What Happened to the Duolingo Incubator? (Will It Come Back?)

Remember when you were able to see the courses that were about to launch on Duolingo? Duolingo incubator was the place where we were able to know which course was under process. Unfortunately, it was removed from the platform. But why did they do so? Here, I will guide you more about it and will make sure that you are able to find all your answers.

Quick Takeaways

• Duolingo incubator was the place where the courses were designed and developed to get live courses on the platform.
• In starting it was just an internal platform but eventually become a volunteer platform.
• In 2021 it was shut down due to the IPO of Duolingo in July 2021.
• Currently, if you think of accessing it, you will be directed towards the official page of Duolingo which includes all the names of the languages available on the platform.

What is Duolingo Incubator?

Duolingo incubator was a place where the courses were designed and developed to get live on the platform. In the beginning, it was just an internal platform but eventually became a volunteer platform. As Duolingo is a free platform to use, the incubator was a voluntary project where anybody could join to create the course. The incubator was not only responsible for developing the course but also for monitoring it. Here, we could also see how many courses are being developed, what is the launching date, etc. As a Spanish learner, I also wanted to add some new content, but unfortunately was not able to do so.

I believe it was the best way of keeping transparency about the upcoming courses and giving updates about them. However, with time, Duolingo closed this feature which developed the curiosity among the Duolingo users.

What Happened to the Duolingo Incubator? 

As I mentioned above the platform removed this feature There are two main reasons for the closing of the Duolingo Incubator-

1. Monetization of the courses

The first reason revolves around the monetization of the courses. When the incubator service was started there was no money earned by the company. But with time, it became a publicly listed company and started earning from these courses. This was the reason why they shut down the feature after the launch of their IPO.

3. Standardized method of creating the courses

The second reason for closing it was they were shifting towards the more standardized method of creating the courses. As the marketplace for learning languages is growing, Duolingo needs to develop the course more efficiently. Thus, the platform follows strict guidelines and a specific template which was not followed earlier Thus Duolingo has stopped having volunteer creation and has started paid creation.

Will the Duolingo incubator come back?

The Duolingo incubator is now shut down. After doing some research, I found that it has become staff-locked and thus is not open for the volunteers. So will it come back or not? As the courses on this platform are used to generate income, there are no chances of coming back to them. Yes, it is sad. But the best part is that the courses made in the incubator are still live, and you can access them. The courses on the platform can also be downloaded and can be viewed offline.

What were the different phases of developing the course?

Each course had different types of information like contributors, followers, status reports, etc. As a regular user of Duolingo, I always wonder what is the process of Developing the course. So I got to know that there are three different phases in which the course is developed which are mentioned below-

Phase 1

In this phase, courses were still at a very early position and were not yet ready for beta testing.

Phase 2

In this phase, courses were in the beta testing stage. It means that such courses were almost ready to use with some bugs or issues.

Phase 3

It was the final stage in which the courses were out of beta testing and were out for the public.

Who were the course contributors to Duolingo Incubator?

Course contributors were the volunteers who helped to design the courses on this platform. Anybody could become a contributor to Duolingo Incubator. To become a course contributor, you must have fluency in a particular language like Spanish, French, Japanese, etc. You were only selected if you were passionate and committed to it. Additionally, there were people who managed the activities of all the contributors.

How did Duolingo’s contributor program start?

In 2012, Duolingo had an internal platform – an incubator, which helped to develop the courses. Soon different language committees were interested in teaching the students their traditional languages. This was the time when the platform thought of introducing a contributor program. It was officially started in 2013. Due to this feature, you are now getting some language courses like Welsh, Irish, etc. Otherwise, they may not be part of Duolingo.

What happens to the course contributors?

Course contributors were a great part of Duolingo’s journey and thus they were awarded with the Duolingo Language Impact Award which was $4M dollar funded. Along with it, there were many other awards like recognitions and VIP access to some special events. As the contributors were the main reason for the success of Duolingo, they are also eligible to work as part-time course specialists.

According to the official statement of the platform:

Volunteer Contributors played a key role in helping Duolingo scale and propel our mission forward. In this spirit, the entire Contributor community will be presented with the Duolingo Language Impact Award, a $4M dollar fund that will be shared among this community. 

What if you try to access the incubator now?

Earlier, when it was closed many people could access it for some time. But now, if you try to access the incubator feature – incubator.duolingo.com you will be redirected to Dulling’s official page which helps you to know the different languages offered on the platform. Conclusion

Duolingo incubator was one of the features in which the courses were designed and developed. It started as an internal platform but gradually became a voluntary program. Different course contributors were able to create courses for their native languages. As the company started earning from these courses, they had to shut down the contributor program. If you try to use it you will be directed to the official page of the platform which mentions the names of all the languages available. I don’t think the company will bring the Incubator feature back, because the platform is now earning money from the platform.

FAQs