Lot 43, Wharton Esherick (American, 1887-1970) The Important "Thunder Table" for Hedgerow Theatre, Paoli, Pennsylvania, 1929. Oak, Carved signature, date and inscription: "WE+HEDGEROW MCMXXIX" Freeman's

Notable works from the historic Hedgerow Theatre by renowned American artist and woodworker Wharton Esherick will come to auction for the first time on March 31 in Philadelphia. Representing decades of creative exchange between the master woodworker and the Theatre, this significant collection leads Freemans forthcoming Design auction. The collectionwhich includes eight of Eshericks earliest Hammer-Handle chairs and the important Thunder Table from 1929celebrates Eshericks lengthy and seminal relationship with the Theatre and demonstrates its considerable influence on his evolution as an artist and craftsman.

Freemans is honored to present these exemplary pieces of Pennsylvanias cultural history at auction. Proceeds from the sale will benefit future preservation of Hedgerow Theatre and will assist them in fulfilling their mission as a professional theatre ensemble and theatre school as well as a cultural center. It will enable them to continue their steadfast commitment to progress, education, and artistic excellence that has impacted countless cultural institutions and artists nationwide for nearly a century. (View this 1948 State Department Documentary Film about Hedgerow Theatre.)

ESHERICK & HEDGEROW

Wharton Esherick (1887-1970), heralded as the Dean of American Craftsmen and among the vanguard of the Studio Furniture Movement, began working in wood at the close of the Arts & Crafts Movement. Although embracing the ideology that valued the hand-made over the industrially produced, he broke with the movements more traditional aesthetic, creating sculptural and cutting-edge forms. Esherick was introduced to the Hedgerow Theatre in nearby Rose Valley, Pennsylvania and to its founding Artistic Director Jasper Deeter (1893-1972) in 1923.

Esherick began designing pieces for the Hedgerow Theatre in exchange for his daughters acting lessons. Initially involved in set, costume and lighting design, Esherick went on to create woodblock posters for various productions and furniture for both the Theatre and nearby Hedgerow House, which served as the home to Theatre company members. Over the years, the Theatres Green Room housed many temporary and permanent works by Esherick, operating as an unofficial gallery and exhibition space for the artist.

Freeman's

COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS

Leading the auction is the iconic Thunder Table, carved by Esherick in 1929 in celebration of the success of the Theatres production of Thunder on the Left in which his daughter Mary appeared. The table stands on two splayed and hinged legs; its top is composed of two long, found wooden boards, each with a perceptibly warped end. Having spent much of his time on the Theatres balcony sketching the various dancers and actors on stage, Esherick carved a minimalist curvilinear drawing of the plays leading actors into one of the tables ends. The Thunder Table has been on display in the Theatres Green Room for many years before which it had been in use by decades of actors and visitors.

Also on offer is the set of stairs Esherick built in the Theatres former lobby in the mid-1930s to create more room for the box office. As a replacement for the old set of Arts & Crafts stairs, he designed and built one of his signature idiosyncratic staircases, with gently curving steps fanning out from a two-foot central column. Because of their nontraditional design, Eshericks stairs failed to pass fire-code inspection and were deemed unusable for ushering theatergoers from the lobby to the balcony. Other examples of Eshericks staircases are presently in the collections of the Wolfsonian-FIU in Miami Beach, Florida; the Modernism Museum in Mount Dora, Florida; and the Wharton Esherick Museum in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Additional works on offer include a Sawbuck Table used at Hedgerow House; a Trestle Table that purportedly came from Eshericks own collection; and eight Hammer-Handle chairs. The chairs, assembled in part from found axe and hammer handles by Esherick, are among the most iconic and significant of his creations; examples are presently in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Wharton Esherick Museum in Chester County, Pennsylvania; The Museum of Art & Design in New York, New York; and the Longhouse Reserve in Long Island, New York, among others.

VIEWING & EXHIBITIONS

The Thunder Table is presently on view in Freemans new flagship gallery at 2400 Market Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Additional highlights from the Hedgerow Theatre Collection will be on view in Freemans Main Line Gallery in Wayne, Pennsylvania beginning February 10. The full exhibition for the March 31 Design Auction will be open to the public March 27-30 at 2400 Market Street. The staircase will remain at Hedgerow Theatre prior to the auction; please contact Freemans to schedule an appointment for viewing.

ABOUT HEDGEROW THEATRE

Established in 1923 in the Rose Valley Arts and Crafts Community, Hedgerow Theatre is Americas longest serving Ensemble Repertory Theatre. Founded by visionary actor/director Jasper Deeter as a haven for cutting-edge artists of the early 20th century, the theatre quickly gained a national and international reputation, attracting era-defining artists such as Eugene ONeill, Henrik Ibsen, George Bernard Shaw, Theodore Dreiser, Bertolt Brecht, and Wharton Esherick. Hedgerow has and continues to serve as a place where artists can both live and work, ensuring that active artists remain central to the community originally conceived as a creative utopia. Today, Hedgerows resident ensemble of artists, unique in America, present professional productions from across the range of theatre, classic to contemporary. Hedgerow's Theatre School, formally established in 1935, is a robust year-round theatre education program that serves youth and adults, with a special focus on creativity and critical thinking. Hedgerow is known for its pioneering role in the establishment of the not-for-profit theatre movement in America. Serving as a pillar for the arts community for 97 years, it now stands as a preeminent creative landmark in the greater Philadelphia area.

