Digitize or sink — The future of higher education

Who will be the iTunes of EdTech?

There are a few industries that are primed for disruption: e-commerce, education, and health are some examples.

A few weeks ago, I spoke with a Silicon Valley tech pioneer and he mentioned that the AI department at Stanford university is in shambles because its most promising faculty are competing in EdTech startups. I personally think EdTech startups like, Khan Academy, are overstating their impact, but I certainly think that these startups, and new ones, will slowly “digitize” higher education one experience at a time. The problem at the moment is that most EdTech startups aren’t transforming how people learn, but rather how knowledge is distributed. Essentially most of these startups said: instead of having a lecturer give lectures sequentially to 100 students, provide all lectures in a course to anyone with Internet access.

This is great. Especially if you are smart, well-educated, and wealthy because now you can have fun on Sunday mornings learning about BitCoin, String Theory, and Napoleon. However, a lot of work remains to be done for EdTech startups, mainly because the traditional educational system hasn’t figured out how to deliver a high quality educational experience: Poorer students are still at a disadvantage than richer ones, most…