Coursera’s Collaborative Solution to the Online Education Dilemma
Collaborative innovation has revolutionized how ideas are produced. One look at the World Wide Web Consortium, or Wikipedia, or NASA should be enough to demonstrate how the synergy of these organized and non-hierarchical groups can break new boundaries and solve incredibly complex problems. The question is: how can private invention utilize collaboration to its benefit?
Coursera, a new collaborative educational platform, is one contemporary example. Though a private company, Coursera has managed to attract a wide range of public institutions to its purpose. Ostensibly, the company aims to provide high-quality education to anyone who wants it, for free – a modest proposal.
Thus far, some of the world’s most prestigious institutions have flocked to the cause, such as Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, Duke, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and many others. The effort began in earnest earlier this year with four universities. It now has accrued over 30.
It has been able to attract these clients/providers/collaborators not only to its cause, which is indisputably good, but also because of the benefits it provides its clients. Namely, by signing on with Coursera, universities gain the tutelage of online education specialists. These personnel work intimately with universities on their course offerings, providing advice and sharing experience.
Due to the largesse of the international effort, these specialists are likely to accrue more experience with online learning than any other professionals in the world. By comparison, the employees at edX, another free online platform that opened up shop this fall, hosted seven courses as of October 8, 2012. Coursera already has 198 scheduled for the fall and spring semesters.
The effort has already resulted in some innovations in the space. For instance, the team suggests that course lectures be released in temporal increments to simulate the real-world academic experience. It has also found ways to stimulate contributions to student forums, which allow students to delve into course materials and help each other learn.
Modern inventors can learn a number of great principles from Coursera’s example. Innovative collaboration works when it presents a win for all stakeholders. In this case, the institutions win by gaining exposure and the use of online education specialists. Students win high-quality online education. Coursera wins by developing extremely valuable human resources and a great position in the market. All of these goods are worth more for each stakeholder than what each stakeholder puts in. That is why it works.
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