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Neil Mosley

@neilmosley.bsky.social

Independent higher education consultant for online learning. Fellow at the Centre for Online and Distance Education, University of London.

253 Posts845 Follower756 Folgt
Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 18h ago

"A £1,500 online microcredential, a live online evening-based course and reasonably priced microcourses, highlight the sheer variety of products within the short course landscape and the range of approaches being taken by universities."

2026 Q2 Review: Online learning developments in UK higher education — Neil Mosley Consulting

A quarterly review of UK online higher education, covering the Canvas hack, edX leadership changes, OPM partnerships, short courses, microcredentials and new online degrees.

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Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 2d ago

"The current doctrine of being robust in course identification and selection is through being “data-driven”. But the related issue is when this approach becomes orthodoxy and is cross-fertilised, everyone begins to do the same thing."

Is data narrowing how universities think about course portfolios? — Neil Mosley Consulting

A critical look at how data-driven course selection can narrow university course portfolios, encourage convergence and overlook what the numbers leave out.

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Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 7d ago

"While trying to ensure that degrees support students’ future career aspirations is clearly an important aim, I worry that UK HE is at risk of employability theatre, developing initiatives that are either impractical or sound good but deliver little."

2026 Q2 Review: Online learning developments in UK higher education — Neil Mosley Consulting

A quarterly review of UK online higher education, covering the Canvas hack, edX leadership changes, OPM partnerships, short courses, microcredentials and new online degrees.

buff.ly

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · last wk.

"Twhere there is choice, there is competition, and competition is only growing in online education. The necessity of having a smart strategy that enables universities to build sustainable cohorts of online students is becoming ever more important "

Are marketing orthodoxies limiting online student recruitment? — Neil Mosley Consulting

An analysis of online course marketing, performance marketing dominance, OPM models, and why universities may need more differentiated recruitment strategies.

neilmosley.com

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · last wk.

"Lifelong learning presents an opportunity for loyalisation, not simply diversification, and notably the former involves engaging with those you already know, including existing students, alumni and other stakeholders who have engaged with the university before."

Is the sector developing a blindspot in its lifelong learning strategies? — Neil Mosley Consulting

An analysis of lifelong learning strategies in UK higher education, exploring whether universities are too focussed on new student recruitment over building long-term loyalty and encouraging learners…

neilmosley.com

Jim McGrath@jimmcgrath.bsky.social · 2w ago

I don't love any of these ideas but agree that we are in the midst of an "assessment crisis" in higher ed due to AI. Some of the proposals here favor investments in surveillance, misguided perceptions of "academic rigor," and inattentiveness to contexts like, say required courses outside of majors.

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 2w ago

"In the past few years, the same things come up, such as the need to move to viva-style or in-person assessment, or authentic assessment..so far higher education has few genuine answers to the challenges that generative AI has presented."

Jerome Hodos@jhodos.bsky.social · 2w ago

This is a wonderful think-piece. It explores novel possibilities before we get locked into less-than-ideal pathways. Tbh, the 2-tiered option is already consistent with pre-existing tendencies in the US system; for-profit schools, for example, are already considered a kind of second-tier degree.

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 2w ago

"In the past few years, the same things come up, such as the need to move to viva-style or in-person assessment, or authentic assessment..so far higher education has few genuine answers to the challenges that generative AI has presented."

Thomas J. Tobin@thomasjtobin.bsky.social · 2w ago

Few folks work through the possibilities of big topics—incuding the far-flung or less likely ones—like @neilmosley.bsky.social. Definitely worth 10 minutes of your reading time on #AI in higher ed. Let us know your thoughts and reactions, too!

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 2w ago

"In the past few years, the same things come up, such as the need to move to viva-style or in-person assessment, or authentic assessment..so far higher education has few genuine answers to the challenges that generative AI has presented."

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 2w ago

"In the past few years, the same things come up, such as the need to move to viva-style or in-person assessment, or authentic assessment..so far higher education has few genuine answers to the challenges that generative AI has presented."

