Category: The business landscape

Zappa´s mistake: 1, 2…and 3

The music phenomena Frank Zappa ones said: ”If you want to get laid: go to a university. But if you want an education: go to a library.” He did have a point. But he forgot: the third reason to get an education. Still; could that very reason explain why this industry not (yet?) have disrupted? … Continue reading Zappa´s mistake: 1, 2…and 3 →

What Bezos completely missed when he started Amazon

Jeff Bezos is undoubtedly a talented businessman. He knew already when he started Amazon how to think. So there was a specific reason for him to start with books. And he also knew at the time that it was just a beginning. But here's what he managed to miss anyway: an even more interesting case … Continue reading What Bezos completely missed when he started Amazon →

Where are the educational losers?

How many smartphones can a single, individual, actually make use of – two? three? How much education can a human being consume? Well, there is a reason learning sometimes is called a drug. The more some people get, the more they tend to ask for. One more course, please. So, how to identify the losers … Continue reading Where are the educational losers? →

Look out for Homeschooling 3.0

Once upon a time: only for kings and queens and their children. Then came digitalization. And ordinary parents could then also afford it. And then Covid. Gosh what it boomed. Hundreds of thousands of “teachers” found an extra job, or even a full-time job. Sit in Sweden, work in USA…or whatever, wherever, whenever. But now? … Continue reading Look out for Homeschooling 3.0 →

Send Austin to space

Surprise: new universities are now created. Actually: no surprise. But will they make it…if they continue to think as historians like Nial Ferguson? He is one of the academics around the globe that is trying. Perhaps. But here is a much better idea; if you, today, want to vitalize the luxury version of off-line education. … Continue reading Send Austin to space →

A ten-year blocker that still did not work

One might twist this issue about why MOOCs like Coursera and edX now exist, and the specific One might twist this issue about why Coursera and edX now exist back and forth as long as one likes, but an interesting interpretation could be this: If we believe something important actually will happen then perhaps better, we start … Continue reading A ten-year blocker that still did not work →

Harvard and MIT just sold edX and decided to cross the river…to get water

The rhetoric of those involved does not hold up. Still, recently it became public; Harvard and MIT are selling off edX, to firm 2U. Why? Instead of listening to what they themselves try to claim, here is how to understand it. Is it perhaps about actively trying to avoid to make an important strategic choice? … Continue reading Harvard and MIT just sold edX and decided to cross the river…to get water →

Please: let´s skip the depression-phase – a third attempt post-covid

What if students don´t come back to Campus the upcoming years and prefer to meet each other at other places instead? What if teachers then lose their high level of energy? What even if managers themselves loses faith in the future? But then, here is a headache pill that could help us avoid all that. … Continue reading Please: let´s skip the depression-phase – a third attempt post-covid →

How Wannabes can outperform the existing platforms

Competition in the e-learning-market has undeniably, so far, not been very fierce. It has been excellent to become a successful education platform without knowing much about education. How long will that hold? Spice Girls show the way for the next step. It´s possible for any unknown teacher to take it and outperform the existing platforms. … Continue reading How Wannabes can outperform the existing platforms →

Digital students and customers are not the same as IRL

Let´s not do the same mistake as record labels did. They did not understand their own customers. Streaming substituted piracy and iTunes, not CD-records. They should have understood that customer preferences changed. Here is an example of what easily happen in digital education. It was a great learning-event I developed. But I failed with it. … Continue reading Digital students and customers are not the same as IRL →

Typewriters understood digital education long before us

How did we manage? Power Point is actually difficult to learn. Still we ones did. We have even managed to integrate it into our working-process. Same thing with typewriters, classrooms ... and next. Well, all these are a bit different. But, are they really? Here´s what we can learn by not focusing their big differences. … Continue reading Typewriters understood digital education long before us →

Try a different structure instead – a second attempt, post-COVID

Why do universities just get stuck with the idea of online education vs offline education, ending up with some kind of hybrid-solution as the middle ground? We can use digitalization for something far more interesting. We can use digitalization to restructure a business. Here is an unspoken of example of what we actually could do. … Continue reading Try a different structure instead – a second attempt, post-COVID →

How, not if, prices will permanently fall

NYU professor Scott Galloway has gone bazooka: "Margins on education are unreasonably high". However; don´t worry. The methods described in this post are spreading, price levels will fall. They will even drop sharply. On permanent basis. But it´s not because of Covid or digital tech. It´s because of smart people, people like Galloway, understanding disruption. … Continue reading How, not if, prices will permanently fall →

