BIG FIVE HEADLINES
In case you missed it, here is what went down in the comeback episode of This Week in Edtech, with guest Matthew Tower of Ed Tech Thoughts.
1. BYJU’S
Layoffs, debt, litigation!? We still don’t know what’s going on with Byju’s, but it sure is bad PR for the biggest edtech company in the world in 2021. Tune in to hear the insiders’ predictions which company is going to be the most valuable one in the edtech space at the end of 2022.
2. BEARISH OPMs
As Phil Hill writes, it’s a brutal spring and summer for OPMs & MOOCs: Zovio sells OPM business to University of Arizona Global Campus, 2U announces 20% layoffs, FutureLearn faces financial difficulties, Coursera shares crash, and so on.
3. FUNDING LANDSCAPE
Back to the HolonIQ Global Edtech Funding 2022 H1 Report — as companies valuations come crashing down, investors are taking a step back and will likely remain tentative in the months to come. The 2022 cumulative investing will most definitely go down compared to 2021. The question is, which business models work best and are most likely to maintain stable revenues?
4. METAVERSE
Ben said it: let’s take a moment to celebrate the first Will Ferrell quote in a This Week in Edtech episode. The Metaverse?
“No one knows what it means, but it's provocative.”
And it’s everywhere: from K-12 (Classdojo raises $125M to start building a virtual world for kids education), through college, to Time Magazine’s cover. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg wants the Metaverse business to be as big as their current ad business till 2030.
5. CRYPTO & WEB3
Pearson plans to sell its textbooks as NFTs, which doesn’t make much sense unless they’re just trying to hop on the trend.
And speaking of trends, are DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) the new LLCs and the future of decentralized learning?
ANOTHER FIVE (…SOMETIMES SIX)
1. US HIGHER ED FINANCES
A new report shows that federal student loans have cost the government $197 billion over the last 25 years compared to projections of $114 billion in income. The $311 billion discrepancy comes from changes to loan programs (e.g. forgiveness), borrower behavior and income.
On a brighter note, several colleges across the US (including public, private and HBCU institutions) reported record fundraising in 2021-22. It is unlikely we’d see the same in the next year given the shaky macroeconomic situation.
2. CHINA
It’s been more than a year since China banned for-profit tutoring for “core curriculum” subjects in an attempt to reduce additional classes students are forced to take by their parents.
However, the decision can’t possibly fix an overly competitive learning environment. And according to Economics 101, if there is demand, there is supply: classes are now offered underground and with a higher price tag.
"What is needed isn't the comeback of tutoring, but the reform to the current evaluation system," says Xiong Bingqi, director of 21st Century Education Research Institute.
Meanwhile, companies are trying to avoid shut down and pivot, with e-commerce and education-adjacent products being the most common paths.
3. TUTORING
Research suggests 1:1 or small group tutoring is the best way to help students do better at school — but first you need to get kids to show up. One district in Texas recorded 46% attendance even though sessions were scheduled during the school day Some teachers are hesitant about implementing outside tutoring, others simply don’t have time. Districts and school officials should re-evaluate spending on tutoring services and work with providers to increase attendance.
Looking beyond the tutoring problem, this seems like a rather unsuccessful attempt at blending in-person and online learning. The key takeaways? First, before implementing any solutions, we need clear data if they would be beneficial at all. Second, blended models need to implement online learning in a way that doesn’t compete or interfere with other activities, so it doesn’t turn into an expensive yet unused add-on.
4. SECURITY
A recent data breach at Illuminate Education, software that tracks students' progress and records sensitive information on children (think names, dates of birth, races or ethnicities, disabilities, etc.), shows the shaky state of student privacy. The company had its first problems back in 2020 when New York City officials asked for investigation of Illuminate's security practices and later instructed schools to stop using their products.
5. GOOGLE CLASSROOM
Google has released a number of new add-on tools for Google Classroom, enabling integrations with 18 popular edtech tools. One small step for Google, one giant leap for interoperability.
6. MORE LAYOFFS
Career Karma, a startup that connects students to learning bootcamps and educational programs that fit their career and upskilling goals, laid off 60 people across its US and global teams.
“We are narrowing our focus to profitability of the marketplace and our enterprise expansion,” wrote CEO Ruben Harris.
Following the layoff, the company has 3 to 4 years of runway to keep operating, without needing a funding round.
FUNDING + M&A
1. ThinkCyber will invest $10M over 3 years in India for cybersecurity training. The Israel-based company offers cybersecurity training and solutions.
“India is a growing economy with younger workforce. With this we have growing burden of cyberattacks in the market today and students opting for cybersecurity as a career are looking for a transition in career that makes them an expert in the field,” said Anuradha Choudhary, CEO of ThinkCyber India.
2. SF-based private equity firm Alpine Investors acquired Focus Edumatics. The Bangalore-based company provides free training to teachers and aims to create 14000 online tutors jobs in India to mentor US K-12 students in 2022
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LISTEN
In the latest Edtech Insiders episode, we talk to to Jonathan Finkelstein, founder and CEO at Credly:
“If training happens in a vacuum, or like a tree falling in the forest, people begin to question the utility of investing in that training. […] And at the end of the day, [credentials] make any one person's profile that much stronger, because instead of self reporting, which reinforces lots of systemic bias, you've got a more complete story that's trusted.”
To learn more about the future and importance of credentials for skill recognition, listen to the full episode »
READ
I Was Wrong About Microsoft And Google by Ryan Craig
The apology we didn’t know we needed + some insightful thoughts on the transformation of higher ed.