2012年，沃顿商学院让营销学教授彼得?法德等三人筹建该院最早的网络课程之一。法德教授按要求去了费城第二大街和南大街交汇处的筹备地点。在别人的指挥下，他平生第一次对着摄像机镜头，而不是学生讲课。
法德教授笑着说：“他们打开了摄像机，然后说‘咱们做一场慕课（MOOC，即大型网络公开课）吧’。我根本不知道自己在干吗。在这方面没有任何先例，也没有别的人在做这样的事。”
为了避免经典营销概念“满堂灌”让课程变得沉闷，法德教授挑选了沃顿营销专业选修课的一些材料。当时，他甚至想不出谁会来上这门名为《营销学入门》的网络课程，这也是沃顿推出的首批慕课之一。
法德教授开玩笑说：“我的第一感觉是只有老年人、家庭主妇或者蹲监狱的才会来上这门课。”但出乎其预料，实际情况证明，听慕课的大有人在。其中有大学本科或更高学历的人占90%以上。受众的年龄介于25-44岁，而且绝大多数都有全职工作。
法德教授的第一门网络课程2012年开播后，工程师和经理人从世界各地给他发来了电子邮件。对此，法德教授颇感吃惊。他说：“这些人的水平跟我们的MBA学生如出一辙。给我发电邮的有巴基斯坦的工程师，还有许许多多不可能有机会到沃顿来读书的人。”
三年后，《营销学入门》的结业学生超过了30万人，这门课也成为网络教育平台Coursera今年的十佳商业慕课之一。还有近10万人完成了第二门慕课《消费者分析》。同时，法德教授推出了试验性企业高管培训课程，名为《消费者关系的战略价值》，为期八周，其中包括每周一次的“彼得面谈”，基本上就是在法德教授的办公室授课一小时，对象为交了3700美元来上这门课的二三十名学生。2016年春天，法德教授将第五次推出这门课。
2012年以来，共有约270万人报名参加沃顿的18门慕课课程。更重要的是，从那时起该学院已经颁发了5.4万张文凭，而且2015年4月以来还颁发了3.2万张专业课程结业证书。最初，沃顿把慕课作为一次网络试验；而今沃顿可借此在2015年增收500万美元。
在这个过程中，沃顿确立了自己在慕课领域的领先位置。它是第一家推出慕课的商学院，第一家在Coursera上推出专业课程和系列相关课程的商学院，也可能是世界上慕课学生最多的商学院之一。
另一个关键点在于，如今沃顿在慕课上的投入增加了一倍。该学院计划在今后12个月内至少新开24门网络课程，包括首批SPOC（小型封闭式网络课程）。这批SPOC涉及三个专业，分别是数字营销、游戏化和高级产品设计。这三门课将登陆EdX平台，后者是由哈佛大学和麻省理工资助的非营利性初型创教育公司。在Coursera上，每门慕课收费95美元，SPOC的费用则要高得多。
到2016年7月，沃顿还会把网络专业课数量从两门提高到五门。该学院预计，2016年的慕课收入将翻番，达到至少1000万美元。
这些大手笔投入来自沃顿的新院长杰弗里?加勒特，他认为此举可进一步提升沃顿品牌的全球知名度，接触到那些永远无法到费城沃顿校区的受众，还会让教师更放心地把科技用于教学，并改变师生在教室中的互动方式。
加勒特生于澳大利亚，是一位政治科学家，2014年7月成为沃顿的院长。他说：“上任时我对这份工作的两个想法都已得到证明。一个想法是许多没办法到沃顿校园里来的人都想接受沃顿的教育，从而形成了一个实实在在的市场。第二个想法是现在我们知道怎样聪明地把科技融入我们的线下在校课程。”
据加勒特介绍，如今超过10%的沃顿教师都有了开设和教授网络课程的经验。也就是说，有30多位教授参与了沃顿的慕课工作。专业课需要多位教师共同打造一系列课程，每位教授都要提供一周到三周的教学材料。举例来说，沃顿的商业分析专业课就由12位教师共同完成。
加勒特说，他发现可以用慕课来发现人才，而且后者最终可能会到沃顿来读MBA课程。同时，沃顿开发的教学内容确实可以替代非学历教育，成为沃顿线下在校高管培训课程的延伸。
他指出：“如果有助于人们在职场上进步，它就得到了自下而上的验证。非学历教育会有相当迅猛的发展，因为会有人觉得拿学位或者传统高管培训的学费和机会成本并不合理。”