ABOUT FREEMANS

Freemans has been a part of the fabric of Philadelphia since 1805, helping generations of clients in the buying and selling of fine and decorative arts, jewelry & modern design. Today, they are an international auction house with a year-round sale season and a team of specialists committed to personalized service. Freemans provides solutions for the changing dynamics of a family or businessvaluing a single item, an entire estate, personal property, or a corporate collection. With both appraisal and auction services, Freemans is dedicated to providing the best experience for our clients.

INQUIRIES

Madeline Hill, mhill@freemansauction.com

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FREEMAN'S TO SELL NOTABLE WORKS BY WHARTON ESHERICK FROM HISTORIC HEDGEROW THEATRE COLLECTION - ArtfixDaily

THE Evening Times writer, Meg Munro, a self-confessed middle-aged bobbysoxer, had interviewed many of the leading male stars of her era.

Johnny Ray has sung to me, she wrote in March, 1956. Guy Mitchell has kissed me. Howard Keel has held my hand in his. Bob Hope has taken me in his arms, and the Olivier charm (which so enchanted the OTHER Monroe) has been switched in my direction -- and I can proudly record not one single faint or even the tiniest scream.

But when it comes to Mr Power -- Mr Tyrone Power of the black, black hair and blue Irish eyes -- oh, my goodness me, I weaken, I wilt, I ALMOST give a real bobbysoxer scream!

You can laugh if you like, but when you wait 20 years to meet the man of your dreams, take it from me, its a serious moment.

So when I went backstage at the Kings Theatre after the first performance of The Devils Disciple, little wonder that my knees knocked a little when I knocked on the door of Mr Powers dressing-room. Once inside, how did I find Mr Power? Well, bias apart, you can take it from me that Mr Power is very nice, oh my goodness me, yes, VERY NICE. Moreover, hes highly intelligent and a sheer joy to interview.

Power, clad in a midnight blue robe, told Munro (over the shrieks of the genuine bobbysoxers waiting outside the theatre) said that he liked to spend his leisure time flying his own plane to Mexico or down to South America. I like to get away from people into quiet places. I like to lie on a beach in the sun; I like to go deep-sea fishing, but best of all I like to work ... I become intolerable to myself if Ive been away from work for more than three weeks.

Power, who had been born in Cincinnati, Ohio, had made his name as an actor on Broadway before turning to Hollywood. He became an overnight film star with his performance in Lloyds of London (1936). Subsequent films included The Mark of Zorro (1940, the year in which he was Hollywoods top box-office draw), Blood and Sand (1941), and The Sun Also Rises (1957). But he made repeated returns to the stage for dramas such as The Devils Disciple, by George Bernard Shaw.

The 1956 run of the play took Power to Edinburgh and Glasgow; he is photographed here holding onto his hat on a visit to windy Edinburgh Castle. This papers drama critic watched the opening night of the week-long run at the Kings, in Glasgow. The greatest curiosity, he wrote, is the appearance of Tyrone Power as Dick Dudgeon, a Devils Disciple of dashing appearance and some panache, though wanting perhaps a little of the zeal which Shaw meant there to be in his preacher-turned-inside-out.

Power died in November 1958, aged 44, having suffered a heart attack during the filming, in Spain, of the epic, Solomon and Sheba.

Read more: Herald Diary

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Those were the days - Tyrone Power in Scotland, 1956 - HeraldScotland

All week Picture Britain is on display in Borough Market

SHAPE THE WORLD: All this week, LSE hosts Shape The World, a festival of free events looking at how the social sciences can make the world a better place. Highlights throughout the week include Tottenham MP David Lammy on exploring his own heritage, a preview of the American presidential race, and a look at how factors such as economic growth are shaping London. LSE (Holborn), free, book ahead, 2-7 March

I AM A WOMXN: Waterstones launches new exhibition I Am A Womxn, by Shado Magazine. The publication has brought together work by 18 photographers from around the world, all celebrating the intersectionalities of womanhood, and the different ways in which people identify as a woman. Waterstones Gower Street, free, just turn up, 2 March-30 April

OUR POVERTY: Photography exhibition Picture Britain: Our People, Our Poverty celebrates the strength and resilience of people swept into poverty in this country. See 20 photos by Jillian Edelstein of people from different regions, with their stories captured by Stephen Armstrong. Borough Market, free, just turn up, until 7 March

FORGOTTEN VICTIMS: Last chance to see The Wiener Holocaust Library's exhibition Forgotten Victims, focusing on the genocide carried out against the Roma and Sinti communities in Europe during the Nazi era. The 'forgotten Holocaust' resulted in the persecution and murder of up to 500,000 people, and documents, photos and eyewitness accounts are used here to tell their stories. Wiener Holocaust Library (Russell Square), free, just turn up, until 11 March

CAMELLIA SHOW: Chiswick House & Gardens showcases its rare and historic plants at the annual Camellia Show. 33 different varieties are on show in the listed conservatory, and you can enter a raffle for a chance to name an as-yet-unlisted species. Chiswick House & Gardens, free entry to gardens (donations welcome), just turn up, until 22 March

LIONEL RICH TEA: We're delighted that Drink, Shop & Do has brought back its punny craft event, Lionel Rich Tea. Give Lionel Richie his deserved place in the biscuit hall of fame by recreating his likeness on a Rich Tea biscuit. There's a prize at the end for the best Lionel likeness. Drink, Shop & Do (King's Cross), 5, book ahead, from 6pm

