Sustainable MOOC Platforms - Searching for Business Models of the Future

Halsbenning Sebastian, Niemann Marco

Abstract

MOOCs went through a typical hype. The promising concept attracted many companies and educational institutions, leading to a massive rush of enrollments. This trend of massive growth lasted for about three years. MOOCs turned out to exhibit several shortcomings, including high production costs and massive drop-out rates. As the world is confronted with pandemic-induced lockdowns, MOOCs are considered viable options to keep up education systems, with traditional methods becoming unavailable. To sustainably unfold MOOCs' inherent advantages and extend their range and acceptance, a deeper understanding of the underlying business models is needed. Using the well-known Business Model Canvas combined with a classical web-content analysis, we set forth to chart existing MOOC platform business models. Based on the identified concepts, we seek to identify problematic and promising patterns as a basis for optimization. We present preliminary results and formulate propositions that will guide our future research.