July Spotlight: Online Learning News in Higher Education

Quite a lot occurred in the corporate HE online market in July, I’ve coupled some of the key developments with some recommendations for summer reading and listening:

💰 There have been some major acquisitions in the VLE Market:
–  Instructure, provider of the Canvas platform, has been acquired by investment company KKR for $8.2 billion: Read the announcement.
– The company behind the Brightspace VLE, has spun off SkillsWave – a platform aimed at upskilling businesses. They have also aquired H5P, the interactive content platform: D2L Acquisition

💹 Likewise, the OPM market has seen some interesting developments:
– Coursera has reported their Q2 2024 financial results showing higher revenue year-on-year and higher revenue than predicted for this period. The platform’s Gen AI suite of offerings and entry-level Professional Certificates with leading industry companies are reported to be driving increased enrolments: Read the report.
–  Meanwhile,  2U, the OPM which acquired edX in 2021, has filed for a form of bankruptcy, but one that still allows them to operate as a private company through a series of agreements with its debt holders: Find out more.

📖 Summer Reading Specials
– Jisc / Emerge have published their top 40 EdTech Companies for Higher Education with insights from sector experts. Read the report.
–   A new book on working with OPMs has been published: Access the book via your institutional login.

🎧 Summer Listening
–  Generative Dialogues: Generative AI in Higher Education is a series of conversations about generative artificial intelligence and its implications for higher education, hosted by Helen Beetham and Mark Carrigon; Listen to the series on Spotify.
–  Across the Atlantic Podcast from Phil Hill, Neil Mosley and Glenda Morgan provides discussion on the latest in the postsecondary online education market: Follow on Spotify.