NOT ABOUT THE BURQA: 12 months on from the publication of the book she edited, It's Not About The Burqa, British writer and activist Mariam Khan and a panel of guest speakers discuss what's changed since then. The book is a response to David Camerons assumption of general submissiveness of Muslim women, and features essays about faith, love, feminism, sex and queer identity, all true accounts from Muslim women. Foyles Charing Cross Road 5 (or 9.99 with book), book ahead, 6.30pm-8pm

GENDER AND CLIMATE CHANGE: Can gender equality help solve climate change? Environment Professor Jacqueline McGlade explains why the empowerment and education of women leads to them dedicating more resources to health and education than men. Museum of London, free, just turn up, 6pm-7pm

SMOTHERHOOD: Former clinical psychologist turned thriller author Bev Thomas discusses her debut book, A Good Enough Mother. It's the story of a director of therapy unit who discovers that a newly referred patient is the image of her son who has been missing a while. West End Lane Books (West Hampstead), free, book ahead, 7.30pm

MODERN WITCHCRAFT: London Fortean Society tackles the topic of modern witchcraft in this month's meet-up. Anthropologist Dr Helen Cornish of Goldsmiths College discusses claims made by Margaret Murray, that modern witchcraft is a direct continuation from an archaic pan-European fertility cult. The Miller (London Bridge), 5/2, book ahead, 8pm

SPECTACULAR ASTROPHYSICS: Though astrophysics all sounds rather complicated, everything that happens in the night sky is the result of a whole series of simple laws coming into play together. So explains Professor of Astrophysics Katharine Blundell OBE in this Gresham College lecture. Museum of London, free, just turn up, 1pm-2pm

MARIE LLOYD: The V&A's lunchtime lecture puts the spotlight on 'Queen of the Halls', Marie Lloyd, on the 150th anniversary of the performer's birth. Alison Young and Christine Padwick from the British Music Hall Society discuss the life and career of the first female celebrity of popular entertainment, who performed for Edward VII, George Bernard Shaw and T. S. Eliot, among others. V&A Museum (South Kensington), free, just turn up, 1pm-1.45pm

TRIBUTE INK: Stay late at National Army Museum, which has an evening opening on the theme of tattoos. Find out about the art, history and meaning of body inkings in the Armed Forces. Serving soldiers, Chelsea Pensioners and art historians are among those taking part in talks and panel discussions. National Army Museum (Chelsea), free, book ahead, 6.30pm-9.30pm

HEAR IT LIVE: Every Thursday afternoon, Horniman Museum hosts free performances and talks based on the musical instruments in its collection, including a 1772 Kirckman harpsichord. Today, harpsichord and organ player Josef Laming performs. Horniman Museum (Forest Hill), free, just turn up, 3.30pm-4pm

POWER OF PRINT: London College of Communication lecturer Jess Baines talks about east London's alternative printing initiatives between the early 1970s and 1990s. Learn about the wider cultural and political context of these often radical and social movements. Nunnery Gallery (Bow), 5, book ahead, 7pm-9pm

CUNNING FOLK: Watch a screening of 1974 release Akenfield at this month's Cunning Folk Film Club. An adaptation of the Ronald Blythe book, it's set in the Suffolk village of the same name, and tells the story of a farming family who have lived for generations in village. Balham Bowls Club, 5, book ahead, 8pm

WOMEN IN FOCUS: To coincide with International Women's Day, three-day festival Women In Focus comes to Poplar. Events include a musical evening by a line-up of all female-identifying artists, and a burlesque dance class led by the reigning Queen of Burlesque Idol UK 2019. Poplar Union, free, book ahead, 6-8 March

UNKNOWN FIELD MARSHAL: Ever heard of Sir Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd? He was Chief of Staff of the British Fourth Army from 1915 to 1918, and Chief of the Imperial General Staff between 1933-1935 find out more about his military career and contributions at this free talk by author Rodney Atwood. National Army Museum (Chelsea), free, book ahead, 11.30am

BROCKLEY MAX FUNDRAISER: Local festival Brockley Max is fundraising to secure its future. Tonight, DJs Giles Frampton (aka mrTidy) and Dre (aka The Drezone) host a night of funk, soul, disco and house music, with all money raised going back to Brockley Max. Fox & Firkin (Lewisham), 5, book ahead, 9pm

CRAFTY FOX MARKET: Another month, another round of small, local businesses to support at Crafty Fox Market. It's free entry to browse the stalls at this month's event, which include artists specialising in ceramics, embroidery and linescapes, among many other mediums. Mercato Metropolitano (Elephant & Castle), free entry, just turn up, 7-8 March

#IDENTITY FESTIVAL: Celebrate International Womens Day by exploring the experiences of British-Bangladeshi women and children at free family event, #Identity Festival. Share recipes in a community recipe book, make your own traditional hand fan, or get some henna hand art, among other activities. Museum of London Docklands, free, just turn up, 12pm

ROMANTICS IN SUSSEX: Professor Alexandra Harris gives the annual Keats Foundation Lecture, looking at the role which Chichester played in inspiring Romantic poets Keats, Blake and William Collins. The latter spent most of his life in the Sussex town, and the other two wrote about it in their work. Keats House (Hampstead), free, book ahead, 5pm-6.30pm