The first step to post Covid: offices, classrooms, Twitter

What about life after Covid? The discussion has begun. How do companies think? Educational actors? Students? Teacher? Plans are needed for the autumn. The future of the education world is at stake. Imagine no-one will go back to the offices and classrooms. So how will it be? Here is the answer. It lands on Twitter. … Continue reading The first step to post Covid: offices, classrooms, Twitter →

Curating will soon be more fun than lecturing

Students bribe teachers. Already well known. But how about the opposite? Well, the most prominent management guru on the planet...Harvard-professor Clayton Christensen…actually suggest us to do it. Is he plain crazy? What if we don´t want to? Other solutions? This post provides the answer. It all comes down to curating. It’s an interesting growing profession. … Continue reading Curating will soon be more fun than lecturing →

Go high five, go low beyond, avoid the middle

Whoopsy daisy...imagine perhaps a Chinese teacher now suddenly starts cherry-picking your best students. I mean the ones you had in your own local class-room. The ones you today educate digitally. But on the other hand...whoopsy daisy, if you instead started to teach these Chinese students yourself. Here is how to can win this whoopsy daisy-game. … Continue reading Go high five, go low beyond, avoid the middle →

It’s quiet – handbok for the explosion

When an area starts to become digital it's usually pretty quiet, almost nothing happens. In retrospect, we instead tend to claim that the area exploded. But we don´t here any explosions. So how do you know whats actually going on, right now, in the E-learning field? And how should you care? Here is the answer. … Continue reading It’s quiet – handbok for the explosion →

Education changes in waves, not as a straight line

How important is E-Learning really? Is it going to make a real impact? Are we in an inflection point, or not? Well, we've heard that talk before, without the educational world changing fundamentally. Why would it then happen this time? Here is a slightly different answer to these questions than you might have heard before. … Continue reading Education changes in waves, not as a straight line →

Congratulations; you are just about to outperform Neil Armstrong

Change. Different. In addition, a world full of digital technology. So how are we going to relate to all these digital changes that education is going through right now? We may not have sign up to become an “educator”, or a “learner” for that matter, at all, for that very reason. Then how about this? … Continue reading Congratulations; you are just about to outperform Neil Armstrong →

The real reason to care about big Edtech stepping into the stock market

It's boiling. Udemy and Coursera, are currently planning for their billion dollar IPOs. But why bother, really? You may just be a teacher, a single person who likes to learn things, a university, or a private education company. Though that's when you really should care. This post explains why, and most importantly how, to care. … Continue reading The real reason to care about big Edtech stepping into the stock market →

The admission-process: time to rethink it

No teachers, classrooms, lessons. But stay as long as you like. Can it work? Of course. If you seriously consider what you’re learning system is supposed to deliver and then creates it with that target clearly in mind. Here is an example on how to do it. But it comes down to the admission-process instead. … Continue reading The admission-process: time to rethink it →

Agency’s: becoming one, not to use them

Compared to universities; CAA and Endeavor are very different kind of actors. And even though they are big well-established companies they seem to be totally un-known to most universities at this moment. But they are, at least will become, very relevant for the university’s future. Here is why, and in what way, universities should care. … Continue reading Agency’s: becoming one, not to use them →

Why teachers soon will stop recording themselves

It is a development that was expected. It has been cooking for a very long time, so don´t be surprised if it soon is arriving. Right into your own laptop. And it will totally change the way you feel about all "these videos" you have worked hard on the last couple of years. During the … Continue reading Why teachers soon will stop recording themselves →

What could happen if bringing the learners, and their smartphones, to a train-station

One might claim Corona to be a starting point, but that is actually wrong. Change of education due to digital powers is a discussion we have had for, like ages. So Corona has only been one step further into a journey that has been ongoing for long. But still; the door that now opened is … Continue reading What could happen if bringing the learners, and their smartphones, to a train-station →

Zoom 2.0 just arrived, here is what 3.0 will look like: heavily different

What´s the end-game in the ”Zoom-business”? It´s not Zoom. Not Microsoft Teams. Not Google Meet. It is not even Cisco Webex. They all are just wrong. So, stop thinking about all these solutions. Here is what to put the eyeballs on instead. And what will happen the upcoming years with this business. One obvious reason … Continue reading Zoom 2.0 just arrived, here is what 3.0 will look like: heavily different →