The eLearning platform Thinkific announced last month the company closed a $22 million funding round to help keep up with the growing demand for online learning. The round was led by the Vancouver-based fund Rhino Ventures.
Thinkific has experienced strong growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. So far this year, the company has earned over $500 million and projects to take in $1.5 billion in 2021.

Online course markets are experiencing a rising tide. The sector is forecast by some market researchers to be worth $350 billion by the year 2025. Thinkific says the recent funds raised will help support their further expansion in the eLearning field.

Thinkific Provides an Online Marketplace for Instructors to Reach Learners

Thinkific was launched in 2012. The company seeks to provide a simple and accessible platform for businesses and freelance workers to create and sell their online courses. It is used heavily by entrepreneurs.

COVID-19 has proven a boon for the company. Since the start of the pandemic, Thinkific has seen a 200% increase in the number of courses created through its platform. Large organizations have begun to rely on platforms like Thinkific to help educate their customers about entrepreneurship and social media across different industries ranging from fitness training to business coaching.

“A massive number of entrepreneurs are rapidly moving their offline business online to deliver exceptional teaching experiences to a new global audience. We’re also seeing a significant increase in the number of well-established businesses building out online training as a new revenue driver,” said CEO and co-founder Greg Smith, in a statement.

Continuing to Scale

The money raised will be used by Thinkific to further shape the future of online courses, develop product innovations, and further expand their workforce. The company plans on hiring 350 team members in the next 18 months.

As the need to socially distance remains, online courses like those offered on Thinkific’s platform continue to have strong relevance. Even when the need to socially distance settles down, employers could potentially find it handy to start the employees onboarding process through online courses instead of in person. Having these platforms will help the shaping of the future of online training and learn will look like after the pandemic becomes more subtle.

The need for online learning is at an all-time high, and it’s no secret platforms like Thinkific are taking advantage of it. Even before the pandemic, it was projected that these companies would prevail as modern technology became more advanced. The need for eLearning platforms will be how many people will further advance their skills while many places still face COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Platforms like Thinkific will further support business and employers navigate during this unprecedented time and even time after that.

Featured Image: Nordwood Themes, Unsplash.

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Laureate Education has sold large swathes of its assets in an effort to explore different business options and unlock shareholder value. As of September 13, 2020, Laureate announced the sales of their Brazilian and Chilean operations. This news followed the sale of Walden Unversity to Adtalem Global Education on the 11th. The combined sales are worth just under $2.5 billion.

In their 2019 annual report, Laureate claimed to hold the “largest portfolio of degree-granting higher education institutions.” The company also owns Laureate International Universities, home to 150 campuses in 10 different countries. Founded by Douglas L. Becker in 1998, the public benefit corporation has found it challenging to keep their debt to a minimum in recent years.

Laureate Education Sells Walden University, Along with Brazilian and Chilean Assets

Laureate Education passed along their Chilean entity, through the transfer of control of its non-profit institutions, to Fundacion Educacion y Cultura. This also includes the sale of their for-profit operations, Instituto Professional AIEP to Universidad Andres Bello. This transaction was valued at $214. million USD  while the sale of the other assets was estimated at about 3.6 million USD.

President and Chief Executive of Laureate Education, Eilif Serck-Hanssen, is optimistic that this transaction will further help Chilean students across all institutions. “This is the right time for Laureate to pass the torch to a dedicated in-country organization highly attuned to local constituencies and the changing regulatory landscape,” Serck-Hanssen stated. “Operating these institutions at a national level should deliver strong outcomes for students and the country.”

Also announced on the same day, Laureate announced its transfer of Walden University to Adtalem. This transaction was valued at 1.48 billion dollars and is set to close in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2022 (subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions).

Two days later, Laureate announced the sale of their Brazilian operations to Ser Educational S.A. This institution is already well respected in Brazil as it shows its students that they value and want to expand their personal and professional growth.

Consolidating and Moving Forward

Already operating 11 higher education institutions in Brazil alone, Laureate enrolls more than 267,000 students in undergraduate and postgraduate programs. The sale is estimated at USD 724 million (at current exchange rate) and shows that Laureate will receive about $1.70 billion R in cash and 101,138,369 shares of Ser Educational. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and other closing conditions. It is set to finalize towards the end of 2021.