VINTAGE FASHION: Rummage through rails of retro clobber at the Frock Me! Vintage Fashion Fair. Over 60 vintage fashion dealers set up stall, with items dating from the 1900s onwards. Clothing from the likes of Chanel and Biba has been on sale at past events, as well as more affordable pieces.Kensington Town Hall, 5/3, book ahead, 11am-5.30pm

CRAFTS DOG SHOW: No, that's not a typo BrewDog puts its own twist on a dog show, inviting pooches and their owners to an event which raises money for abandoned hunting dogs in Spain. Four-legged attendees can compete in categories such as 'best trick' and 'goofiest grin', with BrewBucks vouchers for the winners. BrewDog Tower Hill, 3 entry, just turn up, 12pm-6pm

GIRLS CAN: For International Women's Day, a team of female artists attempts to redress the gender imbalance in graffiti culture by running free activities to get women into street art. The event results in a large-scale public mural featuring symbols or words which are considered stereotypically male. Leake Street (Waterloo), free, book ahead, 1pm-5pm

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Free And Cheap Events In London This Week: 2-8 March 2020 - Londonist

MOSCOW, March 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Celebrated Russian author and philosopher Zinovia Dushkova, Ph.D., was recently named as one of the "100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People in 2020" by Watkins Mind Body Spirit magazine. The London-based metaphysical authority publishes the yearly list to distinguish living spiritual teachers. Ranked as number 49 among the Dalai Lama, Pope Francis, Eckhart Tolle, Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra, Dr. Dushkova is the first woman from Russia and the former USSR countries to enter the list.

With a rapidly expanding American readership, Dr. Dushkova is already famed in her native Russia and throughout the post-Soviet countries for a vast body of written work that includes approximately 60 books. She was introduced to American readers with her bestseller, "The Book of Secret Wisdom," despite initial rejections by publishers.

Zinovia Dushkova: A Journey of the Heart

A survivor of domestic violence from both childhood and marriage, Dr. Dushkova became a single mother of two in Soviet Russia. In 1992, she began to realize her goal in life was to become a world healer through love and compassion. Since then, she has travelled extensively around the globe, visiting secret and deeply holy sites in Tibet, Mongolia, Nepal, India and many other countries in both the East and West. Her 60-plus-volume oeuvre resulting from those travels represents a living legacy of light and love, centered in the heart.

Dr. Dushkova is often regarded by many experts as one of the spiritual successors of Helena Blavatsky, the 19th century creator of the Theosophical Society. This tradition influenced many of the greatest minds and personalities of the 20th century, including Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison and Elvis Presley. The ultimate goal of Dr. Dushkova's work is to bring humanity toward divine wisdom, through the cultivation of qualities like love and compassion.

According to Dr. Dushkova, humanity currently faces great challenges, since the Solar System is approaching an invisible spiritual sun. Its energies gradually cause global warming on Earth and only loving hearts are able to assimilate them. If human hearts fail to transmute these cosmic energies, this results not only in increasing cardiovascular and cancerous diseases, but also in natural disasters and epidemics, such as the coronavirus COVID-2019 outbreak. To aid people, she created her magnum opus, "The Teaching of the Heart" series an overarching, rich exploration of all the ways by which the human heart can lead humanity to greater love, compassion, joy, connection and spiritual transformation.

Zinovia Dushkova: Self-Publishing Success

Dr. Dushkova's personal story is one of love and perseverance; a theme that she folds into her teachings as a way to explain a deep desire to illuminate love, and bring light to the darkest places of the human psyche. Her titles are often described as "books full of light," while readers are attracted to the unusual depth found in seemingly simplistic expressions of thought. Dr. Dushkova is also a poet, bringing beauty and musicality of language that distinguishes her creations.

Originally rejected by dozens of establishment publishers, Dr. Dushkova has since gone on to great popular success, selling nearly 100,000 copies of her award-winning English titles in multiple formats. She is rapidly gracing bookshelves all across the U.S., the U.K. and Canada, and is lauded as a living spiritual treasure. So far, "The Book of Secret Wisdom," "Parables from Shambhala," "The Secret Book of Dzyan," and the ten books of "The Teaching of the Heart," have been published in English by Radiant Books. Learn more about Dr. Dushkova at: http://www.dushkova.com/en.

About Radiant Books

Radiant Books is an imprint of Dushkova Publishing LLC, created in 2015 to publish English editions of Dr. Dushkova's work. Learn more at: http://www.RadiantBooks.org.

Media Contact:

Alexander Gerasimchuk +380986921493 [emailprotected]

SOURCE Radiant Books

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From Rejection to Success - Dr. Zinovia Dushkova Named as First Russian Woman to Renowned Watkins List of '100 Most Spiritually Influential Living...

Grant Cardone's 10X Growth Conference has become an annual event

LAS VEGAS (PRWEB) February 26, 2020

Grant Cardone and an array of A-list celebrity speakers just finished presenting to over 12,000 attendees at the Mandalay Bay for the 4th annual 10X Growth Conference. The massive three-day event for business owners and entrepreneurs brought in NBA legend Magic Johnson, comedian Kevin Hart, record executive Scooter Braun, actor John Travolta, UFCs Dana White, boxer Floyd Mayweather, music performers Snoop Dogg, Usher, and Rick Ross, plus an array of sales and marketing experts who shared strategies and tactics on how to build and scale a business.

The conference was held from February 21-23, 2020 with a private mastermind that followed for top entrepreneurs to bounce business ideas off of sales expert Grant Cardone, who created the 10X movement and the popular annual 10X Growth Conference. The entire event is beginning to blur the lines between entertainment and business.

