporative cooling and geothermal air circulation.

    Naturally, everything will run on renewable energy systems.


  • Over 1,000 Students Will Graduate from Georgia Tech’s Online Master in Computer Science

    Over 1,000 Students Will Graduate from Georgia Tech’s Online Master in Computer Science

    IBL News | New York

    The recognizable OMSCS (Online Master of Science in Computer Science) from Georgia Tech continues its successful march.

    “Right now we have over 9,000 students and so far over 2,400 graduated; over 1,000 graduating this year,” Zvi Galil, creator of the Master and former John P. Imlay, Jr. Dean of Computing and Professor told IBL News. “This number might reach 1,500 this academic year and might reach 2,000 in a year or two.”

    OMSCS continues to be the largest master’s program in computer science in the nation.

    Launched in January 2014 with 380 students, it meant to achieve from the beginning, “a revolutionary shift from the prevailing paradigm of higher education, in which a brand is bolstered by exclusion and high tuition fees,” Galil said. [In the picture above]

    As it was conceived, the OMSCS keeps on tuition affordable – less than $7,000 for the full degree, payable by course, rather than $40,000 for a public on-campus program, or $70,000 or more in a private university.

    OMSCS’ growth has been phenomenal, and its success has inspired similar programs at other universities. By 2019 spring term it offered a total of 30 courses in 4 specializations to 8,662 students.

    Georgia Tech offers undergraduates the choice to enroll in an online version of an introductory computing course – Introduction to Computing with Python on edX.

     

    Resource:

  • Learning At Scale | October 2019: Starbucks, Microsoft, MIT, Educause, 2U, AWS, Google, Automattic…

    Learning At Scale | October 2019: Starbucks, Microsoft, MIT, Educause, 2U, AWS, Google, Automattic…

    [ Newsletter format  |  Click here to subscribe ]

     

    OCTOBER 2019  –  NEWSLETTER #27  |  More breaking news at IBL News  |  New! Noticias en Español

     

    Courses at Scale

    • Over 3,000 Starbucks Employees Have Earned their Bachelor’s Degree through ASU Online

    • Microsoft Launches a Series of 44 Short Videos to Learn Python on YouTube

    • 99% of MIT Undergrads Have Taken an MITx Class – Impressive Numbers After Two Decades

     

    Higher Ed

    • The 10 IT Issues Higher Ed Leaders Are Focusing on, According to Educause

    • MIT’s Provost Will Impulse the Open Sharing of Data, Software, and Educational Materials

    • The Power of Data and Analytics Can Save Higher Education, Says Educause, AIR and NACUBO

    • A Research Group Identifies Over 700K Unique Credentials in the United States

     

    Initiatives

    • Automattic, the Company Behind WordPress, Valued at $3 Billion After Its Last Funding

    • 2U Announces a Deal with RIT to Deliver an Online Master’s Degree in Architecture

    • AWS Expands its Partnerships with Institutions to Offer Degree Programs in Cloud Computing

    • The Hamilton Education Program Online Will Expand to All Schools

     

    Google

    • Google and CompTIA Create a Dual Credential for Learners Seeking for Entry-Level Jobs in IT

    • Google Expands Its IT Support Certificate Program to 100 Community Colleges

     

    Epstein’s Scandal

    • MIT to Examine Engagement Practices with Gifts and Grants After Epstein’s Donations

    • Students at MIT Extend their Protest to Koch and Demand More Resignations

    • University of Southern California (USC) Rejected Any Donation from Epstein

    • A Professor Denounces the Silence of the Scientific Community on Epstein

    • Troubled MIT Media Lab Ousts a Longtime Scientist for Sexual Harassment

    • MIT Students Vocalize their Concerns and Demand Prof. Seth Lloyd Resignation

    • MIT President Will Engage Students on the Issue of Epstein’s Donations and Ties to the Institute

     

    2019 Upcoming Events

    • Education Calendar  –  OCTOBER  | NOVEMBER  | DECEMBER | JAN – JUNE 2020

     

    This newsletter about online education at scale is a monthly report compiled by IBL News and IBL Education. If you enjoy what you read please consider forwarding it to spread the word. Click here to subscribe.