The selling of these assets will not only benefit said institutions as well as Laureate. The institutions located in different parts of the world will now experience a different kind of leadership that will continue the momentum when providing accessible graduate/undergraduate courses. Not only that, but Laureate will start to make a dent into decreasing their debt. As more opportunities become available, they will acknowledge the impact made on their company and the institutions they help build by selling these assets.

Featured Image: Wikimedia Commons.

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T-Mobile is on a mission to connect students across the country. The telecom provider has launched an initiative to provide reliable tools like internet access, tablets, and computers to students who are learning remotely. Known as Project 10Million, T-Mobile has committed $10.7 billion to getting all students in low-income households hooked up with the necessary tools for online learning. This month, the company expanded this initiative to offer high speed mobile data plans and hotspot devices at no cost.

Even before COVID-19 altered everyone’s lives across the country, more than 9 million of America’s 56 million school-age kids didn’t have access to reliable internet, according to T-Mobile. Now, an unprecedented 50 million students are learning remotely. Learners who don’t have access to sufficient devices and internet connections will struggle or even fail to engage in learning as a result. Known as the homework gap, this phenomenon has affected students in many ways: lower test scores, grades, and limited opportunities.

T-Mobile Launched Project 10Million to Address the Homework Gap. That Has Since Expanded to Become the Schoolwork Gap.

Because of this pandemic, not only is there a problem with the homework gap but now the schoolwork gap is also an issue as those students without reliable internet will have just as much trouble participating in their online class during the day. Because of this, T-Mobile has decided to step in and help students and parents alike facing these challenges.

“Big issues need big solutions, and that’s exactly why we’re not just launching but significantly enhancing Project 10Million and giving flexibility to educators so they can best address the unique needs of their students with plans that offer more data,” said T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert, in a statement. “As the supercharged Un-carrier, we now have the resources and network capacity to deliver reliable connectivity to students across the U.S.- and to tackle the critical homework gap and the schoolwork gap head-on!”

Offering School Districts Mobile Data and Hotspot Devices

In September, Project 10Million expanded to allow participating school districts to apply to one of the program’s two plans. This would allow schools to choose a 100GB per month option or a fully unlimited plan. Schools also will receive hotspot devices and have the ability of providing laptop devices to their students at-cost.

Initially, T-Mobile had set to start on Project 10Million after the merger with Sprint was completed. The merged companies have pooled their resources and network capacity. Since the outbreak of the pandemic (and before the merger was complete) T-Mobile connected 1.6 million students in more than 3,100 school districts across the country.

In New York City alone, the company provided iPads and mobile data to roughly 350,000 students.

“Since the start of the pandemic, T-Mobile and Sprint have worked hand-in-hand with school districts, state governments and technology partners to bring connectivity solutions to those who need it most, connecting more than 1.6 million students in less than six months,” said T-Mobile for Business VP Mike Katz, in a statement. “During the pandemic, we’ve had countless conversations with school districts and educators. We’ve consistently heard that they need more options that fit the unique needs of their students. We have expanded Project 10Million to tap into T-Mobile’s network resources and capacity, and take our support of educators and students to a whole new level. We’re going to make a HUGE difference for millions of students!”

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While in the midst of a pandemic, many educators and parents have one question in mind: how efficient will online learning be for students this fall? Although teachers and students remain optimistic about the new change, parents are not as confident with how smoothly classes will run, according to a recent Gallup poll. After an abrupt switch to online learning as everything went into lockdown back in March, parents across the country are having lingering doubts about how organized this new system will be, and how this new style of learning will affect learning in the coming months.

Gallup and the NewSchools Venture Fund teamed up this summer to conduct a survey that would provide more understanding of the budget crises schools face, issues with technology access, and health and safety regulations. The poll results indicate that only 29 percent of parents feel confident/very confident about their child’s school’s ability to provide proper education online.

