Resource requirements and costs of developing and delivering MOOCs

Given the ongoing alarm regarding uncontrollable costs of higher education, it would be reasonable to expect not only concern about the impact of MOOCs on educational outcomes, but also systematic efforts to document the resources expended on their development and delivery. However, there is little...

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Autores principales:	Fiona M. Hollands, Devayani Tirthali
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Athabasca University Press 2014
Materias:	online learning higher education Special aspects of education LC8-6691
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/8cfcf79d59f54c5da0f4da69a9ac006d
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:8cfcf79d59f54c5da0f4da69a9ac006d2021-12-02T18:03:17ZResource requirements and costs of developing and delivering MOOCs10.19173/irrodl.v15i5.19011492-3831https://doaj.org/article/8cfcf79d59f54c5da0f4da69a9ac006d2014-10-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1901https://doaj.org/toc/1492-3831 Given the ongoing alarm regarding uncontrollable costs of higher education, it would be reasonable to expect not only concern about the impact of MOOCs on educational outcomes, but also systematic efforts to document the resources expended on their development and delivery. However, there is little publicly available information on MOOC costs that is based on rigorous analysis. In this article, we first address what institutional resources are required for the development and delivery of MOOCs, based on interviews conducted with 83 administrators, faculty members, researchers, and other actors in the MOOCspace. Subsequently, we use the ingredients method to present cost analyses of MOOC production and delivery at four institutions. We find costs ranging from $38,980 to $325,330 per MOOC, and costs per completer of $74-$272, substantially lower than costs per completer of regular online courses, by merit of scalability. Based on this metric, MOOCs appear more cost-effective than online courses, but we recommend judging MOOCs by impact on learning and caution that they may only be cost-effective for the most self-motivated learners. By demonstrating the methods of cost analysis as applied to MOOCs, we hope that future assessments of the value of MOOCs will combine both cost information and effectiveness data to yield cost-effectiveness ratios that can be compared with the cost-effectiveness of alternative modes of education delivery. Such information will help decision-makers in higher education make rational decisions regarding the most productive use of limited educational resources, to the benefit of both learners and taxpayers. Fiona M. HollandsDevayani TirthaliAthabasca University Pressarticleonline learninghigher educationSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691ENInternational Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Vol 15, Iss 5 (2014)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	online learning higher education Special aspects of education LC8-6691
spellingShingle	online learning higher education Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Fiona M. Hollands Devayani Tirthali Resource requirements and costs of developing and delivering MOOCs
description	Given the ongoing alarm regarding uncontrollable costs of higher education, it would be reasonable to expect not only concern about the impact of MOOCs on educational outcomes, but also systematic efforts to document the resources expended on their development and delivery. However, there is little publicly available information on MOOC costs that is based on rigorous analysis. In this article, we first address what institutional resources are required for the development and delivery of MOOCs, based on interviews conducted with 83 administrators, faculty members, researchers, and other actors in the MOOCspace. Subsequently, we use the ingredients method to present cost analyses of MOOC production and delivery at four institutions. We find costs ranging from $38,980 to $325,330 per MOOC, and costs per completer of $74-$272, substantially lower than costs per completer of regular online courses, by merit of scalability. Based on this metric, MOOCs appear more cost-effective than online courses, but we recommend judging MOOCs by impact on learning and caution that they may only be cost-effective for the most self-motivated learners. By demonstrating the methods of cost analysis as applied to MOOCs, we hope that future assessments of the value of MOOCs will combine both cost information and effectiveness data to yield cost-effectiveness ratios that can be compared with the cost-effectiveness of alternative modes of education delivery. Such information will help decision-makers in higher education make rational decisions regarding the most productive use of limited educational resources, to the benefit of both learners and taxpayers.
format	article
author	Fiona M. Hollands Devayani Tirthali
author_facet	Fiona M. Hollands Devayani Tirthali
author_sort	Fiona M. Hollands
title	Resource requirements and costs of developing and delivering MOOCs
title_short	Resource requirements and costs of developing and delivering MOOCs
title_full	Resource requirements and costs of developing and delivering MOOCs
title_fullStr	Resource requirements and costs of developing and delivering MOOCs
title_full_unstemmed	Resource requirements and costs of developing and delivering MOOCs
title_sort	resource requirements and costs of developing and delivering moocs
publisher	Athabasca University Press
publishDate	2014
url	https://doaj.org/article/8cfcf79d59f54c5da0f4da69a9ac006d
work_keys_str_mv	AT fionamhollands resourcerequirementsandcostsofdevelopinganddeliveringmoocs AT devayanitirthali resourcerequirementsandcostsofdevelopinganddeliveringmoocs
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Resource requirements and costs of developing and delivering MOOCs

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