Bianzhi Education: Using platform logic to educate and technology to promote lifelong learning for users

“You can choose not to go to school, but you must never stop learning.” Han Han, a writer known for his rebelliousness, said this in 2014. At that time, the concept of “lifelong learning” had not yet become popular on a large scale, and no one would have thought that this life philosophy would become an “industry guide” in the next few years.

With the continuous advancement of science and technology, new concepts and new industries have emerged in recent years. The society's requirements for personal skills are getting higher and higher, and people need to learn more than ever before. In addition, compared with developed countries, there is still a large gap in the supply of adult education in my country. Against this background, the lifelong learning industry has entered a stage of rapid development in my country.

According to the latest "Big Data Report on China's Comprehensive Lifelong Education Platform" released by iResearch Consulting, the scale of the domestic lifelong education industry is expected to reach 300 billion yuan in 2021, more than double the 82.4 billion yuan in 2019. The Internet plays an important role in this process. According to statistics, in 2021, the proportion of online comprehensive lifelong education reached 40%, and the online market will become an important growth engine for the industry.

However, the online lifelong education industry also has several major pain points, such as low traffic, poor experience, and low effect. The reason for these phenomena can actually be attributed to "insufficient understanding of lifelong education". Why do people engage in lifelong learning? Maybe it is to find a better job, maybe to broaden their horizons, or maybe to learn new skills. The reasons are varied, but they all have a common premise: interest.

The biggest difference between lifelong learning and school courses is that it is not forced by external forces, but purely relies on the subjective initiative of students. According to surveys, in recent years, users of lifelong learning have shown a trend of preferring online learning, interactive learning, and personalized algorithm-recommended courses. In other words, lifelong learning relies more on interest than school education, and also emphasizes teaching students in accordance with their aptitude.

But today, the lifelong learning market has largely not implemented this idea. Instead, it uses gimmicks to sell courses as commodities, but ignores the two basic elements of interest and teaching students in accordance with their aptitude. As a result, many courses are not suitable for students, and the platform naturally has no way to obtain more traffic.

As the saying goes, “You cannot see the true face of Mount Lu because you are already in it.” Common problems in many industries need to be solved by changing your thinking.

In January last year, iQiyi Knowledge, iQiyi Education, TV Fruit, and Meng Zhuangyuan were integrated to form the online learning service platform "Bianzhi Education". Zhou Liuqing, CEO of Bianzhi Education, once mentioned that Bianzhi Education will be an online education content distribution and operation platform, fully empowering a large number of eKOLs, eMCNs and educational institutions, and using an innovative D2C business model to solve the pain points of online education.

On January 11, 2022, Bianzhi Education announced that it would upgrade its products, services, and ecosystem, and released an independent iQiyi Bianzhi APP. Under the trend of lifelong learning and the warm wind of vocational education policies, Bianzhi Education has improved its D2C online learning service platform.

From a market perspective, 2021 is a year in which a large number of new concepts emerge. Concepts such as the metaverse and NFT have attracted the attention of countless capitals. Once these concepts form industries, it means that the demand for new professional skills will greatly increase, and more people will need more in-depth vocational education services.

From a policy perspective, the development of lifelong education has also received strong support from the country. In late December last year, the Ministry of Education, in its response to the "Proposal on Information Technology to Promote Personalized Learning and Lifelong Learning" put forward by the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, clearly stated that it attaches importance to making full use of information technology to promote personalized learning and lifelong learning.

Bianzhi Education also has many advantages in the lifelong learning industry. First of all, Bianzhi Education's services now cover mobile phones, computers, televisions and other platforms, achieving full-scenario applications, and the audience also covers all age groups, which is the premise for them to develop lifelong education.

From the perspective of content, the platform already has more than 80,000 courses. Bianzhi Education has also reached strategic cooperation with institutions such as China Open Online and Beijing Publishing Group Chengqi Company, and will provide more courses in the fields of vocational education, family education, and interest learning.

The biggest advantage of Bianzhi Education is the "technology" that the relevant national departments have repeatedly emphasized in relevant documents. The Ministry of Education proposed in the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Construction of New Education Infrastructure and Building a High-quality Education Support System": "Build a new infrastructure for innovative applications, rely on the 'Internet + Education' platform, innovate teaching, evaluation, research and training, and management applications, and promote the deep integration of information technology and education and teaching. Open up applications such as intelligent diagnosis, resource push, and learning guidance based on big data to promote the personalized development of students."

The technological advantages of Bianzhi Education stem from iQiyi's technological advantages, which are first reflected in the content production level. In the film and television industry, iQiyi's intelligent production capabilities have been recognized by the entire industry, and technologies such as AI, AR/VR, and digital copyright protection have developed to a very mature level. At present, AR/VR education has begun to take off, and applications such as teaching assistants and learning companions based on artificial intelligence have also begun to emerge. It can be said that with the popularization of technical means, the future education industry will undergo fundamental changes. And iQiyi's rich technical accumulation can empower Bianzhi Education, and can further promote the transformation of knowledge dissemination methods and the improvement of the efficiency of the education industry.

From the perspective of platform operation, Bianzhi Education has adopted the D2C business model since its inception, quickly delivering high-quality content to users, forming an accurate match between teachers and users, and meeting personalized education needs. At the same time, Bianzhi Education will also use technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and digital copyright protection to ensure the security and transparency of all aspects such as content upload, copyright protection, and channel distribution.

The upgraded Bianzhi Education will continue to use the D2C model as a breakthrough point to improve the platform content and service sectors. The service scope of the iQiyi Bianzhi APP will be expanded from supporting payment to course content solutions such as vocational education, industry-education integration, and corporate training services.

In addition, Bianzhi Education has also launched the Mantianxing Plan 2.0 for ecological partners, evolving from "single traffic resource empowerment" to "full-link service empowerment" to help monetize high-quality content.

Many people may worry about how willing users are to pay for learning content, but there is no need to worry too much. In a survey conducted by iResearch Consulting, 73.4% of users are willing to continue to pay for online lifelong learning, and 24.1% of users said they would consider trying paid learning. In addition, iQiyi's exploration and experience in paying for over 100 million users will surely bring more benefits to Bianzhi.

However, although the online lifelong learning market is large, it is not something that can be easily taken over. If you want users to continue paying, you ultimately have to rely on an excellent learning experience, which is composed of course quality and platform usage experience. What Bianzhi Education does can be summarized in two aspects: creating high-quality courses through cooperation with universities, institutions, and teachers; and using technical means to make these courses more expressive and reach users who are suitable for them more directly and quickly. It can be seen that Bianzhi Education has a very clear idea of ​​how to improve users' learning experience.

Lifelong learning has many benefits for us, and the most significant one is undoubtedly that it can bring a strong sense of "happiness". In his book "Authentic Happiness", American psychologist Martin Seligman proposed that there are two kinds of happiness: one is sensory pleasure, which can bring enjoyment but is difficult to last. The other is the satisfaction after improving oneself through one's own efforts and overcoming hardships. This kind of happiness lasts longer and is more profound than sensory pleasure.

What Bianzhi Education is doing is to pass on this sense of happiness to the vast number of users. In the words of Zhou Liuqing, CEO of Bianzhi Education: "The traditional large-scale entertainment under the new model of digital economy will usher in a major upgrade. The integration of content creation and content trading in virtual scenes, immersive experience of online entertainment, and digital industrialization capabilities will give birth to a brand new era of 'new entertainment'." Presenting education in the form of "entertainment" is undoubtedly of great enlightenment significance to the promotion of lifelong education.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.