Economics of MOOCs

MOOC have launched for less than ten years, it is still in a state of experimentation as  CEO of Udacity, Sebastian Thrun said. So far, there are a lot of discussions about MOOC, including its content, its role in higher education, its fresh modes of learning, and the like. An unavoidable problem about MOOC is that in what ways MOOC can run for a long time just with free courses, or in what ways MOOC can make money. 

The key factor which is an important condition for MOOC's long-term running is its attraction to students. No matter the courses on MOOCs are all for free or people who run MOOC make money through different ways on MOOCs, students are the key factor. There may be one attraction here like David Holmes concluded the large environment of higher education today provides good soil for MOOC, which means the rising college costs and the shrinking values of Bachelor's Degree (How will the MOOC make money). Meanwhile, some elite universities and professors have joined in or plan to join in MOOC is also a big attraction. Obviously, these universities and professors not only can show their good will, and also win their prestige around the world through spreading their top education. But the problem now is the economic or financial problem. As we know, most of the course on MOOC is for free, which is its important advantage for attracting students. However, running a MOOC would cost a lot of money, Professors also need to preparing for their course through hard working. Therefore, how can we imagine that MOOCs can run for many years totally for free. Some people hold pessimistic attitude toward the future of MOOC,  and indicate that "it has a fatal economic flaw which makes it all but certain to fail" (Bitter Reality of MOOConomics). I think this is a possible result of MOOC if it does't introduce new modes of operation, or successful ways of making money.  

I am so glad to see some good advice have been provided to MOOC to improve their operation and earn money. For example, courses on MOOC are still free, but if people want to get certificates then they need to pay; MOOC provides colleges and universities sponsored classes; or offer consumers additional paid resources, like online library  (Infographic: How will the MOOCs make money?). Some fresher and creative suggestion are also raised: like purchsed Turing on MOOCs, collaborative group learning, problem sponsored learning, and syndication (Money Models for MOOCs). In these ways, I believe MOOC can strive for his own way. But to introduce these new things to MOOC and achieve its stable development is possible, but not easy. Firstly, in most of these areas, MOOC will meet its competitors. For example online purchased tutoring, how  we can be persuaded to hire a online tutor, instead of  one which we can talk face to face in daily life. Secondly, how people can accept the certificates get from a MOOC has the same value with that get from a university. Thirdly, MOOC also face a problem that how to improve the completion rate on MOOCs if they want to attract more universities or colleges to buy their sponsored courses.

Of course, there will be more problems along with more opportunities MOOC facing. No body knows the exact future of MOOC. Although, many top universities and some companies want to have places in this new thing, or this advanced way of education, how to make it longer and stronger need cool heads and creative thoughts.