Develop “proper” online solution, ELT providers told

Published 06/04/2020

Education providers need to develop a “proper solution” for delivering English language programs or risk closing down, an edtech entrepreneur has warned.

Jarrad Merlo, the co-founder of Australia-based E2Language, is urging English language providers to ramp up online provisions. The provider has recently launched its E2 classroom platform.

“We’ve spoken to a number of teachers and they’re starting to burn out with lesson preparation”

Failure to adapt to a new market caused by the coronavirus pandemic will cause staff burnout and slumps in revenue, which could lead to the closure of some schools for good, Merlo suggested.

In an article published online, Merlo laid out short-term workarounds for providers struggling with digital conversion of their courses.

“I’m raising my hand as the co-founder of this platform to say, ‘hey, you know, we can help you out’,” he told The PIE News.

“We’ve spoken to a number of teachers and they’re starting to burn out with lesson preparation – the shift to technology is a pretty stressful time for those guys.”

E2Language – endorsed by NEAS – has been building its E2 classroom platform for the last two years, and it is now reaching out to English language providers on to it.

The provider is currently working with the University of Queensland, Pearson – on its PTE academic test – and Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessment owned Occupational English Test.

E2Language can “get a school up and running on the platform really quickly”, Merlo explained.

“What seems to have happened is that [providers are] so concentrated on the present moment that they are just doing whatever they can,” he said. They’re not looking for a solid proper solution.

“Zoom screen sharing documents from your desktop is not going to fly for longer than a couple of weeks,” Merlo said.

“If you don’t shift to a proper solution in the next two weeks, I think students will leave.”

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