At Alison, we've always been at the forefront of educational innovation. Since our founding in 2007, we've been a pioneer of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). We've led the way not just by utilising technological advances to improve existing educational practices, but by developing new ones.
Alison is also the first free online learning platform that has developed and implemented a scalable and sustainable self-funding model. A combination of advertising revenue and optional certification sales ensures that our courses remain 100% free and available to everyone.
Always Improving
Besides breaking new ground as an organisation, we've also integrated new technology into our pedagogy. Many of our 3000 online courses feature high-quality video content. We've also incorporated "gamified learning" in how we assess our students.
Each Alison course includes at least one assessment. The Alison platform offers publishers eleven different "gamified" assessment types to include in their course. These interactive testing formats engage learners far more than traditional testing methods. Our assessment questions include True or False, Fill in the Blank, Multiple Choice and Word Bank.
The Alison App
Technology has allowed us to liberate education from the classroom and learn anywhere, anytime. Our newly created Alison App is a game-changer for learners around the world as, with the tap of a button, they now have over 2000 free courses at the tips of their fingers. The Alison app and the desktop platform seamlessly integrate and sync automatically, allowing learners to easily move between learning on the website and learning on the go. A learner can start a course on their laptop and then pick up where they left off on their mobile phone, as course progress is shared across platforms.
Group Learning & Self-Publishing
Alison's innovative approach to education extends beyond our business model, our course content and our course delivery. We take advantage of the latest technology to improve our offerings to our partners in our project of empowering through education.
Our Group Learning tool allows businesses, training facilitators and education organisations to monitor the learning progress of their staff, team or students. The feature tracks what courses learners are taking and the grades they are achieving. The Group Learning tool creates a manageable and coordinated learning environment that both facilitates managers and teachers and encourages students.
Hand-in-hand with our mission of making sure that everyone can be a learner is our belief that everyone can also be a teacher. The Alison Self-Publishing Tool allows subject matter experts anywhere in the world to create and publish their own course on Alison. Self-Publishing doesn't just expand the number of courses we make available to our learners, the technology also allows us to create education entrepreneurs, as self-publishers can earn up to 40% of the advertising income associated with their course.
Access Through Innovation
Despite all of our technological innovation, the difference we're most proud of having made is one of access. At the very heart of our company is the belief that no one should be excluded from access to education. Regardless of where you live, your income level, your religion, race or gender, we at Alison believe that education is an inviolable human right.
Our innovative platform allows us to reach communities and individuals around the world who have never previously been reached out to by traditional educational institutions, whether as a result of their remoteness, their lack of funds or a lack of infrastructure. Traditional learning has always been extremely limited in its capacity to spread learning beyond the walls of bricks and mortar institutions.
By combining our commitment to access with our technological expertise, we plan on making education not just a right, but a reality.
