Congratulations to RedHill Education and Le Cordon Bleu

Higher education technology company OpenLearning Limited (‘OpenLearning’ or ‘the Company’) is pleased to announce that it has allocated the first round of funding from its OpenCreds Investment Fund to six education providers to develop 20 OpenCreds.

The recipients are:

1. Catalyst Education is a leading supplier of vocational education and training in Australia and operates Selmar Institute of Education, Royal College and Practical Outcomes focus on the early childhood, aged care and disability care sectors and are registered training organisations (RTOs) accredited under the National Act.
2. Le Cordon Bleu Australia offers world-class vocational, higher education and postgraduate studies in culinary, hotel and restaurant management, gastronomy, and tourism & event management in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.
3. ParentTV is a video streaming platform personalising parenting advice from the world's leading research-based parenting educators direct to parents via any digital device.
4. RedHill Education Limited delivers vocational and higher education courses in English language, digital technologies, and interior design to over 4,000 domestic and international students each year across its four campuses and listed on the ASX in 2010.
5. Switch Education for Business provides courses to supports middle to senior management as they adapt to new ways of leading and managing in their quest to meet the challenge of disruption in today's world.
6. The Growth Network publishes books and delivers courses related to business growth and supports a network of leading professional growth coaches who work with growing businesses.

The funding will be provided via OpenLearning’s $350k OpenCreds Investment Fund (OIF), which was launched in July with the aim of supporting education providers to shift their training programmes online via the Company’s platform and the OpenCreds framework.

As the world increasingly moves online, a trend accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the nature of work is changing. Learners today need to upskill and reskill more frequently, which is driving demand for online education around the world and challenging the traditional business models of education providers.

Following an extensive consultation process involving 350 people across the education sector, OpenLearning developed the OpenCreds framework which is available for Australian education providers to use exclusively via the OpenLearning platform.

The OpenCreds framework provides a common structure for the delivery of micro-credentials across higher education, vocational education, and industry, enabling the creation of short, stackable courses that can lead to credit in a formal qualification. These courses range in length from 2.5 to 150 hours and are recognised by the respective industry for which they have been developed.

In 2020 and 2021, the OIF is supporting the development of over 35 courses that align with its OpenCreds framework. The investment in each OpenCred is expected to be up to $10k which is comprised of: up to $5k in cash paid to the education provider to cover the development of learning materials and $5k in credit towards learning design services contributed by OpenLearning. OpenLearning will actively promote each course through its website and will receive a revenue share from the enrolment fee paid by learners to enrol in the OpenCred in exchange for the investment.

The OIF remains open and is looking to support a broad segment of the education sector in developing OpenCreds. OpenLearning welcomes both existing and new partners to apply and further information on the application process is available here: https://solutions.openlearning.com/opencreds/

OpenLearning Managing Director, Australia, Cherie Diaz said: “We are very pleased to be supporting six education providers via this first round of funding. OpenLearning sees OpenCreds as becoming the industry standard for the delivery of micro-credentials in Australia. The framework is a key differentiator that enables learners to make informed choices about micro-credentials; whilst also providing greater pathway opportunities. The recipients to date are a reflection of the range of education providers who play an important role in Australian’s lifelong learning journey, and we look forward to supporting further providers via the OIF throughout the course of this year.

Le Cordon Bleu Australia Executive Dean, Professor Alan Bowen-James said: Le Cordon Bleu Australia is delighted to be partnering with Open Learning in this exciting and important initiative. Online has moved from being an adjunct to on-campus education to become a distinctive form of learning in its own right.  The problem to date has been that despite various enhancements, online has persisted as an analogue of the traditional face-to-face model.  The emergence of micro-credentials, especially as articulated in the OpenCreds methodology, is what online should be about – highly interactive and immersive guided learning that focuses on understanding and skills acquisition through meaningful encounters rather than prolonged passive instruction.  Le Cordon Bleu looks forward to working with Open Learning on shaping the online learning future.

RedHill Education Limited Group Quality, Accreditation & Compliance Manager, Eve Ollerenshaw said: RedHill Education Limited is both pleased and proud to be a recipient of the OpenCreds Investment Fund grant. We look forward to working closely with OpenLearning in developing quality courses supported by an innovative and responsive micro-credential framework. We applaud OpenLearning on this wonderful initiative.

About OpenLearning Limited (ASX:OLL)
OpenLearning Limited is a software as a service company that provides a scalable online learning platform to education providers and a global marketplace of world-class courses for learners of all levels worldwide.

OpenLearning’s platform enables the delivery of project-based, social learning to encourage interaction among users and foster a community of collaborative learners. The company’s unique service provides a complete learning environment for all types of online education - from short courses through to micro-credentials and online degrees.

With more than 2.5 million learners worldwide provided by 116 education providers, OpenLearning is at the forefront of a new wave of online education delivery.