University Teaching as E-Business?
Research and Policy Agendas

University Teaching as E-Business?
Research and Policy Agendas

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CSHE > Research > University Teaching as E-Business

To help university administrators and faculty decide what course of action is best for their institutions, and to develop a set of recommendations for a policy research agenda, our goals are to:

• gain a more concise understanding of the current dynamics between universities and the non-campus e-learning marketplace,
• develop resources and information of immediate use for campus decision-makers,
• explore the possibility of developing a larger research agenda.

In the last few years, a diverse array of on-line education models has emerged — from for-profit ventures (Fathom.com, NYU Online), to equity stakes in external companies (U Chicago, Columbia, UNext.com), to university consortia (Universitas 21, WGU; Yale-Stanford-Princeton-Oxford alumni initiative), to licensing agreements (Pearson, McGraw Hill). We suspect that the structure and function of existing and emerging models is determined by an equally diverse array of internal and external pressures: differential institutional missions, varying perceptions of new markets and competitors, the exigencies of financing technology-mediated learning, and the attendant controversies that accompany a university entering the marketplace (e.g., intellectual property, faculty time and incentives, conflicts of interest, preservation of quality).

So far there has been no central dialogue, roadmap, or common terminology for that which is occurring. University administrators and academic decision-makers are presented with a bewildering array of choices and potential partners as they respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by new instructional delivery technologies. Hundreds of start-up companies, established corporations, non-profit organizations, and individuals are currently offering services, products, and partnership opportunities, and frequently are competing with university programs for distance and online education. These new organizations, collectively, are capitalized in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In order to respond to the challenges of online education, university leaders need to gain reliable knowledge about the e-learning industry in order to make sophisticated evaluations of potential partners and suppliers.

This project is part of the Center for Studies in Higher Education’s large-scale umbrella program, Higher Education in the Digital Age. This program is devoted to a comparative perspective on the policy and institutional questions associated with integrating information and communication technologies (ICTs) into the academy.

Co-Sponsored by The Center for Studies in Higher Education, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation