Next phase of Open & Online Education

Transcription

1 Next phase of Open & Online Education

2 Next phase of Open & Online Education Vision, strategy & organization Version 0.4 Draft & Confidential January 2014 Anka Mulder (Vice-president Education & Operations) Contributors Timo Kos (director of education & student affairs) Nellie van de Griend (manager teacher & student services) Cock Huizer (ICTO coordinator) Willem van Valkenburg (coordinator OCW/OER & MOOCs) Sofia Dopper (coordinator online masters & blended learning) 2

3 Content 1. INTRODUCTION - CONTEXT GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS STATE OF DELFT PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT PROCESS 5 2. VISION THE FUTURE OF OPEN & ONLINE EDUCATION ACCELERATING PACE OF INNOVATION HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE AND DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION 6 3. AMBITION ACADEMIC REPUTATION & QUALITY IMPROVEMENT NEXT PHASE O2E OPPORTUNITIES &(POTENTIAL) BENEFITS OF O2E SCENARIO S FOR THE NEXT PHASE OF O2E 8 4. STRATEGY EARLY ADOPTION GOALS & ACTIVITIES ORGANIZATION: FACULTY X & O2E LEARNING LAB 9 3

4 1. Introduction - Context 1.1 Global developments Open & Online Education (hereafter O2E) has entered a new phase of development. Top-tier universities, mainly from the USA, are investing large amounts of time and money in accelerating the production of their open & online education portfolio & experiment with the use these courses for blended learning and innovative didactics ( flipped classrooms ) in their on-campus degree programs. Elite universities such as Stanford, MIT and Harvard have partnered with new online education platforms such as Coursera and edx providing free - or low cost massive open online courses (MOOC) to a global population of learners. These platforms have already attracted massive amounts of students per course (> ) and the ambition of these platforms & their partner universities is to educate millions of students worldwide. These developments are viewed by leaders in the industry and a number of renowned analysts such as Clayton Christenson and Thomas Friedman as the start of a disruptive innovation that could mark the emergence of a truly global online higher education market. Coursera & edx could develop into dominant digital distribution networks, comparable to i-tunes & Spotify for the music industry, providing worldwide access to high quality & low cost online learning. In this global online market only a select number of star-professors and institutions will be able to attract massive attendance & thereby position themselves for potential new revenue streams & business models for online education. Many universities & faculty see these developments as a new opportunity to do experiments and research into what works online and how this can be used to increase the quality and effectiveness on-campus education through blended learning. 1.2 State of Delft Since 2006 Delft UT has invested substantially in the development of Open Course Ware (OCW) and online education. To summarize these developments Delft UT: Developed an open & online portfolio consisting of: OCW courses (ocw.tudelft.nl; open) recorded web lectures (collegerama.tudelft.nl: enrolled students only) - 2 blended Bachelors (started fall 2013) - 3 online masters (of which two 30 EC modules; started fall 2013) - 2 MOOCs in fall 2013 ( enrolled, certificates), and three more announced for spring 2014 Is a sustaining member of OCW Consortium (presidency ) Is the first European university to join the edx consortium, founded by MIT & Harvard and has a significant online presence on the following channels: - i-tunesu/tudelft (open) - edx/delftx (open) The Delft UT therefore has achieved an excellent starting position to keep up with the recent developments and innovations in O2E that offers new opportunities for sharing its academic leadership and knowledge with the world, and experiment with potential new business models & revenue stream that could generate a new source of revenue in times of shrinking public funding of higher education & research. 4

5 1.3 Purpose of this document This new phase of development in the (r)evolution of O2E provides many new opportunities and challenges for Delft UT. The strategic challenge we see is how to best seize the opportunities these developments provide, such as new and exciting ways to share our excellent academic knowledge with the world, form global learning networks, recruit academic talents from new populations of learners, collaborate in newly formed academic consortia with internationally recognized partners, and last but not least, do research into what works online and what doesn t and use this to improve the quality of both online & on-campus teaching and learning. Exploring these possibilities is challenging given scarcity of resources, especially the time of faculty that is already strained by research & teaching obligations. Furthermore we need to be very alert to disruptive developments that might negatively impact the academic reputation, international competitiveness, current & future revenue streams and business model of Delft UT. Given the accelerating pace of developments, it will be necessary to accelerate our development of open & online education as well and diversify our experiments if we want to retain our position as a leading institution in this field and seize the abovementioned opportunities. This document summarizes the vision & strategy for the next phase of O2E. It furthermore provides the outline of the organization for a 2-year innovation program to realize the strategic goals with O2E in line with the Roadmap 2020 and accelerate the production of open & online education & scale the number of experiment with online & blended teaching & learning. 1.4 Process This document was written after multiple discussions about the future of open & online education and the preferred strategy for the Delft UT with experts from the online education team of the department of education & student affairs in the period September-November Earlier versions with the outline of the vision & strategy have been presented in the form of a PowerPoint presentation to the Board (12 November), the directors of education (21 November), and faculty staff involved in the production of open course ware, blended learning, online masters and MOOCs (10 December). 2. Vision the future of open & online education 2.1 Accelerating pace of innovation The breakthrough of MOOCs in last two years has spurned an unprecedented amount of innovation activity in the field of open & online education. Together with the MOOC platforms, elite universities are conducting numerous experiments with potential far reaching consequences for the higher education market. Here is a sample of recent experiments to illustrate this: Use of MOOCs as deficiency courses and in blended learning for on-campus students (San Jose State University, Texas State University System/Austin) Identity verification for MOOCs (both online and off-line proctoring), leading to an identity verified certificate (Coursera, edx) Accreditation of first MOOCs (Udacity, Coursera, EdX) Offering series of MOOCs allowing universities to make combinations of courses on related topics (edx/xseries) Licensing MOOCs as Textbooks to third party universities (Leiden University) Offering MOOCs for credit (Berkely, both with Coursera & edx) Offering MOOCs as paid Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs, e.g. Stanford & Harvard) Integration & open source development of innovative exercises & tests (open API s) Research into peer-grading and automated grading of essays (Artificial Intelligence) 5

