Now 2,627+ OPM, Bootcamp and Pathways Partnerships with Universities globally — from holoniq.com
Slower partnership growth for the first half of 2022 with 186 new OPM, Bootcamp or Pathways partnerships. Another ‘post-COVID’ transition?
Coursera launches skills training academy for colleges and companies — from highereddive.com by Natalie Schwartz
Experts say the move could help the company strengthen its focus on selling courses to colleges rather than consumers.
Excerpts:
Coursera, like other popular MOOC platforms, has made its name by bringing online classes to the masses. But lately, the company has been expanding efforts to provide these offerings to colleges and employers rather than solely to consumers.
The company doubled down on that strategy Wednesday, when it announced the launch of a career training academy that enables users to earn entry-level certificates from companies like Meta and IBM in fields such as data analytics, social media marketing and user experience design. Institutions — including colleges, businesses and government organizations — can sign up to make the platform available to their students or employees.
The move signals a shift in strategy for the company. While Coursera is still focused on delivering courses directly to consumers, it’s also been building out its offerings to colleges and employers. This business segment includes Coursera for Campus, which allows colleges to use the platform’s content in their classes.
From DSC:
For those who think MOOCs have come and gone:
Coursera has been using academic content created by universities for years to build its audience, amassing some 97 million users by the end of last year, according to its latest earnings report.
Addendum on 5/11/22:
- Colleges Are Losing Students. Is That A Growth Opportunity For Coursera? — from edsurge.com by Daniel Mollenkamp
Groups call for college trustees to learn more about accreditation — from highereddive.com by Rick Seltzer
“Board members lack a solid understanding of what accreditation is,” says a report issued by AGB and CHEA in the face of stress on the system.
Excerpts:
Much has changed since 2009, the report says, as colleges now face heightened problems stemming from declining enrollment, constrained state funding and sometimes shaky finances.
Institutions also face challenges that don’t show up on balance sheets: pandemic-related stresses, remote instruction, public skepticism, threats to freedom of speech, tensions over diversity, equity and inclusion — and external influences.
…
Many of the people who sit on colleges’ governing boards are not from the academy and might not be familiar with processes like accreditation, said Cynthia Jackson-Hammond, CHEA’s president.
“It’s about trust,” Stoever said. “What accreditation is intended to do, it’s not only around academic quality and financial integrity, but trust — public trust that these institutions of higher education are trustworthy.”
From DSC:
But maybe that’s part of the problem institutions of higher education face today. They’ve lost the trust of the public. When faculty teach what they want to teach — and presidents, deans, faculty councils, trustees, boards, etc. allow that to occur — then students graduate without the skills and knowledge that the workplace is hiring for. By the way, I realize that’s too general and not true in many cases. I still believe that the liberal arts are very important — and the communications skills and the ability to reason, think critically, etc. will likely always be important and beneficial (regardless of the job).
But when you are a student who has gone to school for 4-6+ years, you finally graduate, and then you find out that you don’t have the skills or knowledge that the employers are hiring for, that will likely impact one’s trust level in one’s alma mater as well as in higher education in general. When you graduate with a gorilla of debt on your back, that may also impact your trust levels (though it may not in some cases).