NO GOOGLIFICATION FOR HIGHER ED: A New York Times piece chronicling how Google has taken U.S. classrooms by storm—and perhaps secured generations of loyal customers in the making—garnered much attention this weekend. But the “classroom” that Google has taken over won’t be found in higher ed, Inside Higher Ed’s Joshua Kim writes. While the use of Google Docs, Sheets and other apps is rampant among college students and staff, he argues that the company has yet to define a clear strategy as seen in the K-12 market.
The biggest roadblock from steamrolling competitors? The LMS, Kim argues, which most online and residential courses rely on—and what Google lacks at an enterprise level.
But that doesn’t mean Google can’t still win over higher ed someday, he adds. “I’d love to see Google buy both Coursera ($146 million raised over 6 rounds) and Instructure (stock tick INST—market cap of $756 million). For a cool billion (or maybe $1.5 billion) Google could become, overnight, the dominant player in the learning side of educational technology.”
