Straw Man #1
Consider this unique on-line platform:
- Students register for a MOOC-style course that parallels an existing regular BU course for a nominal fee (e.g., $20). The course is asynchronous in the sense that the student can proceed at his/her own pace as long as they finish within (say) a year, or even two.
- For an additional fee (e.g., $200), BU students registered for the course are allowed to tap into specific resources supported by BU (e.g., tutors, supervised projects, access to experimental platforms, access to data sets, licensed materials and content, etc.)
- For an additional fee (e.g., $2,000), students would travel to campus (or even one of BU’s remote campuses) during the summer term and spend two weeks for an immersive capstone experience (e.g., participate in a group project, visit local museums, participate in a lab rotation, etc.) At the end of this on-campus engagement, students take a test or are otherwise evaluated and given a grade.
- Students get BU credit for courses completed in this fashion.
Questions:
- What types of courses fit this platform, but not other platforms (such as Coursera, EdX, 2u.com, etc.)? Can you give examples?
- If this platform proves successful (say 10,000 students end up completing all the above), what would be the impact on the BU brand? What would be the impact of existing programs (e.g., summer term)? What would be the impact on recruitment?
- BU students may opt to take some of their courses on this platform and get BU credit at a lower expense. What type of students may opt to do so? What would be the impact on tuition revenue? What would be the impact on retention?
- What current BU resources could be leveraged to support such a platform? What new resources (including some creative combination of existing platforms) would be needed?
- What might an experiment (or sets of experiments) to test the possibility of adopting such a platform look like?
November 6, 2012
I had first read this straw man as an alternative delivery option for courses within already existing programs for undergraduates, but now I see that it might be a completely alternative course option, so I’ll comment on both.
IF PART OF AN EXISTING RESIDENTIAL PROGRAM
Just a general comment: I could see the third bullet being optional, depending on the course.
If the intensive element were optional, I could see this type of course working well for foundation courses (math, statistics, perhaps the intro psychology, economics, — and I’m sure, others); with the intensive format, I could see it possibly work for biology, chemistry, physics — and I’m sure others.
I could imagine the brightest students opting to do this either in order to complete their degrees in less time or to be able to take more classes in the traditional four-year period (that would probably wreak havoc with how many credits we allow students to take before we say they’re done, but we’d figure that out).
Revenues would almost certainly be lower either way, but that might be okay because costs might also go down if fewer sections of the traditional foundation courses could be offered.
IF NOT PART OF AN EXISTING RESIDENTIAL PROGRAM
I guess how popular this option would be for non-matriculated students when other online options could be taken would depend on the other options. BU would be likely be competing with the other MOOC developers. If we got students to enroll, there would be additional revenues, but there would also be substantial development costs for the online course and its delivery.
November 6, 2012
• Question: What types of courses fit this platform? Can you give examples?
Response: The courses that would fit this platform are fundamentals courses – I teach a course on Web Applications Development and one on Project Management at the graduate level (online and on-campus). Let me simply focus on the Web Application Development (WAD) course. There is a lot of pre-requisite knowledge that must be absorbed before the students do well in my online or on-campus course. For example, some intricate programming foundation knowledge must be acquired. If we provide such information via a MOOC, this course could fit the platform. Foundations in Web Programming MOOC, or a Foundations of Project Management MOOC will fit this platform. This will not take away anything from our current revenues in our college as we don’t offer such a course. If the students are willing to take the exam and are deserving of credits, this will provide confidence to us that we are accepting quality students into the graduate program. The payment structure described is possible… with increasing amount of tuition money paid more resources will be provided by Boston University (such as personalized help to master some fundamentals of programming or help in debugging some programs).
• Question: If this platform proves successful (say 10,000 students end up completing all the above), what would be the impact on the BU brand? What would be the impact of existing programs (e.g., summer term)? What would be the impact on recruitment?
Response: The impact on the brand will be positive. Recruitment will positive. We may graduate 500 if 10,000 register. We may see 50 students joining us online for the WAD course, I described. If the course is executed well, there will be a buzz about the existence of BU as a player in the field of Project Management education or a leader in WAD education. If there is some component of “go to BU” and “you can do the assignments at the computer labs….or get help from BU graduate assistants” at the CRC campus… there should be no serious impact on summer term.
• Question: BU students may opt to take some of their courses on this platform and get BU credit at a lower expense. What type of students may opt to do so? What would be the impact on tuition revenue? What would be the impact on retention?
Response: We should not allow BU credit to be cheaper if it is a MOOC. It makes no sense! If other schools regard our piece of paper as equivalent to credit, then this is a risk. But this is a risk that all quality schools might not take.
