Education Intelligence — 28 February 2017

Chris Fellingham
Aug 9, 2017 · 14 min read

Hi all

All views expressed in these reports are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of FutureLearn.

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State of the MOOCS

Coursera

  • Coursera’s new search engine allows courses to be discovered by ‘skill’ — The new Machine Learning driven search function, searches all course pages rather than just the description page to allow highly specific searches. It’s a boon for discoverability, learners looking to learn a skill can now find the exact course, rather than inferring the course on data science covers ‘p-values’ (to use the example). Coursera will hope it leads to more enrolments, completions and thus purchases
  • The discoverability also aid learner progress between MOOCs. Outside of series of MOOCs such as Specializations there are multitudes of individual MOOCs — for learners taking these it’s difficult to construct a learning pathway — surfacing skills and concepts may enable this and in doing so create an incentive for repeat enrolments
  • Critically, it also aligns the platform with the professional market where companies such as LinkedIn have made great play of providing highly targeted courses to match job requirements. LinkedIn Learning may have an advantage, they have more courses that tend to be shorter — which will make it easier for a learner to gain the skill quickly, would learners on Coursera take the whole MOOC if all they wanted was week 5? FutureLearn’s open-step approach of allowing learners to delve into pages on a course is arguably better suited to such specificity — here
  • Subscription doubles Specialization completion rates — Coursera’s switch to subscription sees completion rates double, although it’s not clear if this is new data or the trial data (which showed a 2.5x increase in completion rates). The incentive is obvious; learners complete courses faster to save money. Reducing the learning time (up to a point) reduces the number of potential disruptions e.g. work deadlines, which in turn increases the learner’s chances of completion. The question now is whether Coursera will take take this finding to its logical conclusion and make all MOOCs, not just Specializations subscription. They are likely trialling this already, given the prevalence of subscription across comparable sites e.g. CodeAcademy and Udacity it seems probable Coursera will make the switch. From subscription it’s a short jump to a membership option to begin to lock-in their large userbase — here
  • Coursera’s 2,500 beta testers proof their Specializations — Coursera has 2.5K+ volunteers who beta test Specializations to spot mistakes before they go live. It’s estimated each course gets around 25–35 testers who randomly pick weeks to review. The move is classic Coursera who have previously used crowd-sourcing for other projects such as translation — here

edX

  • edX are currently advertising 13 courses on Amazon — Amazon users can purchase edX courses like any other product and then gain a voucher to access the edX course. Who gets what? edX becomes a searchable product for over ¼ billion users, Amazon, which already has 7K+ online courses listed clearly sees this is a new and complementary product to be sold through the platform — here
  • HarvardX adaptive learning trial sees 20% improvement in student scores — Adaptive Learning (ALS) is a learning process whereby an algorithm alters the problems a student faces according to their performance. HarvardX worked with TutorGen (an ALS company) to develop an algorithm for their course ‘Super Earths and Life’. They split students into an experiment and control group, with the experimental group seeing a 20% improvement in scores over the control
  • It’s just one trial for one course, but ALS has significant potential for MOOCs which require any pedagogical improvement to be scalable. The challenge is cost, ALS requires a lot of time to develop the algorithm for each course’s material — on a per MOOC level this isn’t economically feasible. However developments in machine learning may help develop scalable ALS systems which in turn could then be applied to MOOCs — here
  • edX reaches 10m learners and sees 73% growth in Indian users over 12 months — edX have made India a priority and seen concomitant growth in this key market. As well as signing up IITs (and edX CEO Agarwal receiving the Indian Government Padmi Shri award — the 4th highest civilian honour) edX has been helped by a favourable shift in Indian corporate attitudes towards MOOCs
  • edX have capitalised on this shift by creating a Corporate Advisory Board (CAB) comprising of large corporates nominally to advise them on content strategy. More likely the true value of CAB to edX lies in the PR of simply having a CAB and the B2B opportunities working with such companies can bring- here
  • edX to launch cybersecurity Micromasters in March — This capitalises on stellar growth in demand for Cybersecurity skills in the workforce. Where edX drive their advantage is that while individual Cybersecurity MOOCs exist — the Micromasters sets the student up for a formal Masters qualification (if the candidate is accepted) — critical to realising the career opportunities. edX will charge $150 for each MOOC in the MicroMasters — here