One of my main objectives with this conference was to erase the line between business and entertainment. Whether you consider yourself an artist and youre into music, painting, drawing, writing, theatre, dance, photography, design, modeling, or whether you consider yourself in the world of business with a title in sales, marketing, IT, management, accounting and finance, human resourcesthe 10X Growth Conference will show you how to improve what you do, but also how to merge art into your business and business into your art. Grant Cardone

The 10X Growth Conference was created not just to be the top business conference in the worldbut an entertaining time with multiple parties and performances. This years event included a private party in Grant Cardones private jet air hangar at McCarran airport for the Premier and Diamond level ticket holders plus multiple VIP networking events that were held throughout the entire weekend on the Strip.

Previously in 2019, the 10X Growth Conference was held in Miami at Marlins Park, where 34,000 entrepreneurs gathered in a baseball stadium to hear speakers such as Steve Harvey, John Maxwell, and Daymond John.

Tickets for 10X Growth Conference 2021 are already on sale at an early-bird discount at https://10xgrowthcon.com/gc5/

About Grant Cardone

CEO of Cardone Capital, international speaker, entrepreneur andauthor ofThe 10X Rule& creator of 21 best-selling business programs, Grant Cardone owns & operates seven privately held companies and a $1.5B portfolio of multifamily properties. Named the #1 marketer to watch by Forbes Magazine, Cardone is also the founder of The 10X Movement & The 10X Growth Conference, the worlds largest business & entrepreneur conference.

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Grant Cardone and the 10X Growth Conference Just Blurred the Lines Between Entertainment and Business - PR Web

Earnings Call Scheduled for 8:00 a.m. ET on March 9, 2020

BEIJING, March 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- China Online Education Group ("51Talk", or the "Company") (NYSE: COE), a leading online education platform inChina, with core expertise in English education, today announced that it will report its fourth quarter and full year 2019 unaudited financial results onMonday, March 9, 2020, before the open of U.S. markets.

The Company's management will host an earnings conference call at8:00 a.m.U.S. Eastern Time onMarch 9, 2020(8:00 p.m.Beijing/Hong Kongtime onMarch 9, 2020).

Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows:

United States Toll:

1-866-264-5888

International:

1-412-317-5226

Mainland China Toll:

400-120-1203

Hong Kong Toll:

800-905-945

Hong Kong-Local Toll:

852-3018-4992

Participants should dial-in at least 5 minutes before the scheduled start time and ask to be connected to the call for "China Online Education Group."

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available on the Company's investor relations website athttp://ir.51talk.com.

A replay of the conference call will be accessible approximately one hour after the conclusion of the live call until March 16, 2020, by dialing the following telephone numbers:

United States Toll:

1-877-344-7529

International Toll:

1-412-317-0088

Canada Toll Free:

855-669-9658

Replay Access Code:

10139863

About China Online Education Group

China Online Education Group (NYSE: COE) is a leading online education platform in China, with core expertise in English education. The Company's mission is to make quality education accessible and affordable. The Company's online and mobile education platforms enable students across China to take live interactive English lessons with overseas foreign teachers, on demand. The Company connects its students with a large pool of highly qualified foreign teachers that it assembled using a shared economy approach, and employs student and teacher feedback and data analytics to deliver a personalized learning experience to its students.

For more information, please visithttp://ir.51talk.com.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

China Online Education Group Investor Relations +86 (10) 8342-6262 ir@51talk.com

The Piacente Group, Inc. Brandi Piacente +86 (10) 6508-0677 +1-212-481-2050 51talk@tpg-ir.com

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/china-online-education-group-to-report-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2019-financial-results-on-monday-march-9-2020-301014193.html

SOURCE China Online Education Group

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China Online Education Group to Report Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019 Financial Results on Monday, March 9, 2020 - Yahoo Finance

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The 2010s were the decade for technology to fundamentally change education. Two years before the decades dawn, Clayton Christensen, Michael B. Horn and Curtis Johnson predicted in their book Disrupting Class that online learning would revolutionize teacher-led instruction and catalyze a student-centered transformation in U.S. K-12 schools. As the decade began, enthusiasm for ed tech seemed on a steady rise. Mainstream news outlets highlighted the promise of Khan Academy and flipped classrooms. Meanwhile, schools and districts across the country committed to 1:1 initiatives that would put Chromebooks or iPads in the hands of every student.

As that happened, educational software platforms such as Dreambox, ST Math, Lexia, Newsela, iReady and IXL made strong inroads into schools. And with all this enthusiasm, a handful of new terms associated with online instruction such as blended learning, personalized learning and adaptive learning made their way into the lexicon.

Does all this online learning mean disruption has occurred in K-12 education? The answer is yes and no.

If we judge disruption purely by the adoption of ed tech in schools, the disruption is well underway and continues to unfold. Christensen, Horn and Johnson predicted that by 2019, roughly 50 percent of all high school courses would involve online delivery of instruction. Though data for checking this prediction have not been collected, if we consider the general use of online learning as a likely correlate with online instructional delivery in high school courses, the data we do have suggest their prediction was on target. A 2019 survey by NewSchools Venture Fund and Gallup found that 65 percent of teachers report using digital learning tools to teach every day. Additionally, in a 2019 survey by Education Week, 96 percent of teachers reported that their schools use digital technologies to personalize learning. As online learning resources replace the textbooks, worksheets and encyclopedias of yesteryear, its easy to mistake them as undeniable signals of the predicted disruption.

