The+MOOCs+Business+Model



This model is based on the three learning models and is aimed at promoting social interaction between teachers and students as well as providing funding possibilities for teaching activities.
 * The Social Student
 * The e-Helpers
 * The Antibody

Students register e.g. for 100$ to participate in a MOOC. For each exercise students have to solve, they are required to look for other new and nonstandard solutions and to list them in the public Variation Solution Table. This is where the antibody model comes into play as it promotes innovative and new ways of thinking. This is of great benefit to the students’ learning because they are forced to examine the problem from different perspectives.

As soon as students realize that they need more help in order to understand the subject matter better they can launch a Task-Solver meeting. If there are sufficient participants for a certain call, a teacher will join and discuss with the participants questions, solutions etc. This is where the task/time related e-helpers model comes into action and forms the student group. An active meeting will cost every participant e.g. 10$, so the teacher is paid for his/her job. As registered students have already paid 100$ at the beginning of the course, each meeting will be paid for using part of this amount. As the teachers are only active according to the demand for a Task Solver Meeting, the social student model is deployed here.

There is also the possibility for students to gain virtual money for every new solution entered into the Variation Solution Table (e.g. 5$) which can be used for further Task-Solver Meetings to enhance the likelihood of having enough participants for a certain meeting. Students are awarded points for their solutions provided by teachers. A certificate is issued when 100 points have been reached.