eLearning, EdTech, Talent Development

Teachers today have access to technology and instructional tools that were mostly absent from classrooms just a few years ago. While well-versed in pedagogy and learning modalities, many may not be so familiar with some media that has recently begun to revolutionize digital learning. Third party instructional designers have long helped to deliver lesson plans and assessments to teachers, and recently, some of the same companies have begun to connect the dots between older styles of teaching, rigorously tested pedagogy, and emerging technology.

In the competitive coding bootcamp market, Trilogy has emerged as one private academy that seems likely to persist over time, even as many competitors stumble. In May 2018, Trilogy announced that it had secured $50 million in a Series B funding round to fuel expansion of its platform and global impact. Buy-in came from Highland Capital Partners, Macquarie Capital, and Exceed Capital with participation from several other existing investors, including Rethink Impact, City Light Capital, and Triumph Capital LLC. Six months later, Trilogy, which now markets itself as a “

Workforce Accelerator,” is following through on its expansion promise with two new acquisitions.

Despite growing concerns about the performance of online charter schools, this week, a New Mexico state judge granted one troubled online school the green light to keep operating. The trouble started earlier this year when the New Mexico Public Education Department ordered New Mexico Connections Academy, a Santa Fe-based online charter school, to close. This week, Judicial District Judge Francis Mathew issued a ruling that concluded the school did not need to shut down. According to Judge Mathew, the Public Education Department’s actions had violated state law and on this basis, he ordered the department to renew the virtual school’s charter.

On October 4, Purdue University’s local chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), which is the association that represents Purdue University’s faculty, issued a strongly stated resolution calling on Purdue Global to address multiple labor violations. So far, Purdue University has not officially responded to the AAUP resolution, but this is also not entirely surprising. Since Purdue University purchased Kaplan in 2017, the AAUP has been at odds with Purdue University’s senior administrators and all signs indicate that the fight over the new online university known as Purdue Global has just begun.

For years, student grades have been formed exclusively through how learners perform on certain assignments and criteria. In some subjects, like math, a student’s abilities may be very apparent. They will either be able to answer a given problem correctly or they will not. But in other areas, it’s foggier and much more subjective. Inconsistencies across grades and classes are inevitable. In a best case scenario, these inconsistencies are informed by human error or individual connections. In a worst case scenario, societal biases creep in and reinforce existing stereotypes among younger generations. Two researchers from Utrecht University in the Netherlands think they have a solution: expert elicitation.

Almost fortnightly, it seems, a report or article emerges about the increase in tuition at American institutions of higher education. Some describe what caused the hikes, and what policies can be adopted to reverse the trend. Many of these reports tend to land on the same conclusion: state disinvestment in higher education that began during the Great Recession has driven the hikes in tuition we see today. In the past month, discussion at The Century Foundation’s Higher Ed 2020 conference fell into this category, as did a report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Last year, eLearning Inside connected with Social Hackers Academy, an NGO based in Athens, Greece that provides a coding bootcamp for migrants, asylum-seekers, and out-of-work individuals to train for jobs in the tech industry. Since we last spoke, the group has trained 22 junior developers and has expanded classes to include instruction in WordPress along with basic digital skills. Having successfully placed graduates in longterm jobs, Social Hackers Academy has launched a crowdfunding campaign with the hopes of generating another 12 months of runway.

As a freshman, arriving on a large university campus is always intimidating. While a few U.S. high schools have over 4,000 students (for example, Brooklyn Tech in New York City), according to the National Center for Educational Statistics, most U.S. high schools have under 1,000 students. This is not the case at the postsecondary level. Once students move on to higher education, they generally find themselves on campuses with several thousands of students, and the transition can be difficult. This is a challenge that Princeton University is now attempting to address with an innovative adoption of Portfolium.

Throughout the past year, Chinese tech startups have received encouragement via policy and financial support from their government in the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) across sectors. Numerous Chinese edtech companies have recently announced successful development and further funding of their AI-powered education products. Meanwhile in the U.S. and elsewhere, AI education solutions have been determined ineffective by some tech leaders and remain highly unpopular with parents and other privacy advocates.

Securing funding for further education can be exceptionally difficult for learners with poor credit. What loans are available will typically carry a high interest rate. That marks a catch-22 for individuals hoping to advance their socioeconomic status with further education. The company Meritize thinks it has a solution. Based on factors like work history and military service, they offer loans for professional programs on a partial merit basis. On Wednesday, the company closed a Series A funding round to the tune of $13.2 million to help advance their work.