Pearson Education accelerates online learning as students stuck at home; Homeschooling trend continues

Yahoo Finance News ^ | 04/25/2020 | August Graham,

[SeekAndFind]

Education publisher Pearson is accelerating its move to be a more digitally focused company as students across the world are stuck at home and using online learning tools due to the coronavirus.

The business said that although a global lockdown, including the closure of schools and testing centres, is hitting revenue, it expects interest in its digital products to pick up.

Pearson has made many products free during the Covid-19 outbreak to help students stuck at home to continue learning, which it likely hopes will get students used to reading their text books online.

“One consequence of lockdown is that the nation is being forced to embrace digital channels. That’s beneficial to education publisher Pearson, even if it does cause some disruption to earnings,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

“Pearson has been on a journey to shift its business to a digital one and the lockdown is effectively creating a tailwind for the strategy. It is forcing some people to stop relying on physical text books and load up information on their screens.”

On Friday the business announced a new UK learning portal with free digital courses to help re-skill employees impacted by the coronavirus crisis.

“By offering a lot of its online resources for free during the crisis, Pearson is effectively getting customers used to consuming its products through the digital channel and hopefully creating a new habit that will be sticky once the world returns to normal,” Mr Mould said.

Pearson said that on an underlying basis, revenue dropped by 5% in the first quarter of the financial year. Its North American courseware and international businesses both fell by 10%, while global online learning grew by 6%.

[novemberslady]

bkmk

[niteowl77]

Pearson wants to shove the globalist line into your home, not just into a classroom. Pearson is evil.

[b4me]

agree

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Pearson wants to shove the globalist line into your home, not just into a classroom. Pearson is evil.

Pearson has been THE MAIN publisher of textbooks for ‘schools from Kindergarten to College. If we don;t use their materials, who else can we trust?

Maybe we can use other conservative publishers for social sciences, history, and liberal arts subjects, but what about TECHNICAL and SCIENTIFIC subjects?

[niteowl77]

Pearson has been THE MAIN publisher of textbooks for ‘schools from Kindergarten to College. If we don;t use their materials, who else can we trust?

Well, Pearson is the 800 pound gorilla in educational materials. Does that make me trust them? It makes me trust them less. It is a bit like saying, "Communist China has been THE MAIN supplier of pharmaceuticals and personal protection equipment from home use to hospitals. If we don't use their materials, who else can we trust?"

Pearson and those who ensure Pearson's hegemony want your kids.

[SeekAndFind]

You haven’t answered the question -— what about subjects that are objectively true, where no teacher can BS his subjective opinion?

You know -— algebra,calculus,trigomometry, physics biology, chemistry, engineering, etc.

Ok, you don’t like Pearson, can you give us a better alternative?

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Yes, they are. When I home schooled I used anything BUT “Common Core” materials. LOTS to choose from.

[niteowl77]

Ok, you don’t like Pearson, can you give us a better alternative?

Whether or not I "like" Pearson is immaterial. They have big bucks and political muscle backing them up to the point where there is essentially no current alternatives that can get past the majority of the credentialed/gatekeepers. Maybe someone else knows about the "alternatives," but I have seen the leviathan in action, and they can turn STEM subjects rancid without breaking a step. Common Core is just one of the plans of attack.

Sadly, my late father - a teacher, as was my mother - predicted this in the 1980's, and encouraged me to go into private industry rather than use my then-new teaching certificate in the public schools.

[LS]

Here is your alternative:

www.wildworldofhistory.com

US & World 1-year courses, full curriculum with me teaching all lessons on video. Based on “A Patriot’s History of the United States” and “A Patriot’s History of the Modern World.”