• Question: What current BU resources could be leveraged to support such a platform? What new resources (including some creative combination of existing platforms) would be needed?
• Question: What might an experiment (or sets of experiments) to test the possibility of adopting such a platform look like?
Response: This is a good technical question—I have used open source Learning Management Systems (LMS), but don’t know how such LMS will handle 50,000 students in a course. For instance, I have seen our existing Blackboard systems struggle when 1000 people are active on the first day of class. We have to study the existing systems such as Coursera to see how they do it… for sure. if we are building our own home grown LMS, I would leverage Google Youtube for storing all videos and other repositories, I would use BU infrastructure for storing static pages. I would avoid dynamic pages being hosted on our site……
November 7, 2012
Hi Team – I know Kevin has asked us to pick a particular question and take the lead on answering it, but i’m afraid that i have questions before i try to answer any of the questions!
I want to make sure the straw man is realistic. What exactly is the point to specifying that the MOOC parallel an existing BU course? There doesn’t seem to be a suggestion that the MOOC would interact with the residential class in any of the scenarios. Is the idea simply that it would be more realistic and efficient to build a MOOC off an existing class? Perhaps, but i am already looking at a potential MOOC at the law school that doesn’t build off an existing class. I think a MOOC could fill a gap at BU Law and at other law schools that hasn’t been tackled in a residential setting.
Although assessment isn’t mentioned until we get to the $2000 level course, i would think that some form of assessment would be required at the $20 and $200 levels. Presumably, though, assessment might become more detailed or thorough as one moves up through the food chain. What do you guys think?
Who do we envision as the market for these MOOCs? Other undergrads? Working people or people abroad who aren’t in a position to take advantage of traditional US education? Perhaps the audience for the $20 version is different than that for the $200 and $2000 versions. With respect to the $2000 version, i would be concerned that the two week intensive residential experience might be unattractive in the marketplace. That might work with undergrads who are un- or under-employed in the summer, but probably not for working people. We have experimented with blended on-line and intensive residential education in an executive LLM program at the law school and have found that the residential piece, while only two weeks long, has severely limited our market. We’re looking at going to 100% on-line as a result. Thoughts?
November 7, 2012
It seems that a residential component is likely to be a negative unless it is an integral part of the course. If you really need to work in a lab to benefit fully from the course, it might make sense, but if it is just an add-on used to justify charging more for getting credit, it is likely to lose out in the market place.
November 7, 2012
Before I can answer the question of what courses might work, I have to think about the potential audience for this multi-tier course. In general, I imagine three reasons for wanting to take a MOOC-style course:
1. entertainment: It is a substitute for watching a PBS mini-series or individual TED lecturers. Presumably such “customers” would have a more serious interest in the topic than the typical PBS audience, but they view the course as consumption, not as an investment. They may value tools that enhance learning, but such tools are not essential to their enjoyment of the class.
2. skill development: These students care about mastering the material. There are math classes that I would like to take but that I do not take because I cannot commit to regular attendance and doing the exercises that mastering the material would require. I would want my exercises to be graded so that I learn what I have not mastered, but I have no real interest in the grade itself.
3. certification: These students need proof that they have mastered the material. In some cases this may mean that they need college credit. In others, they may want access to more advanced courses. In others, it may be an element of professional certification.
The goal of this scenario appears to be to respond to these three customer bases simultaneously. The large “consumer” group is probably happy to take courses at low cost with at most nonhuman feedback in the form of machine-graded exercises.
Those seeking skill development may be happy with the lowest tier especially if they can find ways to get help through on-line social networks, but it seems likely that many would want to make sure that they were getting help from people whose judgment is known to be reliable and might be willing to pay a modest additional fee for such access.
Those seeking certification may be satisfied with either of the lower tiers (depending on whether they really want the skills ro just the certification) provided that there is some way to get certification, but at least for some courses a residential component may be more conducive for such certification.
I confess that I find it challenging to come up with current courses that would simultaneously appeal to all three groups. Aaron Stevens’s “Personal Life-Cycle Economics” course might more or less fit the bill. People may want to take it to get a better sense of how to make financial decisions but not take it too seriously. Others may want to make sure they have the skills. And some students may be able to use it for course credit. I could imagine people in financial advising valuing having a formal certification, but probably not at the level of a two-week residential course unless that two-weeks residential course were a significant supplement to the course.
More generally, I don’t see this model working well for most courses aimed at majors or potential majors. Perhaps it is the bias coming from economics, but I can see some people taking many courses out of interest, and I can see some doing so in order to obtain credit, but the middle tier of paying for additional assistance without credit doesn’t seem likely to mesh with at least one of the other two tiers. To use my own Poverty and Discrimination course since I know it best, I can imagine some people taking the course just because they are interested in learning about the topic and others because they can use it for credit at their institution, but I don’t see why someone would choose the intermediate option.
