With this trend, technology and communications are being decisive in leveraging the speed of change in an industry that was traditionally renewed more slowly.
Juan Pablo Morales S*
The great transformations of the media industries have been determined by technological changes since the beginning of time. Silent cinema, phonograms, radio, press, and now, TV, have evolved their business and communication models thanks to transformative technologies.
TV, OTT and edutainment
Education is, perhaps, within knowledge- and content-based industries, one of the most backward in terms of methodology, technologies and infrastructure and is no stranger to disruptive change in the media and methods of transmitting information.
Just as the web rethought business models with newspapers and print publications, Napster, with the record industry, Airbnb, with the hotel industry, Uber with transport and Netflix with television; in education, Open English, Cousera, Udemy, Next U, etc., are some of the countless platforms that are scratching an important piece of the knowledge and training market at all levels.
Teaching based on communications technology today has the power to corrode the foundations of the traditional knowledge industry to give way to new methodologies of study and learning. The tool for scaling education business models to geographically separate places from classrooms is undoubtedly the Internet.
This is where video begins to play an important role. Being the medium that, due to its audiovisual and movement nature, allows to better capture attention and reach directly to the central brain in an effective way, its role within education occupies one of the first positions within the areas of application of the methodology of transmission of knowledge.
With the evolution of technology in the educational field, e-learning platforms have focused learning objects on interactive elements and the integration of increasingly sophisticated video systems.
This is how the implementation of eLearning systems are now commonly used both in educational institutions, as well as in corporate environments and in government institutions, where their penetration for training and training is much more effective.
But what was once considered just a technological leap is now a minimum standard. You cannot conceive of a relevant educational institution, which within its academic field does not have, either a video production and distribution system integrated into its environments for its communities, or at least, a plan to implement it either in-house or with third party experts.
The so-called OTTs, for the acronym in English Over The Top (alleging the direct access of content producers to audiences jumping over traditional distribution channels), and of which Netflix and Amazon are the best known, inspire business models for other industries outside of entertainment and education is no exception.
Just as the most important universities in the world already have their own MOOCs, an educational institution that wants to democratize knowledge, increase its coverage, improve the quality of learning and measure its results technically and in real time, must think about having an academic OTT. Three things are indispensable for this.
1. Technology. The integration of tools that allow the service to be deployed in an integral and responsive way. That is, on any device and without losing sight of usability, user experience and all the variables of the business model, from payment systems to the support of educational methodology.
2. Contents. A scheme of production of virtual learning objects and short video that are based on consumer neuroscience, which teach in an entertaining way with methodologies based on experiences, stories, scenarios, simulations and gamification.
3. Coverage. The greater the coverage of the institution, both in terms of geography and academic offer, the greater the engagement of the platform with the user and the greater the penetration, thus resulting in a higher ROI.
According to Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou, Dean of Management at McGill University in Montreal, MBAs have begun to show a change of trend, and their online alternatives are taken as serious options by applicants.
With this trend, technology and communications are being decisive in leveraging the speed of change in an industry that was traditionally renewed more slowly.
Universities, colleges, government educational institutions and all large organizations that massively have within their object the formation and training of their community, must adopt models of distribution of content type OTT, if they want to give way to the true future of education.
*Juan Pablo Morales Sarmiento is the CEO of Nuevos Medios Entertainment. You can contact him through his Twitter account @JuanPMoralesS