Yet that would be a mistake. The widespread adoption of online learning over the past decade has not resulted in a sweeping transformation of K-12 instruction and improvements in student performance. Online learning has been crammed on top of existing instructional models just as Christensen, Horn and Johnson warned leaving conventional classroom instruction largely intact. The aforementioned Education Week survey found that 60 percent of educators rarely or never use adaptive software to let students learn at their own pace. Instead, educators employ adaptive software primarily for remediation or enrichment, not for delivering core instruction in a more personalized manner. A recent McKinsey & Company report indicated that although 60 percent of surveyed teachers believed that their feedback was personalized to each student, only 44 percent of the students surveyed felt the same way. Furthermore, a 2017 study by RAND to evaluate pioneering personalized learning schools found, on average, only small measurable gains in student achievement.

In short, online learning is disrupting the markets for the instructional resources schools purchase. But it has not disrupted conventional approaches to instruction to make education more personalized.

Why hasnt the growth of online learning realized its potential to transform student learning? The most often cited causes include poor implementation, inadequate professional development and strains on teachers time. Forty-two percent of those surveyed by Education Week indicated that their professional development on personalized learning was effective but inconsistent, and another 35 percent reported that theirs was either ineffective or nonexistent. Seventy percent of U.S. teachers surveyed by McKinsey identified not enough time or flexible time as their No. 1 barrier to providing personalized learning.

Yet in addition to these commonsense reasons, there is likely a deeper challenge at play. The benefits of innovations often come not from the technologies themselves but from harnessing those technologies to power new ways of doing things in other words, new processes. But changing tried-and-true processes in any system is much harder than swapping out resources.

To illustrate, consider a non-education example.

In the late 19th century, factories were organized to optimize access to mechanical power. At the center of the factory was a large steam engine that drove the machinery through a branching system of drive shafts, gears and belts. The friction inherent in this system meant that the power declined rapidly as distance from the steam engine increased. Therefore, the machines that required the most power were placed closest to the steam engine in the middle of the factory.

A factory in Schaffhausen, Germany, with machinery powered by drive shafts and belts (theoildrum.com)

As electrification swept the industrial world in the early 20th century, factory managers started replacing their large steam engines with large electric motors. But the new technology had basically zero effect on factory output. Electric motors were less noisy and didnt produce smoke. But they also broke down more often than their steam-powered predecessors.

Productivity gains didnt come until three decades after electrification, when managers finally took advantage of electricity to redesign their factory layouts. Instead of clustering equipment around a large central motor, they began putting smaller motors in individual pieces of equipment and then organizing it all based on the natural flow of production. With these changes, factory productivity grew to two to three times what it had previously been.

The story of factory electrification parallels the modern advent of online learning. The benefit will be minimal if schools cram it on top of conventional instructional models in hopes of enhancing achievement gains. Instead, educators need to leverage online learning to reimagine conventional instruction through new blended-learning models.

Unfortunately, creating instructional models that take full advantage of online learning is easier said than done. For most educators, overhauling conventional instruction is irrational. Scrapping age-graded classrooms, teacher-directed instruction, bell schedules, required instructional minutes, letter grades, teacher roles and curriculum scope and sequence in one fell swoop is a bad idea for any school with a modicum of success. Time-tested and refined practices despite their inflexibility to students individual needs will almost always trump innovative practices that are unproven, underdeveloped and unsupported by the broader education ecosystem. Most successful educators are doing the right thing for their students if they take only tepid, marginal steps toward personalized learning.

It may take another two decades for online learning to transform conventional instruction, just as with electrified factories. Furthermore, as Disruption Theory predicts, breakthrough approaches to personalized instruction that take full advantage of online learning will likely need to emerge from outside conventional schools, rather than within them.

Thomas Arnett is a senior research fellow in education for the Christensen Institute whose work focuses on the changing roles of teachers in blended-learning environments and other innovative educational models. He also examines how teacher education and professional development are shifting to support the evolving needs of teachers and school systems.

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Arnett: Has online learning really disrupted K-12 education in the US? The answer is yes and No. Here's Why - LA School Report

The digital revolution has brought a lot of innovations and dramatically affected all businesses including education. Traditional institutions will always struggle with their inflexible pedagogical systems more than half of the knowledge that the kids learn in the first year of graduation become obsolete by the time they graduate.

This will not only create challenges for students to get jobs, but it also raises questions about whether the traditional 3-year (or four) degree programs will even survive. Even the quintessential question about the relevance and signalling value of the degree is in question now.

Several of all traditional institutions wont exist in 10 years because online education will upend their business models and push them towards bankruptcy. The future of education, hence, lies in all institutions at all levels, adopting online learning and online courses right from pre-school up to higher education.

Here are the six reasons that make online learning a compelling proposition for all institutions:

Online learning is replacing quite a few home-schooling systems across the world. Parents can now let the computer teach the kids as they take a relaxing break.

Online learning now provides personalised learning paths for weaker kids who would do better with some extra levels of tutoring.

These days, online learning provides multiple options for all levels of learners and provides a plenitude of certificate, diploma and even online degree courses.

Online learning is replacing quite a few home-schooling systems across the world.

Online learning provides the flexibility of time and space to the learner you can now do your studies anytime from any place. Working professionals find these programs suiting their work routines as they can plan their lessons around their free time.

