MOOCs and Libraries: Massive Opportunity or Overwhelming Challenge?

Jim Michalko, OCLC ResearchWith ample borrowings from Lorcan Dempsey, Brian Lavoie, Chris Galvin and Tam Dalrymple of OCLC

MOOCs & LibrariesMassive Opportunity or Overwhelming Challenge?MEDIA FRENZYIndividual personal attentionAny scheduleAny placeTutorial relationship takes into account individual differences in learningBetter than the crowded classroom of the ordinary American UniversityMEDIA FRENZYIndividual personal attentionAny scheduleAny placeTutorial relationship takes into account individual differences in learningBetter than the crowded classroom of the ordinary American UniversityUniversity of Chicagos Home-Study Department regarding their correspondence courses

4At least as daunting as the technical challenges will be the existential questions that online instruction raises for universities.Whether massive open courses live up to their hype or not, they will force college administrators and professors to reconsider many of their assumptions about the form and meaning of teaching. For better or worse, the Net's disruptive forces have arrived at the gates of academia.Nicholas Carr, MIT Technology Review 27 September 2012

(Various precursor strands in online education . )

(Various precursor strands in online education . )

Massive Open Online CourseMassive Open Online CourseScalable to large numbers Free, accessible collaborative, Not just materials Reimagined for network environment April 2012 April 2012

NAMETYPEFUNDINGBUSINESSMODELPARTNERSCOURSESEdX(April 2012)AcademicMIT, Harvard:$30m eachU. of Tex: $5mGates: $1mNon-profit;Plans to charge fee for certificates of completion12 including MITHarvardUC BerkeleyU. Of Texas26 courses at at March 2013;500,000 reg.370,000 usersCoursera(April 2012)

AcademicVC: $16m (KPCB, NEA)Addl equity $6m(includingCal Tech, Penn)For-profit;Plans to charge for certification,testing, sale of student info62 University partners, including:ColumbiaU. Of TorontoU. of Washington328 courses at March 2013 ;1.5 m reg.680,000 users(July 2012)Udacity(April 2012)AcademicVC: $22m(Andreesen Horowitz, Charles River,Steve Blank)For-profit;In-person proctored exam $89;Job placement;Plans for fee-based online secure examsNotables:Sebastian ThrunPeter NorvigSteve Huffman22 courses750,000 users(January 2012)KhanAcademyGeneralOSullivan Foundation:$5m;Gates, Google: $2m;Private donorsNon-profit;No revenueNearly all content created by Salmon Khan;2 addtl faculty hired; plans to hire more3,500 videos;200m lessons delivered;1.4m reg.(Dec. 2011)62 Universities Have Partnered With Coursera (16 outside US)Berklee College of MusicBrown UniversityCalifornia Institute of TechnologyCalifornia Institute of the ArtsCase Western Reserve UniversityColumbia UniversityCurtis Institute of MusicDuke Universitycole Polytechniquecole Polytechnique Fdrale de LausanneEmory UniversityGeorgia Institute of TechnologyHebrew University of JerusalemIE Business SchoolIcahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiJohns Hopkins UniversityLudwig-Maximilians-Universitt MnchenNational Taiwan UniversityNational University of SingaporeNorthwestern UniversityOhio State UniversityPennsylvania State UniversityPrinceton UniversityRice UniversityRutgers UniversitySapienza University of RomeStanford UniversityTechnical University of Denmark (DTU)Technische Universitt Mnchen (Technical University of Munich)Tecnolgico de MonterreyThe Chinese University of Hong KongThe Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyThe University of British ColumbiaThe University of EdinburghThe University of North Carolina at Chapel HillThe University of TokyoUniversidad Nacional Autnoma de MxicoUniversitat Autnoma de BarcelonaUniversiteit LeidenUniversity of California, IrvineUniversity of California, San Diego University of California, San FranciscoUniversity of California, Santa CruzUniversity of Colorado BoulderUniversity of CopenhagenUniversity of FloridaUniversity of GenevaUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUniversity of London International ProgrammesUniversity of Maryland, College ParkUniversity of MelbourneUniversity of MichiganUniversity of MinnesotaUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of PittsburghUniversity of RochesterUniversity of TorontoUniversity of VirginiaUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of WisconsinMadisonVanderbilt UniversityWesleyan University

13A few more

Funding from Hewlett, Shuttleworth, MozillaIncubated at UC IrvineClasses set up as challenges to be solved collaborativelyNon-profitFunding from Hewlett, Gates, Kresge, NSF, othersSome courses free; some have maintenance feesSome courses used by universities/colleges to support classroom instructionPlatform available for others to design and deploy new courses Owned by Ampush MediaAggregates online open courses form universities around the world within a single interface, with additional services layered on top$12. 5m venture capital fundingOnline training for programmersBusiness model unclear; possibly corporate recruitment$4m venture capital fundingOnline learning platform which instructors can use to host courses Free and paid courses available 30% cut of fees for paid courses

Bisk Education and Embanet+Compass, along with Pearson, are perhaps the most visible players, but Academic Partnerships, Deltak, 2tor and Learning House have also built successful businesses doing online program development for collegesEtc. Etc.

Why now?

MOOCs have become a flashpoint for discussion of higher ed because they represent an easily graspable, almost parodic version of what waspreviously invisible : elite university education. They have a unique power to drive public perception of the entire sector. Alyson Byerly. Formerly known as students. Inside Higher Ed. October 29 2012.

Broken University Business ModelplusDisruptive TechnologiesUncontrolled cost increasesCritical skills not learnedResistance to innovationIrrelevant ScholarshipTenure and accountabilityTuition subsidizes research

Prestige arms raceChange the value propositionLower performance relative to desired attributes from mainstream customersHave attributes valued by fringe (new) customers Cheaper, smaller, simpler, more convenientExperience and investment improve them so they eventually take over old market

Quality at scaleCompeting on costIntegration of career and academic preparationProblem-focused research

Is there a crisis in higher ed? (subset of culture and global crises)Whats an education? (Newman vs. Utilitarians) Whats it for?What do we know about teaching and learning? (Metrics and assessment)Whats a university? (Bologna/Paris, Nostalgia/History, Faculty Governance)

Same questions withthe inclusion of women and minorities; the advent of technical colleges, community colleges and land-grant universities; and the implementation of the G.I. Bill.

The running battle of abstract thinking and applied knowledge

Is this time different?

18

PLATFORM WARNetwork level disruptionAspirational: Systemwide transformationEntrepreneurialHighly computationalAttack costs and benefits at same timeEarly . but growing faster than Facebook

PLATFORM WARNetwork level disruptionAspirational: Systemwide transformationEntrepreneurialHighly computationalAttack costs and benefits at same timeEarly . but growing faster than Facebook

Bisk Education and Embanet+Compass, along with Pearson, are perhaps the most visible players, but Academic Partnerships, Deltak, 2tor and Learning House have also built successful businesses doing online program development for collegesEtc. Etc.

Wheres the library?Wheres the library?MOOCs & LibrariesMassive Opportunity or Overwhelming Challenge?