Responsabilidad y alegría

There are six business models higher education institutions are using or are planning to use for granting academic credits for MOOCs. The goal of the models is to attract new students to degree programs and to offer a lower tuition through MOOCs for credit.

Institutions Granting Credits for MOOCs Built by Home Institution – This model describes an institution granting credit for MOOCs that it develops in-house using the institution’s course standards and degree program learning outcomes. Similar to the process of institution-to-institution transfer credits, students submit a request for their MOOC transcript or syllabus to be reviewed and considered by the home institution and complete a proctored exam to demonstrate their familiarity with the subject. The MOOC is offered at no cost to students who do not seek academic credit. When a student does put in a request for credit review of the MOOC, the student pays a fee much lower than regular tuition. The State of Georgia has this business model in place and many universities are considering implementation, such as Cleveland State University, Lamar University, Utah State University, University of Arkansas, University of Cincinnati, and University of Texas at Arlington.

 Advantages – Because the MOOC is less expensive to students, more accessible, and requires only a basic fee for credit review requests, it may lead to new enrollments. Such students may not have otherwise enrolled without the MOOC option for additional credit courses, academic degrees, or certificates.

 Disadvantages – The MOOC still has to be funded, built, and hosted by the home institution. Institutions Granting Credits for MOOCs Built by Other Institutions or MOOC Providers— This model is similar to the model described above, with the addition that the home university also reviews and considers granting credit for MOOCs offered by other institutions or commercial MOOC providers (i.e., Coursera, Udacity, and EdX). A student will still submit a request for the MOOC transcript or syllabus to be reviewed and considered for credit and will be required to take a proctored exam at the home institution. The fee will remain lower than regular tuition at the home institution conducting the review. The American Council on Education (ACE) operates a credit- recommendation service that evaluates individual MOOCs built by other institutions. If a MOOC passes ACE’s evaluation, ACE notifies its 1,800 members that ACE approves the MOOC as credit. However, it is still up to the individual institution to grant credit for a MOOC. Currently, only five MOOCs have been recommended by ACE for academic credit. Currently, San Jose State and Colorado State University Global Campus are considering or have implemented this model collaborating with Udacity.

 Advantages – The home institution does not have to fund, build, and host the MOOC. The ability to submit requests for transfer MOOCs to be reviewed for and granted credit at the

home institution may incentivize new students who would not have otherwise enrolled without the MOOC option into academic degrees.

 Disadvantages – The home institution will not leverage its reputation as with its own MOOCs and will lose tuition revenue on the course accepted for credit. In addition, the course content will need to reviewed and validated to ensure the course supports the degree learning objectives of the institution.

Institutions Offering the First Course of a Degree Program as a MOOC – This model describes an institution offering the first course of a degree program as a MOOC. The student is granted credit for this MOOC and does not have to pay for the MOOC, even after continuing to the other non-MOOC courses of the degree program. The “free trial” concept is based on the premise that revenues will be generated from students who complete the entire degree who would not have otherwise enrolled without the MOOC serving as a first course option. The University of Cincinnati and Academic partnerships through its partner institutions currently have this model in place.

 Advantages – Students who have not made the decision to enroll in a program may be strongly incentivized to join knowing that the first course is free. The rest of the selling features (student experience, collaboration, and interaction) have to come into play during the first term in order for students to continue to pursue the degree.

 Disadvantages – The MOOC has to be funded, built, and hosted by the home institution using its course standards and degree program learning outcomes, but the home institution receives no tuition for this MOOC’s credits.

Institutions Licensing MOOCs From Other Institutions Through Coursera – Coursera (the licensor) licenses MOOCs from another university to the home university (the licensee) to be used in a degree program. Students pay the home institution a fee lower than regular tuition. The MOOC will still have branding from the institution that developed the course, but is offered as one of the home institution’s online options. The MOOC still maintains its assigned professor from the original institution, but the home institution provides students a faculty member or instructor who serves as an additional study advisor to discuss material and assign supplementary material. Antioch University, which is currently partnered with Coursera, assigns 20 students to one supplementary faculty member or instructor. From students who enroll in the MOOCs at the home university, Coursera receives between 6 and 15 percent, and the institution and professor of the MOOC receive about 20 percent of gross profits. The State University of New York participates in this model for its most popular undergraduate general education courses.

 Advantages – The home institution does not have to fund, build, and host the MOOC. The home institution is able to leverage the MOOC’s reputation of the institution that created it (in the case where the MOOC is from a prominent institution).

 Disadvantages – Using a MOOC created by another institution does nothing to enhance the reputation of the home institution.

Institutions Partnering with Corporations and Udacity -- This model describes a home institution collaborating with a workforce entity and Udacity to offer specific degree programs, which prepare

professionals for the specific industry through MOOC-style courses. Students complete a proctored exam at the end of each MOOC at a proctoring center (not necessarily on-campus of the home institution). Students pay for the MOOC-style courses at a lower cost than the regular tuition. The workforce entity helps fund the building and hosting of the MOOCs. Revenues from the tuition are distributed among the home institution, the business entity that was chosen to partner, and Udacity. Georgia Institute of Technology collaborated with AT&T and Udacity to offer a Master’s in Computer Science. AT&T contributed $2 million to launch the degree. AT&T hopes this degree will prepare more workers in the industry and hopes to target AT&T employees and nonemployees. Georgia Tech and Udacity will share the profits (and losses) 60%/40%, respectively.

 Advantages – This partnership model is especially attractive to organizations in industries lacking a workforce with the necessary skillset or education. The business funds the development of the MOOCs using the Udacity platforms, which decreases costs for the home institution because it is able to benefit from Udacity’s hosting scalability.

 Disadvantages – There is less profit for the home institution since revenue has to be shared with the business and/or Udacity (however, in the end, the smaller profit may be offset by a larger student and alumni base which may bring additional growth opportunities to the home university).