Kostenfreie Onlinekurse nachhaltig mit personalisiertem Marketing finanzieren – Ein Vorschlag zur synergetischen Kombination zweier datengetriebener Geschäftsmodelle

Self-determined learning is increasingly accepted in our society. Online courses offer scheduling flexibility and pacing options, so that the learners can complete their assignments at convenient times. Moreover, online courses can be adapted and individualized to match the learning progress of the users through various adaptations. There is a large target group that aims to develop certain skills with online courses. But their creation, implementation, maintenance, and support are cost-intensive, which means that high-quality tutored courses often have to be offered fee-based to operate at least cost-neutrally without gaining some profit. In this paper, we demonstrate and discuss an open, sustainable, data-driven two-sided business model for using verified online courses and making them available to every learner free of charge. The core of the business model is the use of behavioral data for deriving personality traits and interests, and their use in a commercial context. This method is already widely accepted in web search, which is now implemented in the learning context. The opportunities, challenges, but also barriers that need to be overcome for the business model to be applicable and ethical at the same time are discussed while two independent but synergistically connected business models are presented. Besides, we examined the acceptance and expectation of the target group for the presented business model to understand the necessary core assets for practice. The results of the study indicate that the business model is fundamentally accepted. 10% of the respondents prefer to learn with virtual assistants instead of tutors, and the majority of users is not aware that personality traits can be derived from user behavior.