Online Language Courses

Have you ever wanted to learn a new language? Up until a few years ago, you either had to find a private tutor or enroll into a group course. Sadly though, both options can be costly, especially if you are a student. Luckily, advances in technology have significantly disrupted the language education industry, resulting in an increasingly high number of online competitors entering the market.

Undoubtedly, one of the key players in the market is Duolingo. It is the world’s largest online language learning platform and the most downloaded educational app worldwide (Lardinois, 2015). Unlike traditional courses, Duolingo is for free. Well, almost for free. The company makes use of a freemium business model, where customers get a free version of Duolingo, but can also pay $10 per month to get rid of ads and use the service offline. This price is still much lower than what language schools would charge you.

So, what do online learning platforms give you in exchange for a lower price? Comfort and self-paced learning are among the key advantages. For example, in Duolingo customers can set their own weekly goals, and redo lessons if needed. It is your course, your time, your choice, your pace. Also, an online course boosts your resume in the eyes of a recruiter. Today’s managers look for people who are ambitious and not complacent, and a completed online language course shows just that.

However, online courses do not give you any cultural context. Unlike a real class instructor, they do not express emotions or cultural habits. There are also no explanations to correct or wrong answers, so users often must figure out themselves why particular answers are right or not by trial and error. Also, as you do not follow a strict fixed schedule, continuous use of the application requires high levels of dedication and motivation. Finally, an online course only helps you to practice your pronunciation, so it cannot fully substitute traditional language courses regarding practicing speaking skills.

So how is the language learning market going to develop? Well, first, an opportunity for the e-learning platforms is to collaborate more actively with schools and universities to further increase their reach and enhance credibility in the eyes of the customers. Additionally, the use of artificial intelligence would enable online platforms to grow even faster by improving the quality of speaking training.

Nevertheless, artificial intelligence is still a young technology. If implemented incorrectly, it can ruin customer experience with online language learning. Also, increasing number of online competitors that struggle to differentiate themselves could lead to declining profits for many companies. The vast choice of similar offerings is overwhelming for the customer as well.

Despite these threats, we predict that e-learning platforms will continue to grow and will further transform the traditional education market.

For more information check: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b20jCI1KHU8

Group 30

Sources: Lardinois, F. (2015). Duolingo Launches Free Language Learning Platform For Schools. [online] TechCrunch. Available at: https://techcrunch.com/2015/01/08/duolingo-launches-free-language-learning-platform-for-schools/.

We all have heard about the latest trends in technology. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming pretty much ever sector around us – education, transportation, finance and entertainment, to name but a few. Healthcare has also been affected. The growth of AI in the healthcare market is expected to grow by 10 times in the next five years, reaching $6.6 billion by 2021. Currently, the top three AI applications in the industry concern robot-assisted surgery, virtual nursing assistants and administrative workflow assistant (Accenture, 2017).

Cancer research is becoming one of the areas, which has benefitted the most from the recent developments in technology. Research has shown that cancer should not be considered one disease, but more a combination of different diseases. For the different patients, the cause of the disease can have a different origin. This makes the treatment process complicated, as it has to be as personalized as possible. There is no one-fits-it-all solution. (Guillén, 2017)

With the latest developments in AI, however, it is now possible to develop effective cancer drug combinations that are specifically tailored to the patient who needs them. This can be achieved by an AI algorithm, called “random forest”, which is used to determine the rules behind making two drugs compatible. According to doctor Olivier Elemento (2017), an associate professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine, “the combination of drugs does not only result in a more effective treatment of patients, but it also helps to overcome the problem of drug resistance”.

AI is also being used by an US pharmaceutical start-up, called Berg, to develop an anti-cancer drug called BPM 31510. The company has used samples of cancerous and health tissue from more than 1000 patients. An AI algorithm has been used to process the data and to propose an adequate treatment (Guillén, 2017).

Although there is still no “silver bullet” to cure cancer, technology is bringing us one step further. It gives us access to extensive data and previously unthought-of possibilities to process it. Would it enable us to find cures not just to cancer but also to many other deadly diseases? This remains to be seen but at least for now it gives us hope that we are on the right track!

Sources:
Accenture.com. (2017). Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare | Accenture. [online] Available at: https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-artificial-intelligence-healthcare [Accessed 20 Sep. 2017].

Elemento, O. (2017). Artificial Intelligence Helps Identify Effective Cancer Drug Combinations | Newsroom | Weill Cornell Medicine. [online] News.weill.cornell.edu. Available at: https://news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2017/02/artificial-intelligence-helps-identify-effective-cancer-drug-combinations [Accessed 20 Sep. 2017].

Guillén, B. (2017). Fight Against Cancer with Artificial Intelligence and Big Data – OpenMind. [online] OpenMind. Available at: https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/fight-against-cancer-with-artificial-intelligence-and-big-data/ [Accessed 20 Sep. 2017].