

Why (Digital) Education is the new eCommerce - manishreddyt
http://www.nextbigwhat.com/digital-education-is-the-new-ecommerce-297/

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bifftannen
That sounds frightening to me. A bunch of people getting into the education
market just because its the next big money maker is wrong. I deal with current
education software on a daily basis. A large percentage of that is made or
owned by Pearson as one example. The amount of money charged for something
that is just terrible in every facet is sickening.

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trevelyan
Pearson is not strong outside institutionalized education, which is not the
growth space and is VERY hard for startups to address anyway. They have money
to buy stuff, but their margins are eroding in print and the company isn't
structured to innovate elsewhere, in large part because no-one running any
division wants money-losing investments on their balance sheet. So the company
has to acquire rather than innovate, and isn't even very good at that
(Tutorvista???).

There is really interesting stuff happening in the adult education market that
will eventually trickle into K12 and higher ed. It just isn't generally
covered by edutech press because of the focus on institutional money. So don't
fear the reaper and all, although I agree about the quality problems now
things will look differently in ten years.

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LDale
While the author believes that "the ease, access, convenience and lower cost
[offered by online education] appeals to people just about everywhere" the
huge - giant - glaring omission here is that education is not so much about
enjoyment, ease, or cost as it is about developing your core competencies,
content knowledge, and cognitive development - it must, in a word, work.

And, it doesn't.

I'll be quick to change my tune when online education proves itself effective
- but right now online k12 education is failing miserably all around the
country despite great promises and powerful support(e.g. there are current 16
online k12 charter schools in Pennsylvania getting terrible results).

This isn't a field in which innovators are allowed to fail for a year until
they find appropriate answers to their problems - that year of failing is a
year of their students failing to advance. There is no stomach from teachers,
administrators, or parents for such bumbling - nor should there be.

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tarunmitra
I absolutely agree with your concerns. However there are very high number if
success stories indicating that technology is the only solution. Very large
scale adoption of services like Google apps for education, Edmodo,
BetterLessons and Desire2Learn are the examples.

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LDale
They are strong education tools, no doubt - but note that each of them is a
support technology for traditional education, not a replacement for it. These
success stories could not succeed (or usefully exist) without a well
established traditional education system.

These are also not the sort of tools the article here is discussing (which
instead posits that the future of education will be the replacement of
traditional flesh-and-blood education with digital education platforms - which
will fail).

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gingerlime
Calling it _the next eCommerce_ might sound almost sinister if you are only
considering it as a money-making opportunity.

However, working at kenHub (kenhub.com), a very small startup which aims to
help medical students learn anatomy online, I personally find it very
refreshing. It feels good helping the next generation of doctors and nurses.
It's not really that much about money as it is about making a positive impact,
and making student's lives easier.

It is an uphill struggle, against big publishers and the academic
establishment, but students deserve better tools that are more agile, and fit
with their existing lifestyles and habits.

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codingblues
All the data mentioned there is all good... but I would suggest that you put
some reference links to back it up...

