Before you put your program fully online…

 

If you are putting your program online you might get a jump for a few years but ultimately if everyone does this you have to consider how you will compete as a program ‘author’ in a massive new global market:

· Do you have an international reputation in research in that discipline?

· Are you a leader in serving local market needs (e.g. accounting in Australia)?

If the answers are no, then the options might be to give up being a content author by:

· Going online using content developed by one of the above, delivering the program as a franchisee;

· Going online and piggy backing off higher-quality higher-reputation publisher learning content.

I suspect that ultimately the publishers will have the development skills and the marketing skills to win the competition for content authoring. They should deliver better quality learning materials at  a lower cost. The key advantages for higher education would be:

1. Economies of scale delivering higher quality rich multi-media learning experiences that student will demand;

2. Personalised adaptive learning that represents content according to the personal learning needs and progress of each student;

3. Analytics to help coordinator understand student progress;

4. Assessment, both formative and summative.

Finally if you don’t like any of the options above, you can focus on offering a premium face to face learning and campus based cultural experience with high value active learning in attractive classrooms, with on campus residences, clubs, societies, and events. It seems to be a bonus these days if you can also offer westernisation services that open the door to an international career, and the possibility of citizenship in an attractive country.