Spotify is testing the waters for an online education offering of freemium video courses in the UK, produced in partnership with third parties like the BBC and Skillshare. The courses, accessible on the web and via the Spotify mobile app, cover a wide range of subjects from music production to Excel, with pricing ranging from £20 to £80 on average. The move reflects Spotify's strategy to diversify its business and increase profitability, leveraging its podcasting data to cross-promote educational content and offering tools for creators to manage and grow their earnings.
The demand for cybersecurity experts is rapidly increasing as cyberattacks continue to rise, with the FBI reporting a 300% increase in reported cybercrimes since the start of the pandemic. There are currently nearly 600,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the U.S. and about 3.5 million globally. Despite the misconception that it's a difficult field to break into, a bachelor's degree is not required for high-paying cybersecurity jobs. Google's skilling initiative, Grow with Google, offers an online program that provides lessons and certifications for in-demand skills like cybersecurity. The average pay for cybersecurity jobs exceeds $100,000, with some remote positions paying upwards of $200,000.
2U, Inc., a global leader in online education, has announced a leadership transition with Rani Lalljie appointed as the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Mark Norden as the new Chief Legal Officer (CLO). Lalljie brings extensive finance management experience from his previous role as CFO at Neustar, Inc., while Norden has over a decade of experience at 2U and played a key role in the company's IPO and strategic planning. 2U aims to continue advancing online education and delivering high-quality learning outcomes through its global online learning platform.
Shares of online education company 2U plummeted 57% after a disappointing forecast and reports of universities terminating their contracts. The company posted a net loss of $47.4 million for Q3 and lowered its revenue guidance for the full year. 2U's reliance on one-time payments and its deteriorating core degree business raised concerns among analysts. The company also laid off 12% of its staff and has a significant debt load. Shares closed below $1, risking potential delisting from the Nasdaq.
As A.I. and other advanced technologies continue to infiltrate jobs, workers whose jobs were taken over by A.I. will need to be reskilled. Online education and upskilling companies like Coursera offer nearly 6,000 online courses, professional certificates, and degree programs for the most in-demand industries. Coursera plans to release more virtual reality components to its online classes to give students a more realistic and immersive online learning experience. The main change in the way people learn because of A.I. is that it’s going to be more personalized and interactive.
Best-selling author and CEO of Complexly, Hank Green, has announced that he has Hodgkin's lymphoma. Green has started treatment and his prognosis is good. He is unsure if he will continue with his various video and podcasting projects during chemotherapy, but may send occasional email updates. Green asked viewers for recommendations for "really dumb things that will not make you cry."
A new industry is emerging that extracts fees from wealthy families to enable their teenage children to conduct and publish research that colleges may regard as a credential. At least 20 online research programs for high schoolers have sprung up in the U.S. and abroad in recent years, along with a bevy of journals that publish the work. The programs serve at least 12,000 students a year worldwide, with most families paying between $2,500 and $10,000 to improve their odds of getting into U.S. universities that accept as few as 1 in every 25 applicants.
