September 17, 2024 — during an event, I reached out to some fresh college students about their studies and career plans, and what they thought about AI in education and how ed-tech was impacting their studies.
While there was a lot of positivity about AI in education & learning, the ed-tech business that focused on “offering” online study help seems to have fallen apart in both value and confidence. Over the years, the trend has clearly been suggesting that the ed-tech sector is facing a profit paradox. But how and why did this happen?
I’ve been watching ed-tech grow and evolve for years. From its early, idealistic roots to the powerhouse industry it is today, I’ve always believed in the potential of educational technology to democratize learning.
We all hoped it would bridge gaps, make high-quality education more accessible, and provide tools that could reach students everywhere. But as I’ve seen up close, there’s been a troubling shift over the past decade.
For many in the industry, profit has overshadowed the
After a lot of ponder, I decided to share two bits on this topic. Here I will share the real impact of this profit-driven focus on students and educators alike.
I’ll break down what’s going wrong with ed-tech, what’s at stake, and how the industry can pivot back to its original promise.
Profit Over Pedagogy
How did we even get there?
Education is a business. No doubt. But it is supposed to be non-profit making. And even though if you are making profit, you must be giving the value for money you are charging for.
Ed-tech, too, started with the right goals: expand access, reduce costs, and bring quality content to students around the world. But as investment dollars poured in from venture capitalists and private equity firms, I saw how quickly those goals shifted.
Around 2015, I began noticing that more and more ed-tech companies were prioritizing growth and profit over educational impact.
The pressure to scale and increase revenue led many of these companies to adopt business practices that, frankly, go against the core principles of education.
Take, for example, the rise of subscription-based learning tools.
Initially, these tools were billed as affordable alternatives to traditional resources, but they quickly turned into profit machines, charging students every step of the way. Suddenly, education was becoming more like a premium service, where only those who could pay more got access to the full experience.
It’s disheartening to see how the industry has moved from its mission to expand access to one that prioritizes exclusivity.
A Marketplace of Upsells, Data Sales, and Lowered Standards
The immediate fallout from this profit-first approach is…
