The world's leading publisher and distributor of children's books Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL), announced this month the acquisition of Learning Ovations, the creator of A2i, for an undisclosed amount. The A2i ("Assessment to Instruction") system provides educators with easy-to-administer, data-driven guidance for instructional planning for both small-group and individualized learning in comprehension and decoding. It's backed by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Tier 1 evidence of efficacy. "Carol Connor [creator of A2i] was a teachers' teacher, dedicated both to helping every child learn to read – regardless of background, disadvantage, or learning challenge – and to supporting teachers with tools that are both deeply rigorous and easy to use," said Rose Else-Mitchell, Executive Vice President and President of Scholastic Education Solutions. The integration of Learning Ovations technology and the team will allow the New York-based 100 years old Scholastic to advance its literacy platform.
MasterClass.com announced the launch of a class on diplomacy with two former U.S. secretaries of state, Condolezza Rice and Madeleine Albright, this month. Both politicians — close friends from opposing political parties — will teach how to build trusted teams, reconcile differences, overcome failed decisions and apply diplomacy in everyday life. The class culminates with a conversation between Albright and Rice focused on the state of democracy. Currently, Rice teaches at Stanford University in the Department of Political Science and the Graduate School of Business. In September 2020, she became the Director of the Hoover Institution. This class is part of the "MasterClass Presents the White House" series, in which participate leaders who have influenced American politics and changed the world. President Bill Clinton teaches inclusive leadership, while the former U.S. Secretary of State, Senator, and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton lectures on the power of resilience, and President George W. Bush gives a class on authentic leadership. The San Francisco-based MasterClass platform features a catalog of 150 classes taught by leaders on leadership, cooking, photography, writing, etc. It offers a membership subscription starting at $15 per month. Each class includes around 20 video lessons that are 10 minutes long on average, along with an in-depth workbook.Â
Harvard Business School (HBS) announced this month it will offer free MBA tuition to approximately 10% of its student body which is in the greatest financial need. The school will also offer scholarship support to more students from middle-income backgrounds — around 50% of students. This means that HBS will waive annual tuition of $76,000 on its two-year full-time MBA program — about 200 students in its current cohort of 2,000. Students will still be required to cover living costs and insurance, estimated at about $35,000 a year. Currently, the school's annual MBA financial aid budget exceeds $45 million as a result of annual gifts and more than 750 fellowship funds from HBS alumni. In addition, Harvard has the largest overall university endowment. "We know that talent is much more evenly distributed than opportunity," said HBS Dean Srikant Datar. "Harvard Business School should be a place where the most talented future leaders can come to realize their potential. We want to remove the financial barriers that stand in their way and alleviate the burden of debt so they can focus on becoming leaders who make a difference in the world." HBS said that in order to make the MBA Program more affordable held the cost of tuition flat since 2019; launched the Forward Fellowship, and instituted a need-based application fee waiver, among other measures. According to the school data, the average annual need-based scholarship in 2021-2022 was $42,000 ($84,000 over the two years of the program). Along with Harvard University, some other U.S. universities, particularly the richer ones, are offering improved financial terms. These decisions are helping schools to combat criticism over rising costs.
AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2022 – NEWSLETTER #46 |  Breaking news at IBL News  |  Noticias en Español Open edX • The tCRIL Organization Releases Nutmeg, the 14th Version of the Open edX Platform • Amgen Foundation Will Invest $30M on Open edX-Based LabXchange Platform 2U / edX Platform • 2U Offers edX Universities a New Revenue Sharing Program • 2U Inc. Receives an Offer of $1 Billion with a Premium of 50% • 2U / edX Offers Scholarships for Cybersecurity and Data Analytics Boot Camps in Tulsa • 2U Presents Quarter Results While Transitions to Operate Under the edX Brand • EdX Announces Two Career Courses with META on Augmented Reality Coursera • Coursera Slightly Improved Its Financial Results for the Second Quarter of 2022 • Meta Delivers Five New Certificate Programs in Coursera.org in Software Engineering • Skillsoft Will Now Include on Its Platform the Coursera Enterprise Content Learning Platforms: Transactions • SAP Litmos Training Platform Sold to a Private Equity Firm • Varsity Tutors Acquires Codeverse, a Platform that Teaches Kids to Code • Degreed Buys Its Former CEO's New Company and Puts Him to Lead a New Strategy • Class.com Completes the Acquisition of Blackboard Collaborate Learning Platforms: Results and VC • Edmodo.com Will Shut Down Its Platform and Service on September 22 • Canvas LMS Reported a Revenue Increase of 22% During the Second Quarter • Docebo Reported an Increase in Sales and Profits in the Second Quarter • Territorium Raised $4.4 Million In a Seed Round Led by Cometa Investment • German Learning Platform CoachHub Raises Another $200 Million Learning Platforms: Functionalities • Learning Platform Kahoot! Issues an Add-On for Google Classroom • Instructure, the Maker of Canvas LMS, Announces New Features and Partnerships • Engageli Announces that Its Learning Platform Will Expand into the L&D Market Initiatives • OpenStax Will Make Available for Free the Bestselling Organic Chemistry Textbook • Harvard Business School Will Offer Its Two-Year MBA Program for Free to 200 Students 2022 Events | All of the Key Conferences Listed! • Education Calendar 2022 – AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER | NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | Conferences in Latin America & Spain This newsletter was created in collaboration with IBL Education, a New York City-based company specializing in AI-driven, skills learning platforms and predictive analytics. We also film and produce courses for universities and business organizations. Read the latest IBL Newsletter  |  Archive of Open edX Newsletters
AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2022 – NEWSLETTER #52 |  Breaking news at IBL News  |  Noticias en Español Higher Ed • Biden Announced Its Plan to Cancel $10,000 in Student Loan Debt for Most Borrowers • The U.S. Government Cancels $3.9 Billion in Loans for Deceived ITT Students • Higher Ed's Data and Analytics Infrastructure Is Outdated, Finds an Educause Report • A Majority of Higher Ed Institutions Were Hit by Ransomware Attacks • New York State Government Alerts of Scam Practices in Higher Ed Universities • Harvard University Starts the Search for Its Next President • The University of Michigan Appoints a Canadian and Asian Descendant as Its 15th President • The University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) Buys the OPM Business of Zovio • A Leading Cognitive Scientist Will Be the First Woman to Lead Dartmouth • A Singapore Firm Buys a Private U.S. University and Will Create a Version in the Metaverse Trends • A Cengage's Report Reveals that the Degree Stigma Causes Employment Crisis • Half of the Students Prefer a Hybrid Class Format, While Faculty Favor In-Person Learning • Learning Soft Skills Is Critical to Be Hired, Says a Majority of Employers • Skill-Based Premium Pay: An Effective Way to Attract IT Talent, Says Gartner • About 222 Million School-Aged Children Around the World Need Education Support Initiatives • AWS Introduces Paid Subscriptions for Learners Looking to Bolster Cloud Skills • Google Releases an Android App that Encourages Children to Practice Reading • YouTube Launches the Shorts Feature to Compete with TikTok • FINRA Will Invest $90M Coming from Fines to Robinhood to Educate Newer Investors Open Source • An AI Model Named BLOOM, Larger than OpenAI’s GPT-3 and MetaAI’s OPT, Will Be Open Sourced • META Engineers Build a Universal Translator of 200 Languages in Open Source Software Financials • College Endowments Lost 10% In the Last Year • O'Reilly Says Its Business Grew at 45% Through Its New Platforms • ClassDojo Achieves the Unicorn Status at a $1.25 Billion Valuation • Web3 Learning and Talent UK's Neol Attracts $5.2 Million from Investors 2022 Events | All of the Key Conferences Listed! • Education Calendar 2022 – AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER | NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | Conferences in Latin America & Spain This newsletter was created in collaboration with IBL Education, a New York City-based company specializing in AI-driven, skills open source learning platforms and predictive analytics. We also film and produce courses for universities and business organizations. Read the latest IBL Newsletter  |  Archive of Open edX Newsletters
