Oxford, Yale and Stanford closed their joint not-for-profit online venture, AllLearn (Alliance for Lifelong Learning) citing insufficient enrollments and funding as the primary reasons. AllLearn was established in 2001 at the peak of the dot-com boom to offer online non-credit courses in general interest subject areas. The initial audience was the alumni of the three institutions, but as of the autumn semester 2002, provision was opened to the general public. After almost five years in operation, the three universities have released a joint statement concluding that "the cost of offering top-quality enrichment courses at affordable prices was not sustainable over time." Following a series of collapsed e-university ventures from U.S. universities (e.g. NYU Online, Fathom, Virtual Temple, and University of Maryland University College Online), AllLearn is another major product of the dot-com boom to fold.
AllLearn, an enterprise based in New York state, released a press statement in March 2006 claiming that "the cost of offering top-quality enrichment courses at affordable prices was not sustainable over time." AllLearn was launched to offer non-credit courses in general interest subject areas. The online venture was initially established as the Alliance for Lifelong Learning with alumni as the target audience, but in the autumn of 2002, the online venture adopted its current name in an effort to improve brand visibility and opened its provision to the general public. Provision focused on general interest courses rather than conventional higher education qualifications, primarily in humanities and social sciences. The venture's website claimed to offer the full range of academic subjects from "archaeology to zoology," with sample courses including "The History of Spies," "Understanding Beethoven" and "Poets of the First World War." Course content was developed by faculty members of the three universities, and free public access was made available to a unique online library of some 12,000 academic websites. According to the press release, the three universities will continue to independently offer online continuing learning courses, with "[lessons from the AllLearn experience] now integrated into the universities' teachings, where they will continue to benefit students and faculty for years to come."
A Promising Start
Starting small and focusing on a more receptive alumni market, AllLearn exhibited several important characteristics as a potentially successful online venture. Over the past five years, AllLearn offered 110 online courses to more than 10,000 students from 70 countries. The median age of learners was around 47. The business model was based on a flexible approach to delivery and technology. AllLearn offered shorter duration courses lasting from five to 10 weeks. In order to ensure access to students with a slow internet connection, AllLearn provided the option of substituting high-bandwidth features such as rich media.
A range of delivery modes (e.g. CD-ROM) were made available, although the internet was the central medium of instruction. The AllLearn brand was backed by its association with three elite universities and gained visibility through extensive marketing initiatives such as advertising in specialized and general interest magazines, pre-established links with university networks, etc. According to former Director of Marketing Nancy D. Kelly, what set AllLearn apart from other online ventures was also the direct involvement and support of the partner universities. Top-level professors and subject-area experts from all three institutions were active in course content creation. AllLearn courses were also more cost-effective than the online continuous study program offered independently by the three universities, although there was a rise in costs over the five-year period.
From the outset, there were signs that AllLearn's enrollment targets were not being met. Princeton (N.J.) had initially been an institutional partner in the venture, but backed down on plans within a few months following an initial intake of 600 students. According to Betty B. Leydon, Princeton's vice president for Information Technology, "[AllLearn was launched] at a time when there was a belief that online education was going to be a very important vehicle for distributing learning. Because of the economic situation today, that hasn't turned out to be the case--at least not yet." Some argue that AllLearn's decision to expand provision to the general public was testament to a lack of interest among the alumni market, although the company insists that public access had always formed part of the business plan. News coverage suggests that AllLearn continuously stepped up marketing initiatives to reach out to a wider audience, including advertising to alumni from other universities, targeting business and government employees, and affiliating with high-profile companies.
