Adult Education Organizations and Programs

• Robyn Spoon was responsible for the Introduction, Main Programs, and Implications sections of MOOCs. Robyn commented on Group 2. 
• Meredith Freeman was responsible for the Introduction, Main Program, and Implications sections of Harvard Business School's online courses. Meredith commented on Group 4.
• Natalie Guest was responsible for the Comparison section. Natalie commented on Group 2.
• Emily Sheperd was responsible for the Abstract and Conclusion sections as well as the overall editing and formatting of the paper. Emily commented on Group 3.

Adult Education Organizations and Programs

Group 1: Meredith Freeman, Natalie Guest, Emily Sheperd, Robyn Spoon

Ball State University

Abstract

            Adult education programs are as diverse as the individuals who utilize them. With the advancement of technology and an increased movement towards accessible education, new programs are developing that may not have been dreamed of by previous generations; Group 1 chose to study these emerging programs. The first is Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), which is defined most easily as an online course about a particular subject that anyone can watch, typically for free or a nominal fee; this paper focuses specifically on Coursera, the top MOOC provider (Shah, 2015). The second program is Harvard Business School’s online courses, more commonly known as HBX; while an online business school is not particularly innovative in 2017, how Harvard was purposeful in shaping their online business school to be a classroom of the future is important (Symonds, 2016).

This paper will introduce and outline the programs, analyze the implications of these programs on adult education, and provide a comparison of the two. Robyn Spoon was responsible for the Introduction, Main Programs, and Implications sections of MOOCs. Meredith Freeman was responsible for the Introduction, Main Program, and Implications sections of HBX. Natalie Guest was responsible for the Comparison section. Emily Sheperd was responsible for the Abstract and Conclusion sections as well as the overall editing and formatting of the paper with the entire group finalizing the paper for submission.

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)

Introduction

MOOCs are the newest version of distance courses, which have existed in many forms for hundreds of years. A MOOC, or Massive Open Online Course, is “an online course for learning about some topic, open to anyone free-of-charge via the web” (Chandler & Munday, 2016, para. 1). With the advent of internet technology, colleges and universities are now seeking ways to share their content with learners from around the world, expanding access to education anywhere an internet connection can be established (Johnson, 2016). Coursera is currently the largest provider of MOOCs in the world (Coursera Inc., 2017). Coursera was started in 2012 by two Stanford computer science professors with a mission to provide universal access to the best education available through online courses from top universities and organization (Coursera Inc., 2017). Professors Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng made the decision to make their courses available online for any learner to choose to take and in the process had the opportunity to reach more learners than in the traditional classroom (Coursera Inc., 2017).

Main Programs

Coursera has expanded to offer classes taught at some of the world’s leading colleges and universities. Learners can choose to take courses in different disciplines, but many of the popular choices include data sciences, computer programming, business, and social sciences. According to Shah (2015), Coursera tops the list of MOOC providers with EdX and Canvas coming in second and third. In addition, overall access of MOOC courses has grown from a handful of courses only a few years ago to 4200 in 2015 (Shah, 2015).

Originally, these courses were offered as individual courses, but recently, providers have expanded to include certificates and credentials for their programs giving learners a more tangible outcome (Shah, 2015). EdX was the first provider to add credentials to their offerings in 2013, and now the number of Nanodegrees and Specializations has grown to over 100 (Shah, 2015). While MOOCs began as an altruistic project of two professors at Stanford, they have moved into a space of serious consideration for colleges and universities due to the affordability and access provided to the learner (Jaschik, 2013). Coursera is now a for-profit organization and charges a nominal fee for each of its courses (Coursera Inc., 2017). Coursera courses rarely earn the learner college credit, but the learner does develop the skills they are interested in learning through videos, lecture notes and projects in a synchronous manner.

Implications

MOOCs have become an interesting option in adult education offerings. They provide something most adult learners are interested in: acquisition of specific knowledge.  MOOCs provide this high quality information in an accessible way— a wide assortment of content is offered via the internet, and financial aid is available for some programs. MOOCs pose an interesting question for higher education into the future concerning credit-worthiness of the content. According to Jaschik (2013), some universities are already contemplating how they might award credit for these courses. Colleges have the opportunity to use MOOCs as a way to entice adult learners into the classroom for the first time, or to possibly complete degrees previously begun (Jaschik, 2013). While MOOCs may not be the perfect solution for all learners, we can infer from our research that they do provide an accessible manner to gain knowledge and test out subject matter for career interest.

Harvard Business School’s Online Courses

Introduction

            Harvard Business School’s online course first launched in June 2014 (Carapezza, 2014).  Harvard Business School’s online course is more commonly called HBX (Carapezza, 2014). The first class accepted 1,000 students who were already enrolled in colleges or universities in Massachusetts (Carapezza, 2014). For the majority of courses, interested students apply for a position in a specific cohort (Feloni, 2015).

HBX executive director, Jana Kierstead, stated that accessibility is one of the main goals of this online business program (Carapezza, 2014). The mission is to utilize the advancement of technology to be able to educate more leaders (Harvard Business School, n.d.). While some classes are free, any course or sequence that results in a certificate has a price range of $900-$1,950 (Harvard Business School, n.d.). HBX does offer financial aid based on need (Carapezza, 2014).

Main Programs

According to Harvard Business School (n.d.), learning should be social, active and case-based. Social, in that students are expected to share ideas with their classmates and seek help from their peers (Harvard Business School, n.d.). Active, in that content keeps students engaged through things like cold calling (Harvard Business School, n.d.). Case-based, in that much of the content is “embedded in a series of living case studies” that were created for HBX (Harvard Business School, n.d.). The HBX program is designed “to deliver transformational educational experiences” that enable students to apply their learning (Harvard Business School, n.d., para. 2).

