Covid restrictions create expansion opportunities for ed tech firm Klik2learn

An education technology company is eyeing expansion after the Covid-19 lockdown generated unprecedented demand for its growing portfolio of products.
 

Glasgow-based Klik2Learn is targeting a £3million turnover from UK sales alone by 2023 with new overseas markets, particularly in India, offering potential sales of many millions.
 

The business, launched by former schoolteacher Ann Attridge in 2013, recently signed a significant collaboration agreement with City of Glasgow College, Scotland’s largest, to help students and tutors exploit the benefits of ‘blended learning’ while coronavirus restrictions are in place.
 

As part of the agreement, it is creating a digital Learning Hub that will allow students to take courses and gain certification remotely. The technology will be made available to other colleges and institutions across the UK to purchase under license.
 

The company’s launch product Journey2English – an application for mobile phone, tablet, and PC platforms - uses gaming technology to teach English to non-native speakers and is accredited by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and City and Guilds.
 

A follow up application, Journey2BasicSkills, for learners with no prior knowledge of English - which sought to fill a gap in the further education (FE) sector for non-native speakers who have to learn not only a new spoken language but a new script – has been nominated as Digital Innovation of the Year in the 2020 ELTons awards, organised by the British Council.
 

The company is now using the same technology to replicate the educational output of the college across the range of its curriculum to prevent further interruptions to students’ learning caused by social distancing restrictions.
 

Nick Kuenssberg, chairman of Kilk2learn said: “We have been going for seven years but it’s only now, partly because of the coronavirus lockdown, that institutions are really waking-up to the potential benefits of online and blended learning.
 

“Our collaboration with City of Glasgow College is a significant development for us as it has the potential to alert the further and higher education sectors across the UK to what we have to offer.
 

“Colleges provide the professional input and we convert that into accredited online courses with the necessary rigour and quality assurance, a potentially huge market for the UK alone.
 

"Each year, more than 500,000 people of all ages come to the UK to improve their English, generating around £1.2 billion in export earnings for the UK annually.”

He added: “Our software also gives FE colleges the opportunity to recruit students beyond their traditional boundaries. A college in the central belt, for example, can recruit students in the Highlands or south of the Border, or even internationally.
 

“Correspondingly, students don’t have to come to the UK, spending money on visas, travel and accommodation. It’s virtually an infinite market.”
 

Klik2learn is also in talks with an Indian partner, Purview Services Ltd and the state government of Andhra Pradesh – the first state in India to switch to English medium education in all public schools – where its software will be used by pupils aged 10 and above.
 

Demand for English lessons is enormous among the state’s 63 million population and using the company’s programmeon interactive whiteboards could allow up to 10 classes to be taught simultaneously, freeing up teachers to give more time to individual pupils.

Mr Kuenssberg, a veteran multi-lingual businessman, added: “The beauty of these markets is that every year, there’s another cohort of students. It’s not as though it’s a one-off sale.
 

“In India, there are 32 languages spoken and the common language is English. If anybody wants to get ahead professionally, they have to speak English so it’s a phenomenal market.”
 

 “All our certification is done on screen and that’s where City and Guilds is important because Klik2learn will issue a certificate with a City & Guilds Digital Credentials Badge on completion. They are happy with both the quality assurance and with the security.”
 
For more information contact Carlos Alba at carlos@carlosalbamedia.co.uk or call 0141 637 6399 or 07880 505647.