Three years after abandoning edX, the pioneering open-access online course provider, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are settling into amore conventional route toimprove post-secondary access and completion.

The two elite universities, through anon-profit they call the Axim Collaborative, have begun redirecting slices oftheir $800million (600million) payout from the edXsale towards funding projects designed largely to benefit low-income and non-traditional students.

To lead Axim on that mission, the universities have chosen Stephanie Khurana, a Harvard-affiliated expert in social venture philanthropy and technological innovation who has begun identifying partners largely university-based with demonstratable skills in using technology to improve overall student success.

Some of those things are inside the classroom; sometimes theyre adjacent to the classroom; and sometimes theyre connected to work, MsKhurana said in outlining the strategies that Axim hopes to accelerate. The goal, she said, is to just fill those holes and overcome those barriers, with these innovations.

The need is clearly there. Only about 60per cent of US high school leavers enrol in college, and just about 60per cent of them earn adegree, leaving the country with some 40million people who have spent some time at university but lack aqualification acostly outcome that is substantially worse among racial minorities.

Less clear, however, is whether and how successfully higher education reformers will work with the progeny of two prominent and wealthy educational institutions that already had a promising solution inedX but abandoned itbecause of the cost.

Ms Khurana acknowledged the challenge, saying Axim is really trying to make a difference and, frankly, earn the trust of these broad-access institutions.

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Theyve had a lot of people come in and try to innovate, and a lot of people back out, and were very sensitive to that, she told Times Higher Education.

That concern looks central, given the Harvard-MIT abandonment ofedX, said Kevin Carey, director of education policy at New America Foundation, a left-of-centre thinktank. Itseems like Harvard and MIT sold at the top, and are now trying to figure out what to do with all that money in a way that is in some way connected to the original spirit ofedX, MrCarey said.

Harvard and MIT started edX in 2012, with a combined investment of $60million and a goal of helping universities share their courses globally at little or nocost to students. The edX platform grew to supply more than 3,600 courses from 160 university partners to 42million students worldwide.

But Harvard and MIT sold the main business in 2021, saying its low-fee model was not looking financially viable, and promising to use the proceeds to drive the next iteration of learning innovation. The buyer, 2U, is a for-profit version ofedX that has since seen itscorporate value plummet to below $100million and has pushed out the founder who negotiated the purchase.

The name Axim is a portmanteau combining access and impact. Its initial round offunding beneficiaries shows heavy attention to students in community colleges and the development of artificial intelligence tools. They include such projects as Arizona State University working with the Southwestern Community College District in California to help under-represented students by combining in-person and online services; and MIT, Georgia State University and Quinsigamond Community College testing AI-infused student tutoring.

Maria Anguiano, the executive vice-president of ASUs Learning Enterprise, is among Axims enthusiasts. ASUs Axim-funded work shows how the standard model can be flipped on its head to reach more learners, shesaid.

Mr Carey said he saw some worthwhile goals, but questioned why Harvard and MIT appeared to be largely reinforcing work done by others, and limiting their planned spending on Axim MsKhurana expects an annual budget of $20million to $25million ayear, including the cost of maintaining afree version of the edX course distribution system to the interest generated by edXs $800million sale proceeds. The richest university in the world got richer from this, Mr Carey said of the edX sale, and theyre going to keep the money and just spend the interest.

The appropriate way to evaluate Axim is in relation to the original ideals around which edX was formed and [to] ask: are they doing all they can to live up to this? he said. And Im not sure Ican say the answer is yes.

Ms Khurana, by contrast, sees Axim as giving a substantial boost to worthwhile projects. Trickle-down innovation isnt apanacea for reaching those who could benefit most, she said.

paul.basken@timeshighereducation.com

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After pioneering edX, Harvard and MIT tackle online access afresh - Times Higher Education