Another Improvement for Degreed: Material Detection

This article is on a way improve the education evaluation service offered by <a href="http://www.degreed.com">Degreed.

The issue is that Degreed only recognizes video material from YouTube. My initial response to this discovery was to assert that Degreed ought to add Vimeo and the wealth of other quality video providers.

On second thought I think that going through the provider is a poor route. Degreed should be able to develop an algorithm that checks for video on a page without needing to form some back-room data sharing agreement with a provider. Perhaps this is a way for them to make some money but I don't like it. Perhaps it is time a competing education valuation service came on the scene.

In addition to the fact that back-room agreements are distasteful there are even better reasons for Degreed not to operate through partnering with providers. While many videos are not available on YouTube there are many more videos which are not on available through any provider at all. By using a video detection algorithm which works by checking a web page for video instead of going through the provider Degreed will be able to exponentially improve its value and eliminate the flexibility constraints of partnering other organizations.

Degreed should also be able to process audio such as a podcast from a talk show.

I would also note that many pages have both written education material and video education material. It would be a major error not to be able to account for both means of education. It would also be a major flaw for Degreed to detect video advertisements as educational material. Perhaps when a material is submitted for review the user should simply be asked whether he learned from the text, video or both and so on as new education materials begin to be accepted.