To THE EDITOR:

After
working in the field of distance education for almost 20 years, I am
not surprised to read that very few programs are currently making
money. Almost no programs including the large and well-funded, as well
as the small and experimental have any of the right ingredients for
successful outcomes in terms of the educational experience or
reasonable financial returns….

The most significant reason that
distance-learning programs have failed is that they have not answered
the basic question of what will harness together people who are
separated in space and time to talk to each other, work together, and
teach one another. … The dominant platforms emphasize the
organization and management of content delivery, rather than the social
experience of learning. The chat rooms and bulletin boards are poorly
designed and impede communication rather than support and enhance it.
When you enter the areas where courses are marketed and promoted, you
feel like you are wandering in a silent, blank wilderness. There is no
sense of who else might be found in these courses….

When the
social aspect of the classroom is missing, student dissatisfaction
rises dramatically, as does the attrition rate. When it is present,
students value distance-learning programs more than their counterparts
do in-class programs. …

Another basic reason distance-learning
programs are not making money is that they have not followed the simple
laws of supply and demand…. We know from experience that people are
not likely to buy the commodity kinds of courses introduction to
finance, accounting, or marketing that most distance-learning programs
currently offer. These kinds of courses are not easily distinguished
from one another and generally can be found locally at a community
college or even at a branch of the University of Phoenix. Even with
prestigious names associated with them, they are unlikely to attract
large numbers of students.

The OTTER Group’s best-selling
courses have been those featuring faculty members, research, and
resources that are not widely available. … I am shocked to see that
some of the more well-funded efforts in the field have removed the
faculty members from their offerings. By taking out the faculty, the
courses have removed one of the most important elements of value for
the students. No wonder they are not doing well.

The OTTER Group
has also learned that it does not work well to separate the
universities from their faculty members. … Students are buying not
just content but an entire learning experience, defined by the cultural
values of the sponsoring institution…. Those values must be reflected
in the experience or it isn’t worth its purchase….

I believe
that the focus on learning objects and sophisticated interaction with
them is the wrong focus. More important is the ability to profile
students and use that information to create personal, meaningful,
unique learning experiences. …

One of the additional reasons
that distance-learning programs have not been profitable to date is
that they have not been priced strategically. Courses have typically
been priced based on what they cost to make, rather than on what they
cost in comparison with similar offerings, with premiums added for
prestigious brands or top-rated faculty members. With intelligent
pricing, these courses can be quite profitable over time…. Once the
fixed costs are recouped, the cost for adding additional students is
very low. …

The distance-learning field is very much in its
infancy, and a significant amount of work needs to be done to build the
models for how to teach and learn online, as well as the business and
financial models for how to do so profitably. To be successful will
require new approaches, tools, and ways of thinking about every aspect
of the learning experience.

KATHLEEN GILROYChairman and Chief Executive Officer OTTER GroupCambridge, Mass.