Education Providers Seek to Win Customers with Free Online Courses

From infocus – A Newsletter of the University Continuing Education Association – September 2000; Vol. 5, No. 7

IRVINE, Calif. – October 4, 2000 – This summer, bookseller Barnes & Noble and notHarvard.com – a new company that creates online branded universities – launched Barnes & Noble University, a free online education resource, with the aim of expanding book sales and building customer loyalty.

At present, B&N offers 35 free online courses. Some of the free courses sound like non-credit, self-enrichment courses that might be offered by a college continuing education unit. Among the offerings are Walt Whitman, American Icon; Balancing Act: Prioritizing Your Life; Comedy 101: From the Silents to Seinfeld; Manage Your Personal Finances with Intuit Quicken 2000; Building Your First Web Page; and Introduction to Classical Music. Classes are taught by a "faculty" of authors and experts.

Another notHarvard.com client has already realized phenomenal success with free online courses. Motorola's subsidiary Metrowerks enrolled 25,000 students in the first two months and brought in enough revenue from sales of books and software to cover Metrowerk's initial investments. (BarnesandNoble.com is the primary distributor of notHarvard's eduCommerce course materials for its network of other branded online universities, which includes those of Talk City and jobs.com.)

In an interview with Business 2.0, notHarvard founder Mike Rosenfelt said he does not see Ivy League universities as competition. "Those entities will always charge a premium for their services (and the courses) aren't necessarily available to everyone. We kind of envision a world where both succeed."

Founded just one year ago, notHarvard has attracted more than $34 million in financing. "There is no question that eduCommerce is a strategic asset for companies looking to provide greater context to their sales and marketing efforts," said Adam Dell of Impact Venture Partners. "eduCommerce is the ultimate permission-based sales and marketing tool that generates additive revenue streams."

It is in notHarvard's own marketing plan to give something away for free to create brand loyalty. The firm will build a university each quarter pro bono for a nonprofit or charity.

The Bottom Line for University CE

Gary W. Matkin, Dean, University Extension and Summer Session, University of California, Irvine believes offering free online courses by non-university organizations makes sound business sense. "Such courses not only attract people to websites, but also provide 'stickiness' to keep people on the sites longer. As educators, we should probably applaud their efforts. As business people, we should probably try to see how to exploit such a new development." He observes that the courses could help more people understand what online education is all about. "Done well – and we have to believe that most of these big, sales-oriented organizations will put forth a good product – these courses may well educate our market in the genre." Because expert instructors and the infrastructure needed to support instructors generally cost too much to be offered on an ongoing basis free of charge, "We can also expect that these courses will not be instructor-led and that they will be mostly directed toward the popular, leisure-oriented courses."

Matkin adds, "This development may well push us to where I think we ought to be anyway – featuring as our distinguishing characteristic the instructor-led model of serious study at university-level subject. Of course we can also exploit this technique, taking our own lesson from what is happening by offering free samples of what we can do."

Free Web CE Courses for Alumni

Some universities are already offering free online courses as part of their marketing efforts. Princeton University offers free web-based CE courses to alumni. Since the program began three years ago, some 2,000 alumni have participated. Among courses offered are The Life and Times of Nelson Mandela; Demonization of the Other: Ethnic Conflict in the Balkans; Walks in Rome and an upcoming course in Animal Behavior. Courseware is not live and need not be completed in any set period of time. Participants can follow in a linear manner, or customize their learning process by going backwards or forward in courses and stopping to examine particulars in more detail. Last spring, Yale University and Harvard University announced that they will join with Princeton to develop a joint online clearinghouse of courses for all their graduates.

Free OSU Course for College-Bound

Oklahoma State University is using the "free online course" technique to help recruit students. Visit collegeprep.okstate.edu for OSU's free course which provides high school students with useful information as they embark on a major life change. Included in the lessons is information about how to help prepare for college, select a college, ease the transition to college, and manage the life changes that occur during college. It is written with high school students in mind, but most information is applicable to anyone involved in the process of selecting and attending a college including parents, teachers, counselors, non-traditional students. There is no time limit to complete the course, though a chapter a day is recommended. The lessons are written by professors, students, and OSU staff to help students succeed in their academic career wherever they choose to spend it.

Other schools have offered free first lessons. For example, University of California, Berkeley offers three free sample lessons for its online certificate courses in e-commerce and marketing.