Edtech

42 — the free French coding school argues its professor-free environment is ideal for creating coders — 42 does not charge fees but does require a monastic lifestyle devoted to coding for 3–5 years. The company argues that having no professors helps coders develop individual and team problem solving skills that are vital to coding, although they concede they free ride to some extent off MOOCs and other online resources. 42 have a point, many coders have learnt on their own and through online communities — so from that point of view, 42’s physical study spaces with fellow students for support is a step up from that. However, a limitation of 42 is that it teaches more coding than Computer Science. The latter, which tends to become more useful for senior programmers and requires more mathematics almost certainly is aided by professors or equivalents — here

Finland goes a step further — teaches Computer Science without Computers — Finnish educators argue that learning how to use something is different from learning how it actually works. To this end they are looking for more visceral and creative ways to teach the core concepts of Computing. One endearing example is teaching students the concept of loops, a much-used function in programming — through knitting. Finnish educators say they want to build a holistic understanding of what humans can do and what computers can do. If it works, this approach will allow students to better understand better understand the inherent maths in computing, nature and the built environment, as well as providing a vital life skill for those cold, dark, existentially challenging Scandinavian winters — here

One-stop shop LMS’ will be replaced by interoperable components — That at least is the view of Malcolm Brown at Educause, a non-profit that looks at education and IT. Brown argues that Edtech use at universities is sufficiently differentiated that no one system can meet the requirements for all subjects and student types. Brown advocates a system of interoperability whereby the LMS is the hub but other providers such as analytics or eportfolios can be used in according to the needs. This could be good news for MOOC and other learning platforms, who can then specialise in developing the pedagogy of their platforms without being penalised for not having the all-inclusive functionality of LMS — here

LinkedIn aims to offer ‘direct economic outcomes’ in their premium bundles — LinkedIn aim to use LinkedIn Learning, salary and job data to deliver tangible economic returns to their premium subscribers. By demonstrating how their courses can improve job application rates or salary rises (they can in theory track all of this data if the user learns and applies through LinkedIn) they can justify premium membership. If it works — they’ll be the first to directly link learning and earning, but LinkedIn have a habit of promising grand but vague proposals that lack for a clear business model such as their economic graph — here

Edtech Finance

Australia, an emerging giant in Edtech? — Imagining an Edtech startup usually conjures images of US giants such as Coursera or Duolingo with a sprinkling of awareness of Chinese or Indian startups. Australia aims to challenge that, Edugrowth an Edtech incubator with initial capital of 1.8m AUD aims to fund around 200 startups. It’s been supported by universities such as Monash and Deakin as well as Navitas’(an OPM provider) venture capital arm. Australia should be an ideal environment for an Edtech startup; the federal government is strongly pushing education as a key export and the Australian education sector has been hugely successful in attracting students and delivering every level of education to developed and emerging markets — here

OPM (Online Programme Management) & LMS (Learning Management systems)

The Ivory Tower Strikes Back! — Boot camps have been making big margins as they capitalise on job market anxious students who wish to learn a marketable skill like coding in a short amount of time. Some universities, under pressure to demonstrate they are preparing their students for the job market, have struck deals with boot camps to allow their students discounts and even have the courses accredited. Some universities see this as a missed opportunity, and bootcamps as cherry picking the lucrative parts of education.

Startups such as LearningHouse, which establishes online boot camps such as with Oregon State University or Trinity Education, which works with UC Berkeley are rising to help universities capitalise on this market. The university bootcamp courses typically cost $10–15K with discounts for alumni. Providers adopt the OPM model i.e. they assume the upfront costs in return for a higher revenue share.

Although boot camps are more applied than academic, US Universities are no strangers to moving outside of their core competencies if there is a strong business incentive to do so. It’s the same trend that has seen some heavily invest in MOOCs as revenue streams such as Wharton Business school. Furthermore, the coding boot camp model if successful has obvious versatility in markets such as the UK where costs and job-readiness are also issues of concern and coding boot camps by private providers already exist — here

Are online courses a cost effective way to deliver education? A new study by WICHE an education endeavour, found that online costs cost the same or more to produce in nearly all cases as on-campus courses and cost the student 12% more on average. The report noted the added expense tended to be because online courses were bolted onto on-campus courses, so there were few if any of the savings that independent online programs can achieve.

