Dr. Li Yuan presented on MOOCs and their potential impacts on higher education. The presentation discussed the history and concepts of MOOCs, comparing cMOOCs and xMOOCs. It analyzed various MOOC business models and revenues sources. The presentation also examined MOOCs as a disruptive innovation that could reshape higher education provision through unbundling of content, delivery, and accreditation. While MOOCs may not replace universities, they have the potential to impact costs, delivery models, and educational missions.

1. Dr Li Yuan
Jisc CETIS, University of Bolton
MOOCs and Higher Education
- Concepts, Models and Trends
SCONUL Annual Conference
Dublin, 20 June, 2013

2. Open Educational Resources and Open Online Courses on Educational Technology
Designing Learning for the 21st Century
Background

3. Outline of the Presentation
 Making sense of MOOCs
Context, concept and history
 MOOCs as a Business
Business models, revenues, partnerships and outcomes
 MOOCs as Disruptive Innovation
Non-consumers, simple products, free or lower cost
 Potential Impacts on HE
Missions, provisions, costs, delivery models

4. What is a MOOC
- The concept of MOOCs was introduced by Dave Cormier in 2008

5. The First MOOC: CCK08 (2008)
 “Connectivism and Connective Knowledge” course
(CCK08)
 George Siemens (Athabasca University) & Stephen Downs
(the National Research Council of Canada)
 Designed for 25 fee-paying students
 Over 2,300 people participated

6. AI – MOOC (2011)
 “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence” course
 Sebastian Thrun and his colleagues at Stanford
 Attracted 160,000 learners from 190 countries

7. 2012: The Year of MOOCs

8. xMOOCs vs. cMOOCs
xMOOCs (edX, Coursera) cMOOCs (ocTEL, Change11)
Scalability of provision Massive Community and connections
Individual learning Online Networked learning
Open access - Restricted
licence
Open Open access - Open licence
Consume content Course Generate resources
Business
Model
Pedagogical
Model

9. Open Education, OERs and MOOCs
OERs 2006 : Open University - OpenLearn
2002: MIT - Open Courseware
cMOOCs 2013: OCTEL
2010: DS 106 Zone
2008: CCKO8
xMOOCs 2012: Udacity, Coursera
edX, & FutureLearn
2011: Stanford (AI MOOC)
Open Education: 1969: Open univerisity

10. The Business Concept of MOOCs
Business partners
Content providers Accreditation
StartupsVenture
Capitalists Learners

11. edX Coursera UDACITY
• Certification
• Shared
revenue with
universities
• Charges
$250,000 for
each new
course,
$50,000 for
recurring
course
• Certification
• Secure assessments
• Employee recruitment
• Applicant screening
• Human tutoring or
assignment marking
• Enterprises pay to run
their own training
courses
• Sponsorships
• Tuition fees
• Certification
• Employers pay for
recruit talent
student
• Students résumés
and job match
services
• Sponsored high-
tech skills courses
Revenue Streams for MOOC Startups

12. MOOCs So Far
edX Coursera Udacity
Investment $60 million $22 million $21.1 million
Partners 27 universities 62 universities 1 university
(San Jose State
University )
Courses 11 courses 212 courses 24 courses
Registered Users 0.9 million 3.2 million 0.4 million

13. Analysis of MOOC Learners
- Coursera survey, 2013

14. The UK’s First Coursera MOOCs in
Edinburgh
http://mashe.hawksey.info
309,628

15. Learners’ Engagement with MOOCs
- MOOCs @ Edinburgh –Report #1

16. Learners’ Time Spent on MOOCs
- MOOCs @ Edinburgh –Report #1

17. Global Visibility
- MOOCs @ Edinburgh –Report #1

18. Will MOOCs Disrupt HE?

19. Disruptive Innovation Theory
 Sustaining innovation – to improve the existing
system.
 Disruptive innovation - to create an entirely new
market, typically by lowering price or designing for
different customers .
(Christensen, 2003)

20. Potential Customer Groups
Non-consumers
lack the ability, wealth, or
access to a product or
service
Undershot Customers
consume a product or service
but are frustrated with its
limitations
Overshot Customers
stop paying for further
improvements to a product
or service.

21. MOOCs and Disruptive Innovation
Active Disruption
Begins
Noncustomer
Sustaining innovation
Disruptive innovation
PerformanceDemand
Time
New-market disruptive innovation
Undershot Customers
MOOCs
Overshot Customers

22. UK Higher Education Scenarios
- from the EU TEL-Map project
Traditional
University
Unidiversity
Hybrid
University
Online
University

23. Potential Benefits
Educational Institution
 Supporting educational missions
 Strengthening brand reputation and expanding markets
 Low overhead provision
 New revenue streams
 Re-evaluating institutions’ existing pedagogical practice
Learner
 Pace, time and location of study
 Diversification of learning pathways
 New provision at low cost

24. Potential Impacts on HE Provision
(Un-bundling)
Higher
Education
Content
Delivery
Accreditation
Platform

25. Potential Cost Structures
Cost to
learners
Providers
MOOC Startups Universities
Free Learning management platform Content
Lower cost Automated test or peer
assessment
Certification
Content
Higher Cost Course offered through
partnerships
Personalised
feedback and
support
Accreditation

26. MOOCs: Gartner Hype Cycle
2011
AI MOOC
2012
The year of
MOOCs
What works?
2013
Negative
news
appears

27. In Summary…
 The basic concept of MOOCs is not new
- but the business model is relatively new to Higher
Education
 MOOCs will not disrupt universities
- but they have the potential to reshape HE provision
 The hype of MOOCs will fade away,
- but the real innovation in Open Online Courses is
just beginning

28. The Future of MOOCs
“A year ago, I could not have imagined that
we would be where we are now” …
“Who knows where we’ll be in five more
years?”
Daphne Koller (the Co-founder of Coursera):

29. Thank you!

30. Further Reading:
JISC CETIS, 2013, MOOCs and Open Education: Implications for Higher Education,
http://publications.cetis.ac.uk/2013/667
Moody, 2012, Shifting Ground: Technology Begins to Alter Centuries Old Business Model for Universities
http://www.etsu.edu/125/taskforces/Programs_and_Opportunities/documents/MOOC.PDF
Edinbourgh, 2013, MOOCs @ Edinburgh –Report #1,
http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/6683/1/Edinburgh%20MOOCs%20Report%202013%20%231.pdf
Universities UK, 2013, Massive open online courses: higher education's digital moment?
http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Documents/2013/MassiveOpenOnlineCourses.pdf
Christensen, C., M. (2003). The innovator's solution: creating and sustaining successful growth. Harvard Business
Press.
Gartner (2013), Gartner Hype Cycles, http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/hype-cycles.jsp
Hill P (2013), MOOCs Beyond Professional Development: Coursera’s Big Announcement in Context,
http://mfeldstein.com/moocs-beyond-professional-development-courseras-big-announcement-in-context/