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How OpenLearning is going global from Australia
How OpenLearning is going global from Australia
By Leon Gettler >>
HOW DOES an online learning platform get to connect 1.5 million students around the world in only six years of operation?
According to Adam Brimo, co-founder of OpenLearning, it’s all about more student interaction, project based learning and collaboration,
He said the big challenge in education today is that university courses tend to be very passive, based on document delivery. It puts students off, they need to be better engaged. 
“The goal of OpenLearning is really to make it possible to have online courses where there’s more collaboration, more interaction, more project based learning so students are able to develop more critical thinking and practical skills online rather than reading documents and doing quizzes,” Mr Brimo told Talking Business.
It is also working on products that allow students to showcase their capabilities rather than just relying on a CV. This allows the student to turn their course work into a portfolio that they can show prospective employers.
“An employer would get a good sense of what the skills are beyond what it says on the CV”, Mr Brimo said.
OpenLearning is based in Sydney with offices and staff around the world. It supports 75 education providers including University of New South Wales, UTS, Macquarie University, Charles Sturt University, and half the universities in Malaysia.
It has 1.5 million students participating and covers thousands of courses.
OpenLearning sees Asia as the big growth market and recently did a capital raise to expand into the region, amassing $8.5 million.
The money will help in building up the platform, expanding in Australia and working with more universities here – and expanding in South East Asia, primarily in Malaysia and Singapore. 
OpenLearning is also developing a site, teach.com.au, to help teachers with their development.
Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness.
