By Azer Bestavros
MOOCs as a Recruiting Tool
MOOC2Degree was launched by Academic Partnerships for “public universities to offer credit-bearing MOOCs as a first step and a free start toward earning a degree.”
The edX Business Model
The Chronicle of Higher Education published an article in which Anand Agarwal (President of edX) explains the ways in which edX plans to sustain its operation.
MOOCs grow and intersect
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on the significant expansion of both Coursera and edX to overseas partners as well as by allowing universities to use both platforms.
The Trouble with Online College
This New York Times Editorial shines light on the shortcomings of on-line education with respect to the less motivated, and less prepared students.
UT MOOC Offerings Announced
The University of Texas System plans to launch its first four MOOCs, next fall — all taught by professors at the flagship UT-Austin campus.
A Massive MOOC Mess!
Maybe it was inevitable that one of the new massive open online courses would crash. After all, MOOCs are being launched with considerable speed, not to mention hype. But MOOC advocates might have preferred the collapse of a course other than one that is supposed to be an introduction to "Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application."
On the Disruption of Higher Ed
Yet another opinion on the disruption of higher ed.
Mostly, we’re doing the best we can. But our way of doing the best we can is to keep doing what we’ve always done, modifying it a bit with stuff we make up as we go along. Just like most people inside most institutions. Some years that works out fine, but we haven’t had so many of those years recently. The competition from upstart organizations will make things worse for many of us. After two decades of watching, though, I also know that that’s how these changes go. No industry has ever organized an orderly sharing of power with newcomers, no matter how interesting or valuable their ideas are, unless under mortal threat.
Location, Location, Location!
For Making the Most of College, It's Still Location, Location, Location!
Just as with libraries, campuses that are dismal, disconnected, and underutilized as places will suffer, while the ones that are vital will have a shot at succeeding. Colleges will need to find ways—preferably creative and inexpensive—to make their places relevant: Link to local communities. Use those communities as places where students can apply their education to fix problems or enhance strengths. Find the unique characteristics of the local geography, and incorporate them into lessons. Provide spaces where students can connect both intellectually and physically with one another, and with their college work.
Public Perception of Higher Ed
A survey from the Chronicle of Higher Education on the "Public Perception of Higher Ed". Survey suggests that newer models (such as prior learning assessment and competency-based education) that place less weight on learning tied to a specific place and time are gaining more acceptance due to flexibility they afford.
Big Data & The Humanities
This NYT article illustrates how disciplines that may have been considered "immune" from transformation due to new technologies are indeed changing in ways that allow for interesting new pedagogy and blended course offerings, e.g., involving students experimenting with Digital Humanities "big data".
