Business models for MOOC platform providers in digital education using the example of xMOOCs. Stimulations for academic further education?!

Dieser Beitrag beleuchtet Geschäftsmodelle für xMOOCs. Zugrunde liegen Befunde einer Studie für die Plattformbetreiber Coursera, Udacity, edX und iversity. Aus Sicht des Hochschulmanagements offerieren xMOOCs Anregungen für Gestaltung, Finanzierung und Marketing von wissenschaftlicher Weiterbildung. Für eine abschliessende Betrachtung der Mehrwerte von xMOOCs ist es zu früh. Es fehlen Belege.This contribution focuses on business models for xMOOCs. It is based on findings from a study on the platform providers Coursera, Udacity, edX and iversity. From a higher education management perspective, xMOOCs offer stimulations for the design, funding and marketing of academic further education. Final conclusions on benefits from xMOOCs cannot be foreseen, yet, since the lack of further evidence

Mit digitaler Bildung Geld verdienen – Geschäftsmodelle von MOOC-Plattformen

Mit der Ausbreitung digitaler Medien im Bildungssektor waren nicht zuletzt ökonomische Erwartungen verbunden. Bei entsprechend hohen Nutzungs- bzw. Teilnehmerzahlen, effizienten Produktionsabläufen und durch die Wiederverwendbarkeit oder Reproduzierbarkeit von Content sollten Einnahmen generiert bzw. Gewinne erzielt werden. Bildungsakteure und - akteurinnen, insbesondere im Bereich der kommerzialisierten Bildung, wie z.B. ein Teil der wissenschaftlichen Weiterbildung, erhofften sich wertvolle Impulse für die Geschäftsfeldentwicklung. Diese Erwartungen wurden jedoch nicht erfüllt – bis zur Ausbreitung von MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). Mit diesem Bildungsformat etablierten sich zahlreiche Akteure und Akteurinnen im Markt der digitalen Bildung. Da es sich nach wie vor um ein neues Phänomen bzw. Online-Lernformat handelt, kann die wirtschaftliche Nachhaltigkeit dieser Entwicklungen nicht abschließend beurteilt werden. Es lässt sich jedoch konstatieren, dass MOOCs die Diskussion um Geschäftsmodelle in der digitalen Bildung belebt haben. Daher untersucht der nachfolgende Beitrag die Geschäftsmodelle von etablierten MOOC-Providern und versucht, daraus allgemeine Kenntnisse über die Monetarisierung von digitalen Bildungsangeboten abzuleiten. (DIPF/Orig.

TASKtrain: Bericht zur Evaluation des Blended Learning-Angebots TASKtrain

Der Bericht beschreibt die Evaluation des Blended Learning-Angebots TASKtrain. Im Zentrum steht eine benutzerorientierte Analyse des E-Learning-Angebots TASKtrain (siehe https://bildungsportal.sachsen.de/opal/auth/RepositoryEntry/6838648833?sess=true). Das E-Learning-Angebot wurde gemeinsam vom Medienzentrum der TU Dresden und von der Professur für Allgemeine Pädagogik der Universität Leipzig im Projekt TASKtrain - Kompetenzorientierte Qualifizierung von Hochschullehrenden zur Konzeption und Erstellung von E-Prüfungsaufgaben entwickelt und erprobt (siehe http://tu-dresden.de/die_tu_dresden/zentrale_einrichtungen/mz/weiterbildungen_schulungen/tasktrain). Dieses Projekt wurde mit finanzieller Unterstützung des SMWK realisiert

Differential utilization of ketone bodies by neurons and glioma cell lines: a rationale for ketogenic diet as experimental glioma therapy

Background: Even in the presence of oxygen, malignant cells often highly depend on glycolysis for energy generation, a phenomenon known as the Warburg effect. One strategy targeting this metabolic phenotype is glucose restriction by administration of a high-fat, low-carbohydrate (ketogenic) diet. Under these conditions, ketone bodies are generated serving as an important energy source at least for non-transformed cells. Methods: To investigate whether a ketogenic diet might selectively impair energy metabolism in tumor cells, we characterized in vitro effects of the principle ketone body 3-hydroxybutyrate in rat hippocampal neurons and five glioma cell lines. In vivo, a non-calorie-restricted ketogenic diet was examined in an orthotopic xenograft glioma mouse model. Results: The ketone body metabolizing enzymes 3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase 1 and 2 (BDH1 and 2), 3-oxoacid-CoA transferase 1 (OXCT1) and acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase 1 (ACAT1) were expressed at the mRNA and protein level in all glioma cell lines. However, no activation of the hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) pathway was observed in glioma cells, consistent with the absence of substantial 3-hydroxybutyrate metabolism and subsequent accumulation of succinate. Further, 3-hydroxybutyrate rescued hippocampal neurons from glucose withdrawal-induced cell death but did not protect glioma cell lines. In hypoxia, mRNA expression of OXCT1, ACAT1, BDH1 and 2 was downregulated. In vivo, the ketogenic diet led to a robust increase of blood 3-hydroxybutyrate, but did not alter blood glucose levels or improve survival. Conclusion: In summary, glioma cells are incapable of compensating for glucose restriction by metabolizing ketone bodies in vitro, suggesting a potential disadvantage of tumor cells compared to normal cells under a carbohydrate-restricted ketogenic diet. Further investigations are necessary to identify co-treatment modalities, e.g. glycolysis inhibitors or antiangiogenic agents that efficiently target non-oxidative pathways

