Students seeing stars
PIONEERING UK online education platform Learning with Experts (LwE) is to step up its global expansion and seek further investment.
Oxford-based LwE’s virtual vocational courses led by famous figures in “real” classrooms saw demand surge tenfold during the pandemic.
The brainchild of tech entrepreneur and A-grade fundraiser Elspeth Briscoe, LwE has customers in 78 countries thanks to its platform linking digital innovation and human interaction that eliminates the crushing isolation of distance learning.
The unique courses combine broadcast-quality recorded lessons, personal feedback and trusted chat rooms to create close-knit communities of up to 20 people who can upskill, retrain or simply explore something new.
While dropping out is a routine feature of standard massive open online courses (MOOCs), LwE has “an unrivalled 80 per cent completion rate”, says Briscoe.
“We don’t curate through algorithms. Our clients, aged from 18 to 90, learn as a group, transcending geography but having the same social experience as being in an actual room together. The live streaming we are
‘We have an 80 per cent completion rate’
introducing this year will enhance this.”
Currently, category areas include food and drink, gardening, wellbeing, floristry, photography, antiques and art and design.
Celebrity chefs such as Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and Michel Roux Jr and gardener Chris Beardshaw bring credibility and dazzle.
Commercial partnerships using LwE’s technology and groundbreaking content are also flourishing, with institutions such as the Royal Horticultural Society and the University of Buckingham on board.
Boots is also in the mix with LwE running a course for its No7 beauty brand influencers to improve their credibility when talking about skincare.
NHS collaborations include a trial social care course on post-Covid wellbeing and others on obesity and diabetes.
LwE has 50,000 consumer customers, and following £4million of investment it expects to break even this year and generate revenues of £10million by 2025.
Now on her way to building a team of 40, Briscoe is planning an acquisition or float within the next few years, and is aiming to raise a further £4million-plus to advance its technology this year.
“India has huge potential for us. Knowledge and education are really valued there,” she says.
She also envisages LwE’s technology enriching the lives of those in care homes: “Residents in different places, but who share common interests – classical music for example.”
She adds: “We link up people through the world, making community learning fun. Magic happens when different cultures interact.”