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 swipe away after three seconds, the payout drops to zero.

Everyone gets a win: students get free, addictively engaging learning, universities scale their reach globally, and creators get a massive, recurring revenue stream based entirely on their ability to hold an audience's attention.

Moving forward, saving higher education isn't about burning textbooks. It’s about building a hyper-competitive marketplace where the creators who own the screen time own the rewards.

For more information check out my blog post Distance Learning Reloaded