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Since 1742 Moravian College has had a history of providing access to underserved students. It was the first school to educate women and the first to educate Native Americans in their own language. As times have changed, so has the college. A men’s college (a seminary) was added in 1807, and in the 1950s the two colleges merged to become coeducational. Then, as the new millennium progressed (and in keeping with its mission of access), Moravian College faced the need to transition into the digital age. 

As we enter 2019, many institutions that have tiptoed around the digital landscape are coming to grips with the realization that online learning is almost certainly in their future, one way or another. One driver is declining overall enrollments; the latest statistics show a drop of 90,000 students — or a half of a percentage point — during 2017, the most recent period for which we have data. At the same time, enrollments in online learning increased by 350,000, or 5.7%.

Student enrollments in online learning continue to increase but are very concentrated in public institutions and large private universities. Left out in the cold — and seemingly content to remain there — are the smaller private institutions.

The online program management (OPM) landscape is a confusing one, the result of rapid evolution and an ever-greater assortment of businesses keen on winning their share of what has become a very lucrative market. We do not envy the task of any institution of higher learning seeking to upgrade their online learning program, and even less one considering the launch of their first program.

It’s not personal — it’s demographic. College enrollments are going to seriously ebb within the next few years due to a complex set of circumstances that have more to do with demographic shifts than economic ones. That’s not to say, however, that economics are not at the root.

At the 2018 Eduventures Summit in Boston, a panel of representatives from Harvard Business School, ArtCenter College of Design, Moravian College, and Extension Engine discussed the following tenet:

In a crowded market, higher ed institutions should create online learning that is differentiated, conforms to their core pedagogy, and delivers great learner experience.

It’s a well-known physiological fact that if you don’t continually use a muscle, it becomes weaker and will eventually atrophy. If you do your child’s homework (some parents actually do this), chances are they will have trouble making it on their own in college. If you are in Paris and everyone speaks English to you, you may forget what French you know.

Extension Engine’s perspective — We believe that online strategy should be set at the highest levels and that excellence should be prioritized over standardization. What did recent webinar attendees think?

Extension Engine’s perspective — We believe that excellence should be prioritized over standardization when it comes to developing online programs, but that’s not what we hear when we speak with leaders in higher ed.

It used to be simple. If a university wanted to create an online program, they had two choices. One was to outsource to an Online Program Manager (OPM). The other was to do it in-house. Neither was perfect, but both had advantages.