EducationGO

The largest education marketplace that operates both online and offline, for users in low-bandwidth areas to access workforce related training, and find personalised learning pathways that link them to employers. Link up a device, download the pathway, go offline and complete training, upload results and you'll be on your way.

At it's heart, EducationGO is a marketplace of tens of thousands of learning items - all focused around developing new skills and professional development. These education items, available in the first instance for free, are sorted into personalised learning pathways, that are endorsed by industry groups. Importantly - the marketplace is accessible via sync, on a periodic basis, and doesn't require consistent access to a network. Once a user has completed a learning pathway, we'll connect to potential employers based on their competency. We're collaborating with NGOs, other community partners, employment platforms & technologies and potential employers to ensure we are able to offer an end to end solution. 

The marketplace is currently being used by hundreds of thousands of people around the world - EducationGO is focused on deploying that technology in new, low bandwidth environments. 

The system will address the challenge, as it provides a simple mechanism for users to test their skills against those required in industry, and then set pathways to improve their capability. It then closes the loop by connecting the user to potential employers that have endorsed that pathway, for employment. We aim to understand industry needs and requirements by working with employment focused organisations that currently exist in the identified geographies and partner with us i.e. Seek, JobStreet.

Young people looking for employment, or changing roles or up-skill - can access the platform via any device or computer (shared or individual), and can enter information around the particular industry and location they are interested in. Learning activities will then be suggested to the user, and downloaded to the device for offline usage. 

As the learning content isn't created by GO1, it's scalable - we partner with the best partners in each of the countries we operated, to bring best of class content to all. 

EducationGO solves two issues, an inability to access high quality learning materials in low accessibility areas, and connection to potential employees, based on likelihood of securing a position. 

Traditionally, education content has been either physical resources, or online materials that are difficult to access from basic devices, with low internet penetration. The platform is targeted at regional areas of South-East Asian nations, where internet exists, but can be difficult to secure. The ability to have high quality offline content, is targeting individuals that are seeking specific skills to gain employment, though may not know what the specific skill requirements are.

We have the results to prove it. We've been working with the GO1 Education Marketplace in over 10 countries, including with over 150,000 users across Malaysia, and thousands in South America - to gain new skills relevant to their career path. This phase of EducationGO, is to apply our learnings to even further remote communities, and to the next level of difficulty - young people, who lack clarity over the pathway and skills to be employed. 

EducationGO will focus on young adults (12-30), and (a) provide them with knowledge around required skills for available rolls, (b) provide them access to world-class training via the marketplace of over 100,000 learning activities, at the same time as assessing their competency, and (c) connect to employers, that are recruiting, based on performance, skills and strength. It will benefit both the young adult, and the employer (as they will see data on the candidates performance). It will be deployed via Web App, with users able to access from any device, and assessable content converted to SMS, for remote areas.

Track interactions with individual learning items within the platform. - 50,000 learning activities will be undertaken within six months.

Track the progress of users as they move through personalised learning pathways. - 15,000 learning pathways will be followed to completion within the first six months.

Track and monitor the recommendations that are being sent when users complete learning pathways. - 15,000 connections to employers will be made in the first six months.

We're starting from a foundation of innovation - the first true global marketplace of learning content, aggregated from hundreds of providers. This enables comparison not only of learning content (what is most engaging and effective), but also the analysis of different learning patterns and styles. From there - we have branched out into creating the best learner experience, that reduces the barriers to building new skills and finding new roles. We also aim to collaborate and work with relevant existing partners and customers we have i.e. Seek, JobStreet and any employers we already work with in the identified geographies.

We have built the platform on the foundation value that 'you shouldn't need to learn, how to learn'. This is integrated into all of the processes - from ranking of content and ultimately sending a record of your training to future employers. Online training is often fragmented and difficult to access, and that's what we've set out to solve in a scalable way. The platform is accessible from any mobile device, and we are building new technology to separate how content is presented, depending on the bandwidth. This would allow some users to access text content, some video, some SMS.

The solution can be deployed over any internet-enabled device via Web App. Users can access internet for only a short period, to download and update their learning pathway, before taking the device offline to complete activities. One step further, a user could setup their learning pathway on a friends or communal device, and complete activities via SMS, if they didn't have reliable access to a smart device or computer. It will be affordable as the initial subscription will be free, and content is designed for low-bandwidth environments.

Ultimately the system will reach sustainability through a payment model. A user can sign up, complete a learning pathway, and receive a job connection for free. It's only when a user returns, to complete further learning and improve their job prospects again (potentially for more senior or different roles) that they will be charged a marginal fee to keep the service running. We will also aim to work with employers benefiting from this solution, by way of access to potential candidates, to provide a pay-to-access model. In the initial term, EducationGO has secured a small amount of funding to assist in its roll-out, however the initial 12-18 months would be running at a loss, in order to achieve a level of scale around the distribution. 

The limiting factors, would be either (a) content based, or (b) distribution based. GO1 has content partnerships that span tens of thousands of learning items, in many languages, and on many topics. However there will be element of localisation needed, and partnerships with content creators in the region will be key. Secondly, GO1 will need to partner with organisations operating in the regional areas to promote the solution. Given that the initial learning pathway, and employment connection is free, there is an element of virality to the distribution.

https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/966527/

https://www.facebook.com/go1com/

https://twitter.com/go1com

Ultimately the solution will only work through collaboration - we build the marketplace by partnering with the best content creators around the world, we analyse the learning pathways and data against learning trends from the 500,000+ users that are using the GO1 commercial platform, and we will be leaning on individuals who have experience on the ground in countries we don't yet operate in, to assist in distribution. The solution is a scalable one - we've demonstrated that already. However the full potential is yet to be realised, and this community can built the momentum to make it happen.

INSEAD, UNESCO, Griffith University, SEEK.com.au, JobStreet.com, Educaruno.org, e3 Learning, Skillsoft, LearningSeat, 360Training, Learning Heroes, The Schoolbag.

No direct competitors - as content creators (Khan Academy, Udemy etc) are ultimately partners.