Parents Were Not Left with a Good Impression of Online Learning

Many parents based their consensus on how well the school system did to end the 2019-2020 school year. “As a parent of three children, I struggled with the sudden shift to distance learning even though I had a deep knowledge of how ed-tech tools work,” said Tonika Cheek Clayton, Managing Partner at NewSchools, in a statement. “As schools strive to better support families this fall, there’s a real need to address the inequities we witnessed earlier this year through creatively partnering with families. This will take innovation, flexibility, patience and a willingness from teachers, parents and students to try to work together in new and different ways.”

Many parents also say their children’s school district shared little information with them over the summer with the changes happening. As the school year progresses, parents should plan to see positive progression with online learning.

Teachers and Students Show More Optimism Regarding the Potential of Online Learning

Teachers and students, on the other hand, feel more confident, with 56 percent of teachers feeling optimistic about teaching online and 48 percent of students feeling satisfied with their ability to learn efficiently online. Additionally, 54 percent of students feel confident that they don’t need much support to catch up this fall.

The most significant hurdle educators face is ensuring equity with every student, especially those from less affluent families. These kids may not have the same luxuries as middle, and upper-class families do, so equipping them with the necessary materials to succeed in their education is a top priority for educators.

The health of students remains a top priority for school districts. However, many parents across the country still hope to have that same serenity that came with in-person instruction one day. It might be too early to say when that time will come.

Regardless, students, teachers, and parents must find a way to adapt to online learning for the time being and compromise to what was once a traditional learning system. The states and districts must support schools in finding creative resources for online learning rather than continuing to issue bureaucratic mandates. Creating a unique yet workable system for online education will take time and effort from many to construct. Significant results would lead to the parents feeling more confident in their child’s school, educators feeling comfortable with their support from the distinct, and students feeling well balanced with their learning system.

Read the full survey here.

Featured Image: Thomas Park, Unsplash.

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In 2018, Louisiana State University (LSU) set an ambitious goal for their online program. The institution hired an online learning veteran of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) and hoped to reach an enrollment of 30,000 online students by 2025. This week, LSU announced it had grown their online enrollment by 45%, but there’s a still a long way to go in five years.

That growth is impressive, but LSU’s online enrollment remains a fraction of their on-campus equivalent at 1,403 students, according to university reporting.

Students have seen a steep increase in online learning opportunities across the country, especially since the outbreak of the pandemic. Even before the rise of COVID-19, a significant number of universities, like LSU, have provided more and more online courses to break the boundaries of traditional learning. Two years ago, the institution laid these plans as an effort to avoid declining enrollment. With the outbreak of COVID-19, the effort has an added relevance.

What LSU Is Doing to Boost their Online Program

To begin their rigorous plan, LSU hired Sasha Thackaberry, the former assistant vice president at Southern New Hampshire University. SNHU saw a significant increase in online enrollment when they invested large sums of money in bringing their courses online and providing them across the country.

First day of class✔️Back to school picture✔️Tweet us how you like to start off the new term! #GeauxOnline #LSUonline pic.twitter.com/5dsaBUvfUE

— LSU Online & Continuing Education (@LSUOnline) August 25, 2020

LSU’s online program under Thackaberry announced eight new fully online degrees this week. The LSU Online & Continuing Education offers more than eighty online degrees. These courses also include certificates and MicroCred programs across a wide range of high demand fields. By providing these online courses, LSU hopes to attract students from anywhere in the world.

As Thackaberry told Inside Higher Ed in 2019, “What we’re doing here at LSU is “leapfrogging today.” We have a lot of ground to make up, but a lot of unique strengths to leverage in order to do that. As we build our programs and online offerings to meet our mission, we’re not attempting to “catch up” with the big players in the field. Today is gone. We’re building programming, support, and structure to scale relevant, contemporary options for our students in Louisiana and beyond. Everything we’re creating is focusing on stackable learning opportunities, from the micro to the macro.”

New Online Program Offerings

LSU’s new remote offerings include three online master’s programs, three graduate certificates, and two undergraduate degrees. Learners can apply to enroll in the fall semester as late as October 5.

“We are excited to launch our online B.S. in Sport Administration to further provide LSU students the opportunity to earn this degree in a flexible format,” said Michael Martinez, LSU School of Kinesiology assistant professor, in a statement. “Students pursuing this degree will be exposed to relevant topics and trends to the management and administration of the sport industry.”

Featured Image: William Murphy, Flickr.

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