Entering the highly competitive online education market requires careful planning and deliberation. Determinations of program viability will rely heavily on the quality of the processes institutions employ to determine market demand, competitors, and program appeal. In this session, two large public universitites with active online learning divisions will discuss their approach to identifying, vetting, and shepherding new program ideas to market.
This session received high reviewer ratings and is runner up for Best-in-Strand.
The market for online learning continues to grow in both number of students and number of competitor institutions. This competition includes for-profit online providers, as well as non-profit public and private institutions that have seen strategic value in entering the online education space. As competition increases, the stakes for finding successful curricula (degrees or certificates) rise; institutions cannot afford to choose the wrong programs to back, given the significant expenses involved in developing, marketing, and administering high-quality online programs.
In this session, two large public universities with robust online operations (Penn State University and West Virginia University) will share their experiences in finding, vetting, and growing online programs. Successes and failures will be presented, and refinements to process will be discussed. In addition, we will discuss he various dimensions inherent new programs as an example of a change management effort: logistic (how to marshal resources for development), political (how to work with academic administrators to champion the proposed programs), and cultural (how to support faculty and departments new to online learning).
New ideas for compelling online programs can come from any number of places. The simplest path may be programs that emerge from existing resident degrees. However, over time as more competitors have entered the online learning marketplace, many of these "easy" programs have been identified. In such cases, entry into these more established markets may rely more on differentiation of program characteristics as opposed to lack of competitors.
On the other end of the continuum, online programs may emerge from individual faculty or departments in specific disciplines who see a need for a niche program. These programs often exist at the intersection of multiple academic disciplines and tend to involve an awareness of emerging trends in professional practice. Finally, online learning administrators may see market opportunities based on their vantage points. In these cases, there is an added dimension of identifying collaborators in academic homes (deans, department heads, and faculty) and making them aware of a potential curriculum need.
In either case (differentiating within a crowded market, or seeking to own a unique niche market), it is essential to follow a well-designed process for identifying new program ideas, vetting those ideas using employment and market data, and shepherding those ideas through the curricular approval process. While each institution’s process will differ in some ways, all are likely to include the overall flow from program idea to market launch illustrated below:
We will engage the audience via interactive polling (relying on Poll Every) to gather opinions, data, and insights from attendees related to their awareness and knowledge of how online programs are brought to market at their respective institutions.