Toronto-based, education software company Top Hat announced yesterday that it raised $55 million in Series D equity and debt funding, defying giants in the textbook industry like Pearson and McGraw-Hill. The finance round was co-led by Georgian Partners and Inovia Capital, and attracted all of its the previous investors, including Union Square Ventures, Emergence Capital and Leaders Fund. According to the company, 750 out of the top 1,000 colleges and universities in North America are enrolled in courses using their platform, with a total of 2.7 million students. "The funding will enable Top Hat to continue to accelerate the disruption of traditional textbooks and course materials in order to deliver greater educational ROI to students," said Mike Silagadze, founder and CEO. Top Hat also announced that it already signed exclusive deals with Fountainhead Press and Bluedoor Publishing to transform their print-only content into digital courseware. The company, which has now raised a total of just under $105 million, according to Crunchbase, plans to invest more in professors who will author, adopt, curate, and adapt course materials to create personalized and responsive learning experiences. Top Hat, with a staff of 400 employees, already has introduced six all-in-one digital course solutions, Top Hat Intro Courses. They combine interactive textbooks, lecture slides, quizzes, and assignments all on one platform. “As university students rebel against ridiculous textbook prices much as music consumers did in the early 2000s, Top Hat has emerged a visionary leader by bringing students and educators together in a collaborative digital teaching and learning experience that improves outcomes while reducing costs,” said Inovia Capital partner Shawn Abbott. Top Hat's textbooks sell for less than $50, compared to a big publisher’s offerings that can cost hundreds of dollars.
JANUARY 2020 – NEWSLETTER #30 | Breaking news at IBL News |  Noticias en Español Higher Ed • The U.S. Shows as the Number 1 in Education Across the World, According to the 2020 Best Countries Report • MIT Suspends Professor Seth Lloyd Over a Detailed Report About His Ties to Epstein • Federal Students Loan Portfolio Tops $1.51 Trillion After a 5% Increase Corporate Training • JetBlue’s Sponsored Education Program Has 700 Crewmembers Pursuing Undergraduate Degrees • Visa Launches a Certification Program to Train Payment Card Disputes Professionals • Microsoft Retires Its Professional Program and Opens a Role-Based Certification Site 2020 / 2019 Review • JavaScript, HTML5, C# and CSS, the Most Benchmarked Skills of 2019, According to Pluralsight • U.S. Education Technology Companies Raised $1.6 Billion in VC Funding in 2019 • 2019’s Most Popular Online Courses According to Class Central • A Dynamic 2019 for Open edX, edX, Coursera, and Udacity: IBL's Top-20 Headlines • 2019 Year Review: MIT's Epstein Scandal, Sale of Canvas LMS, 2U's Collapse, and Pearson's CEO's Resignation • IBL News Releases the 2020 Calendar Conferences • The AACU Conference in DC Says that Liberal Education Is Key for Employability [Video] • The LearnLauch Conference this Month in Boston Expects 1,500 Educators and Investors Instructure / Canvas LMS • Instructure Will Continue Reducing Spending But Refrain From Laying Off More Employees • Analysis: Is Instructure's Transaction Rigged? SEC's Statements Show a Transparent Process • Instructure Accuses Dissident Investor Praesidium of "Opportunistic Tactics" to Derail the Transaction • The CEO of Instructure May Reap Over $22M After the Sale of the Company • Instructure Moves Forward with Thoma Bravo's $2 Billion Acquisition Proposal 2U • 2U Hires Advisers to Explore a Sale While an Activist Investor Continues to Push 2020 Upcoming Events • Education Calendar – JAN | FEB | MARCH | APRIL | MAY | JUNE | JULY – DEC | Conferences in Latin America & Spain This newsletter is created in collaboration with IBL Education, a New York City-based company specialized in open-source learning platforms. Read the latest IBL Newsletter  |  Archive of Open edX Newsletters
IBL News | New York Stanford University joined the edX consortium as an institutional member, contributing with a portfolio of 11 courses ranging from computer science and algorithms to humanities classes in areas such as history and government. However, the institution refrained to join the edX consortium, even criticizing the governance of Open edX through an elaborated report. (Later, the edX Consortium responded, and even it celebrated the Open edX annual developers conference at Stanford's campus in 2016.) The courses that Stanford is posting now on edX.org, are a fraction of the ones hosted at its own Open edX instance, called Lagunita. “Stanford is a long time Open edX contributor, and this milestone deepens our collaborative relationship, which is founded on a vision to increase access to high-quality education for learners around the world,” wrote Johannes Heinlein, Chief Commerical Officer at edX, on a blog post welcoming the Californian university. In addition to Stanford, the edX Consortium has announced since November 2019 the incorporation of other universities, such as the United Arab Emirates, Western Governors, National University of Singapore, and Queen's University Smith School of Business. Super excited to welcome my alma mater @Stanford to the @edXOnline community, after many years as a leading Open edX contributor. Their first courses will be in subjects including humanities and computer science, with more to come. https://t.co/ueufn27gmf pic.twitter.com/vmkLqnkvpd — anant agarwal (@agarwaledu) January 28, 2020 These are the Stanford University courses hosted at edX.org: • News stories about Stanford University at IBL News since 2013
JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) announced that nearly 700 of their crewmembers are currently working towards their college degrees through its employer-sponsored education program. On average, it will take crewmembers about 13 months to complete an associate degree, and 16 months for a bachelor’s degree, through JetBlue’s Scholars program. The airline covers most of the costs for undergraduate degrees, with crewmembers saving an average of $14,000 on tuition. It totals over $6.5 million in savings for overall college costs since the program was initiated, according to the company’s data. Thomas Edison State University (TESU) is JetBlue’s sole provider of degrees. The four areas of study offered for a degree include business, aviation, liberal studies and information technology (IT). JetBlue Scholars utilizes low-cost alternatives for obtaining college credits, including learning platforms like Study.com, Sophia.org, and StraighterLine.com. These courses are accepted for college credit at partner school TESU. JetBlue Scholars, which also includes a pathway opportunity for earning master’s degrees, announced in December that it has conferred 250 degrees within three years. Launched in 2016, JetBlue Scholars was developed based on crewmember feedback. According to the company, the program has proven to be a valuable retention and development tool, leading to increased crewmember engagement and loyalty, resulting in a greater return on investment for JetBlue.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) plans to launch a new certification program and fund up to 500 scholarships on dispute resolution – an area in high demand across the payments ecosystem. Visa’s new certification program is designed to train individuals as dispute resolution professionals, a role that is currently in high demand across the financial and payment processors industry. Intended to train individuals to manage payment card disputes, the program will include multiple days of training and several professional-level certification exams. Details for how to apply for the scholarship will be disclosed in early 2020. Visa is one of the 350 companies and organizations that signed the White House Pledge to America’s Workers—a promise to expand programs that are designed to educate, train and reskill more than 14.3 million students and workers. Over the next five years, Visa has pledged to help create enhanced career opportunities for 14,500 individuals, including through increased apprenticeships and work-based learning programs, continuing education, on-the-job training and reskilling. “At Visa, we are working to help strengthen the pipeline of qualified workers,” said Visa Chairman and CEO Al Kelly. Certificate programs offer an alternative to a traditional degree, giving candidates the opportunity to develop the skills and experiences needed in a shorter period of time and for less cost. A Georgetown University study found that those who hold certificates receive a 20% wage premium over those who do not.
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