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IBL News | New York

The number of digital credentials issued in 2021 saw a 67% growth, according to Accrediblle. Experts expect that this year will be an explosion of demand. The consensus is that the market for digital credentials platforms and products is on fire.

The Biden Administration’s view is contributing to this increase. During his first State of the Union Address, President Biden supported skills-based hiring, stressing that “millions of Americans without a college degree are needlessly disadvantaged in the pursuit of good jobs, even when they have the skills and knowledge employers need.”

The state of digital credentials is being analyzed this week in Atlanta, Georgia, through one of the first educational in-person conferences. The 2022 IMS Digital Credential Summit (Atlanta, Georgia, from February 28 to March 2) gathered tens of experts and leading players in the industry. [In the picture above, a snapshot of the reception offered yesterday at Atlanta’s Marriot Marquis hotel].

This cross-sector event highlighted the increasing adoption of digital credentials, badges, comprehensive learner records, competency/skills/interest frameworks, and blockchain enabling technologies.

“Digital credentials can provide better ways to reward credit and link to opportunities than current paper transcripts, certificates, and resumes,” said a representative of the IMS Global Consortium. It would affect all the sectors, such as higher education, K-12, business, philanthropy, corporate training, and workforce development organizations.

During a key talk titled “The State of the Digital Credentials Technology”, moderated by Mark Leuba, Vice Presidency at IMS Global Learning Consortium, the five panelists agreed that “digital credentials offer a better way for learners and workers to own and control their achievements, their skills, and their future.”

However, “patterns, policies, and practices are still forming, as are the products that support credential issuance, digital wallets, and talent discovery/selection.”

“He will stress that millions of Americans without a college degree are needlessly disadvantaged in the pursuit of good jobs, even when they have the skills and knowledge employers need. To support skills-based hiring,” #IMSsummit @LearningImpact https://t.co/Hg24K5sjxo

— Ryan Ivers, Ed.D. (@itsrivers) March 1, 2022

The IMS Digital Credentials Summit is the place to be as we learn and draw inspiration from the experts. Together we will bridge the gap between education and opportunity. #IMSsummit pic.twitter.com/1Jycpqeeda

— IMS Global Learning Consortium (@LearningImpact) February 28, 2022

IBL News | New York

The invasion of Ukraine sparked protests against Russia in U.S. universities. Demonstrations and other acts of solidarity took place on American campuses.

Hundreds of people gathered at demonstrations in several schools, including Stanford, Columbia, Northeastern, Georgetown, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Beyond these protests, MIT went further and announced it was cutting ties with a private graduate research university in Russia — the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) that it helped establish in 2011. [In the picture above]

MIT President, L. Rafael Reif, explained that “this step is a rejection of the actions of the Russian government in Ukraine.”

IBL News | New York

Today’s girls should become tomorrow’s scientists and innovators. This is the message that United Nations officials have started to launch as a way to reduce the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and STEM disciplines around the world.

UN’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “today only one in three science and engineering researchers in the world is a woman.” He explained that structural and societal barriers prevented women and girls from entering and advancing in science.

The Covid-19 pandemic has increased these inequalities.

Science and gender equality are part of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Experts agree this under-representation of women is depriving science of huge untapped talent.

IBL News | New York

Coursera (COUR) increased its net loss to $145.2 million (or 35% of revenue) in 2021, compared to $68.8 million (or 22.8% of revenue) in 2020. Total revenue was $415.3 million in 2021, up 41% from $293.5 million in the prior year. Enterprise revenue (Coursera for Business) grew 70% year-over-year to $120 million.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, net loss was $47.7 million or 41.5% of revenue, compared to $26.7 million or 32.1% of revenue a year ago. In the same period, total revenue was $115.0 million, up 38% from $83.3 million a year ago.

Coursera’s financial results, announced yesterday, were negatively received by the stock market, which pushed the share price down 6.46%, until $19.70. The results did not meet Wall Street expectations, said The Associated Press.