Three unconventional responses to the AI assessment challenge in higher education — Neil Mosley Consulting

Three counterintuitive ideas for responding to the AI assessment challenge in higher education, from two-tier degrees to experience-only degrees and collective visibility in assessment.

neilmosley.com

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 2w ago

"There are advantages to committing to online provision as a long-term business-as-usual strategy, and there is evidence that points to this amongst universities that have done that."

Why are more university OPM partnerships ending early? — Neil Mosley Consulting

The growing number of ended OPM partnerships raises questions about company performance, financial sustainability, university decision-making and the long-term future of online education partnerships.

neilmosley.com

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 3w ago

"we have to properly understand the limitations of data, and how our human biases and nature can lead us to think too much of it, and to norm it as a singular robust method because it’s numerical and comes with some nice charts."

Is data narrowing how universities think about course portfolios? — Neil Mosley Consulting

A critical look at how data-driven course selection can narrow university course portfolios, encourage convergence and overlook what the numbers leave out.

neilmosley.com

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 3w ago

"When challenges arrive, sometimes it is helpful to generate more radical solutions that are less fettered by day-to-day realities, on a journey towards coming up with plausible, realistic and desirable solutions and options."

Three unconventional responses to the AI assessment challenge in higher education — Neil Mosley Consulting

Three counterintuitive ideas for responding to the AI assessment challenge in higher education, from two-tier degrees to experience-only degrees and collective visibility in assessment.

neilmosley.com

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 3w ago

"This quarter has seen continued growth in online course portfolios across a number of institutions.While new online degrees continue to be launched, there is also interesting and varied activity in the online short-course market." buff.ly/EYvutKt #onlinelearning

2026 Q2 Review: Online learning developments in UK higher education — Neil Mosley Consulting

A quarterly review of UK online higher education, covering the Canvas hack, edX leadership changes, OPM partnerships, short courses, microcredentials and new online degrees.

buff.ly

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 4w ago

"My sense so far is that higher education has few genuine answers to the challenges that generative AI has presented. But if this challenge is going to be properly taken on, then I think it will require some creative experimentation"

Three unconventional responses to the AI assessment challenge in higher education — Neil Mosley Consulting

Three counterintuitive ideas for responding to the AI assessment challenge in higher education, from two-tier degrees to experience-only degrees and collective visibility in assessment.

neilmosley.com

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · last mo.

"we should be making more noise about the role that online education is playing in career advancement and development rather than having endless vapid debates about the efficacy of modalities."

What does the Voice of the Online Learner UK report mean for online education? — Neil Mosley Consulting

Discover the key insights from the Risepoint Voice of the Online Learner UK report, including online learner demographics, motivations, career outcomes, AI perceptions and how students choose courses.

neilmosley.com

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · last mo.

"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."

Are marketing orthodoxies limiting online student recruitment? — Neil Mosley Consulting

An analysis of online course marketing, performance marketing dominance, OPM models, and why universities may need more differentiated recruitment strategies.

neilmosley.com

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"when the way you approach identifying and justifying courses only ever leads you to the same place, and increasingly the exact same place as everyone else, you’re likely to have a problem, and one that will most probably compound."

Is data narrowing how universities think about course portfolios? — Neil Mosley Consulting

A critical look at how data-driven course selection can narrow university course portfolios, encourage convergence and overlook what the numbers leave out.

neilmosley.com

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"There are advantages to committing to online provision as a long-term business-as-usual strategy, but online education is still too often viewed as a diversification tap that can be turned on and off"

Why are more university OPM partnerships ending early? — Neil Mosley Consulting

The growing number of ended OPM partnerships raises questions about company performance, financial sustainability, university decision-making and the long-term future of online education partnerships.

buff.ly

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"The flip side of student mobility, moving between institutions, is student loyalty, returning to the same institution again and again, and it’s this very idea that is rarely discussed in relation to the LLE"

Is the sector developing a blindspot in its lifelong learning strategies? — Neil Mosley Consulting

An analysis of lifelong learning strategies in UK higher education, exploring whether universities are too focussed on new student recruitment over building long-term loyalty and encouraging learners…

buff.ly

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"when the way you approach identifying and justifying courses only ever leads you to the same place, and increasingly the exact same place as everyone else, you’re likely to have a problem, and one that will most probably compound." www.neilmosley.com/blog/is-data...

