If you’ve considered doing an MBA to boost your career prospects but felt wary of the cost and time taken out of work to get it done, the creators of a mobile first MBA thinks you can meet your goals in six months, without needing to take time off work. Enter Smart.ly, the mobile-first MBA platform founded in 2013 and launched in 2015 by US-based EdTech business Pedago.
What’s exciting about the Smart.ly proposition is not ‘just’ the fact that it is free to accepted students, but rather why it is free. Pedago provides one of the first examples I have seen of EdTech innovators encouraging the established private sector to ‘pay for its own pipeline’. I truly believe that private sector investment in the process of connecting enhanced learning more seamlessly to the future working world is the key to unlocking the latent talent the UK has to offer, so when I was targeted by the company’s Facebook ads campaign for the first time, this suggested that this approach may come across the pond, which is a very positive sign.
Its business model works thus: while the applicants that are accepted onto the course do not pay for their tuition, Pedago has a selection of partner companies who pay for the privilege of recruiting in the network.
It works using a system of machine-driven “active learning”: this is distinct from the traditional “passive” approach of using video lectures and encouraging note taking, as it combines interactive problem solving with instant feedback. Students can access Smart.ly on any desktop or mobile device. Pedago believes that this ‘learning by doing’ approach is five times faster than the more passive ‘rote learning’ approach.
This holds extremely good promise for the future of the MBA as it democratises the learning process; suddenly an enlarged pool of individuals – full time professionals, parents, graduate students – can boost their learning and career prospects.
Those who want to return to work, or pivot into a new industry, but are not able to pay for a traditional MBA or take time off to learn are suddenly able to take advantage of this opportunity. However, most importantly, companies see the benefits of being able to recruit from a willing pool of elite candidates who are proactively looking to improve themselves and are therefore arguable more likely to bring those skills to bear in a new role.
What’s more Pedago has the ambition to address the skills gap head on: by developing additional advanced degrees and more specialised courses the emerging working world that is developing before us, their hope is for students to be able to learn skills that will be in demand in the next 20 years such as neurotechnology, blockchain or advanced robotics. If they are able to tie in this approach with a wider pool of companies, they may be able to carve out a unique position for themselves: as a central source and engine for converting today’s workers into the highly skilled performers of tomorrow but democratically, and at scale.