Boxmind offers e-lectures and software to build them

Internet Strategies for Education Markets: The Heller Report, June, 2001

Boxmind (Oxford, UK, www.boxmind.com) has been quietly building an archive of online lectures. In March they launched a brief, now expired, free preview. Since then, they have responded to institutional and individual requests for subscription access, and in September, says Richard Halkett, chief executive, marketing will begin in earnest.

That plan, however, is not to be interpreted as an aggressive marketing campaign. Quality educational materials, says Halkett, benefit from "ripening on the vine." September is simply a target for more formalized offerings of their three products: a library of online "e-lectures" developed by Boxmind, software that enables others to build similar e-lectures, and a consultancy to build e-lectures for others.

Boxmind's e-lectures appear on the browser in four windows. The top-left shows the lecturer; the top-right shows accompanying images, the bottom left displays related URLs and resources; and the bottom right scrolls and highlights the text being spoken. The presentation can be paused, reversed and moved forward. Boxmind's initial collection of inhouse lectures includes all-star academics speaking on a variety of topics. The company is selling sitelicense subscriptions to academic institutions in a bundle with the software for creating lectures. Halkett had not intended to sell anything until September, but a handful of eager institutions now have subscriptions. Prices vary widely depending on the institution, but Halkett expects them to be regarded as quite reasonable in comparison with other e-learning content products.

E-lectures from licensees, says Halkett, might eventually find their way into the Boxmind collection, but he does not anticipate the quality of the home grown offerings to initially be high enough for wider distribution.

This June the company will respond to individual consumer demand by providing an individual subscription priced between [pound]7 and [pound]10 UK (roughly $10 to $15 US) per month. Halkett sees the market as the recreational learner; he expects students to gain access through their school's license.

Additionally, Boxmind will be licensing the e-lecture authoring software. Textbook publishers, for example, might create additional web content with the tool.

Halkett expects to reach the UK market through internal contacts. He is interested in distribution partnerships to reach other markets, particularly the US and Southeast Asia. Technology partnerships, however, are not at the top of the list. The company runs lean, and he believes his motivated team builds technology solutions that work as well as expensive off-the-shelf solutions.

There are some technological limitations. Screen resolution below 1024 by 768 for example, show only a few lines of the lower two screens. Halkett says that he has found his users to be remarkably forgiving. "There is an awful lot of good will for people who do good things for education," he says.

Boxmind is privately funded. Eurovestech PLC (www.eurovestech.co.uk, London, UK), a publicly listed company, is the lead investor. Other investors include eTechnology VCT PLC, (London), Scottish Value Management (Edinburgh, Scotland) and high-worth individuals.