6 Launch of multi-lingual MOOC-platform & courses (Coursera) & first national MOOC platforms (edx: French, Arabic, Chinese) Collaboration with Linked-in & recruitment services to corporations (Udacity, Coursera & edx) Collaboration with large corporations in offering MOOCs and complete & low-cost online master programs for professionals (e.g. Georgia Tech/Udacity/AT&T: $ 6.700,- in stead of $ ,- a year for a full & accredited master computer science) Integration of Virtual Labs in online education (MIT, Delft) Etc Given the fact that most of these experiments still have to prove their value and currently lack financial sustainability, it is almost impossible to predict what the future will hold for higher education. It is in this state of flux that we try to develop a focused strategy for the next phase of Delft UT. The most important strategic challenge we see is how to correctly assess the impact of these accelerating developments, and retain and leverage our leading position in this field to seize the opportunities these developments provide. 2.2 Higher education bubble and disruptive innovation There are two dominant views on the nature of the recent developments. The first view is that MOOCs are a media hype that will pass and result in widespread disillusionment. The media attention for MOOCs certainly does show some characteristics of a media hype. In the USA this is caused by deep concerns about the continuously rising costs & high inflation rates for college tuition fees and the resulting high debts for individual students. Because of growing unemployment rates amongst higher educated professionals, there is an increasing tension between the cost of a university degree & the socio-economic value of it. Parallel to this runs the debate about the effects of the financial and economic crisis on state budgets and the sharp increase in the number of states that have trouble collecting outstanding student loans (Peter Thiels education bubble thesis). Others analyze these developments from a business perspective and view it as a disruptive innovation that will create a new market and value proposition, that could even develop into a competitive offering for parts of the current campus education by elite universities. The main proponent of this view is Clayton Christensen. He views online education as a classic example of disruptive innovation and the recent developments as the acceleration phase in a long term development of more than 2 decades. A process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves up market, eventually displacing established competitors Professor Clayton M. Christensen, Harvard Business School Author of Disrup ng Class (2008) and The Innova ve University (2011) 6

7 To visualize the potential impact and future scenario s of the current online (r)evolution in higher education we developed the following analogy with the evolution of the automobile industry. It illustrate what the future of online education might bring for universities, the partners they collaborate with, and future student behavior and expectations: From this perspective MOOCs signal the beginning of the transition to mass production and globalization of higher education (with an analogy to the impact of the first mass produced Ford), and the beginning of a surge in new educational models, networks for delivering these new educational models, and new types of behavior amongst global populations of learners. MIT has written a study on the future of MIT education in which it expects education to become unbundled as in other industries that have witnessed the impact of digitalization. Currently it is hard to predict if this will happen and what models will become successful, and what role universities will play in delivering these models. What we do see is that it is important to gain broad and hands-on knowledge of which models work and which don t, to be able to adapt to these new developments when needed. 3. Ambition Academic reputation & quality improvement 3.1 Next phase O2E The strategy of Delft UT as outlined in the Roadmap 2020 is to gain a permanent position amongst the leading universities in the world in engineering, science & design. The next phase of O2E should therefore support the realization of this institute wide strategy. O2E has to contribute to: 1. Growing academic output: Better reputation & visibility of the academic niches where it is a global leader 7

