Don’t let your choice of LMS compromise your learning strategy
February 2018 – CAPDM Newsletter CAPDM Thinking Try before you buy… Dear Reader, Don’t let your choice of LMS compromise your learning strategy One of the many online learning messages that hit my inbox this week suggested trying an LMS before buying. Obvious, surely? Do institutions really commit to a learning management system (LMS) on […]
Institutions & Textbooks
January 2018 – CAPDM Newsletter CAPDM Thinking Institutions & Textbooks Dear Reader, Use of OER textbook now equal to commercial textbook in some US courses Open Education Resources – OERs are a bit hit or miss, but there are now some very mature and valuable resources out there. While UK institutions are cautious about using […]
Amazon flavoured learning services + The Millennials strike back

December 2017 CAPDM Newsletter CAPDM Thinking Amazon flavoured learning services + The Millennials strike back Dear Reader, Amazon flavoured learning services Just at the end of November this year, Amazon snuck out a bunch of new Web-service technology ‘announcements‘ of potential interest to Education. There were some useful tools like Transcribe, an automatic speech translation […]
Strategic Education
November 2017 CAPDM Newsletter CAPDM Opinion Strategic Education Dear Reader, Eduventures recently pointed out, two of the biggest for-profit online education providers in the USA, Capella Education and Strayer Education, are planning to merge under the new company name “Strategic Education”. Both organisations have lately out-performed their peers in the challenging US for-profit online education […]
Delivering On The Promises Of Online Education

October 2017 CAPDM Newsletter CAPDM Opinion Delivering on the promises of online education Dear Reader, We have recently been invited to three different HE institutions to present our offering in online program management (OPM) services. It’s certainly a phrase that has penetrated UK Higher Education institutions, helping to describe how they might obtain third-party help […]
Online Education: the next 20 years
September Issue CAPDM Newsletter CAPDM Thoughts Online Education: the next 20 years Dear Reader, Every so often another future-looking paper appears predicting how higher education will look in the years ahead. This week we read a new white paper from Blackboard. While well worth reading; there is an obvious focus on technology, with many predictions […]
The rise of the Online Program Manager

August Issue CAPDM Newsletter CAPDM Discussion The rise of the Online Program Manager Dear Reader, We have been working with universities and professional associations for 25 years, developing their businesses in online distance learning (ODL). It’s been exciting, very rewarding for our clients, but a hard slog. However, ODL suddenly seems to be a priority […]
Becoming Your Own Online Program Manager
July 2017 Issue CAPDM Newsletter CAPDM Opinion How to become your own online program manager Dear Reader, We recently came across a June 2016 article in The Atlantic Magazine on online program managers (OPMs), and how much money they are making from marketing student enrolments in the USA. OPMs offer universities modern marketing tactics. Amongst […]
Produce Your Online Programs In-house

April 2017 Issue CAPDM Newsletter CAPDM Opinion Produce Your Online Programs In-house Dear Reader, A lot of university schools and departments around the World are struggling with going online – this time with whole programs. This is understandable. Its not a trivial thing to do. Quite apart from the technological aspects of producing, delivering and […]
Online Production Managers: An Old Model Re-invented
February 2017 Issue CAPDM Newsletter CAPDM Discussion Partner for Capability… and Profit. Dear Reader, Many universities struggling with diversifying into online and blended learning decide to have a corporate ‘partner’ basically build their products and business for them. This approach may have a short term appeal, but not in the longer term in CAPDM’s experience. […]