Will MOOC platforms be the future of online degree providers?

A reader last week challenged the idea that MOOC platforms’ advantage in recruitment was not a big deal vs the deep pockets of publisher OPMs like Wiley and Pearson.

It’s a great question. Let’s think through what it means first. The question here is whether as MOOCs move into provision of online degrees be they Bachelors or Masters, their ability to recruit from their existing userbase is a USP.

The case against (as I understand it), to paraphrase, is that given places are limited on online degree courses, having a huge MOOC userbase from which to recruit from doesn’t materially offer any advantage vs the OPM provider who uses traditional marketing and recruitment methods (be they agents on the ground in target geographies or online marketing and telephone recruitment). Because this isn’t a material advantage and MOOC platforms don’t have the deep pockets typically required for online degrees (i.e. huge upfront capital to spend) they will eventually be muscled out by the traditional OPM providers as Universities lose interest in the MOOC model and move to other new shiny things.

I’ve consistently made the opposite case. On the grounds that recruitment is fundamental to any online programme and that the online programme space is getting more crowded — so if a platform can offer up to 50% of the people through its userbase (as Coursera have)and at a fraction of the cost in marketing and recruitment then that alone will give them a pricing advantage vs a traditional OPM.

I think there is more to it than just recruitment though, the entire business model of a degree on a MOOC platform differs from the traditional OPM and it’s precisely that change that is seeing new competitors come to the fore. The old model — deep upfront expenditure — was very unattractive to universities. It typically required a minimum of a 10 year contract (and they’d need academics to service that), a deeply expensive relationship with a profit driven OPM provider and a revenue share that wouldn’t look rosy until the tail end of the relationship. The unattractiveness of such deals, was in part why Pearson were booted out of recent projects like UF Online and Exeter.

MOOC platforms, edX and FutureLearn in particular, also offered much more than cash cow degree programmes by being partnership models. edX and FutureLearn both include governance groups that contribute to the strategic direction of the MOOC platform — not a stand off commercial relationship like Pearson.

MOOCs also provided an outlet for academic communication (a significant component to UK and European research funding), a way to extend their brand to new audiences (potentially very useful for recruitment) as well as offer additional online offerings to existing students.

MOOC platforms as a strategic rather than arms-length commercial relationship was no accident, MOOC platforms emerged at time when Universities were willing to engage more strategically with online and digital — rather than hive it off to a third party. Indeed that is often MOOC platforms’ pitch — we’ll innovate together to explore the myriad of benefits for online. That was a soft pitch originally but it’s become more tangible. Not only are MOOC platforms capable (tentatively) of delivering on student recruitment to on campus, they’ve also tangibly delivered (at least for Coursera) for online degree recruitment.

More is coming, edX’s MicroMasters and proposed Microbachelors are unpacking the degree itself — in a format for which MOOC platforms (unsurprisingly) are uniquely well suited (i.e. short courses, stackable, ease of upgrading from audit to freemium to for-credit, try before you buy etc). If they are successful then MOOC platforms will redefine the online degree and with it relegate OPM providers.

But if I’m sounding super bullish on MOOCs that’s not necessarily the case, it’s more I’m bearish on OPM providers as currently constituted — Universities relationship with online has changed to a more strategic and multifaceted one that has left the old OPM model less relevant.

And MOOCs could just as easily be the in-between option as trends such as Hollowing out, and emergent digital competitors in badging, recruitment and testing or last-mile erase their post-graduation market, maybe even LinkedIn (probably not though).