Business Models for Online Education and Open Educational Resources

Abstract

This project aims to determine the key stakeholders, goals and existing business models for online education and open educational resources (OER) by focusing on three major research questions: Who are the key stakeholders involved in the creation, use and distribution of online education and OER? What are the goals of these online education and OER stakeholders? What business models exist that try to achieve the goals of various online education and OER stakeholders?

To answer these research questions, we consulted 19 leading experts in online education and OER using the Delphi survey method. At the end of three rounds, in addition to the business models that we originally identified and suggested, the experts identified a total of 18 business models for online education, 15 of which currently exist and 3 of which are proposed as potential models. In particular, the experts highlighted ten models (eight existing and two potential) as particularly important and noteworthy; they analyzed these ten in greater detail than the other 8 models.

This report presents ALL the data collected from the expert, including their detailed comments on each model. The report authors’ detailed analysis on the models is still being prepared; preliminary results are presented in Okoli, Chitu and Ning Wang (2015). Business Models for Online Education and Open Educational Resources: Insights from a Delphi Study. Proceedings of the 21st Americas Conference on Information Systems. Puerto Rico. August 13-15, 2015 (available on SSRN).

Keywords: business models, online education, open educational resources, OER, Delphi method