Hot on the heels of the announcement of the University of the People another startup with similar goals has been getting its share of publicity.
Academic Earth (these guys certainly like the grand names!) is a startup coming out of the US that pulls together open courseware from a number of top universities and displays them according to topic with the option to comment and converse around the videos.
So far so good, however Academic Earth is a business and as such has commercial aims for its site which is pretty firmly against the Creative Commons terms that some (not all) of these videos have been released under and some of the institutions involved are unlikely to sit back and allow their content to be reused in this manner.
This is likely to be an interesting test case as I think alot of people are eyeing the increasingly high quality education audio and video content coming out of universities like MIT, Stanford, the Open University etc and wondering how they can spin a money making opportunity out of this increased open attitude.
It would be a pity if these academics started to retreat into their ivory towers if they felt their content was being misused but it also opens up the possibility of a consortium of universities with strong open access models pooling their resources and building their own web based repository of content with community elements. That would likely shake this space up quite considerably.
To be fair to the team at Academic Earth they seem fully aware of the tightrope they are walking and are trying to work with the institutions so as not to step on anyones toes while still retaining a business model. I think it will be quite the achievement if they pull this off!
In a pretty amazing PR coup an Israeli entrepreneur, Shai Resef, managed to get worldwide publicity including notably in the New York Times, for his new education based start-up the University of the People. The article makes some grand claims and glosses over the fact that the plans are mainly speculative at the moment as nothing has really launched and there remain many hurdles to overcome (not least the issue of assessment and accreditation).
The growth of the open learning is undoubted (with the UKs own Open University a leading player with initiatives like OpenLearn and its iTunesU content) but despite the claims in the article I believe peer-to-peer learning remains unproven in many ways (though I do believe it is a useful concept and one that will only become more popular over time) and the reliance of a mish-mash of retired professors, MA level students and volunteers as a kind of virtual faculty does not sound hugely thought out as yet (though there is probably a workable solution in there somewhere) .
Mr Resef does have a history of running successful education themed web businesses, including his current start-up Cramster.com an online homework support network, so he well placed to have the skills and contacts to make this happen.
I’ll be watching this one closely as its an idea I’m really interested in and I think there is a business to be built around the rise in open education that also widens access to higher education, I’m just not quite sure this is it yet.
At Jiva we all get the advantage of having 10% time to explore projects a little off the beaten track from our day-to-day work. As I’m not a developer this presented a bit of a challenge for me initially but after a brief rant on my personal blog that struck a chord with a couple of people I found myself with a little project to occupy those spare moments (and my weekends and vacation time as it worked out!)
Bettr is an unconference primarily for start-ups with an education focus but also open to all manner of folk with an interest in this area. We are co-hosting the event with School of Everything and it will take place at DEMOS on the 14th January. The format of the day (in true unconference style) is a bit up in the air at the moment but already more than 30 people have signed up (with a capacity of 60) so it promises to be an interesting get together.
I have hopes that this isn’t just a one off event and that it grows into something more regular and more ambitious that supports innovation in education and the social web much the way Social Innovation Camp is doing in the wider areas. SI Camp is very much an inspiration in the long term but for this first event my expectations are a little more grounded! A smooth running event that allows people to do a bit of networking, listen to some short, interesting presentations and maybe enjoy a beer to finish the day would be a success in my eyes.
Not for the first time the guys at EduFire have written a thought provoking and timely blog post that I thought I would point to and make a quick comment on.
6 Reasons Why Online Education Will Boom in the Bust is a welcome ray of sunshine amongst the gloom of the global financial meltdown – which it seems that the tech blogs are now covering even more than the mainstream media! At a time where pretty much all you read (or see, or hear) is about how hard the coming months/years are going to be and how companies are shedding staff its good to see that someone is looking for the silver lining!
At Beanbag we are particularly interested in #5 – Larger number of highly-qualified teachers. As more and more people potentially look to supplement (or replace) their income by offering their specialised knowledge to learners then Beanbag becomes a prime route to achieve that. Then as we create more vehicles to connect with the learner community around the Beanbag brand we can offer increased opportunities to connect learners to teachers in different environment, strengthening that connection all the time.
Amongst all the gloom and doom there is one consistent message – any company that comes through these difficult times intact will be in a strong position to push on in the future. EduFire have helped reaffirm my belief that those of us working around education will be well placed to do just that!