Danielle Allen, a social scientist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, wrote an article for the Washington Post on July 26 dealing with what are called "massive open online courses" or MOOCs. Under one method of presentation, if 40 students are on campus attending the lecture and 800 are on-line, then each student becomes a virtual seminar leader for 20 online students.
There are troubles with online education, as demonstrated recently at San Jose State and Colorado State, but if the bugs can be worked out, MOOCs "may help address the quality and cost of higher education," Allen writes. The MOOCs available now are online at no cost; only ten percent finish a course, but for them "the learning is real" and complete.
These features show the limits of educational institutions as they presently exist.
At this moment, some of the most successful MOOCs deal with esoteric subjects such as Greek mythology or modern poetry. MOOCs are drawing extensively on research on how people learn, which itself is called "learning theory."
One of the situations that leaves the door open for MOOCs is that "no college can tailor a student’s curriculum" to that student’s specific learning style. And "no college can offer every conceivable course. MOOCs have the potential to provide an alternative to the "one tuition price" of so many dollars for so many credits, whether it is a lecture course or lab course or equipment-intensive course.
A MOOC is not always attractive. Allen writes:
"It is possible to envision substantial structural change in higher education, but that change is likely to emerge slowly. Colorado State’s Global Campus advertised last year that it would give credit to enrolled students who passed a MOOC in computer science. This would cost students $89 instead of the $1,050 for a comparable course. There were no takers. Seven additional institutions are set to make similar offerings in the coming year. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, they expect only hundreds, not thousands, of takers."
Allen concludes that "The goal should be to bring excellence and affordability together."
The full article is at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/an-online-college-revolution-is-coming/2013/07/26/62f21720-de9c-11e2-b2d4-ea6d8f477a01_story.html
There are troubles with online education, as demonstrated recently at San Jose State and Colorado State, but if the bugs can be worked out, MOOCs "may help address the quality and cost of higher education," Allen writes. The MOOCs available now are online at no cost; only ten percent finish a course, but for them "the learning is real" and complete.
These features show the limits of educational institutions as they presently exist.
At this moment, some of the most successful MOOCs deal with esoteric subjects such as Greek mythology or modern poetry. MOOCs are drawing extensively on research on how people learn, which itself is called "learning theory."
One of the situations that leaves the door open for MOOCs is that "no college can tailor a student’s curriculum" to that student’s specific learning style. And "no college can offer every conceivable course. MOOCs have the potential to provide an alternative to the "one tuition price" of so many dollars for so many credits, whether it is a lecture course or lab course or equipment-intensive course.
A MOOC is not always attractive. Allen writes:
Allen concludes that "The goal should be to bring excellence and affordability together."
The full article is at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/an-online-college-revolution-is-coming/2013/07/26/62f21720-de9c-11e2-b2d4-ea6d8f477a01_story.html
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