Campus Case Study #04

EdTech X is a major player in the domain of E-Learning and the MOOC – Massive Open Online
Courseware space. EdTech X was founded back in the year 2010 to improve lives through continuous
and vernacular learning and has been globally accredited for the products it rolls out and the user base
it has garnered. The company has established itself as a global marketplace for online learning and
teaching, where more than 24 million students learn from an extensive library of 80,000+ courses taught
by expert instructors & professionals in over 50 different languages.

Whether learning for professional development or personal enrichment, students are provided with the
opportunity to master new skills through self-paced, on-demand courses, while instructors have multiple
ways to share their knowledge with the world. Moreover, for the corporate market, the company
provides EdTech X for Business which offers subscription access to a collection of business-relevant
courses as well as presents people with a simple platform to host and distribute their content in one
central place.

HISTORY
According to a leading daily, 2012 became "the year of the MOOC" as several well-financed providers,
associated with top universities, emerged. MOOCs were branded the "next big thing" by experts in
2013, who projected that they were in the midst of an uproar cycle, with expectations skyrocketing.
Several universities were then collaborating with MOOCs to deliver their courses online.

Leading Non-Profit Organizations were also putting in their money to get a share of the pie. Apart from
that, leading universities and global educational institutions made it mandatory to have MOOCs and
online educational content as a part of their curriculum. This provided students with the advantage of
seamless learning with the flexibility of learning on the go.

INDUSTRY
We are well aware of the MOOC space today and how the expansion is speeding. EdTech-X, one of
the leaders in this space, was trying to understand and do a user research. After analyzing this space
further, a key insight was discovered: the number of users utilizing the product through the desktop was
falling and the number of users utilizing the product through a mobile device was on the rise.

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One would ask, how is learning possible through a mobile device? There are a few studies done on the
existing organizations in the MOOC space to back up this hypothesis. The insights derived are as
follows.

- It was understood that the consumption pattern was different in terms of purchases made by users
depending on the type of device they were using.

Usage pattern of devices in % by millennials

- Majority of the people who opted for a mobile-first learning experience were motionless and seated in
one position when they were learning a course rather than moving around

- According to Analytics reports, a total of 9 out of 10 millennials have their smartphones with them at
all points in time - meaning their phones never left their side, and 80% of them reported they instantly
checked them right after waking up

- 20% of all millennials use only their smartphones for communication purposes

- The following numbers show that Millennials aged between 18 and 34 years prefer consuming content
on mobile devices to desktop computers for the year 2018

- About 97% of users use mobile devices

- A fifth of them are mobile-only users

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As indicated by the discoveries of a study, 30 percent of cell phone clients used their mobile phones
as a primary medium to learn from MOOCs. The findings of this investigation highlight an expanding
pattern among experts to learn new subject matters quickly. Before long, portable learning, which
involves learning with the use of mobile phones or handheld devices, will be the essential way workers
will learn about subject matters on the go.

As indicated by the discoveries of this investigation, 70% of the respondents revealed further developed
inspiration to realize when they had the option to utilize their cell phones to explore the courses
effectively. It was also understood that educational applications like EdTech – X are the third most
popularly downloaded applications on a mobile device.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
The shift that took place in the learning segment from a desktop-first to a mobile-first medium of
engagement was highlighted. Due to this, EdTech – X was seeing a drop in their customer engagement
and the number of users as users prefer the mobile-first platform over the desktop-first platform.

EdTech – X curated and put forth a lot of user and behavioural studies to understand the pertaining
shift with regards to platform accessibility. They are trying to understand how they can ride this way to
make this shift possible and capture the already growing market.