    Read the latest IBL Newsletter on Online Education at Scale  |  Archive of Open edX Newsletters

  • edX, Coursera, Udacity & Platforms | October 2019: Schoology, Canvas, Google Classroom, Docebo…

    edX, Coursera, Udacity & Platforms | October 2019: Schoology, Canvas, Google Classroom, Docebo…

    [ Newsletter format  |  Click here to subscribe ]

    OCTOBER 2019 – NEWSLETTER #21  |  More breaking news at IBL News  |  New! Noticias en Español

     

    edX

    • edX Cancels Its Annual Partners Conference Scheduled in Hong Kong Due to Safety Concerns

    • A Practical Course on edX to Learn How to Deploy an IBM Watson-Based Chatbot

    • edX Announces Its Eleventh Degree: A Master’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering

    • What’s Ahead? Unbundled Degrees, Micro-Bachelors, and Stackable, Employer-Endorsed Credentials

     

    Coursera

    • Coursera Will Pay the Tuition Cost for Degree Programs to their Full-Time Employees

    • Coursera’s Latest Low-Priced Online Master’s: A Russian Degree in Data Science

    • Coursera Offers Its 3,600-Course Catalog to Non-Affiliated Universities

    • Coursera for Campus Is Not an Alternative LMS to Blackboard, Canvas, and Moodle, Says Maggioncalda

    • Coursera Creates a Database of 250+ Top Instructors Available to the Media

    • Learners at Coursera, Canvas and Blackboard Will Be Able to Ask Alexa for Course Updates

     

    Udacity

    • Udacity Issues Three Programs to Prepare Developers in C+++, Blockchain, and Data Streaming Technologies

    • Udacity Will Fund 100,000 Scholarships As Part of the Pledge to America’s Workers

    • Udacity Claims a Record Growth in the Business of the Courses to Upskill Employees

    • Google and Udacity Rework Courses to Learn Kotlin, the Language for Android Apps

     

    Learning Platforms

    • Schoology Acquired by PowerSchool – A New Giant with 65 Million Users

    • Docebo Learning Platform’s Stock Dropped 28% after Raising C$75 Million on its IPO

    • Canvas Integrates into Its LMS a Tool to Show Evidence of Students’ Achievements

    • Google Classroom, One of the World’s Top LMS: 40M Users In Five Years

     

    Conferences

    • The Learning with MOOCs Conference Honored Innovators in Online Education

    • A Conference to Find Viable Business Models to Commercialize Open Source Software

     

    2019 Upcoming Events

    • Education Calendar  –  OCTOBER  |  NOVEMBER  |  DECEMBER  |  JAN – JUNE 2020

     

    This newsletter about Open edX, edX, Coursera, Udacity, and other platforms is a monthly report compiled by the IBL News staff, in collaboration with IBL Education, a New York City-based company that has built the IBL Platform. It includes AI analytics-driven, revenue-oriented learning ecosystems, and courses with Open edX and other educational software. 

    Read the latest IBL Newsletter on Online Education at Scale  |  Archive of Open edX Newsletters

  • The Learning with MOOCs Conference Honored Innovators in Online Education

    The Learning with MOOCs Conference Honored Innovators in Online Education

    IBL News | Milwaukee, WI

    IEEE’s Learning with MOOCS awarded Anant Agarwal, CEO at edX, for his “meritorious service for outstanding contribution”. Meanwhile, Dr. Russ Meier, professor at Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), received recognition as Chair of the conference.

    Both scholars were awarded during the sixth edition of the Learning with MOOCs Conference this week in Milwaukee, WI.