Is data narrowing how universities think about course portfolios? — Neil Mosley Consulting

A critical look at how data-driven course selection can narrow university course portfolios, encourage convergence and overlook what the numbers leave out.

neilmosley.com

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"for OPMs to continue to be valuable partners long into the future, they need to offer more than a standard set of capabilities that universities have historically lacked. Or, to put it another way, some new thinking and creativity is required."

Why are more university OPM partnerships ending early? — Neil Mosley Consulting

The growing number of ended OPM partnerships raises questions about company performance, financial sustainability, university decision-making and the long-term future of online education partnerships.

neilmosley.com

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"If we don’t take care to adopt more well-rounded approaches to course identification, selection and justification, we’ll be headed in the direction of highly comforting and reassuring convergence, greater competition and ultimately sameness"

Is data narrowing how universities think about course portfolios? — Neil Mosley Consulting

A critical look at how data-driven course selection can narrow university course portfolios, encourage convergence and overlook what the numbers leave out.

neilmosley.com

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"credit transfer is about facilitating student mobility across institutions. The flip side of student mobility, moving between institutions, is student loyalty, returning to the same institution again and again, and it’s this very idea that is rarely discussed."

Is the sector developing a blindspot in its lifelong learning strategies? — Neil Mosley Consulting

An analysis of lifelong learning strategies in UK higher education, exploring whether universities are too focussed on new student recruitment over building long-term loyalty and encouraging learners…

neilmosley.com

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"Only a small number of partnerships have lasted over five years, and more have ended before that. Given that these partnerships are typically entered into as long-term relationships, this is a concerning pattern that is worth examining in more detail."

Why are more university OPM partnerships ending early? — Neil Mosley Consulting

The growing number of ended OPM partnerships raises questions about company performance, financial sustainability, university decision-making and the long-term future of online education partnerships.

buff.ly

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"we are in a phase where developments are largely focused on efficiencies, ideation and generation within existing practices. I have seen only minimal evidence of more sophisticated features that reflect a deeper understanding of learning and teaching"

Are AI-driven EdTech developments improving learning in higher education? — Neil Mosley Consulting

Are AI-driven EdTech developments really improving learning in higher education, or just focussed on boosting efficiency?

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Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"I would strongly caution against thinking of the TNE online student landscape as a kind of homogeneous global B2C market. The student numbers presented here are not solely indicative of universities acting independently"

International online students in UK higher education: What the 2024–25 TNE data reveals — Neil Mosley Consulting

Analysis of HESA 2024–25 data on international online students at UK universities, examining trends in transnational education (TNE), regional markets and leading providers.

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Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"What these developments highlight...is that universities developing shorter course provision face competition not only from each other but from a wider landscape of online provision, which in many cases is far more operationally mature and sophisticated."

2026 Q1 Review: Online learning developments in UK higher education — Neil Mosley Consulting

A Q1 2026 review of online learning developments in UK higher education, covering MBA rankings, HESA data, OPM partnerships, VLE changes and new online programmes.

buff.ly

Neil Mosley@neilmosley.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"The current stronger focus on lifelong learning, has overall been one where the challenges presented and discussed, which certainly exist, have obscured thinking and creativity in relation to the opportunities."

Is the sector developing a blindspot in its lifelong learning strategies? — Neil Mosley Consulting

An analysis of lifelong learning strategies in UK higher education, exploring whether universities are too focussed on new student recruitment over building long-term loyalty and encouraging learners…

buff.ly