Students do not need to bother about a missed class a recorded version of the same would be made available on the learning portal. Acquiring a degree from a foreign university may not need any travel, visa and other hassles!

Several online courses use a mix of self-paced videos and pre-scheduled live sessions by an instructor. Students can interact with the live teacher, get the guidance, feedback and solve their queries.

Since these online programs do not have any geographical constraint (the learner and the teacher can be at different parts of the world), most online courses get very high-quality faculty taking the lessons for the students.

Online courses are generally cheaper than classroom courses. Students can enrol into multiple programs from multiple institutions across the world, simultaneously, if they wish.

Several institutions also offer free-to-learn programs (MOOCs) that can be taken at no cost the certification is also available for a nominal cost. This also allows students to sample a few courses from different institutions and then finally zero-in on one of them.

Online courses are generally cheaper than classroom courses.

Online courses can enrol a much larger number of students for the courses where each of them can learn at their own pace using their own screens.

Institutions normally divide these online learners into multiple cohorts (groups) based on their initial assessments and plan their group activities.

Live classes are also scheduled for different cohorts where the faculty can conduct their classes at different paces for different groups of learners.

Students can get help from multiple sources if they get stuck in an online course. Some of these sources are free whereas some others may be paid ones.

Several other institutions and individuals provide tutoring and coaching sessions for a fee the benefit is you shall be able to pick the best teacher for yourself across any country without the need to travel there

The impact of online courses on the education system will be a shift from live teaching to the teacher developing online content for students. The role of a teacher or educator will always exist and can never be replaced but the methodology and pedagogy will change with these evolving new models. But for the learner, these courses come as a welcome boon flexible, economical, personalised and effective.

Article by Shantanu Rooj, Founder & CEO, Schoolguru Eduserve Pvt. Ltd

Read: Education Budget 2020: Here's how to make it count for government school students

Read: Why schools kids should be taught programming skills

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Online learning becomes future of education as traditional methods fade - India Today

A previous version of this video incorrectly stated how many people the 1918 Spanish influenza killed. USA TODAY

As confirmed cases of theCOVID-19 coronavirusspread in the U.S. this week, school leaders nationwide are preparing for their worst-case scenario emergency plans. Some are already shutting down schoolsor considering online learningif the health threat persists.

And some are simply saying: Wash your hands.

So, who'sright? Perhaps everyone.

Districtleaders are right to emphasize hand washing, staying home if youre sick and covering your cough with a sleeve or tissue, school and health leaders said. But they should also disclose their emergency plans to parents about what will happenif the virus becomes more widespread even if it unnerves families, leaders said this week.

Six patients with the virus had died in Washington state as of Monday night, and new infections were reported in California, Illinois, Rhode Island, New York and Florida over the weekend.

Coronavirus live updates: 4 more die in Seattle area, bringing US death toll to 6

So far, the response from schools and health officials has varieddepending on whether a localityhas confirmed cases and experts' views on how much action is appropriate is rapidly evolving. But the uncertainty of how far the virus will spread has putschool leaders in a difficult spot ofprojectinga sense of calm while also acting with an abundance of caution for student safety.

"Everybody is in a state of alert," saidDan Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators.

Domenech said his organization has advised superintendents to inform parents of their districts' emergency operations plans that may be carried out if the virus spreads.

"There's no soft-sellingthis," Domenech said Monday afternoon.

"Last week I saw some districts had sent out messages to families that were pretty mild like, there's not much to be concerned about, this may not happen. That's not happening anymore. Now it's absolutely something to worry about and it's absolutely going to happen, it's just a matter of when."

The virus is not yet a pandemic in the U.S., said Donna Mazyck, executive director of the National Association of School Nurses. But because of the way it can spread, health officials are reviewing their emergency plans and figuring out what to do if the outbreak hits close to their regions.

"That is the key: How to prepare without panicking," Mazyck said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late last week offered different guidance to schools and daycare centersdepending on whether they have alocally identified case of COVID-19.

For institutions that don't have a confirmed case, the CDC said schools should review and update their emergency plans, emphasizehand-washing, communicate with local health departments and reviewattendance policies including dropping rewards for perfect attendance.

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For institutions located in areas with COVID-19 cases, the CDC recommends schools talk with their local health officials beforecanceling classes. Together, they candetermine how long schools should be closed. And schools can also determineoptions for distance or online learning so kids don't fall behind.

Doctor's advice: The best preventative steps to contain the coronavirus

As of Monday, some school districts in Washington closed because of concerns over the virus.The Colville School District north of Spokaneclosed Monday until further notice or until after test results come back of a suspected local infection.

A few schools in northern Idaho, on the border of Washington, also shut down Mondayfor cleaning, eventhough Idaho currently has no confirmed cases of the virus. Students from these schools attended a jazz festival with musicians from a high school in Washington where a student has tested positive for the virus. However, the student with the virus wasn't at the festival.

Some schools closed even though health officials said it wasn't necessary. Bothell High School, located north of Seattle,shut down schools for cleaning for two days last week because a family member of an employee was quarantined for potentially having the virus. That person ultimately tested negative.

Last week, awoman in Solano County, California, became the first confirmed patient in the U.S. to have become infected by the virus by way of community transmission, rather than via international travel or through close contact with a person known to be infected.

That's what kicked the latest planning into high gear and ignited some parents' concerns about sending their kids to school, even though the virus has predominantly sickened older people.