This would seem to be a hammer blow for states such as Florida which see online courses as a cost-effective way to widen college education. However, Phil Hill and Tony Bates note that a straightforward cost comparison is misleading. Firstly, online was not originally designed to be cheaper, it was designed to reach people unable to come to campuses. Secondly, face-to-face entails hidden costs such as physical infrastructure e.g. accommodation and lecture halls which aren’t factored into the study’s cost comparisons. Finally online programs vary hugely and can be cheaper if so designed — here, here and here

2U in rude health with 37% year on year revenue growth and their first profitable year — The OPM provider made $205.9m in revenue last year and $4.5m in profit. 2U took the opportunity to announce additional verticals: Health Informatics (George Washington), Design (University of Southern California), Occupational Therapy (NYU) and Psychology with Pepperdine — here and here

Apollo Education Group is bought for $1.14bn — The group, which owns the University of Phoenix and BPP law school was brought by private equity group Apollo Global Management (no relation) and McGraw-Hill’s investment arm. University of Phoenix had become a byword for the problems of for-profit education but the Trump administration is perceived to be in favour of for-profit, giving buyers hope they can relaunch the University of Phoenix — here

EduCo aim to capitalise on Brexit uncertainty with pathways in Ireland — EduCo, a pathway provider, are establishing pathways with Maynooth and Dublin City University in Ireland for undergraduates and postgraduates. Pathways provide a preparatory year for international students in to ease them into studying abroad, universities like them as they provide of international students who pay higher fees than domestic — here

International Education

Mobile Phones in Africa; From Access to Opportunity — Mobile phone coverage is making huge strides in Africa giving hope to those who see eLearning as a critical tool in helping the poorest on the continent. As the Economist reports, the number of phones over the last decade has gone from 129m to 1bn. That still leaves around 75% of Africans unable to access the internet, but smartphones and innovative telecommunications companies such as MTN are eroding that figure.

This is great news for eLearning advocates and further efforts by philanthropic corporates will extend this further; IBM recently announced a new initiative with UNDP to train 25m Africans in digital skills. Yet access and business opportunities shouldn’t be confused, many of the poor will lack the resources and even the ability(such as a bank account) to pay for Edtech services, leaving restricting elearning to that which can be provided for free.

Where then, are the hotspots that are behind Ambient Insight’s recent report that Africa represents the fastest growing market for eLearning? South Africa is one such hotspot with efforts such as UNISA, one of the largest distance learning providers on the continent and the government is investing further in elearning. Nigeria, recently visited by Mark Zuckerberg is second with a thriving tech industry and capacity shortages in their higher education system. Finally, East Africa and in particular Kenya. Kenya has been making waves in tech — thanks in part to figures such as Ory Okolloh formerly of Google. Nairobi incubator iHub has over 153 companies and 15K members. The government is also developing its STEM sector, with the announcement of the East African German University of Applied Sciences which aims to train 4–5K students in IT and Business to upskill the workforce — here, here and here

Liberal arts students increasingly picking STEM subjects — A new survey of liberal arts colleges found that students are taking more STEM subjects than before. There are two likely explanations, one is that job-anxious students are picking subjects they think will help them get a job e.g. Computer Science and the Physical Sciences — a hypothesis borne out by some of the survey data on student motivations. Secondly, is that historic gender imbalances in STEM subjects are starting to be corrected with more and more women taking STEM subjects — here

Australian HE growth going from strength to strength — Australia grew the number of international students (at all levels) by 10% in 2016 to 554K with the top countries: China, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. Furthermore, visa restrictions in the UK and USA are likely to see more Indians switch to countries with more permissive post study visas such as Australia — here and here

Betsy DeVos accuses USHE of indoctrinating students- The US Education Secretary accused US academics of telling students ‘what to do, what to say and more ominously what to think’. Not since the Reagan era has a secretary of education made a direct attack on the culture of US academia (there have been plenty on costs, access etc.). The accusation has a long history in the US (McCarthy and more recently Horowitz’s ‘most dangerous academics’). Devos’ Supporters argue that universities have been shielding their students from free speech with the rise of ‘safe spaces’ and this ill prepares them for life in a vibrant democracy, critics will note the irony of an authority warning academics on free speech — here