HBX offers numerous certificate courses to match the needs of adults at different points in their careers (Harvard Business School; n.d.). These programs focus specifically on business concepts such as accounting, negotiations, etc. (Harvard Business School; n.d.). One of the unique aspects of HBX is the video lecture format; the videos are filmed with the same expertise of a movie, yet the content is strictly business (Carapezza, 2014). An instructor, just like in an actual classroom setting, can call on students (Carapezza, 2014).  Harvard’s purpose for this interactive online teaching method is to make the student feel as though they are in a real life classroom (Carapezza, 2014).

HBX Live opened in 2015 as Harvard’s classroom of the future in a public broadcasting facility in Boston (Symonds, 2016). According to Symonds (2016), “HBX Live captures a global classroom where participants situated all around the world can be seen on a single screen to communicate and interact in a live virtual classroom” (p. 1). HBX Live allows up to 60 students to connect at one time with clear audio and video, and without delayed response time (Symonds, 2016).

Implications

            HBX is designed to bring all of the qualities that make a traditional Harvard business class unique to the online platform. Their commitment to the values of social, active, and case-based is incredibly important, but they also pair it with advanced technologies to bring online learning into a face-to-face virtual classroom (Harvard Business School, n.d.; Symonds, 2016). HBX is important because they did not accept the status quo of typical online schools; they were innovative in creating an online classroom that met their culture (Symonds, 2016). While adult learners who attend class on a campus have the ability to choose between a large university, small university, public, private, research, liberal arts, etc., it is must harder to find significant differences between online programs; Harvard Business School, in creating a different approach, is truly creating a classroom of the future by challenging other schools to offer diverse online delivery methods that better match the missions of their particular institution.

Comparison

            Online education opportunities exploded in the 2000s with improved technology as well as increased access to computers and high-speed internet. More recently, there has been interest in refining and expanding the online education experience. Both MOOCs, like Coursera, and the certificate programs offered through HBX exemplify these newer types of online education programs, but in very different ways. When looking at Coursera and Harvard Online Business School, in short, Coursera is more affordable, accessible, and student driven, while HBX is more interactive, global, and results in a certificate backed by a recognizable and respected institution.

            Coursera is one of the largest providers of direct online courses in the world and has been around longer than Harvard Online Business School (Coursera Inc., 2017). While Harvard serves a more select learner base and requires an application process for their certificate programs, Coursera is open to the public (Carapezza, 2014; Coursera Inc., 2017). Coursera has an opportunity to reach more learners than the limited group to which HBX is available.

With many upper level professors opting to put their courses online for free or low cost, Coursera is one of the top ranking open online course platforms, offering a variety of courses from leading colleges and universities (Shah, 2015). HBX offers high quality curricula as well, but with a unique approach to lectures using professional videography and interactive online teaching where instructors call on students just as in a traditional classroom (Carapezza, 2014). HBX’s implementation of HBX Live, the global classroom of the future, is what sets the program apart (Carapezza, 2014). While Coursera’s offerings are student centered and self-paced, HBX Live gives students up to the minute, live interactions with students across the globe and real time access to instructors (Symonds, 2016).

With the price of college tuition quadrupling in the past 35 years, learners of any age need to consider the true costs of their education (The College Board, 2017). While Coursera has expanded from just singular course offerings, to certificates and credentials, it often does not result in true college credit for learners. Previously a free online platform, Coursera now charges a small fee for courses. Compared with HBX’s steep price tag of $900-$1950 per certificate, Coursera’s affordable classes make perfect sense for those wanting to gain knowledge for the sake of autodidactic learning. For the committed student wanting to invest in a recognized program from an accredited institution, taking advantage of HBX’s financial aid options may be the right choice.

Conclusion

            As technology advances, programs will continue to advance. MOOCs and HBX are both relatively new because they are offered completely online; they both also challenge what many consider traditional online adult education. MOOCs provide accessible education by ensuring it is low cost and anyone is able to utilize it; this differs from traditional degree or certificate programs with higher costs and applications requiring specific admission’s requirements (Jaschik, 2013). HBX is purposeful in matching the culture of Harvard Business School as well as creating an interactive learning experience with professionally produced video lectures and real-time conversations with peers and faculty; this challenges the stereotype that an online school lacks the uniqueness of the physical campus, and it brings a new professional standard of what an interactive online class can be (Harvard Business School, n.d.).

            The chart below provides a summary and side-by-side comparison of these revolutionary programs.

	MOOC, Coursera in particular	HBX
Location	Anywhere with a web connection	Anywhere with a web connection
Year it was founded	2012	2014
Mission	Universal access to the best education available at top universities and organizations	Make education for leaders accessible by utilizing technology
How is it organized?	Online. Open to everyone. Ability to take one specific course, a sequence that leads to a specialization, on an accredited degree. Wide variety of courses. Nominal fees for single course and specialization; full degrees range from $15-$25,000. Courses taught by top instructors from top universities across the world.	Online. Application for certificate courses. Certificates vary from discussion sessions to numerous courses requiring a formal examination. All courses relate specifically to business. Certificate courses vary in price from $900-$1950. Some financial aid available. Courses developed by Harvard Business School faculty.
Goals of the programs	Moving an individual’s career forward through accessible courses developed by top educators to teach skills necessary to succeed	Moving an individual’s career forward through best practices and skills from faculty from a highly regarded institution
Implications	The ability to learn a skill, regardless of income or location.	New perspective and techniques in online education and meeting the needs of the business community

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