Noodle is changing the way we work with universities. Here’s why and what we’re doing differently.
Today is Different Than Yesterday
Seven years ago, we started as a next generation Online Program Manager (OPM), bringing transparency, flexibility and efficiency to that sector. And we were successful: over the past four years, we’ve launched many more programs than any of the incumbents, and built a solid reputation as innovative, hard-working, honest partners.
But colleges and universities need more than successful online degree programs. They need to:
- evolve their strategic roadmap based on changing technology, demographic, capacity, and competitive challenges
- integrate online and on-campus learning as more and more students choose a blend of the two
- address lifelong learning and employers (a growing funder of tuition) more forcefully
- streamline support services, where costs have exploded over the past two decades, for all students and professors
- attract more qualified applicants, in the face of fiercely competitive landscape
- coalesce and benchmark data to identify and address areas of opportunity
Further, they need to think through the combination of in-house staff and outside support services as they add internal capacity and as more and more of their students are neither on-campus nor working during business hours.
Making Noodle More Useful
We believe Noodle has the unique capacity to help schools address these needs. As flexible as we have been, we’ve largely been deploying our marketing, recruiting, technology, support, and learning design teams in combination to support online programs.
So we’ve reorganized our fee structure, management, and services to be a better partner for our colleges and universities. More specifically:
- We are introducing a model that eliminates our management fees, which were tied to the programs we helped manage.
- We’ve redesigned our software, which helps manage student services, make learning more collaborative, and promote enrollment, to be useful for on-campus and online efforts for any combination of university and Noodle personnel.
- We’ve remodeled our contracts to allow for highly specific service-level support, before expanding to a broader set of strategic capabilities
- Finally, we’ve combined our internal teams with some of the sharpest minds in higher ed innovation to create a strategy group that can help universities identify and plan for opportunities
A Subtle, But Important Shift
These changes leave Noodle as the leading strategy, services, and technology partner to universities and colleges, helping them increase access to life-changing learning by making them more resilient, responsive, efficient, and interconnected.
Our new approach is designed to empower universities to be more resilient, responsive, and interconnected by offering a range of tailored services and cutting-edge technology solutions. Allow me to highlight some key aspects of our partnership model that can significantly benefit your institution:
- Strategy: Our experienced strategy group, with decades of combined experience in online and agile education, collaborates with university leaders to develop evidence-based plans that drive growth, enhance performance, and align with your unique values and roadmaps. We don’t just draw up the roadmap; we walk the path with you.
- Services: Unlike one-size-fits-all solutions, we provide a broad spectrum of services, including marketing, enrollment, program & learning design, student support and placement, employer partnerships, and technology platforms. You have the flexibility to choose any combination of services that best suits your institution’s needs. Our dedicated service teams work hand-in-hand with you to ensure cohesive outcomes and faster implementation.
- Technology: We believe that technology is the backbone of educational evolution. Our team of education technologists has developed state-of-the-art tools and seamless integrations with core university systems. These tools streamline program and service performance management, launch non-degree courses, improve the online classroom experience, and much more. We empower institutions to adapt, evolve, and thrive in this ever-changing digital landscape.
- Partnership: Partnership is at the core of our operations. We see it as a dynamic, responsive entity that morphs and adjusts to provide support where and when universities need it the most. We offer a nimble framework that evolves in concert with our partners, reflecting their growth, shifts, and transformations. We are committed to being more than just a service provider; we are your collaborator on this transformative journey.
There’s More!
We have even more to offer! Let me share some additional ways in which we can make a difference:
Addressing the Nursing Shortage: Working with health care providers, nursing schools, and banks, we have taken a proactive approach to tackle the pressing issue of the nursing shortage. By forging partnerships between hospital systems, nursing schools, and banks, we have created an elegant pipeline of highly skilled nurses. Through this initiative, students receive a free education and a guaranteed job, hospitals can address shortages at a significantly lower expense compared to existing options, and universities benefit from reduced student acquisition and placement costs.
Revolutionizing Lifelong Learning: Universities often face a difficult choice when it comes to catering to lifelong learners, who contribute significantly higher tuition fees annually compared to graduate students. They must either compete with large platform providers or provide their content and reputation to assist learners in growing their own user base and brand. To overcome this challenge, we have established a federated network that enables our partner schools to collaborate at scale.
These initiatives represent just a glimpse of the transformative impact Noodle can bring to your institution. We are committed to supporting universities in evolving their strategic roadmap, integrating online and on-campus learning, addressing lifelong learning and employer needs, streamlining support services, attracting qualified applicants, and harnessing the power of data.
If you want to explore how your institution can partner with Noodle, please book a few minutes with us here. We look forward to speaking with you!
Warm regards,
John Katzman
