Dive Brief:

• Colleges and universities are utilizing a new fee-for-service model of unbundling offerings in online programs built around pedagogy, eCampus News reports.
• The model is an alternative to those that remain bundled and see institutions share some 40-60% of revenue with an online program management firm, requiring schools to instead make the initial investment.
• The shift comes at a time of stiffer competition between a larger number of available online programs, with the pedagogy-driven focus still aimed at boosting enrollment, revenue, retention and satisfaction, according to eCampus News.

Dive Insight:

As the online higher ed market matures and makes greater flexibility possible especially for continuing ed students, colleges and universities are learning much the same lessons that their K-12 counterparts have learned in recent years with classroom tech: Simply putting a tech-driven option in place isn't sufficient if the pedagogy behind it doesn't deliver value.

While this model requires colleges and universities to take elements of an online program like marketing, recruitment, enrollment management, and curriculum development and course design into their own hands, thus necessitating a greater investment by the institution. But it also allows a greater focus on pedagogy with that institutions personal thumbprint on the aforementioned elements, as well as the interactions between students, faculty and staff, and the services provided to the students enrolled. In a time where unbundled options like bootcamps and other micro-credentialing options are gaining in popularity, choosing an option that allows the institution to more readily embrace its own approach on those fronts may be the wiser investment in the long run.