Powerful Integrations for Education
This article explores the future of Online Education as an Industry.
Rise of startups
On the Education scene, startups of different kinds have popped up. For reader’s understanding they can be divided into the following:
- Those focusing on Technology
- Those focusing on Content
- Those focusing on Both
1st type of startups are trying to create generic platforms that support a variety of content and ease up its creation and innovation. The business models revolve around providing SaaS, creating a Marketplace, or selling an App/LMS as a white-labelled product. Some examples include Udemy, Coursera, Teachable and many more…
2nd type of startups are trying to bring integrations in terms of technology and human capital to create engaging and creative multi-media content. The process is akin to movie-making involving script writing, graphics, and the teacher is expected to enact the storyline effectively. Some examples include: Canvas, mentimeter etc
3rd kind tries to focus on both- focus on content to create differentiation and focus on technology to leverage it for delivery. And this model has created success stories like Byjus, Vedantu etc
Role of new enablers
All the 3 kinds of startups have created systems to marry content and technology for benefit of both. Content delivery and interactivity have improved largely because of the efforts of these startups.
Eventually, all the 3 kinds need strong business fundamentals to create impact at scale. Impact at scale is the major barrier that affects all of them. None of them has fundamentally changed how we learn and interact. Compare their engagement with platforms like Netflix or Youtube or social media. You would find that people still learn indirectly more than the direct learning platforms.
Eventual funnelling
Let's now discuss the pitfalls of each type of business model for startups in the education industry. The 1st kind face the risk of positioning education as a marketable product. Doing so does a disservice to the role of education in everyone’s life. The 2nd kind face the risk of overly marketing their content and being a hindrance to content innovation in the long run. The 3rd kind likely fails to scale faster because of the focus on both technology and content development.
So, we can be clear that there won’t be an Amazon for education or Pixar for education, and neither non-profits because Education cannot be packed as just a product or service, neither you can continue to create impact for free.
We are more likely to see multiple startups that fit the socio-cultural scene of a particular nation and its educational goals. This differentiation is likely to slow down the pace of technological changes in pedagogy and learning.
Why it's relevant
It's important to understand the inherent limitations that education as an industry poses for product and brand development. We need to be able to build a better narrative and eventually build more relevant products for meeting learning needs
What it would cost us
Not understanding the industry in which we would eventually operate, likely create more resistance to the march of technology. This was evident from the over the board marketing of White Hat Junior, which teaches coding skills to kids.
What's the future
We believe that eventually, startups would merge into a model of 1st kind, where it enables more instructors and learners to interact and create a hub/community. These platforms would generate value over the years, with more participants joining the platforms as volunteers/ entrepreneurs in their own sense.
This would enable transition into a future where present walls of discrimination that physical institutions have come to define would eventually blur and there could be a future possible where the education industry is not a hindrance to sharing and growth of knowledge in aspects beyond economics.