    [In the picture above, Manuel Castro, IEEE fellow and organizer of the conference, with Anant Agarwal on the left]

    Two universities were honored for the Best Paper Award:

    • Improving MOOC quality using learning analytics tools, Jeffrey S. Cross, Tokio Tech, Japan
    • F-Lingo: Integrating lexical feature identification into MOOC platforms for learning professional and academic English, Alannah Fitzgerald, The University of Waikato, New Zeland

    “There is a vibrant community of investigators researching and the future is very bright,” said Russ Meier, who read the 37 papers presented at the conference.

    He summarized his conclusions of the event in the video below.

    The 2020 Learning with MOOCS event will be celebrated in Antigua, Guatemala, from September 30 to October 2. Universidad Galileo will host the gathering.

    [Disclosure: IBL was one of the sponsors of the conference, along with Future Learn, edX, Class Central and the Milwaukee School of Engineering]

  • Schoology Acquired by PowerSchool – A New Giant with 65 Million Users

    Schoology Acquired by PowerSchool – A New Giant with 65 Million Users

    IBL News | New York

    PowerSchool, an ed-tech provider on K-12, announced yesterday an agreement to acquire Schoology, a leading learning management system used by 60.000 schools and 20 million students, with a 17% percent market share. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

    This acquisition, if approved, will result in a dominant company among K-12 schools and districts, which will leave behind competitors such as Google Classroom, Canvas, and Moodle.

    PowerSchool, roughly used by 45 million learners, has acquired eight companies since 2015. Schoology would be PowerSchool’s second purchase of a learning management system (LMS) after it acquired Haiku Learning in 2016.

     “Teachers have shared that they need more time and tools to provide individual learning paths for every student,” said Hardeep Gulati, CEO of PowerSchool.

    “With the scale and investment we will get being part of PowerSchool, we can further advance what is possible in education, and take Schoology to a whole new level,” said Schoology CEO and Co-Founder, Jeremy Friedman.

     

  • EdX Cancels Its Annual Partners Conference Scheduled in Hong Kong Due to Safety Concerns

    EdX Cancels Its Annual Partners Conference Scheduled in Hong Kong Due to Safety Concerns

    IBL News | New York

    The annual edX Global Forum partners conference, that scheduled this year in Hong Kong for November 11-13, was canceled due to “safety concerns related to local circumstances”, organizers say.

    The anti-government protests that have rocked Hong Kong for months show no sign of dying down and given this situation edX prioritized the safety of attendants. “We want to keep people safe,” an edX representative said to IBL News.

    The edX organization and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), who was the host of the event, mutually made the decision.

    The 2019 Global Forum won’t take place in any other place. Instead, the MOOC platform is planning to celebrate a Town Hall-style event with its CEO, Anant Agarwal, along with other virtual events.

    Finally, the edX organization announced that the 2020 Global Forum will take place in the Fall at Columbia University in New York City.

  • Over 3,000 Starbucks Employees Have Earned their Bachelor’s Degree through ASU Online

    Over 3,000 Starbucks Employees Have Earned their Bachelor’s Degree through ASU Online

    IBL News | New York

    The combination of flexible online classes with the discipline of real-work experience has proven to be successful for many learners.

    Over 3,000 Starbucks employees have earned their bachelor’s degree at Arizona State University (ASU) while working, the institution announced on the fifth anniversary of its partnership with the coffee giant.

    These graduates enrolled in the Starbucks College Achievement Plan, that offers more than 80 undergraduate programs through ASU Online. Employees, called “partners” at Starbucks, are reimbursed for tuition every semester.

    The first classes began in mid-October 2014, and today, more than 13,000 Starbucks partners are in this plan.

    “Our partnership with Starbucks is the exemplar of how corporations and universities may come together to create real impact at the individual, community and macroeconomic level,” said Philip Regier, University Dean for Educational Initiatives and CEO of EdPlus at ASU.

    In addition to Starbucks, ASU has partnered with Uber and Adidas to provide tuition assistance to their employees.