Really looking forward to speaking at the CoSector Festival of Technology in Education and Research on the 5th May on the future of the digital learning ecosystem and short courses & microcredentials. You can sign up and register here, tickets are free - www.tickettailor.com/events/cosec...
"The changes caused by AI..may seduce people deeper into current marketing practices with the promise of greater effectiveness...which will increase the opportunity space for differentiated approaches to marketing for online courses."
"while the choices universities face around online course portfolios may lead down different paths, given current and projected needs, developing to better serve a mature student audience..would be a wise investment."
...and for more on the UK HE VLE market you can check out my latest annual analysis - www.neilmosley.com/blog/uk-high...
...for how their products develop (I know people in universities have lots of opinions about that!), and what impact they have when universities are deciding whether to stick with or switch their VLE.
Both these companies have undergone different but significant changes in recent years, and it's now going to be genuinely interesting to observe what these changes will mean...
Having analysed the VLE market in UK HE for many years now, the most obvious big-picture trend has been UK universities switching VLEs from companies like Blackboard and Moodle, which were largely there at the inception of this form of edtech 20+ years ago, to companies that came after them.
This puts an end to a period in the company's history under the Anthology brand, and frankly under a cloud of issues related to debt resulting in a Chapter 11 restructuring process.
In the past couple of days we've had confirmation that Blackboard, the company behind the virtual learning environment (VLE) used by many UK universities, is now an independent company and will be led by returning founder Matthew Pittinsky.
"UK HE's focus on TNE in recent years has been significant, and several institutions have been increasing their student numbers, including those studying through online learning, who made up approx. 21% of total TNE students across all levels in 2024–25."
Check out our team's compendium of interesting things in our February Digital Practice Round Up - inspiringlearning.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2026/03/d... Featuring @neilmosley.bsky.social, @hopkinsdavid.bsky.social, @neilselwyn.bsky.social and @kate-molloy.net
"if it weren't for the substantial increase in international on-campus students...the rise in UK students choosing to study postgraduate degrees online would be a more prominent sector-wide story. This growth has continued in the current reporting cycle "
"Blackboard and Moodle continue to be the most widely used VLEs among large UK higher education providers, but this year has seen a continuation of UK universities selecting Canvas and Brightspace as their new virtual learning enviroments (VLEs)."
"the story of online student enrolment over the last ten years, outside of the pandemic years, has been one of steady, incremental growth. While both undergraduate and PGT student numbers have fluctuated, the trend line for each remains upwards"
Thanks Chris!
Excellent analysis of the UK HE #VLE market by @neilmosley.bsky.social - always worth a read, comprehensive overview of developments through 2025 #Blackboard #Canvas #D2LBrightspace #Moodle www.neilmosley.com/blog/uk-high...
"One of the core financial viability challenges of online sub-degree provision is tight margins..If you’re not set up to offer courses on a regular or predictable basis, these challenges will only be exacerbated."
"the question at the front of my mind is whether online course marketing has become locked into an orthodoxy that is simply exacerbating the challenges of growing competition."
"in the last year there have been a number of developments closely aligned with longer-term trends and patterns, such as the fortunes of companies, and the profile of HE providers adopting particular VLEs"
"What’s clear is that even though there is a greater sense of prioritisation for forms of provision under the lifelong & flexible learning umbrella, universities still have some distance to travel in developing successful and sustainable operations to support it."
"there is a delicate balance between actions that increase the likelihood of remaining perpetually smaller and poorer, and those that enable you to grow income and pursue opportunities, and whatever you think about the LLE, it presents an opportunity." buff.ly/EGeFtWr
"the international online student market is one where the scale of the opportunity somewhat clouds the realities. It is an area that many in UK higher education do not always fully understand."
"Under the iceberg, so to speak...institutions are attempting to get their house in order to effectively support the delivery of shorter, flexible provision, adopting new platforms and seeking to better coordinate their existing portfolios of short courses."
"online education has had a couple of decades of being considered as a newer form of higher education, but this does not make it any less prone to developing rigid orthodoxies about how things should be done."
"For universities considering their online education strategies, it is important not to overlook the ways in which online education might support market penetration and not simply diversification. The two do not have to be mutually exclusive"
"there remains only a small number of institutions that can be said to have a significant portfolio of online undergraduate provision....but...there have been some small signals of an increasing number...willing to..launch online undergraduate degrees."
"some may need to break away from the idea that there is essentially one main way to do online course marketing and recruitment. There are other strategies, other approaches and other ideas of merit."
"on the surface the international online education market is very appealing...but the international online student market is one where the scale of the opportunity somewhat clouds the realities." www.neilmosley.com/blog/key-mis... #onlinelearning #onlineeducation #highereducation
"there has been a growing confluence between government priorities & wider narratives, leading to greater confidence to develop shorter forms of provision. Helpfully, this also offers a means of diversification in challenging financial times."
