21 January 2013
EDUCATION: Massive open online courses are sweeping the nation, offering people elite college-level instruction.
By Aysouda Malekzadeh, News Editor
In the near future, people may see only a computer screen in place of their professor. Professors around the country are starting to lecture via online programs. This transfer from the lecture halls to online lectures has the potential to transform higher education. A handful of companies are already offering college-level instruction—once available at considerable costs only to a select few on college campuses—free to anyone with an Internet connection. These massive open online courses, known as MOOCs, harness the power of their huge enrollments to teach in new ways. They have the ability to apply crowd-sourcing technology to discussion forums and grading. Also, the system enables professors to use online lectures and reserve on-campus class time for interaction with the students.
MOOCs first emerged last year when Stanford professor Sebastian Thrun offered a free artificial-intelligence course. His course attracted 160,000 students in 190 nations. The resulting publicity galvanized other elite research universities across America to begin opening higher education to everyone. Millions of students are now enrolled in the wide variety of online courses such as those offered by Udacity, Mr. Thrun’s spinoff company; edX, a joint venture of Harvard and MIT; and Coursera, a Stanford spinoff that is offering Princeton Professor Mitchell Duneier’s course.
Elite universities are rushing to join forces with a MOOC provider. Currently ahead with 33 partners is Coursera, which began with Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford and the University of Michigan, but edX too is expanding rapidly. The University of California, Berkeley has joined and the University of Texas has announced that it will use edX courses for credit. In addition, students in an Udacity class can get credit through the Global Campus of Colorado State University. Most MOOC providers are planning to offer credit and charge fees for certificates and proctored exams.
“We’ve reached the tipping point where every major university is thinking about what they will do online,” Peter McPherson, the president of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities, said. “In a way, the most important thing about these MOOCs from the top universities is that they provide cover, so other universities don’t need to apologize about putting courses online.”
MOOC poses some problems for lower-tier colleges that are already facing resistance to high tuition. They may have trouble convincing students that their courses are worth the price. Also, some experts voice reservations about how online learning can be assessed and warn about the potential of cheating.
Many believe that this form of education forms a route to lifelong learning. For many, it has become their only lifeline to college-level work. The fact that it costs nothing is also crucial. Furthermore, professors are ecstatic that they are now able to teach more students in one course than they could in a lifetime.