During its first-ever Philippine press briefing on Wednesday, Nov. 17, online learning platform Coursera committed to helping Filipino learners upskill for the emerging digital workforce.
Coursera’s increased focus on the country is directly related to the Philippines’ skyrocketing online learner growth rate during the pandemic.
With over 1.3 million registered learners and 85% year-over-year growth as of September 30, the Philippines recorded the third fastest Coursera learner growth rate worldwide over the past year.
The unprecedented increase of online learning in the nation is motivated by the desire to reskill and upskill for in-demand jobs, the e-learning platform said.
According to the International Labor Organization, as of 2020, 7.2 million workers in the Philippines are exposed to the double-tiered risk of job disruption due to Covid-19 and digitalization. Coursera said it acknowledges this risk and is determined to help Filipinos navigate the digital shift.
Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda stated that the world has “seen incredible disruption due to Covid-19 and an amazing adoption of online learning, which is turning into new online job opportunities.”
“The question is: How can we create the kind of educational capacity and access so that people who will be displaced by automation and technology can get the skills to land new jobs? The way to create that educational access, we believe, will be dramatically furthered by online learning,” Maggioncalda said.
Coursera underscored the features and recent upgrades to its platform that will help the company better support Filipino learners on their upskilling journey.
Noting that more than 61 percent of Filipino learners access the platform through its mobile app, Coursera chief product officer Shravan Goli emphasized that 94 percent of Coursera’s course content is available on its app.
He added that the course content can even be downloaded for offline access via a low data download feature. Other than its mobile app, Coursera highlighted the AI-driven tips and personalized insights that motivate learners to complete their courses.
The company also offers all its students Guided Projects on Coursera Labs, which are hands-on side-by-side learning experiences that enable students to apply the skills they’ve learned in under two hours.
For its Coursera for Campus learners specifically, such as students, faculty and staff of the company’s client universities, Coursera presented three features. These include: the academic integrity feature that reduces cheating in assignments and exams, the SkillSet feature that recommends courses and projects for those working towards a particular role, and the Live2Coursera feature that allows professors to record, upload, and share lectures directly on Zoom.
Besides these platform features, Coursera revealed the concrete steps it has taken to expand the company’s presence in the Philippine market.
As of 2021, the company has partnered with 60 new Coursera for Campus customers, including the University of the Philippines, Lyceum of the Philippines University, Centro Escolar University, National Teachers College, and De La Salle Lipa.
To help organizations reskill their employees, Coursera for Business took on ten new corporate customers this year. Some of these companies are Ayala Corporation, Ayala Land, Globe Telecom, Bank of the Philippine Islands, and Bayview Technologies.
On top of its partnerships with Philippine academic and corporate organizations, Coursera is continuing it collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology to implement the Coursera for Workforce Recovery program started in 2020.
Lastly, Coursera announced that it had provided financial aid to 60,000 Filipino learners. In fact, the Philippines accounts for the second-largest share of financial aid awarded by the company to learners in Southeast Asia.
When asked about how it is anticipating the resumption of face-to-face classes to affect enrollments, Coursera confidently predicted that online learning is here to stay in the country.
“Even though 2021 is not turning out to be as quite as disruptive as 2020. Nevertheless, we do see what we believe will be a permanent shift in an increased usage and reliance of online learning to help develop high demand, digital skills,” Maggioncalda affirmed.
“As the rate of new skills and new tools that are emerging happens faster and faster, the desire to use Coursera to complement faculty and supplement course catalogs will be an enduring feature.”
