Entering the Higher Education Market
How online schools differentiate themselves while entering higher ed
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Based on my learning from UVA Darden's Business Growth Strategy course, I am writing a 4 part series on the growth of online schools. The course outlines 4 growth strategies: growth through scaling, entry, acquisition, and innovation.
The online schools I am discussing (often called cohort-based courses) are live, virtual schools for adults (typically post-undergrad) without accreditation.
As outlined by UVA Darden's course, one way to grow through entry is by offering new products and services to existing markets. Online schools can grow through entry into the existing higher education market by offering a new type of education experience using the power of the online environment.
According to the course, when considering entry into a market, the company must consider the competitive environment and how their product is positioned against others in the market. Online schools can grow through entry into the higher education landscape by taking full advantage of their biggest differentiator - the online environment.
There are countless creative ways that online schools can build powerful learning environments that overcome the downside of not having an in-person connection.
First, online schools can scale up classroom size but maintain intimacy and personal connections with breakout rooms, 1:1 discussions, peer-to-peer learning, and alumni mentors. The virtual classroom allows the facilitators to quickly and easily morph a 60 person lecture room into 12 intimate mini-classrooms of 5 people.
Second, as online schools are built on the internet, they can quickly and cheaply integrate new software applications into the ecosystem.
For example, products like Virtually help school facilitation as the school grows. More simply, happy hour and icebreaker software tools help to facilitate community within the virtual environment. In addition, there are software tools like Covalent that help facilitate connections within the cohort.
These tools are just the beginning. Online schools should embrace, experiment with, and adopt these creative and inexpensive tools as they enter the higher education space.
Going further, Web3 provides opportunities to incorporate additional technologies into the online learning ecosystem. It can be as simple as accepting payment for courses in Bitcoin or awarding Bitcoin for course competitions. Going further, schools could put certifications for skills on the blockchain. In addition, there is room to experiment with community ownership and incentive alignment with Web3 technologies. All of these can be tested within the online learning environment.
The accessibility of online schools make them a great fit to enter the higher education market.
The ability to instantly and cheaply enter the online classroom enables collaborations across the internet.
Online schools can bring in expert guests from different disciplines with relatively low commitment from the speaker's perspective. In addition, online schools can attract experts from around the world for other school services like career counseling and recruiting without having to convince the professional to move locations or work full-time.
Finally, online schools are fit for an entry into the higher education space because they can tap into a global student base.
With access to students globally, online schools can create a diverse and global alumni network without the costs of bringing students to a physical campus.
As online schools enter the higher education market, they should be aware of their biggest weakness - not having that invaluable in-person connection. However, on the other side, they should embrace the possibilities of the online environment.