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Your platform is the face of your online learning business. It is not just a place for learners to access stored content and videos — your online learning platform is essentially the product that you are selling.

I have the unique privilege of viewing the development of online learning from three different lenses — as former faculty and program head at the Michigan Ross School of Business, as former dean at Babson College, and now as Principal Learning Strategist at Extension Engine.

As 2017 has proven, online learning has been top-of-mind for many institutional leaders. Scaling offerings through online programs or courses has become an inherent part of growth for public, private, and non-traditional colleges and universities.

As an end of the year tribute to the evolution of online learning in 2017, here’s a recap of a few topics that resonated with us, our perspective on those topics, and a few topics that we hope to see discussed more broadly in 2018.

Roger Pao, J.D., is an attorney and educator with extensive experience in online education and an interest in dynamic, innovative pedagogies. He is currently Assistant Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Studies at the New England College of Business and Finance. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, and Duke University, summa cum laude.

“Online learning businesses have it all wrong—they are not thinking like a product company.”

Every day, we speak to universities, nonprofits and corporations who are looking to put their training or education online with the goal of generating revenue, creating impact or influencing an audience. And these conversations are very similar – people usually anchor their thinking to the existing and ask “how do we create an online course.”