This week, Coursera started to pilot a new annual subscription program for individual learners at $399 per year. This offering, called Coursera Plus, resembles the existing subscription plans of Coursera for Business and Coursera for Campus – although these ones include analytics and other integration services. Coursera's plan follows the trend towards the subscription pricing model, increasingly executed among MOOC platforms and initiatives at scale such as Pluralsight or A Cloud Guru. Essentially, Coursera Plus allows to access 90% of the courses, Specializations and Professional Certificates on its catalog – over 3,000 classes. There is no limit to the courses that the learner can enroll in or the certificates that can be earned, as long as those petitions fall into that program. However, some popular courses, such as those of co-founder and AI-guru Andrew Ng e.g. “Machine Learning”, or professional certificate courses from IBM, AWS, and Stanford University, are not available. The Coursera organization lets its partners decide whether or not to make their content part of the Plus initiative. In addition, existing subscriptions to Coursera specializations will not be automatically canceled. Users must cancel their existing subscriptions to avoid being charged for both Coursera Plus and single Specialization subscriptions. Anubhav Chopra, Lead Product Manager at the educational company, explained in a promotional blog post: “Coursera Plus is one of many enrollment options available on Coursera including the ability to audit a course, take a course for free, apply for financial aid, or pay for a course, Specialization, or Professional Certificate individually." Coursera encouraged students to explore the following examples: Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python) (University of Michigan) The Science of Well-Being (Yale) Learning How to Learn (McMaster University, UC San Diego) Algorithms, Part I (Princeton) Data Science Specialization (Johns Hopkins University) Improve Your English Communication Skills Specialization (Georgia Institute of Technology) Google IT Support Professional Certificate (Google)
OER Commons, an organization focused on creating open educational resources (OER), has developed a new editing tool named Open Author. This software allows building standalone learning modules, lessons, assignments, assessments, and activities. As a “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” editor, this authoring tool has the option to copy and paste from Word and Excel, include images (with alt text and captions), along with imports from Google and Microsoft OneDrive; and download PDF, SCORM, and other files. In addition, users have the ability to review and remix the resources and use them with other materials.
The 2U (NASDAQ: TWOU) stock saw this Friday a surge of 11.39%Â to $25.33Â per share, as the investors were surprised with the educational company quarterly reports, which registered a loss of $0.18 per share versus the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.22. 2U posted revenues of $163.18 million for the quarter ended December 2019, surpassing the year-ago revenues of $115.10 million. The company expects to generate sales between $170 million and $180 million in the current quarter and between $725 million and $750 million for the full year 2020; consensus expectations are for $172.45 million and $729 million, respectively. So far, 2U has underperformed the market, with the shares losing 8.8% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 3.2%. In the last year, shares have lost more than half their value. They were hit by an August announcement that the company was lowering its near-term growth expectations prompted investors to question whether 2U was a long-term growth stock. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for the 2U stock price is mixed. In its forecast for 2020, the education company said it expects full-year adjusted EBITDA to range from a loss of $5 million to a gain of $10 million. During the Q4 Earnings Call [Transcript here], Christopher "Chip" Paucek, Co-Founder and CEO at 2U, was bullish. "2U is starting 2020 with tremendous momentum. We had a strong finish in 2019 and we are excited to see what's happening. Universities are launching more with us. Our degree business is turning the corner. Our short course business is sliding new courses and enrolling students in record numbers and our boot camp business is starting to deliver on the strategic value of our acquisition. As we move through 2020, we will improve our operational efficiency with continued realignment and short corporate hygiene." "Looking to the future, university demand for our full investment revenue share model is strong and we are managing our launch cadence to optimize growth, cash flow and profitability. Add all this up and we are expecting double-digit revenue growth and increasing segment profitability in 2020," added the CEO. 2U launched 15 new degree programs in the quarter, claiming that it achieved an 82% student retention rate in the segment. "In conclusion, 2019 was challenging. But last year we took actions to deliver long-term value for all of our stakeholders. Our grad business is turning for the better. We added a product line that opens a significant new segment of the market. We more than doubled our client base and currently have a portfolio of over 400 product offering. We delivered strong second half results and we believe we turned the corner going into 2020. 2U expects to maintain industry-leading growth, while delivering margin improvement over the course of 2020 and driving toward positive free cash flow, all with a relentless focus on quality and outcomes," said Christopher "Chip" Paucek. Regarding the sale rumors spread by activist investors, 2U's management declined to comment.
The planned acquisition of Instructure by Thoma Bravo might not take effect as expected. In this uncertain scenario, the Salt Lake City-based educational software company would continue in the stock market, evaluating new strategic options in March – sources told IBL News. The group of four opposing investors, led by Praesidium Investment, might get a majority vote on the special meeting at Salt Lake City headquarters on February 13. The dissident shareholders, with over 20% of equity at Instructure, are decided to derail the deal unless they see an improved proposal from Thoma Bravo. They all defend that the $2 billion deal – which is about six times Instructure’s expected 2020 revenue – undervalues Instructure. Currently, equity firm Thoma Bravo offers $47.60 per share in cash in a transaction valued at 2 billion. The dominant speculation is that unless Thoma Bravo increases the pricing per share and reaches an agreement with opponents the sale won't go through. If a new offer is made before the vote, the February 13th meeting could be postponed for a period of time to give shareholders time to review the new offer.
State Farm is teaming up with Arizona State University (ASU) to launch an online educational and career development program called Pathways for the Future. To fund the program and scholarships, the insurance giant is providing ASU with a $30 million contribution. Officials from both organizations announced the public-private partnership initiative on Tuesday on the ASU campus, in Tempe, Arizona. The program, reflected on a new website, has four components: an online academic program, financial support, tools for success, and career coaching. Students start by earning online credits in one of three academic tracks: STEM, business leadership, or humanities and social sciences. These tracks will lead to an associate degree, undergraduate degree or undergraduate certificate. Typically, a three-credit online course would cost approximately $1,500. For the university, one goal of the program is to increase degree completion by preparing students to enroll in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, the W. P. Carey School of Business, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, along with other units across ASU. The program targets four groups: High School Students Maricopa County Community College Students Arizona State University Students Employees, already in the workforce, wanting to learn new skills, including State Farm employees "Here we have a company that’s thinking differently; this investment is looking at each aspect of what we do: Let’s eliminate the financial barrier; let’s build some tools that help us to greatly accelerate who goes to college," said ASU President Michael M. Crow [In the picture on the right]. "It’s not only about money but it’s about ways to overcome barriers." "Today represents a new milestone in our relationship with ASU and builds on our corporate commitment to prepare not only for what's coming but for what is already happening," said State Farm Chairman and CEO, Michael Tipsord. "We look forward to growing this commitment with ASU and working together to build the workforce of the future through universal learning." • ASU Now: State Farm, ASU announce partnership on Pathways for the Future initiative
