(You can read more of our original ideas in our archive. You can order a business plan of this idea here.)
Problem: “Which would you choose: An online course delivered by one of the world’s most knowledgeable and charismatic instructors, supported by Pixar-class animators, award-winning documentary filmmakers and a team of in-person graduate teaching assistants? Or the same course taught in person by an average instructor reading from yellowed notes? (Source: NYT).” Unfortunately, the first option doesn’t exist.
Solution: High-quality university lectures supported by animations, great lecturers, and more to supplement in-person learning with extremely high quality online learning through the form of remote lectures. One example of a great course that has already started to do this is Harvard’s CS50 course. It started as the introductory computer science course only at Harvard, and in the last 5 years has transformed to be a class taught at Yale (in fact it’s Yale’s most popular course) and one that is available to high school students for AP and college credit.
Unlike existing platforms like EdX or OpenCourseWare, this business would create online lectures to be supplemented with in-person instruction. The blend of both would provide a new platform of MOOCs (massive open online courses) and would follow in the steps of things like Zero-L (by Harvard Law School) and HBX Core (by Harvard Business School).
The benefits of such a model are described by Robert H. Frank in his June 5, 2020 New York Times piece. The article cites his 1995 book, “The Winner-Take-All Society,” to argue that remote lectures are a winner-take-all market because of the Matthew Effect and Economies of Scale:
Matthew Effect: The sociologist Robert Merton coined the term, referring to a verse in the Book of Matthew: “For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.” As a leading producer expands its market share, additional revenues enable it to further refine the offering that made it a leader.
Economies of Scale: Most of the costs of delivering remote courses are fixed, which means that costs per student fall sharply with volume. The cost of producing a first-rate instructional video is the same, for example, no matter how many students view it. The only additional expense of expanding remote courses would be the hiring of local graduate teaching assistants.
A very interesting idea indeed; however, this business would have to be extremely cognizant of providing equitable access to education if it quickly dominates the market.
Monetization: Tuition and/or enrollment fees.
Contributed by: Michael Bervell (Billion Dollar Startup Ideas)