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The Billion Dollar Question... "How does Higher Education turn its OER into money?"
Last week I went to Tokyo to meet with a very interesting group that I am hoping to aligning with. For those that don't know me. I'm the rebel looking to make all learning free and accessible to all by promoting the eSingularity Initiative (google eSingularity, Trout, India). I have e30 group on LinkedIn, the eRevolution -- a new "fashion" for Education on Facebook. I have just started TEDxFutureEd and I'm working with folks all over over come up with the answer for global learning. Well, during our discussion about a myriad of things education, we hit on something that was a zinger, and in many respects it's the billion dollar question " How does HE turn their OER into revenue?" I suddenly realized that OER isn't the artery gusher as I thought, but instead a huge opportunity! An opportunity not just for a university, but potentially a lasting residual income for the ones that are making it!
Tell me what you think....
If we could measure the outcomes of the person taking the course ware why would we not want to give them partial accreditation? think about it... when I take a course at MIT what is it that I getting accreditation from? Is it the fact that I'm physically at MIT? No, we have distant learning programs at MIT. Is it because I attended class? Of course not. The true value is whether or not I have learned the material at a level satisfactory to the professor over the course. So if we can prove that a MIT OCW student has mastered the Open Ed material and do it in such a way that the process could be scalable, then we might be on to something... no? How much accreditation would they get? I'm thinking 1/3. So a three credit course at MIT would be 1 credit via MIT OCW. So how does MIT make money? We could offer three kinds of membership.
basic FREE -- no accreditation but access to the learning engine
member $9.95/m per course-- email access to professor and get special periodic pod casts (obviously the emails would go to a clearing house and passed on to his grad students... like how tech support works. )
premium $29.95/m for any No. of courses -- get email and can attend special online lectures that will be live fed from a professors class.
I imagine the professor would get a percentage. I see it already Jim drinking cocktails in Maui as he answers emails and does pod casts...:p -- A retirement in bliss where teaching is just that and free from the hassles of allocating grades!
Keep in mind that less than 5% of the world has broadband access. And this will significantly change over the next 10 yrs. Ask yourself... If we offered credit could OCW attract students form other universities? And how many would sign up? 10,000, 20,000 100,000? How many of the current OCW members would be willing to pay? I think it would be very cool to be attending University in India and also be getting MIT credit! Hell, schools may even start requiring that their students sign up!
Do you think there are 20 universities or community colleges in the US that would be willing to give this a go? Here the deal! It will cost you absolutely NOTHING to set up... If you are interested in talking more about his the proven technology behind it. Shoot me an email!
Thought?
Tell me what you think....
If we could measure the outcomes of the person taking the course ware why would we not want to give them partial accreditation? think about it... when I take a course at MIT what is it that I getting accreditation from? Is it the fact that I'm physically at MIT? No, we have distant learning programs at MIT. Is it because I attended class? Of course not. The true value is whether or not I have learned the material at a level satisfactory to the professor over the course. So if we can prove that a MIT OCW student has mastered the Open Ed material and do it in such a way that the process could be scalable, then we might be on to something... no? How much accreditation would they get? I'm thinking 1/3. So a three credit course at MIT would be 1 credit via MIT OCW. So how does MIT make money? We could offer three kinds of membership.
basic FREE -- no accreditation but access to the learning engine
member $9.95/m per course-- email access to professor and get special periodic pod casts (obviously the emails would go to a clearing house and passed on to his grad students... like how tech support works. )
premium $29.95/m for any No. of courses -- get email and can attend special online lectures that will be live fed from a professors class.
I imagine the professor would get a percentage. I see it already Jim drinking cocktails in Maui as he answers emails and does pod casts...:p -- A retirement in bliss where teaching is just that and free from the hassles of allocating grades!
Keep in mind that less than 5% of the world has broadband access. And this will significantly change over the next 10 yrs. Ask yourself... If we offered credit could OCW attract students form other universities? And how many would sign up? 10,000, 20,000 100,000? How many of the current OCW members would be willing to pay? I think it would be very cool to be attending University in India and also be getting MIT credit! Hell, schools may even start requiring that their students sign up!
Do you think there are 20 universities or community colleges in the US that would be willing to give this a go? Here the deal! It will cost you absolutely NOTHING to set up... If you are interested in talking more about his the proven technology behind it. Shoot me an email!
Thought?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by James Morrison on -
Michael, you are correct; I was using the terms profit and turning something into a revenue stream as having the same meaning. I doubt that MIT is considering either course of action with respect to their OCW program.
If someone uses a course available from the OCW package and embeds it in a "patented and proven learning outcomes engine," they are free to do so either for themselves or for someone else. There would be no legal liability. OWC courseware is free.
Jim
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Permalink Reply by michael j. trout on -
great Jim will check out the links
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Permalink Reply by Reid Cornwell on -
Steve, I used to think it was me and I would get angry and hurt, but I just realized that you are actually an equal opportunity condescending jerk.
Reid
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Permalink Reply by michael j. trout on
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Why would you allow ignorant comments make you angry :p I find them amusing and they always make me laugh which you know is good for your health.
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Permalink Reply by James Morrison on
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Gentlemen, this is a forum for professional exchange. Let's keep the tone civil.
Jim
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Permalink Reply by michael j. trout on
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Let me put it this way.... If someone took the OER offered for free and embedded it in a 10-yr tested, patented and proven learning outcomes engine with million users and gave away the complete package to learning organization, institution, school or universities around the world for just 1% return on the administrative costs that they would charge users, keep in mind this charge is an administrative and has nothing to do with the OER. -- Do you think education groups would be interested?
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