早期的慕课完全免费，而且可以提供结业证明。现在，沃顿正在迅速把这些在线课程转化为主要收入来源。去年4月，沃顿率先把Coursera上的在线学历收费从49美元提高到了95美元。
沃顿网络教育部门主任安妮?楚姆伯恩说：“做出这项决定前我们紧张地考虑了六个星期。但提高收费后，共有3.2万人在我们付了学费，并拿了结业证书。仅此一项就让总收入增加了300万美元。”
沃顿的商业基础和商业分析专业课都设有四门课程和一个毕业设计项目，收费均为595美元。
沃顿上个月把全球策略课从Coursera转移到了EdX，并将其作为收费149美元的试点课程。沃顿创新集团董事总经理唐?休斯曼说：“在EdX上报名听课的人数和在Coursera上完全一样。”他认为今后沃顿可以进一步提高网络教育收费。休斯曼指出：“毕竟，亚马逊上卖的一本二手公司财务教材都要200美元。我们已经能轻松盈利。这里可是沃顿啊！”
战略上的重视不光让沃顿成为推出慕课并借此吸引大批学生的商学院龙头，还让它成为熟练掌握这项技术并在全球范围内传播知识和品牌的主要院校。接受沃顿网络教育的学生有三分之二来自北美以外，印度、中国、俄罗斯和拉美在其中占了很大比重。
加勒特说：“其中许多人都有学位，还有许多人来自美国以外，这让我们很意外。我们接触到了以前也许永远也无法接触的学生。让数百万人来接受你的教育，这其中的营销价值不可低估。”
有一点很清楚，那就是沃顿通过这方面的开拓得到了一些重要经验。休斯曼指出：“我们的工作曾以产品为中心，最初的慕课时长6-12周。那时我们甚至都没有想到许多人都很忙，日程表排的很满。现在，我们更多地以学生为中心，而且会考虑他们需要什么。他们的希望是把课时压缩到四个星期。”
除了更短的教学周期，沃顿还发现学生希望上内容具体的课程。休斯曼说：“我们把精力集中在一个商业题目的能力培养上。如果你是总经理，但不太了解客户分析，那你或许会希望大量学习这方面的内容。这样，在会上进行讨论时你就有东西可谈。”
沃顿相信，到目前为止的情况表明，学生更喜欢所谓的异步式网络教育，也就是说他们随时随地都可以上课。休斯曼说：“市场不需要同步教育。如果你在北京而我在费城，我们就找不到合适的时间来同时上线。”
另一个重要经验是教授慕课课程不是为了成名，尽管它可能让教师短暂地当一回名人。休斯曼坚持认为：“网络教育的重点不在教，而是在学。我们投入资金的目的不是让教师觉得自己已经像奥普拉?温弗瑞那样成为21世纪的著名脱口秀主持人。”
沃顿慕课战略的最大潜在益处可能会充分体现在老式的线下课堂里，这也许有点儿讽刺意味。
休斯曼说：“我们目前所做的是利用科技把知识单向传播到教室以外，价值含量较低。如今，教师在课堂上宣讲显得有些沉闷。如果把课程挪到教室以外，授课过程就会变得非常有意思。”
他指出，减少机械的讲授时间后，教师就可以把时间更多地用于在沃顿旧金山分校组织充满活力的讨论，或者带领学生在远离费城校区的地方进行体验式教学。
休斯曼认为：“这可以让教师获得更多自由时间，这样他们给予学生的学习体验就能真正改变后者的人生。慕课正在提高面对面教育的标准。”
加勒特也持这样的观点。他说：“我们的终极希望是用网络教育内容来改善线下课堂中学生的体验。我们希望线下课堂有更多的互动，以团队为导向，并集中于解决问题。我们往往会采用‘思而学之’的方式，但我觉得以后我们得用‘做而学之’的方法来予以平衡。”（财富中文网）
译者：Charlie
校对：詹妮
When marketing professor Peter Fader was asked to be one of three professors to build one of the first online classes at Wharton in 2012, he was marched to the corner of Second and South Streets in Philadelphia and told to face the lens of a video camera instead of students for the first time in his life.
