Thread by @neilmosley5

Some reflections on the situation at FutureLearn as it's unfolded this week and thinking ahead - a thread…⬇️ 1/

#onlinelearning #edtech #highered #AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter

Indicators haven’t been good for a long time - sadly and the recent news is the culmination of a business that consistently hasn’t been profitable. 2/

They have faced the same challenge of other MOOC platforms in moving from an enterprise initially focussed on free open courses into something that could be financial sustainable and profitable. 3/

As MOOC platforms sought to pivot to create viable businesses they were reliant on their university partners to work with them in a way that best supported that aim. 4/

That meant universities developing credit-bearing courses for larger fees like microcredentials and degrees. 5/

It meant universities focussing on developing courses in areas where there was significant demand to study online - which just like the online PGT space was healthcare, business, digital and teaching. 6/

In addition, it required universities to keep their MOOCs open to take at any time and on-demand - so that what you have is a long tail of courses that cumulatively you might get some meaningful income from via upgrades. 7/

At points there were a really large number of university courses that were not available for learners to take and learners often had no idea when it would next be available for them to take - not great for an online course marketplace! 8/

It highlights a fundamental incompatibility here with a company that needs its partners to deliver something that ultimately makes the business viable and their ability and desire to so. 9/

There’s also an incompatibility and misalignment between university partnerships that were in large part not setup in a strategic, well-thought out way with any kind of commercial ambitions 10/

I know for a fact many universities have spent thousands of pounds on these partnerships over the years that they haven’t taken that seriously and they have not recouped anywhere close to that investment. 11/

If there was a deliberateness around offering free courses to increase access then this is fair enough but for many that wasn’t the case - so it’s entirely valid to say the OU is by no means the only UK university to not achieve any kind of ROI. 12/

Another factor is they haven’t matched competitors like Coursera who are miles ahead of them and only have partnerships with a select bunch of UK universities who are some of the most serious and equipped in online education. 13/

Coursera have grown, edX have evolved through 2U acquiring and now are a shopfront for 2Us whole suite and portfolio but FutureLearn have not grown and developed quickly enough. 14/

There will be plenty of schadenfreude amongst some in the UK, particularly the small clique of digital education researchers and centres that seem to cheerlead the downfall of any and every private sector education initiative. 15/

But if this is to be the end - it’s worth us remembering that there are lots of positives that have come out of UK universities work with FutureLearn and FutureLearn’s work, as well as reflect on lessons that can and should be learnt. 16/

As I said in this post we need a bit of reset on online education but we also need to acknowledge the unique factors that are contributing to current challenges that are outside the control of online education companies - neilmosley.com/blog/what-does… 17/

...and for more on MOOC platforms - see this post here - neilmosley.com/blog/nm6ovv8dv… END/