Elements of Quality Online Education cation

Business Issues in Online Educationinstructional design and development, student services, marketing, data management, andprogram planning and management.• Because “cost avoidance” (e.g. for classroom real estate) may be a key part of the valueproposition for online education, the model would have to encompass this in some way.Different metrics to calibrate and compare costs were raised in the course of discussions: e.g. cost perstudent, cost per enrollment, percentages of total costs, etc. If this project was attempted, it would seemuseful to do it in the context of constructing the value-chain of activities for online education, asaforementioned. Institutions were willing to share their costs to develop new online courses, with costsranging from $10,000 to $60,000 per course.D. Some Final Points Related to Business ModelsIt needs to be noted that the question of “granularity” is relevant when talking about business models andcost issues. Business models can be developed at the level of the individual online program or at the levelof growing and sustaining online education at an entire institution. This fact became apparent whencomparing and contrasting, cross-institutionally, elements of business models that were discussed byinterviewees.One, perhaps controversial, conclusion drawn from the information collected from interviews pertainingto business models, is that it cannot be stated unequivocally that any institution interviewed had acomprehensive model for online education that showed it making a sustainable “profit.” However, it maybe the case that the online education endeavor is totally self supporting across all nodes of the educationalorganization involved in planning, developing and delivering online education. Also, beyond that, itgenerates enough net cash for investment or reinvestment for infrastructure and growth. Indeed, oneinstitution claimed that it earned back within 18 months the initial grant that funded the online program,and at least one other institution now requires new online courses to come up with a plan, using astandardized business template that shows positive contribution margins after a fixed number of years.But until a systematic way can be developed to account for all the activities involved in online education(the value-chain) and understand their costs, it would be difficult to verify these claims.Construction of a complete value chain, and a way to conceptualize costs components crossinstitutionally,might be the focus for future research or interest-group activity. It would be a challengingproject to undertake, considering the different basic business models that underpin private and publiceducation, not to speak of the differences in state systems. What is meant by sustainability and growth foronline education would need to be defined carefully and be put in the context of educational missions aswell as other “products” such as undergraduate, graduate, or professional programs. On the positive side,institutions are now in the process of building and refining business models for online education and thata variety of persons, in different positions, are interested. There appears to be a thirst for knowledge ofothers’ models, methods, and for benchmarks.VI. MARKETING: HOW ARE PRODUCT CHOICES MADEAND COMMUNICATED?Marketing is a source of concern to many but not all programs and institutions visited. Here are twotypical comments that emphasize marketing issues:“Does every [separate] program need its own marketing? Very expensive.”163