“They turned the camera on and said ‘Let’s do a MOOC,” he laughs. “I had no idea what I was doing. There were no precedents. No one else was doing this.”
Looking to avoid a dull class filled with 101 marketing concepts, he cherry picked material from Wharton’s elective courses in marketing. At the time, Fader could not even imagine who would want to take the online course, an Introduction to Marketing, one of the first MOOCs Wharton would offer.
“My first impression was that the only people who would want this were senior citizens, housewives, or somebody in prison,” he quips.
Contrary to Faber’s initial expectations, MOOC learners turned out to be an impressive bunch. More than 90% have some college and most have a bachelor’s degree or higher. The age of learners tends to range from 25 to 44, and the vast majority are employed full time.
When Fader’s first course went live in 2012, he was amazed to get emails from engineers and managers all over the world. “These people are every bit the caliber of our MBA students,” he says. “I’d get an email from an engineer in Pakistan and lots of other people who would never have had the chance to come to Wharton.”
Three years later, more than 300,000 people have taken Wharton’s Intro to Marketing course, one of the top 10 business MOOCs on the Coursera platform this year. Nearly 100,000 more have completed his second MOOC on Consumer Analytics. Fader also has piloted an eight-week-long executive education MOOC offering called the Strategic Value of Customer Relationships, which includes weekly “Pete Casts,” essentially hour-long office hours for the 20 to 30 students who have enrolled in the $3,700 course It will be offered for a fifth time this spring.
Since 2012, some 2.7 million people have enrolled in Wharton’s 18 MOOC courses. More importantly, the school has awarded 54,000 verified certificates since 2012 and 32,000 verified certificates in specialization courses since April of last year. What started as something of an online experiment will bring an additional $5 million in revenue to Wharton in 2015.
Through it all, Wharton has firmly established itself as the leading business purveyor of MOOCs. It was the first business school to offer a MOOC, the first to offer a specialization, or series of related courses, on Coursera, and can boasts one of the highest MOOC enrollments of any business school in the world.
No less crucial, the school is now doubling down on its bet on MOOCs. Over the next 12 months, Wharton plans to launch at least two dozen new online offerings, including its first three SPOCs (small private online courses) on digital marketing, gamification, and advanced product design. They will all be offered on the EdX platform, the non-profit education startup founded by Harvard and MIT, at significantly higher price points than the $95 certificates for its single MOOC courses on Coursera.
Wharton also will bump up the number of specializations from two to five through July of this year. The school is predicting that its MOOC revenues will double next year, to at least $10 million.
The big bet is being placed by Wharton’s new Dean, Geoffrey Garrett, who views the initiative as a way to further extend the school’s brand around the world; reach users who would never be able to get to the school’s Philadelphia campus; get faculty more comfortable using technology to teach; and transform how faculty and students engage in the classroom.
“Coming into the job, I had two conjectures about it that have been borne out,” says Garrett, an Australia-born political scientist who became dean in July of 2014. “One, there is a real market for a taste of Wharton education for lots of people who can’t be on campus,” he says. “And second, we now know how to smartly integrate technology in the on-campus courses.”
More than 10% of our faculty have now had experience building and running online classes, he says. That translates into more than 30 professors who have been involved in Wharton’s MOOC efforts. Specializations involve multiple faculty working together to create a set of courses, with each professor contributing anywhere between one and three weeks worth of material. Wharton’s business analytics specialization, for example, represents the combined effort of 12 different faculty members.
Garrett says that he has since discovered that MOOCs can be used to identify talent that may ultimately come to campus for the school’s MBA program, and that the content Wharton has been developing can be a viable alternative to non-degree education, long the province of the school’s on-campus executive education programming.
