The open-source training courses on edX.org offered by The Linux Foundation reached two million enrollments to date, according to its data. The San Francisco-based non-profit organization — that employs Linus Torvalds himself —has released two dozen courses on edX. These classes can be audited for free by the student. The offerings cover technologies like cloud infrastructure, blockchain, networking, and DevOps. The most popular classes are: Introduction to Linux Introduction to Kubernetes Introduction to Hyperledger Blockchain Technologies Introduction to Cloud Infrastructure Technologies Blockchain: Understanding its Uses and Implications Introduction to Cloud Foundry and Cloud-Native Software Architecture Introduction to Open Source Networking Technologies Introduction to DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering Today, Linux powers 98% of the world's super-computers, most of the servers powering the Internet, and tens of millions of Android smartphones and consumer devices. "As open source has become dominant in the technology space, The Linux Foundation saw a huge need for more accessible, quality training options to close the skills gap and ensure there is enough talent in the market to meet demand," said Clyde Seepersad, SVP and General Manager, Training & Certification at The Linux Foundation. "Our partnership with edX has enabled us to make high-quality training from expert instructors available to millions of people at no cost," he added. We're proud to announce we have now trained 2 million individuals worldwide in our @edXOnline courses! Learn more about this milestone and our free courses in #Linux, #Kubernetes, #blockchain, #networking and more at https://t.co/BLwPRmiy4Z #learnlinux #edx #ittraining pic.twitter.com/z2auFsCwrw — Linux Foundation Training & Certification (@LF_Training) September 23, 2021
More women are participating in online learning and certificate training programs aimed at entry-level digital jobs. A total of 52% of new online learners in 2021 were women, up from 47% in 2019, despite the unemployment crisis caused by the pandemic disproportionately impacted them. This data highlights a narrowing gender gap in distance learning, reflected in a study of Coursera (NYSE: COUR), released yesterday. "Our research suggests that gender gaps in online learning narrowed during the pandemic, even as gender employment gaps widened," said Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO at Coursera. "We are encouraged by how women are embracing online learning to develop new skills that can help accelerate their return to work and promote economic mobility." The Women and Skills Report (PDF download), which includes data from 40 million new learners registered during the pandemic, indicates that top skills include leadership and STEM skills, like communication, management, entrepreneurship, probability and statistics, computer programming, and theoretical computer science. Top courses taken include COVID-19 Contact Tracing from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and The Science of Wellbeing from Yale University. Discover how the gender gap in online learning narrowed during the pandemic as the gender employment gap widened in our first-ever Women & Skills Report. This research offers a glimpse of what an inclusive future can look like in the digital economy. https://t.co/LMLCImi0zE — Coursera (@coursera) September 9, 2021
2U's CEO, Chip Paucek, asked edX partners to give his company a shot. "All we need is an opportunity to prove that the future of edX will grow; the brand will grow," he said during an interview with EdSurge.com posted yesterday. "You will see us begin to advertise edX outright and grow the learner base. And I think that'll be good for everybody." Public, for-profit company 2U (NASDAQ: TWOU) — which bought edX Inc from MIT and Harvard last June for $800 million — is following a brand strategy similar to Alphabet and Google to keep edX's partners on board. Chip Paucek already used this analogy during his first public appearance with Anant Agarwal, CEO at edX, at ASU-GSV Conference in San Diego. "Our brand is more akin to Alphabet than it is to Google. People know our corporate name because we are a public company, but people don’t associate our brand with learning. Whereas with edX, the brand is just incredible," he said to Jeffrey R. Young on EdSurge. edX is the third big profile company acquired by 2U, along with the boot camp provider Trilogy Education and short online courses provider GetSmarter. One way that 2U will benefit from edX's large base of learners, once the deal is officially approved, is, according to Paucek, to incorporate 2U's job placement tool, called the Career Engagement Network, within edX courses. The service was developed by the Trilogy boot camp to match its students with prospective employers. "We will roll it out to all of the edX paid customers," said Paucek. edX’s Anant Agarwal said in the same interview on EdSurge that the career-services tool answers a request that some partner colleges have long wanted but that edX had not had the time or resources to develop. Puacek noted that some edX partners may want to buy other services from 2U as well. Congrats to @agarwaledu and the entire @edXonline team for 5 years of incredible student outcomes through the MicroMasters programs. Nearly 4 million students, 249 countries. 97% would recommend a program to a friend. Awesome. https://t.co/QTLGIvqHOa — Chip Paucek (@chippaucek) September 13, 2021
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) will invest $1.2 billion by 2025 in providing further education and skills training to more of its 750,000 operations employees in the U.S. The eCommerce giant announced this month that it will fund full college tuition, as well as high school diplomas, GEDs, and English as Second Language (ESL) proficiency certifications for its front-line employees—including those who have been at the company for three months. In addition, Amazon said that it will provide three new education skills training programs to help them transition into jobs as data center technology technicians, IT engineers, and user experience designers. "Amazon is now the largest job creator in the U.S., and we know that investing in free skills training for our teams can have a huge impact for hundreds of thousands of families across the country," said Dave Clark, CEO of Worldwide Consumer at Amazon. A research study conducted by Gallup and commissioned by Amazon on upskilling found that 70% of American workers would switch to a new job if offered free skills training opportunities. The report states that employer-funded upskilling for young adults entering the labor market is more important than paid vacation time.
Chegg Inc (NYSE: CHGG), a Santa Clara, California–based EdTech company with a market capitalization of 11 billion, was sued by publishing giant Pearson Monday for alleged copyright infringement. The complaint, filed Monday in the District Court of New Jersey, came only a few months after a partnership between the two companies ended, under the new leadership of Andy Bird, the CEO of Pearson. In addition, the move takes place when Pearson Plc is launching a subscription service for U.S. students to its 1,500 textbook titles for a monthly fee of $14.99, according to Financial Times. Pearson alleges that Chegg has violated its rights on a "massive scale" by reproducing hundred of thousands of questions from Pearson textbooks and selling them with answers as part of a $14.95 homework help subscription service for students (Chegg Study). "Those answers are derived from and often copied directly from Pearson’s end of chapter questions themselves," a press release from Pearson said. Pearson’s complaint lists 150 of its textbooks "copied or paraphrased from the original question." For example, Chegg Study lists more than 700 answers for questions from Campbell Biology, a popular biology textbook. Chegg began in 2005 as a textbook rental service but now draws its main revenue from subscription services around homework answers. During the pandemic, Chegg's revenue rose above 60% to $644 million. Now Chegg has a market valuation higher than Pearson with its 177-years of history. Chegg has been criticized by educators who argue that it's a service that enables widespread cheating by offering a massive library with answers. The Californian company was licensed to publish materials by Pearson, but since June 1, its right to display content expired, according to the British giant. Chegg said it is in "full compliance with copyright law" and will "fight Pearson’s allegations vigorously.”
