E-Learning-Inclusivo (Mashup)

If you read this scoop alongside the previous one on edX, you'll see that MOOC platform providers are becoming creative about ways to monetize the platform. Now they are trying to make money from certifying that a particular user actually is the user they claim to be.  As Alastair formulates it, if you can't make money from the content, then it needs to come from the layer of services you offer on top of that. This, of course, is a familiar model in the open source software world, where, for example, the virtual learning environment Moodle is free, but you need to pay if you want to have it installed or maintained for you; or the various UNIX variants are free in principle, but installers that put the operating system on your computer come at a price.

It is sensible model, from the point of view of the learner and the platform provider. The learner gets a cheap course and can decide what services to add. Platform providers get access to a stream of income. I am not so sure, however, what participating universities make of it. They are used to recouping costs by packing content with services. If content is free and MOOC platforms provide the services, where does their income come from? I am afraid that the measly 6% or so that Coursera shares back will not be sufficient to produce high quality content. So perhaps universities will start setting up their own MOOC platforms or negotiate better deals? (@pbsloep)