It seems self-evident that such a course would, if done well, enhance BU’s brand among the large number of students taking it for fun. Conditional on continuing to believe in the importance of residential education for their children, parents who took the course would probably view BU more favorably. The more difficult question is whether they would question the need for a residential experience.
The residential component does seem like a direct competitor with Summer Term. Moreover, if I can take Poverty and Discrimination on-line and then come to BU for a capstone experience that is not part of the residential course and costs less than the residential course, and I can receive full credit for the course, it seems to me that I would question whether it makes sense to be a residential student.
November 8, 2012
• What types of courses fit this platform, but not other platforms (such as Coursera, EdX, 2u.com, etc.)? Can you give examples?
As far as I know, the asynchronous nature of this model would not fit the delivery models of Coursera, EdX, or 2u. All of those offer synchronous courses of a set duration, or in the case of 2u, complete degree programs. The asynchronous nature of this model is more in line with the Open Learning Initiative (OLI) from CMU, or Open Courseware, which are not really MOOCs. I think that the existence of a cohort of students moving through the coursework together, using discussion and social tools, and having an instructor and teaching assistants monitoring the macro trends in that activity are key components of MOOCs that are missing in an asynchronous approach. I don’t think the asynchronous approach will result in the same type of learning experiences or have the same appeal.
• If this platform proves successful (say 10,000 students end up completing all the above), what would be the impact on the BU brand? What would be the impact of existing programs (e.g., summer term)? What would be the impact on recruitment?
I think the impact on the BU brand of a high quality MOOC would be positive. How it impacts existing programs and recruitment depends upon what courses are offered. Kevin’s comments on the three primary motives for taking a course are very helpful here. If we target the entertainment and skill development motives, and offer courses that are differentiated from our degree curriculum, tailored to be satisfying to those motives, there would be little competition with existing programs, and recruitment for existing programs would likely be enhanced, because the MOOCs would serve as a form of marketing.
However, only the first two variations (nominal, low cost) fit the entertainment and skill development motivations well. I do see a possibility of interest in the low cost, more resources model – some people will want the extra resources and higher touch version, so long as the cost difference is small. It is somewhat similar to the subscription I buy to Gartner IT research; I can buy just access to the research for a lower cost, or I can pay more to be able to ask questions of an analyst and get access to more specialized resources.
I don’t see much point in the nominal fee model, especially for an asynchronous course; three levels – free, low cost with additional resources and certificate, full tuition cost with a campus component and full credit – makes more sense to me. I think the audience for the third model would be current BU students, as the residential requirement would be a big detractor for non-BU students.
• BU students may opt to take some of their courses on this platform and get BU credit at a lower expense. What type of students may opt to do so? What would be the impact on tuition revenue? What would be the impact on retention?
I think that is BU offers approach 3 at lower that regular tuition cost, it would be widely adopted by current students and tuition revenue will drop accordingly. The question is, would delivery costs drop as well? Overhead costs would not drop; instructional costs might drop, depending upon the cost of the capstone experience. We would need to determine the actual cost impact and the corresponding number of courses that we can afford to offer in this model and count toward undergraduate degree residency requirements.
• What current BU resources could be leveraged to support such a platform? What new resources (including some creative combination of existing platforms) would be needed?
If we intend for these courses to be truly massive – 10,000+ students in a single course, especially if synchronous) we would need to utilize a third party platform designed to handle that load. In addition, machine and social grading capabilities present in Coursera and EdX platforms would need to be present in order to provide a high quality MOOC experience, and we do not have those capabilities currently at BU. I think we would need a partner to develop those capabilities, or join a consortium. A MOOC is not just a big Blackboard instance – no matter what Blackboard says.
• What might an experiment (or sets of experiments) to test the possibility of adopting such a platform look like?
– A few Coursera courses, designed to be offered in models 1, 2 and 3
– A course or courses with another such partner
November 12, 2012
I had one thought on Tracy’s recent post. I agree that a model in which students proceed completely at their own pace is problematic, but there are asynchonous models that can still incorporate discussion groups, TAs, etc. If by synchronous we mean that the instructor and students are all participating in real time, an asynchronous model can allow students to work at various times during the day or week that suit them, while still keeping the group roughly together with respect to particpation in discussion groups, receiving feedback on assignments, etc. This model is one we’re currently using in the online tax program at BU. So i guess there are 3 models – synchronous; asynchronous, but with limited time flexibility; and asynchronous with a huge amount of time flexibility. I realize i’m not directly addressing our straw man with this post, but perhaps this will be helpful down the road.