Thought Leaders in Online Education: Adrian Ridner, CEO of Study.com (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: You are expecting that somewhere in the near future, you’re going to be able to access some Federal funding to educate low-income students. You’re going to be part of the government’s resources to deal with the education of a large number of students?

Adrian Ridner: Absolutely. The pilot program is initially in the test phase. We were selected for that. Assuming there’s a monitoring agency associated with the program that’s going to look at the outcomes of the program for the students themselves, we expect that it will scale over time. There’s a lot of talk around free college and providing college access. I will say that this program is one of the first things I’ve seen where that’s doable when you look at the logistics part of it because it brings the cost of a degree to sub-$8,000 instead of $40,000. It’s the best path I’ve seen to convert some of those promises of accessibility and equal access to education into a reality.

Sramana Mitra: How do you resolve the issue of motivation? We provide an online educational program as well. It’s well understood that you need to be self-motivated to be able to finish an online course of any kind. How do you see that impacting what you’re talking about?

Adrian Ridner: That’s absolutely a good point. Two of the ways that we do it is we provide our own counsellors and coaches that are going to help the students stay motivated and get through the program. From that perspective, that helps quite a bit. If you’re self-motivated, you’re going to do a lot better than if you’re not. If you think about it, especially the low-income students, they’re some of the most motivated students.

They need a chance. They need an opportunity to be able to change their lives. They are among the most motivated people you’ll meet but they need that chance. You need to make it not overwhelming. If something happens and you need a little break, you can. They can come back. That flexibility is huge in making it not feel insurmountable.

The second part of it is if you look at some of the company’s offerings, it becomes a badge of honor. They become their own subculture. They become their own supporting communities. Besides our instructors and coaches, they become their own community when you’re looking at one of these corporate programs. They help each other out and keep each other motivated and become their own advocates.

Sramana Mitra: What kind of courses are these corporate programs focusing on?

Adrian Ridner: For the most part, they are the same college-level courses. The most popular is the business degree. We are looking to add more. There is a lot of interest around food management and food service. It depends on the ability for the employees to move up in the workforce and in the company if they have a relevant degree on top of the hands-on experience. The courses tend to be your traditional college courses with some individual company-specific training as well. We are seeing demand for workplace skills also – leadership and management. They tend to be for their management groups and for people who already have their business degrees.

This segment is part 6 in the series : Thought Leaders in Online Education: Adrian Ridner, CEO of Study.com
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