Before and after Corona: Online learning was popular before, but now it’s a must!
The mission of the social enterprise before Corona:
To provide top quality, peer-reviewed online education and skills training for free.
Mike’s Alison program offers free resources to “up-skilling” workers in everything from English to IT competency online. His work breaks down the barriers of expensive curriculum and limited access to educational resources, and offers verified, quality-controlled tools with teacher groups, forums, and testing functions—built on a sustainable, self-funding business model.
Mike’s work with Alison focuses on competence rather than credential. It has become one of the largest certifying organizations worldwide with 2.5m graduates. Over 1.5m people worldwide will complete a free course on Alison.com in 2020.
What changed with Corona?
There is no denying that the demand for online learning has skyrocketed during the Coronavirus crisis. Moreover, successful online learning now during the crisis could help legitimize online learning even further.
The (biggest) challenge: A crowded field made more so during Coronavirus crisis
There are many online education platforms out there. The quality among them ranges from scam-worthy to brilliant. With so many people flocking to online learning platforms right now, it is important to market the good platforms so that students have a chance of discovering them.
The solution: Free Coronavirus course for all based on official guidelines
In late January 2020, Alison started to develop a free online course on the Coronavirus based on WHO/CDC guidelines. Their aim is to provide this free course to as many people as possible worldwide in their own languages. The goal of this course is to help people learn basic health practices for helping to decrease the spread of COVID-19.
Impact so far: They published the English course on Feb 5. To date, they have produced 46 different language versions of the course that 250,000 people around the world have now completed.
Outlook: Alison offers a very scalable solution for the world regarding this crisis. For example, the WHO has only 17 languages on their free course options. Mike aims to reach 1 billion with his Coronavirus course—reducing misinformation and saving lives through it.
The personal biggest worry and hope:
Ashoka: How are you dealing with the situation and what is your biggest personal worry?
Mike: “At an immediate level, I am concerned for Africa and other developing parts of the world who do not have the resources we have in developed parts of the world in combating COVID19. My second concern is that with social isolation and distancing, we lose empathy for those we can help beyond our immediate horizons. ”
Ashoka: “What is inspiring you and giving you hope that we can overcome this crisis?”
Mike: “Over 5,000 members of the Alison free learning community around the world, many medical professionals, are giving the time and expertise to translate courses and keep them updated (we are on Version 8!). Free accessible education for all is the greatest potential change agent we have in the world today. Lets’ use it.”