8 Higher & better quality of international enrollments New learning & research networks More students & learners 2. Improving quality of both campus & online education: Higher quality courses & didactics (both online & on-campus) Better progress of students in full-time degree programs (studiesucces) Better fit with future student expectations 3.2 Opportunities & (potential) benefits of O2E Experimenting and scaling the activities of Delft UT in O2E offers several opportunities that are beneficial to the strategy of Delft UT: 1. Share valuable academic knowledge with a world wide audience 2. Enhance the academic reputation of TU Delft (by collaboration and association with elite institutions, but also by recruiting more academic staff, to provide online education and carry out research in their own field) 3. Improve the quality of both campus & online education 4. Get a share of a (potential) new growth market for accredited & paid online education for continues learning in new global markets (BRIC) 3.3 Scenario s for the next phase of O2E When viewed as a potential disruptive innovation, the current developments offer great opportunities and potentially serious threats for the realization of the strategic goals as mentioned in the Roadmap Early adaptors in online education could take a decisive lead over followers and laggards. Early adaptors are the first to gain hands-on experience and evidence-based knowledge about critical success factors for producing & delivering online education to a world-wide audience and the use of it for increased quality and effectiveness of their on-campus education. Furthermore reputations are established now, and it might take a tremendous effort and financial investment to build a top-tier reputation in online education at a later stage when market positions and reputation are already established. Otherwise early adaptors are at greater risk to lose money on experiments that don't deliver the expected successes at the cost of investments in other important academic priorities such as research facilities. In this document we distinguish three possible strategic scenarios for the next phase of O2E: 0. Business as usual strategy. MOOCs are a hype, so no extra investments in open & online education. And if it is a new market, leave it to the top-tier global players with enough money to compete in this domain and accept a third tier status as a local university. 1. Follower strategy. Invest after first movers have experienced by trial & error what works online and on-campus, and what doesn t work. Aim for a second tier status as a regional player (EU). 2. Early adoption. Scale experiments with the production, delivery & integration of open & online education. Create a culture of innovation & flexibility to be more adaptive to possible future developments in both the online and on-campus market & potential shifts in student behavior. Aim for a first-tier status as a global player for specific academic niches where Delft UT can distinguish itself amongst other top-tier universities. 8

9 Advise to the Board & College of Deans: early adoption. This ambitious strategy offers most opportunities to establish a top-tier online reputation as an innovative teaching and research university, to leverage excellent starting position the Delft UT has in the domain of open & online education, improve the quality and effectiveness of both online & on-campus education, and is in line with the ambitions of the Roadmap to stay a leading academic research university in the fields of science, engineering & design. 4. Strategy Early Adoption To set SMART goals for the Early Adoption strategy, the near future goal should be to maintain a position in the top 3 of European Universities in open & online education and keep up with innovations in the USA by: - Building on the reputation/brand of the TU Delft as a champion of open. - Being the first and/or the best to produce highest quality & successful online courses on topics where the TU Delft is (or wants to be) a world renowned academic leader - Focusing on didactic innovation of both online & campus education and develop a competitive advantage as a top-tier institute for academic education and (online) didactic quality 4.1 Goals & activities Theory states that in order to successfully innovate in times of disruptive innovation it is necessary to create a separate business unit that is free to compete with new market entrants and is not burdened with legacy debts or quality standards of the old business units. Along with Clayton Christensen we think that this does not apply to universities, since the reputation of the institution is an important factor in the value of the certificate or degree, and the production of high quality education is intrinsically tied with the quality of the research & teaching staff. To achieve the required innovation & acceleration though, we advise to start an innovation program to realize a 24/7 online extension School within 2 years that is modeled after the Extension school of Harvard. To achieve this we propose a 2 year innovation program dedicated to achieve this and set the following goals for the period : 1. Expand & diversify experiments with open & online education in order to find new revenue models & create revenue growth with online education. 2. Focus the online portfolio on new & upcoming global markets for Continuing Learning (post-initial / BRIC) 3. Strengthen collaboration with partners in edx & find new revenue streams & a sustainable business model (testing, formal certificates & diploma s, ) 4. Experiment with incorporating online modules in the regular (blended) curriculum & innovation of (online) didactics (virtual exercises, learning analytics) The innovation program is build up along two lines: 1. Faculty X A Faculty X is created with the mission to stimulate experiments in open & online education, accelerate the development of an internationally distinguishing open & online portfolio and explore new revenue streams in order to realize a sustainable business model for open & online education and a (potential) growth scenario for the Delft UT at large. 9

10 Faculty X will be headed by an e-dean and Director of Online Education who will ensure the innovation speed needed to keep up with other first movers and early adopters. They will also ensure academic quality, alignment with the academic profile and internationalization strategy of Delft UT in general. Faculty X is a matrix structure, which recruits teaching staff from the other faculties and support from the Universiteits Dienst. The name faculty X is derived from an analogy s with the name extension School (Harvard s Extensions School being the most famous), DelftX and project X (the innovation hub of Google, responsible for the development of Streetview, Google Glass, and the driverless car, and led by Sebastian Thrun, the initiator of the first Stanford MOOC on Artificial Intelligence). 2. O2E Learning Lab To ensure enough & high quality production & delivery capacity for the O2E strategy that will be executed by Faculty X, a second stream in the innovation program is to scale the support organization. The name of the support organization is derived from the name of EPFL s MOOC Learning Lab (formerly MOOC Lab. 10