what you can learn from universities’ response to digital disruption
TRANSCRIPT
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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