“If it helps a person advance his or her career, it’s a bottom-up credential,” he says. “Non-degree education will increase pretty dramatically for those who find that the tuition and opportunity costs of either a degree or traditional executive education don’t make sense.”
While the early MOOCs were entirely free, including a statement of completion, Wharton is fast moving into a place where its portfolio of online offerings can become a substantial source of revenue for the school. Wharton led all schools on Coursera last April when it raised the cost for a verified certificate from$49 to $95.
“There was six weeks of anxiety over that decision,” says Anne Trumbone, director of Wharton’s online learning initiative. “But since then we’ve had 32,000 people pay for verified certificates. That is more than $3 million in gross revenue alone.”
The school’s specializations in business fundamentals and business analytics, composed of four courses plus a capstone project, cost $595 each.
Wharton also took its Global Strategy course, originally distributed on Coursera, and moved it to the EdX platform last month in a pilot at a cost of $149. “We got enrollment numbers that were just as good as Coursera,” says Don Huesman, managing director of Wharton’s innovation group, who believes the school can further raise prices in the future. “After all,” he says, “a used corporate finance textbook on Amazon goes for $200! We’re already making money hand over fist. This is Wharton!”
This strategic focus has not only made Wharton the business school leader in producing MOOCs and reaching a massive audience with them. Wharton also has become one of the major players in mastering the use of the technology to spread its knowledge and brand across the world. Two-thirds of the learners who have taken Wharton’s courses are outside North America, with heavy representation from India, China, Russia, and Latin America.
“The stats on how many people already have degrees and are outside the U.S. just hits us in the eyes,” says Garrett. “We are reaching learners we never would have reached. The pure marketing value of having millions of people sampling your education cannot be undervalued.”
One thing’s for sure: Wharton’s pioneering efforts have paid off in some important lessons. “Our efforts were product-centric and our original MOOCs were six-to-12 weeks long,” says Huesman. “We didn’t even think that a lot of people have busy lives with demanding schedules. Today, we’re being more customer-centric and asking what people need. They want the learning squished down into four weeks.”
Besides the shorter cycles, Wharton gained insight was what learners hoped to get out of a particular course. “We honed in on the concept of literacy in a business topic,” Huesman says. “If you are a general manager and don’t know a lot about customer analytics, you might want to binge learn this so you can go to a meeting and knowledgeably participate in the discussion.”
Wharton believes its experience thus far proves that students prefer so-called asynchronous online learning that they can tap into at any time, no matter where they are in the world. “The market doesn’t require synchronous learning,” says Huesman. “If you re in Beijing and I’m in Philadelphia, there is no good time to get together.”
Another crucial lesson was that MOOCs were not about fame, despite the nearly instant celebrity status a MOOC might provide a faculty member. “This stuff is not about teaching,” insists Huesman. “It’s about learning. You don’t invest money to make faculty think they are Oprah Winfrey in the 21st Century.”
Ironically, perhaps, the greatest as-yet unrealized benefit of Wharton’s MOOC strategy may well be seen in old bricks-and-mortar classrooms.
“What we’re doing is using technology to get the low value, one way transmission of knowledge outside of the classroom,” says Huesman. “It is dumb to have a faculty member stand up in front of a class and deliver a lecture today. If we get that out of the classroom, all kinds of interesting things can happen in class.”
Less time devoted to that kind of rote teaching, Huesman says, would free up faculty to spend more time heading dynamic discussions at Wharton’s San Francisco campus or leading teams of students on experiential learning opportunities far afield from its Philadelphia campus.
“It can free up faulty time so they can craft learning experiences with students that are truly life changing,” says Huesman. “MOOCs are raising the bar for face-to-face education.”
Garrett agrees. “Ultimately, we want to use online content to provide a better experience for our students in the classroom,” he says. “We want class to be more interactive, team oriented and focused on problem solving. We tend to be in the learning-by-studying moment, but I think we are going to have to balance that with learning-by-doing.”