Is College the great equality of opportunity engine or not? A new study suggests not, it argues that when parental incomes are factored in, College is not able to bridge the gap between rich and poor students. Interestingly, the authors argue this isn’t because poor students go to worse colleges, rather that after graduation richer kids go onto better paid jobs. The authors hypothesise that richer parents have better networks to help their offspring in the job market. However a previous study found the opposite, they looked at rich and poor students at the same universities e.g. Princeton and found that rich and poor alike had relatively equal opportunity — here

Is internationalisation among students peaking? — Hans de Wit an educator at Boston College argues no. He notes that despite Trump and Brexit, Germany, France and the Netherlands have all recently made moves to further open their borders to international students and that even in the US, Democratically controlled states will open themselves up to international students and workers. Yet as Mr de Wit concedes, much of his optimism rests on elections in the three european countries. Were Le Pen or Geert Wilders to win then it’s very likely that further restrictions on international students would follow as it did in the UK — as a way to drive down immigration.

Nor are these restrictions limited to western countries. Hong Kong and Singapore, two famously open economies, have seen a tightening in attitudes towards international students and workers. Rising ‘anti-foreign worker’ sentiment in Singapore is forcing the government to be more circumspect about its openness. Hong Kong similarly, has been prioritising domestic concerns such as housing over international education. It recently gave land allocated to an international campus to property developers to ease tension of property prices on the island. Neither are conclusive of a tightening but uncertainty has evidently increased in many developed countries as living standards anxieties increases — here, here and here

UKHE (UK Higher Education)

Revised Higher Education and Research bill pushes for a more flexible HE system — After significant back and forth, Jo Johnson the Minister for Universities and Science has published the latest version of the bill which among other things aims to support 2-year degrees and a credit transfer system:

  • 2-year degrees — Johnson argues these benefit: poorer students, mature students looking to retrain and those simply looking to get to the job market faster. Although 2-year degrees require the same amount of tutoring time (just more concentrated) they save the student money through lower living costs and a lower opportunity cost (less time out of work). Technically 2-year degrees already exist, but Johnson aims to alter the loan system to better support them
  • Credit transfer system — For the government, a credit transfer system would enable greater flexibility for students part of their drive to increase ‘choice’. A key advocate has been the Open University, who see credits as allowing students who don’t complete to do so more easily (at institutions such as the Open University)
  • As with 2-year degrees the financing more than the policy change is the key with a proposal to allow credit based fees — as used in the US — to be included in student loans which would make both 2 year degrees and credit transfer easier to finance — here, here and a summary here

UK Business Schools make the case for government support in a post-Brexit economy — Somewhat belatedly, UK Business schools are making the case for their contribution to the UK economy. 11% of their students are from the EU and they estimate their total value to the UK economy (including spending by students) is £2.4bn per year. In a nod to the regional disparities in the UK economy, the Business Schools note they are important incubators of businesses in the regions they operate and they improve the local workforce such as Lancaster University’s LEAD program which they said has created 10K jobs in the region — here

UK Universities not in a rush to build EU campuses — It has been suggested many would use this to ensure access to EU students and EU research funding but a tentative proposal in Paris has met with a cool response — here

Tangents

Do university incubators make a university less innovative? Incubators, the means by which startups are nurtured (and up to a point financed) are in vogue for universities. Governments and universities alike see them as a way to monetise their intellectual capital rather than allow the private sector to reap the rewards of academic research.

But could they also have downsides for universities? A new report tried to analyse the impact of incubators on university innovation. The researchers chose to look at patent citations and patent license revenue at universities, if incubators increased innovation both should go up. Instead, the authors found universities with incubators saw declines across these 2 metrics. They hypothesised the cause may be universities are prioritising research that can be monetised faster over the riskier but higher potential basic research. Universities hit back — arguing that research funding and incubator funding were dealt with separately and furthermore that patents were a crude metric for innovation — here

Carnegie Mellon’s Simon Initiative publishes a short series of lectures on learning science — The purpose of the Simon Initiative is to bring learning science to a wider audience and this series covers ‘What is Learning Science?, ‘How can Learning Science Help Improve Teaching?’ and What can Learning Science tell us about how to use Educational Technology?’ — here

Human Learning

Edtech, Education, work and skills for C21

Chris Fellingham

Written by

I’m Chris, I work in Social Science, Enterprise and Humanities ventures at Oxford University, I formerly worked in strategy for FutureLearn

Human Learning

Edtech, Education, work and skills for C21

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