Since it went public in April 2021, Coursera has lost over 56% of its value. Today, market capitalization is half of its IPO, $2.77 billion. In its best moment, it reached a whopping valuation of $5.8 billion.

Ken Hahn, Coursera’s CFO, said that “our outlook for 2022 anticipates revenue growth of 30% year-over-year, reflecting the long-term demand we continue to see for online learning.”  The revenue outlook for the full year of 2022 is in the range of $536 to $544, with an EBITDA negative in the range of $45.5 to $51.5 million.

• Per segments, consumer revenue for the fourth quarter was $65.8 million, up 24% from a year ago on strong demand for our portfolio of entry-level Professional Certificates and continued adoption of Coursera Plus.

• Enterprise revenue for the fourth quarter was $35.9 million, up 72% from a year ago on robust growth across the business, campus, and government customers. The total number of Paid Enterprise Customers increased to 803, up 107% from a year ago.

• Degrees revenue for the fourth quarter was $13.3 million, up 43% from a year ago on the scaling of student cohorts.

• News about Coursera at IBL News

IBL News | New York

2U Inc. (NASDAQ: TWOU) — the owner of edX.org — on Wednesday reported a loss of $67.3 million in its fourth quarter of 2021, after an increase of $29.6 million on the same period in 2020.

In the same time frame, revenue increased 13% to $243.6 million. Degree program segment revenue increased 17% to $152.4 million. And alternative credential segment revenue increased 8% to $91.2 million.

Wall Street received these results well, and 2U’s stock went up 3.69% yesterday, until $17.98 per share. Overall, the stock lost 70% of its value in the last year. Market capitalization is only 1.36 billion.

IBL News | New York

Stanford University launched its first class in virtual reality, using Facebook’s Oculus Quest 2 headsets.

Taught by Professor Jeremy Bailenson, Communication 166/266 Virtual People deals with the emerging VR technology and its use cases. It covers the expanding influence of VR in many different fields, including popular culture, engineering, behavioral science and communication.

The course is part of a study carried out by Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab. The research is looking at how virtual technologies can be effectively used in educational settings.

Professor Jeremy Bailenson came up with the idea after teaching students about VR for nearly 20 years. After that time, he decided that the best way to demonstrate its abilities was to create a full course experience with VR. He is the author of the seminal VR text Experience on Demand, which also is one of the class’ assigned readings.

According to the course structure, students will use lecture time to take part in VR experiences by themselves or as a group, including class discussions.

In 2021, 263 students, all with their own VR headsets, across 20 weeks and two courses, spent over 3,500 shared hours together in the Metaverse.

Each week, the course centers on different areas where VR can be used in the real world. According to the course structure, students will use lecture time to take part in VR experiences by themselves or as a group, including class discussions.

Among the class exercises was a guided meditation in outer space. Students were able to create performances with different avatars.

“In Virtual People, the students don’t just get to try VR a handful of times. VR becomes the medium they rely on,” professor Bailenson said in a statement. “Nobody has networked hundreds of students with VR headsets for months at a time in the history of virtual reality, or even in the history of teaching.”

The class has drawn students majoring in diverse disciplines, including economics, political science, communication, anthropology, biology, computer science, film and media studies, comparative literature, art practice, psychology, and sociology.

Facebook’s parent company Meta, creator of the Quest device, says that such headsets will play a big part in a future “metaverse” it plans to build with other companies.

In addition to the headsets, the course also uses the Engage virtual communication software to connect the students and teachers. Engage is used by major companies and educational organizations to hold virtual meetings and events.
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IBL News | New York

With the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus on the rise American colleges and universities are starting to take measures, that will impact the spring 2022 semester.

The concern is that even vaccinated individuals contract the virus, disrupting institutions’ plans.

Schools are closely monitoring the situation before alerting students to any changes. The input received from public health experts will mostly determine their course of action.

Beyond this wait-and-see behavior, some institutions have made public announcements:

• Harvard University already announced a transition to fully online learning to start in 2022. At least the first three weeks of classes will turn into remote learning.

