Uberisation of Distance Learning
Education has to meet students where they’re actually hanging out. Right now, Gen Z is getting a massive chunk of their information from a quick scroll through YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels. Instead of fighting that reality, open universities should run with it, and the entire engine of this shift will be driven by a pure attention economy. Picture this: universities lay out their curriculum publicly, then open the doors for digital creators to turn those dense syllabi into sharp, engaging, bite-sized videos. But here is the kicker: creators get paid based entirely on raw audience retention, specifically, view counts and exact time spent on screen. This is the ultimate "Uberization" of higher ed, fueled by performance metrics. The dominant model shifts from standard licensing fees to a direct payout for keeping eyeballs glued to educational content. If a creator’s video hooks a student and keeps them watching till the final second, they get paid premium rates. If viewers...
