Building Scale Through Innovative Methods

Building Scale Through Innovative Methods Dr. Vijay Pereira

Portsmouth Business School, UK Dr. Nikos Bozionelos Audencia School of Management, France 1

INDIA: Delivering the Dream (2015 Wharton India Economic Forum highlights) •

McKinsey partner, Ramnath Balasubramanian, forecast that there will be 450 million people in India's consuming class by 2025, and that 50% of all consumption will occur in India's 50 largest cities.

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Hital Meswami, Executive Director and Board Member of India's industrial giant, Reliance Industries, stated that India's vast overall economic growth is already the world's 10th largest economy, and highlighted the fact that India will boast 28% of the world's workforce by 2020.

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Thus a need to train several hundred million young Indians, taking into account… 1. The recognition of, and servicing of, the massive population which resides outside of India's largest cities. 2. The vast population which the late economist C.K. Prahalad described as ‘the bottom of the pyramid’, and both the need, and the opportunities, to be found in effectively servicing this massive population. 3. The already booming and rapidly expanding e-commerce space in India. 2

Building a global university brand- The Economist According to The Economist, ‘after a four-decade rise in global demand, universities are grappling with powerful forces colliding at once: reduced government support, rising public scepticism about the value of a degree, increased institutional competition and the emergence of disruptive technology’. Further, adding to these pressures is a seismic shift in global demographics. For e.g. a demand for higher education is levelling off in North America and Europe compared to “huge unmet demand” in emerging markets, according to a September, 2013 forecast by the London-based Observatory on Borderless Higher Education. In the United States, the number of high school students is not expected to peak again until 2021, according to the National Centre for Education Statistics, creating excess capacity. By contrast, India will account for one-quarter of 18-22 year olds by 2020, predicts the United Nations, with insufficient university seats to serve them. By 2020, about 200 million young people worldwide will have degrees - 40 per cent of them elite and middle class students from China and India - according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). By 2025, the number of those travelling abroad for a degree could double from today’s estimate of 4.3 million students.

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The Role of the Modern University“The medieval university looked backwards; it professed to be a storehouse of old knowledge… The modern university looks forward, and is a factory of new knowledge.” English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley in 1892 (Huxley, 1892)

Evolving University Contexts and Missions. Source: Adapted from Shapira and Youtie (2004).

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The MOOC method- Technology as the Innovative Driver • Many institutions of higher learning believe that Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offer a promising way to polish their reputation for innovation and grow beyond their geographical boundaries. • Since 2012, these free and mostly non-credentialed courses have attracted more than six million students from around the world. • However, though tens of thousands of students signing up for a single MOOC, participation and completions are low, according to early evaluations. • And contrary to initial forecasts, a July 2013 survey by the University of Pennsylvania found that the majority of those who signed up for a MOOC already had a college degree. • In developing countries, participants were more affluent and better educated than the general population. • Still, a number of small and mid-size institutions see the potential to secure a following by offering specialty courses in a MOOC format or to embed them as part of on-campus campus-based and online courses.

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…MOOC’s Continued…Examples… • Britain’s Open University, with a 40-year history of distance learning, established Future Learn as the first UK MOOC platform, working with more than 20 top UK universities, the British Council, the British Library and the British Museum. • The University of Alberta, a top-five Canadian institution, invested US$314,000 in a high-production value MOOC to build awareness of its international reputation in palaeontology research. The course attracted 20,000 participants when it started in September 2013. • University of London (with 54,000 online learners and 70,000 on campus) offered four MOOCs through Coursera, attracting 210,000 registrants from more than 160 countries. • Utah-based Western Governors University, an online, public institution founded in 1997 by a group of state governors to serve the country’s 37million working adults 6

…MOOC’s .. Caveats & Opportunities • MOOCS are not Distance Learning Degrees • MOOCs started as a marketing tool for educational institutions to follow the “trend”, and be seen as modern and knowledgeable by means of espousing cutting edge learning methods and technology. However, most MOOCs do not boast any innovative instructional methodology. • MOOCs have not yet gained acceptance status (neither among employers nor among the public) as a kind of “proof” of knowledge or credential. • More importantly, there seems to be no interest from participants to take any assessment tests (that could lead to course credit) after MOOC completion.

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…MOOC’s .. Caveats & Opportunities • The actual learning value of MOOCs remains unknown and unproven – as noted there are normally very few people who even opt to post-MOOC assessment even with the promise of course credit. • MOOCs have a very high attrition rate (i.e., people who start but do not complete) – reputed to be at levels of 90% [in contrast, Distance Learning degrees have completion rate well above 50% - in some estimates more than 70%] • For all the fuss about MOOCs, there is not yet a workable financial model for them – that is “experts” have not managed to come with a way for MOOCs to be bringing an “income” to institutions [to be clear, there seems to be a workable business model for MOOC platform providers such as Coursera – that was founded by two Stanford Professors – or edX]

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…MOOC’s .. Caveats & Opportunities

• University Lecture theatre 1910 9

…MOOC’s .. Caveats & Opportunities

• University Lecture Theatre 1950s 10

…MOOC’s .. Caveats & Opportunities

• University Small Group Learning 1950s 11

…MOOC’s .. Caveats & Opportunities

• Higher Education learning in “the future” – 1950s concept 12

…MOOC’s .. Caveats & Opportunities

• MOOC learning 13

…MOOC’s .. Caveats & Opportunities

• University Lecture Theatre of 2010s 14

…MOOC’s .. Caveats & Opportunities

• University Small Group Learning of 2010s 15

…MOOC’s .. Caveats & Opportunities

• University Lecture 2010s 16

…MOOC’s .. Caveats & Opportunities • People generally “pay” for the qualification/credential/degree (not so much for the learning material). • the above means that the “brand name” of the MOOC may matter. • Innovation must come in terms of learning mode (which in the case of MOOCs is passive) that can keep people engaged. • Social Interaction is critical (and a major motivator) in learning experience • Motivating individuals to complete MOOCs is a major issue • There may be different Age Markets for MOOCS – Generation Y vs Generation X) • Social Psychology research shows that people value something more when it is not offered for free… 17