Global fine-resolution data on springtail abundance and community structure

Springtails (Collembola) inhabit soils from the Arctic to the Antarctic and comprise an estimated ~32% of all terrestrial arthropods on Earth. Here, we present a global, spatially-explicit database on springtail communities that includes 249,912 occurrences from 44,999 samples and 2,990 sites. These data are mainly raw sample-level records at the species level collected predominantly from private archives of the authors that were quality-controlled and taxonomically-standardised. Despite covering all continents, most of the sample-level data come from the European continent (82.5% of all samples) and represent four habitats: woodlands (57.4%), grasslands (14.0%), agrosystems (13.7%) and scrublands (9.0%). We included sampling by soil layers, and across seasons and years, representing temporal and spatial within-site variation in springtail communities. We also provided data use and sharing guidelines and R code to facilitate the use of the database by other researchers. This data paper describes a static version of the database at the publication date, but the database will be further expanded to include underrepresented regions and linked with trait data.</p

The impact of surgical delay on resectability of colorectal cancer: An international prospective cohort study

AIM: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to explore the impact of surgical delays on cancer resectability. This study aimed to compare resectability for colorectal cancer patients undergoing delayed versus non-delayed surgery. METHODS: This was an international prospective cohort study of consecutive colorectal cancer patients with a decision for curative surgery (January-April 2020). Surgical delay was defined as an operation taking place more than 4 weeks after treatment decision, in a patient who did not receive neoadjuvant therapy. A subgroup analysis explored the effects of delay in elective patients only. The impact of longer delays was explored in a sensitivity analysis. The primary outcome was complete resection, defined as curative resection with an R0 margin. RESULTS: Overall, 5453 patients from 304 hospitals in 47 countries were included, of whom 6.6% (358/5453) did not receive their planned operation. Of the 4304 operated patients without neoadjuvant therapy, 40.5% (1744/4304) were delayed beyond 4 weeks. Delayed patients were more likely to be older, men, more comorbid, have higher body mass index and have rectal cancer and early stage disease. Delayed patients had higher unadjusted rates of complete resection (93.7% vs. 91.9%, P = 0.032) and lower rates of emergency surgery (4.5% vs. 22.5%, P < 0.001). After adjustment, delay was not associated with a lower rate of complete resection (OR 1.18, 95% CI 0.90-1.55, P = 0.224), which was consistent in elective patients only (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.69-1.27, P = 0.672). Longer delays were not associated with poorer outcomes. CONCLUSION: One in 15 colorectal cancer patients did not receive their planned operation during the first wave of COVID-19. Surgical delay did not appear to compromise resectability, raising the hypothesis that any reduction in long-term survival attributable to delays is likely to be due to micro-metastatic disease

Global fine-resolution data on springtail abundance and community structure

CODE AVAILABILITY : Programming R code is openly available together with the database from Figshare.SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL 1 : Template for data collectionSUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL 2 : Data Descriptor WorksheetSpringtails (Collembola) inhabit soils from the Arctic to the Antarctic and comprise an estimated ~32% of all terrestrial arthropods on Earth. Here, we present a global, spatially-explicit database on springtail communities that includes 249,912 occurrences from 44,999 samples and 2,990 sites. These data are mainly raw sample-level records at the species level collected predominantly from private archives of the authors that were quality-controlled and taxonomically-standardised. Despite covering all continents, most of the sample-level data come from the European continent (82.5% of all samples) and represent four habitats: woodlands (57.4%), grasslands (14.0%), agrosystems (13.7%) and scrublands (9.0%). We included sampling by soil layers, and across seasons and years, representing temporal and spatial within-site variation in springtail communities. We also provided data use and sharing guidelines and R code to facilitate the use of the database by other researchers. This data paper describes a static version of the database at the publication date, but the database will be further expanded to include underrepresented regions and linked with trait data.Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.http://www.nature.com/sdatahj2024Plant Production and Soil ScienceSDG-15:Life on lan

Geschäftsmodelle für digitale Bildungsangebote. Was wir von xMOOCs lernen können

Der Beitrag beleuchtet xMOOCs aus strategischer Perspektive und exploriert die Geschäftsmodelle von Anbietern der MOOC-Plattformen Iversity, Coursera und Udacity im Rahmen einer vergleichenden Einzelfallstudie inhaltsanalytisch. Erläutert wird, warum die Verwendung von MOOCs in der wissenschaftlichen Aus- und Weiterbildung an Hochschulen interessant ist und welche akteursspezifischen Nutzenerwartungen es gibt. Diskutiert werden Befunde hinsichtlich der Angebote, Teilnehmer, Finanzierung, Erträge und Marktstrategie. (DIPF/Orig.