Eileen Shihadeh, a parent of two students in Austin's public schools, said the Texas district so far has only told parents to take preventative measures, like covering coughs and sneezes. But Shihadeh is already considering when she would keep her kids home school, even without a directive from the district. She also might cancel the family's spring break trip to Oregon, because airports seem like a health hazard to her.

"As the worst-case scenarios are kicking in, especially with the CDC talking about the spread in the U.S. being inevitable, all of us (parents) are thinking about what we're going to do," said Shihadeh, who works for the school security company Raptor Technologies.

Schools should still waitfor guidance from their local health officials before implementing "social distancing" practices for students or staff, saidPamela Kahn,president of the California School Nurses Organization.

As of now, Kahn said, schools in California have only been advised to consider excluding children from school for 14 days if they have traveled abroad to mainland China.

"In my head and in my heart, I don't think this virus is hitting kids, but I wouldnt be blas and tell parents not to worry," Kahn said.

Some school district leaders are alreadyplanning for ways for children to learn from home, via online education options, in the event of long-term school closures from the virus.

Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of the Miami-Dade County School District in Florida the fourth-largest district in the country said last week that the district was prepared to send children home with laptops and other personal learning devices so they could continue their studies at home.

Some ed tech firms that specialize in K-12 online learning are alreadytouting their services to schools. Study.com, which offers courses used by home-schooled students,has advertised its platform as an option.

Another company, Outschool, facilitates online group classes for students ages 3 to 18over the live video conferencing platform Zoom. Its leaders have offered to provide free teacher training and webinarsto schools interested in using video-conferencing as a way to hold classes in the event of long-term closures.

One small, private school in the San Francisco Bay Areais preparing to take Outschool up on its offer. David O'Connell, head of The Saklan School, which enrolls about 120 students, said he learned about Outschool froma parent. After talking with the company, he asked teachers last week if they'd be open to doing some training on it, in the event the school has to shut down because of the virus.

"We've never had to consider online school before," O'Connell said. "But we were looking for alternatives, and (Outschool) seems to be dynamic kids can ask questions in the moment."

OConnell said he didnt think theyd need to use the technology, but students' health and safety is the No. 1 concern, he said.

In the event of a school closure, he said, "There's also a huge cost to not doing anything."

Education coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation does not provide editorial input.

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US schools are in a 'state of alert' amid coronavirus outbreak. Are they overreacting or not doing enough? - USA TODAY

CHINA

Since 17 February, almost 2,700 teaching staff at Tsinghua University have delivered 4,000 online courses to 25,000 students spread across every time zone and continent. Shifting one of the worlds most elite university campuses into the cloud has required clarity, expertise, community and computers.

Tsinghuas decision to proceed with teaching-as-usual conveyed the clear message that higher education is one of our most precious resources. In times of uncertainty and fear, learning and research are more important than ever. Do not panic. Study and discover.

It will take millions of minds many decades to fully decode the ramifications of this shock to higher education. But it is important for people everywhere to know what has happened and immediately start making sense of what is going on.

No going back

A new global education economy has been born. Right now, universities, faculty and students in countries including China and Australia are relying entirely on online learning to deliver core education services.

Systems, experiences and expectations have been quickly forged which will almost surely yield widespread and enduring changes for global higher education. It is not possible nor desirable to go back from much that has been experienced.

Online learning has grown beyond smart acronyms and joined the mainstream education. Following Chinas lead, countries across Asia will almost certainly place more formal emphasis on online learning. Such a move holds global consequences, with Asia being the worlds biggest time zone for higher education.

New regulatory policies and cross-border agreements will be required. Countries will need to negotiate new rules with physical institutions such as campus-based universities, including bolstering the already flourishing emergence of career-long learning.

The role of university leaders

Though often quiet achievers, university leaders will play a more prominent global role. Findings from the Global University President Interviews research project, run by the Institute of Education at Tsinghua, reveals the role university leaders play in steering investigation and debate and carving out futures in almost every imaginable area.

As the current Tsinghua case confirms, leadership is most tested when things go awry. The current situation presents a call to better understand university leadership during times of crisis, and how to steer an increasingly uncertain future. This is essential, for while technology enables global higher education, it is really the leaders, systems and engaged people who make education succeed.

The recent shock is a sharp prod to start learning quickly about online global higher education. Over recent decades, international education has given rise to reasonably well-known information economies, student markets, research ecosystems and geopolitics. Much less is known about the new global era. There is little policy about how managers can support hundreds of globally located faculty who are delivering top-end university education to students all over the world.

While it spawns big data, we know rather little about the value of online education. We know even less about how countries, universities and families will distribute time and money across physical, technological and intercontinental platforms. Early signs suggest that the global era will blend concrete, kerosene and silicone in creative and smart ways. Many countries, particularly in Asia, must quickly reform national policy to embrace online pieces of learning.

Higher education has just been shaken by forces beyond its control. Such a shock is unsurprising given the role universities now play in the general economy. Universities can and must direct their future for the good of the globe, as Tsinghuas leaders have demonstrated. Elite university education is surely more global and online than ever before. Now is the time for bold education experiments, informed by major useful research.

Professor Hamish Coates, Dr Wen Wen and Professor Jinghuan Shi are based at the Institute of Education at Tsinghua University, China. Email: hamishcoates@tsinghua.edu.cn

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Crisis is making online education economy go mainstream - University World News