what you can learn from universities’ response to digital disruption

E D U C A T I O N D I S R U P T E D

What businesses can learn from universit ies' response

Full post at https://goo.gl/sBqMXJ

15 YEARSF R O M N O W M O R E T H A N H A L F O F T H E U N I V E R S I T I E S [ I N A M E R I C A ] W I L L B E I N B A N K R U P T C Y . ”Clayton Christensen - Harvard Business School

professor who coined the term Disruptive Innovation

Universities find themselves asking the following question:

“ H O W C A N I J U S T I F YC H A R G I N G S T U D E N T S $ 4 5 , 0 0 0 A Y E A R T O A T T E N D L A R G E L E C T U R E S W H E N T H E Y C A N F I N D B E T T E R E X E M P L A R S O NT H E I N T E R N E T ? ”

Education and learning videos earn

4X the watch time of animal videos

on the platform today

(YouTube data, 2017)

YOU THINK CATS ARE BIG ON YOUTUBE?

F O R - P R O F I T O T H E RN O N - P R O F I T

T H E R I S E O F M A S S I V E O P E N O N L I N E C O U R S E S ( M O O C s )  

Universities are feeling the pinch of potential disruption from online learning

Harvard and MIT created a MOOC platform

called edX in 2012. This was in response to

the “tsunami” of MOOCs predicted to

revolutionise higher education.

H O W S E L F - D I S R U P T I O N B E C O M E S T H E A N S W E R

E D X O V E R V I E W

edX partners with over 120 universities, nonprofits, and institutions

around the world who host courses on their platform. 

Before discussing disruption, let’s go back to the basics

W H Y D O U N I V E R S I T I E S E X I S T ? O R W H A T J O B S D O S T U D E N T S “ H I R E ” U N I V E R S I T I E S F O R ?

J O B # 2 J O B # 3J O B # 1

U S I N G T H E J O B S T O B E D O N E F R A M E W O R K

Here are a few jobs that students "hire" universities for

Personal interactions with

lecturers and fellow students

Knowledge itself and the process

of acquiring  knowledge

Job-readiness training

T O D I S R U P T U N I V E R S I T I E S , M O O C P R O V I D E R S N E E D T O H E L P U S E R S D O E N O U G H O F T H E S E “ J O B S ” B E T T E R

e d X ’ s a t t e m p t c a n b e e n c a p s u l a t e d i n t h e i r 3 p r o g r a m s :   M i c r o M a s t e r s , P r o f e s s i o n a l C e r t i f i c a t e , X S e r i e s

P O T E N T I A L L Y D O I N G J O B # 2 A N D # 3 B E T T E R

P O T E N T I A L L Y D O I N G J O B # 3 B E T T E R

P O T E N T I A L L Y D O I N G J O B # 2 B E T T E R

K n o w l e d g e i t s e l f a n d t h e p r o c e s so f a c q u i r i n g k n o w l e d g e J o b - r e a d i n e s s t r a i n i n g

J o b - r e a d i n e s s t r a i n i n g

K n o w l e d g e i t s e l f a n d t h e p r o c e s so f a c q u i r i n g k n o w l e d g e

W H Y H A V E M O O C s B E E N A B L E T O T H R I V E ?

They target non-consumers of traditional university courses- people

who think university degrees are too expensive or complex. Examples:

Make knowledge more accessible and in many cases, free

Target those pursuing professional learning with self-paced courses

Offer more vocational, modern, specific or just courses on subjects

that you’d never find in university degrees (e.g. courses on personal

time management, understanding body language etc.)

E X P E R T S + C O N T E N T + T I M E + C R E D I T  

T H E U N B U N D L I N G O F E D U C A T I O N

MOOCs unbundle education and let people pick and choose what they want

People can learn for free and pay when

they want a certificate

People can pick the subjects they are

interested in instead of full-fledged

degrees

MicroMasters in 6 months vs. full

Masters degree in 18 months

EDX AS SELF-DISRUPTION

H a r v a r d a n d M I T h a v e e m b a r k e d o n d u a l -

p a t h j o u r n e y .

T h e y s t i l l k e e p t h e e x i s t i n g b u s i n e s s m o d e l

w h i l e d a b b l i n g i n t o a n e w t e c h n o l o g y -

e n a b l e d m o d e l b a s e d o n M O O C s .

Australian universities have also put

their courses onto platforms such as

edX and Coursera. See next slide for

their alignment with respective

MOOC platforms as of today.

OTHER UNIs HAVE JOINED THE MOOC MOVEMENT

A U S T R A L I A  

I S T H I S E N O U G H T O F I G H T D I S R U P T I O N ?Let’s analyse universities' response through the three

lenses – human, technology, business.

R E C O G N I S E T H E N E E D F O R E D U C A T I O N T O M E E T L E A R N E R S ' N E E D S I N S T E A D O F D I C T A T I N G T H E P R O G R A M S T R U C T U R E O R L O C A T I O N O F L E A R N I N G .

It’s not pure chance that human-centred design has gained prominence over the years

H U M A N - C E N T R E D

With the aim of improving course outcomes, unis should start with

some very human-centred questions:

What motivates students to learn and persist?

What helps students retain knowledge?

What are the best ways to teach complex ideas?

How can we assess what students have learned?

What is best taught in person vs. online?

UNI'S TRUMP CARD

“ I f establ ished inst i tut ions make judic ious

use of learning technology where i t

demonstrably helps students , they gain

credibi l i ty to ins ist that most of what e lse

they offer on campus is a qual i tat ively

di f ferent experience—one that technology

can ’ t replace”  

MIT Technology Review

New marketing and sales channel: reaching new

market segments (previously non-consumers)

Branding awareness/goodwill: not only in terms of

academic reputation, but also social impact (free

courses for those who can’t afford degree

education)

B U S I N E S S B E N E F I T S

IT’S STILL TOO EARLY TO TELL THE ROI OF HAVING MOOCs BUT...   

“ I t ’ s not as i f iTunes k i l led the Rol l ing

Stones or going to a Rol l ing Stones concert ,

in fact maybe those are even more

attract ive now because you can buy a

playl ist on iTunes.”  

Believe that it can never replace the real

experience and hence, do nothing

Race to put courses online just because

everyone is doing it

Ask the right questions before rushing to

actions, e.g. what problems are we not

solving or can we solve better for our

users/learners?

T Y P I C A L U N I ' S R E S P O N S E S T O D I S R U P T I O N

THE SAME NARRATIVE APPLIES IN THE CORPORATE SETTING

Downplay the r isk of becoming irre levant

Race to buy more tech

Take a more hol ist ic approach to dig i ta l

transformation

In the face of d isrupt ion, companies can

choose to:

A R E Y O U T A K I N G T H E R I G H T A C T I O N ( I F A N Y ) ?

I T ’ S E V I D E N T T H A T D I S R U P T I O N I S H A P P E N I N G A C R O S S T H E B O A R D

Read full post at http://blog.enabled.com.au/digital-disruption-education/

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