• Stanford University reported that it will start the winter quarter online, from January 3 until January 18.

• DePaul University canceled on-campus classes until after January 17.

• Penn State will begin the semester in person as planned. However, the school might alter plans. An update is expected in December. 30.

• The University of California, Los Angeles, said it has yet to decide about returning to campus in January. Before December 25, the university will share more information with students.

• Seven universities of California campuses — Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Riverside — announced that they will start instruction online in January.

• Cornell, Princeton, Tufts, Towson University, and other schools are shifting final exams to online. Athletics and sports events are being called off in an increasing number of institutions.

IBL News | New York

Cornell University put its Ithaca campus into alert level red, moving all final exams to an online format yesterday. This measure followed the rapid spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19 among its student population. Around 883 students tested positive in the week ending Monday.

In addition to moving finals, President Martha E. Pollack announced that all university events and social were canceled, including the December 18 recognition ceremony and athletics competitions.

Also, libraries, fitness centers, and gyms were closed to students. Other measures involved the shut down for visitors and guests.

“It is obviously extremely dispiriting to have to take these steps,” Martha E. Pollack wrote in a letter to the community. “However, since the start of the pandemic, our commitment has been to follow the science and do all we can to protect the health of our faculty, staff, and students.”

Other colleges have also taken measures recently to head off the spread of the virus on campus.

Princeton, Cornell, and Middlebury College in Vermont shifted to remote exams, while others, such as Tulane, gave students the option of finishing the semester online.

Princeton University canceled indoor gatherings and encouraged students who plan to travel home for the holiday break to leave campus as soon as possible. According to Princeton statistics, more than 50 students of 8,200 who attend the New Jersey Ivy League university tested positive for Covid-19 Monday and Tuesday.

Princeton, which requires all students, faculty, and staff to be vaccinated against Covid-19, is now also requiring all eligible students to receive a booster by January 31.

DePaul University in Chicago and Southern New Hampshire University each said this month that they would switch to all remote instruction, at least for a time, when classes resume in January.

IBL News | New York

Jim Malatras, the Chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY), submitted his resignation on Thursday following intense bipartisan political pressure for him to step down. His resignation will go into effect on January 14, 2022.

In the last week, the controversy over his allegedly “toxic management style” loudly increased until provoking his fall.

Jim Malatras, an old Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s ally, faced mounting criticism over text messages that showed him belittling one of the women who had accused the now-disgraced politician of sexual harassment. The New York State Attorney General’s Office’s release of text messages sent by him accelerated his decision to step down.

IBL News | New York

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed congressional Democrats’ sweeping $1.85 trillion climate and social spending bill by a vote of 220 to 213. No Republicans voted for the legislation, dubbed as the Build Back Better Act (BBB). Representative Jared Golden of Maine was the only Democrat to vote against it.

The legislation now heads to the Senate, where it’s expected to undergo changes. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said the chamber “will act as quickly as possible.”

In addition to a large investment in clean energy on tax credits, the BBB legislation includes substantial funding to universal pre-K, provides child care subsidies covering 20 million children, and extends an expanded child tax credit for one more year.

It also includes billions of dollars in new investments for higher ed:

• $550 increase to the maximum Pell Grant,
• $2.35 billion for Black, Tribal, and Hispanic universities,
• $500 million for college completion and retention grants,
• $20 billion for workforce development.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona [in the picture above] said in a statement that the passed act will be “transformative.”

He added:

— “Free universal pre-K and dramatically improved access to child care, so all our children can start their learning journeys from the same starting line.”

— “Increased resources for HBCUs, Tribal Colleges, Hispanic Serving Institutions and other institutions that unlock opportunities for students of color and unleash their potential in our communities.”

— “Expanded access to affordable college with increased Pell grants for anyone who dreams of getting a degree.”

— “A stronger workforce pipeline with workforce development resources, for better pathways to the middle class.”